PLAYERS ERA POWER COLLEGE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

November 27, 2024

Steve Pikiell

Dylan Harper

Jeremiah Williams

MGM Grand Garden Arena

Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Postgame Press Conference

Alabama - 95, Rutgers - 90

STEVE PIKIELL: Back to back playing these kind of teams, give Alabama a ton of credit, they're really deep and they're really good.

I thought we came back after a tough game last night and played our tails off. Gotta keep getting better. But a high, high level game. I think Alabama is as good a team as there is in the country. Definitely as deep a team as I've ever played against. We just come up a couple of plays short.

Big rebounds on free throw misses down the stretch but probably needed him to stay out of foul trouble, and obviously he would have been in the game at the end too.

And Dylan and Ace played really, really well. But give Alabama credit. That's a really good basketball team. I don't know if there's many teams as loaded as they are.

Q. Dylan, they tried to throw some different ball screen coverages at you. What were you seeing out there? And it seemed like you could get to the rim whenever. Did you have confidence that you could get to paint whenever?

DYLAN HARPER: Taking what the defense gives me. Obviously Alabama is a great team, very trusting staff. My teammates know, put the ball in my hands and gave me the confidence to go out there and make the right play, and I feel like I did that today.

Q. Dylan, you have 35 in back-to-back games, first freshman to do that in 20 years. How special does it feel to be taking over games at this level?

DYLAN HARPER: I mean, it's obviously an honor just because being in that elite category, but for me the biggest thing for me for us is winning. I feel like we were just a couple of plays short today. It was obviously a great honor. I'm happy to be in that little list, but the biggest thing today was winning.

Q. Jeremiah, even though the team didn't get the win, what's it like to see those young guys, Dylan and Ace, develop the way they have in such a short period of time?

JEREMIAH WILLIAMS: I mean, ever since day one they stepped on campus they've shown extreme maturity, and they're going to keep getting better day by day, and these are games they'll take under their belt and learn from. They're two very talented young players. It's amazing to see.

Q. Dylan, a couple of big collisions with Cliff there, an old friend. What did you say to him?

DYLAN HARPER: It was just friendly trash talk. I've known him all my life, really, since seventh, eighth grade, just growing up just being friends with him. It was just a little friendly trash talk. That's all it was to it.

Q. When you ran into him later, looked like you landed pretty hard?

DYLAN HARPER: It was like we're playing basketball at the end of the day, both me and him are very competitive. We both can go out compete with each other even if we're on different sides of the ball.

Q. High-level game. Do you think your team showed their ability to compete in these high-level games against elite teams?

STEVE PIKIELL: I think we were there today too Nate Oats is an elite coach, Final Four team last year. Toe to toe -- and we're young. We've got a whole new group of starters.

Having Jeremiah in foul trouble, too, he does a lot for our team. He's one of our best defenders, too. But they're really good, give them a lot of credit. But we put 90 points up on the board, and we've got to do a better job on the defensive end, obviously, but I think this team is growing. We're learning a lot. We've got a lot of new pieces. Better days ahead for us, I think.

Q. Rebounding has been a consistent issue this season. Is it scheme? Is it guys not being in the right spot?

STEVE PIKIELL: Credit to Alabama. They outrebounding Houston the other night. And Houston is the standard for rebounding in the country. So we're getting better at it. We're getting better.

Our shot selection helps. Sometimes our rebounding, too. But gotta take good shots. If we take good shots we can rebound it.

Obviously we've got weaknesses on our team, just like every team in the country is trying to figure out. But guys are focused on it and we've just got to do better job as a team, collective rebounds.

Q. What did you think of how Emmanuel played today?

STEVE PIKIELL: Emmanuel is getting better and better. He's getting better and better. When he figures it out it will be very interesting. He's coming. He's a worker. He's a really good teammate.

They have an elite bunch of big guys, not just Cliff. They just keep bringing them in. They just keep bringing them in. Again, I think they have the best bench in the country. They're bringing guys off the bench that, credit to him, these guys are probably starters at a lot of places. And so we have to battle a lot of guys. They've got great size. So it's always a tough game.

Q. What did you see from Ace tonight bouncing back the last two games?

STEVE PIKIELL: It's funny somebody said that to me the other day. He was pretty good in those days. He's a freshman, does unbelievable things.

He's learning. He was locked in and confident and he's a good player. It's part of his journey. And guys guard him differently every game is different when you're a rookie. Tapes get out, people do different things. He's got to figure that out, too.

But he's a fantastic kid and a worker. Had a great game today -- they had multiple defenders all kinds of sizes. We saw a little bit of everything tonight. So it will help him out moving forward.

Q. How will this experience, just playing in this kind of high-level game this early in the season, benefit this team in January, February, March and on?

STEVE PIKIELL: I think it's like anything, the journey. You grow through your seasons and you grow through the games.

This is as talented a team too as we're probably going to face, definitely as deep a team. We did some good things, but we'll carve out the tape and learn more. We've got to get better.

You've got to finish these kind of games off. You don't get many of these opportunities to play top three or four teams in the country.

But it's part of our journey this year with a whole new group of guys. And Jeremiah only played a little bit last year and Emmanuel and J-Mike and the rest of us are all new to the season. These obstacles you have to live through.

Q. We're in the era where a lot of teams are shooting a lot of 3s. But you guys are attacking the rim in the mid-range game. How effective is that, especially when you have a guy like Dylan and Ace who can execute in those situations?

STEVE PIKIELL: Try to get good shots for good players. Analytics tells you all these things but the game dictates what you have, and you want guys to take really good shots. When you eliminate all the mid-range, there's not a lot of court left, really.

So take what's available. These guys can really do a good job of rising up. They've got great size. Jeremiah is one of the best mid-range guys, too, in the country. Try to take what's available, and I think that's important for us. Continue moving forward and keep our defense up.

But when those guys get those shots, Ace is really hard to guard in those 15-foot range, and Dylan can go downhill and do a lot of different things. We have to take advantage of the things they bring to the table, and we'll do that.

Q. A lot of people watch this game, some people watched you for the first time. What do you think you guys showed the people that tuned in today?

DYLAN HARPER: I think we showed we can compete against anyone in the country. All 12 guys, all stepped up front and went out and went to go get it. Obviously we fell short, but I feel as a team, sometimes we've got to feel better falling short to just having the season we want to have.

JEREMIAH WILLIAMS: Just what he said. We showed we're a competitive team. It's just a small little bump in the road and something you can learn from, and I think we'll just continue to get better as the season goes.