PLAYERS ERA POWER COLLEGE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

November 30, 2024

Steve Pikiell

Ace Bailey

Jeremiah Williams

MGM Grand Garden Arena

Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Postgame Press Conference

Texas A&M - 81, Rutgers - 77

STEVE PIKIELL: Players Era has been an awesome tournament. The games have been tremendous. We want to thank you for inviting us. I think we learned a lot about our team the last few days. Obviously played two ranked teams back to back. Had our chances.

I want to thank Rutgers Nation. They traveled. They came here to support these guys. They're a few plays away. Out-rebounded what I think is the best rebounding teams in the country. But you can't defend the free-throw line. Defend without fouling; we didn't obviously do that today.

Give them credit, a terrific coach. They made big plays down the stretch. Their best players made some real plays for them.

But we're going to be good. We're going to be good. I like this team a lot. We've just got to figure out how to finish some things off.

Q. Jeremiah, you came in averaging 7.3 points, hadn't scored more than 10. Today was your best production in more than three years. You put up 22, I believe, against Temple -- or against Elon on a neutral court. Was today kind of like overdue? Were you feeling it, feeling like you were ready to sort of bust out and have a big game at some point during this event?

JEREMIAH WILLIAMS: No, not really. I think I was just playing in the flow of the game. I just made a couple plays happen thanks to my teammates.

Q. You mentioned free throws. They also had 42 points in the paint. How do you think your team adjusted to Adams' physicality and the way they played?

STEVE PIKIELL: I think we were just in foul trouble with bodies and stuff, but they're the most physical team I had seen. Early on especially they really got some rebounds. You could show them on tape. We didn't have a long time to prepare. I thought we adjusted. I thought we their physicality at some point in time.

The fouls were too much to overcome. Did a lot of great things. Ace's goal, to get 10 rebounds. Got 10 rebounds; important for us.

And then the way Jeremiah played too.

But it was foul trouble the whole time in and out, choppy. Emmanuel in and out; Nathan in and out.

It wasn't the ideal kind of game, but we knew that's what they do. We learned a lot about a lot of different parts of our team, but we also played teams that we're going to see familiar styles coming up.

To do this in a short period of time, these guys logged a lot of minutes. Their bodies are banged up. So it will be good to get home and get some treatment and keep going. Keep going.

Q. What did you learn about Ace today? He was efficient, made plays when he needed to for the most part today. What did you think of kind of the maturity, especially after the way he played here maybe coming off the Kennesaw State, the end of it?

STEVE PIKIELL: He missed the first two games of the season, so he's five games into his college career. He's seeing every kind of defense. He's seeing every kind of different defender.

We really needed him to rebound today, and I'm really proud of him. 10, and I think he had a couple others that he kept us involved in. He really has a chance to be special. I'm proud of him, his development. And he's going to continue to do great things, and we need him to.

We need these two guys to do what they did today to have us keep moving forward here.

Q. Ace, what have you learned about college basketball in your first five games, and what worked so well for you today to have your best game in that moment?

ACE BAILEY: My teammates getting me involved, me getting our teammates involved. Like he said, me just rebounding. We needed to rebound. They're a very good rebounding team, so my goal was just to out-rebound, push the ball out of the court, get my teammates open, and just make plays for others.

Q. Talking about the rebounding, was that just something that you guys reviewed on film and that was the game plan? Or is that something personally that you really want to kind of thrive in this season to become more of a two-way player?

ACE BAILEY: Not just me, Coach Pike preaching rebounds. I mean, every practice we got rebound drills. We just rebound, so that's just where it comes from, just rebounding and him preaching it every day.

Q. Dylan Grant, what do you like about what he adds to this game, and how do you think he did?

STEVE PIKIELL: He was in foul trouble too, and he's been getting better. He can make threes. Let's put him in there, see if he can -- he's very athletic. I thought we need some more athletic bodies.

I thought he did a good job for the first go-round. He's got to keep improving, but he kind of gives us a little different -- he's a very good shooter too. So he gives us a space the floor kind of guy, especially the way they play defense.

We need everyone. I tell our guys we've got to always be ready because you never know when your day is called.

Q. Steve, you guys were two possessions away from beating a top ten team in Alabama, top 20 team today in Texas A&M. Do you feel like it's a lost opportunity, or do you feel like this is a thing that's going to pay dividends down the road in March?

STEVE PIKIELL: You have to have a journey. We have a whole new starting five. This isn't like we're bringing back seven veterans who played a lot of minutes. We're depending on our freshmen to do a lot of things for us.

J-Will's been good. I think we learned a lot about ourselves. When we play well, we can play with anybody. You go on the road, it's a whole different ballgame. You've got to play well. You can't defend the free-throw line. You've got to rebound, the physicality and guys going through it the first time as a team.

You've got to go through the journey. Journey makes you hardened and makes you tougher. You learn some things about yourself. You try to go back and devour some film, get guys kind of focused on the next obstacle, which isn't going to get any easier.