NCAA MEN'S 3RD & 4TH ROUND REGIONALS: AUSTIN

March 27, 2005

Kelenna Azubuike

Chuck Hayes

Tubby Smith

COACH SMITH: It is tough any time you get a loss at this stage of the game. I thought we had a great play to get it to overtime. Patrick made a great shot there. I thought we had things in hand there. I have got to compliment and congratulate Michigan State. It was a hard fought game. They deserved the win. It is just going to be -- you know, we're going to miss our seniors.

CHUCK HAYES: Well, we know we needed a three at the time. If we were to miss the attempt and kick it back out and try to get as many three point attempts as we can in that amount of time. Patrick made a great shot. He was able to back down the shot with a man in his face. That built momentum going to the first overtime.

CHUCK HAYES: Scared. I was praying and hoping from the angle they were seeing it from it was a clear-cut 3-pointer. You want it to end like that. I just knew if they were to call it the three, we would pull away from the first overtime.

CHUCK HAYES: Well, that was a very critical part of the game, late from the game in the first overtime. We scored and Randolph made a great move. It was there was no prize in the game after basketball than the ball itself and we couldn't get a hand on it.

CHUCK HAYES: We were running the play and that was successful for us during that time. They were able to adjust and they made the adjustments that they had to do defend it. We were looking for answers. You have to give them credit. They did a great job defending the play.

KELENNA AZUBUIKE: I think since I got it I should have tried shooting right away. I tried to create some space. By the time I did, the time ran out. I probably should have just shot it right when I got it.

CHUCK HAYES: It was a great game. It was a great game and sometimes you get it and sometimes you don't. You figure if you give everything you have and all your hard work, you know you will get the result that you want. The years that I put in here and the season that I have had and the hard work I put in the preseason and this whole season, sometimes you get it and sometimes you don't.

CHUCK HAYES: Yeah, it was. It is hard to play when you are in foul trouble. It takes aggression, the aggression that you want to play with. It helps you play smarter. I was hampered with foul trouble late from the second half and practically the whole game. I just wanted to be smart. I still wanted to play with aggression, but I had to know when to use it and when not to.

KELENNA AZUBUIKE: I give them credit. They played good defense. I was trying not to force anything. Trying to let it come to me. You can't blame anybody but yourself. I blame myself for not stepping up more and not helping this team out some more.

KELENNA AZUBUIKE: Yeah, I definitely see it that way now. There is no doubt that was a great game. We are just upset we didn't get the win. We have to give them credit. They played a great game. They made the stops when they had to and they made baskets when they had to.

CHUCK HAYES: Yeah, like I said, we got the tip and we had all the momentum from the end of regulation. We scored and we got the turnover. We knew they were going to break but you have got to give them credit with the experience they have. They got the offensive rebounds they had to get and they knocked down the three point shot they had to get at the time.

CHUCK HAYES: Well, they are well coached. They are a well-coached team. Even at times where we make runs or they were down what impressed me was that their seniors, the experience that they had, I feel like they have been there before as a team. They knew what to do to get the job done.

COACH SMITH: Obviously we didn't do a good job of challenging him and taking away shots. I know he got some shots in transition. You know, when you raise your level of play like he does -- they have got some athletes to match up. It was a tough one for us. We knew it would be a tough match-up.

COACH SMITH: You see it. I couldn't see his feet were behind the line. The officials had a better view. We were just trying to keep the guys positive and talk about this overtime and talk about what we were going to do. It seemed like it was lasting for eternity. It was a great, great shot and a great play. A great effort on Patrick Sparks' part and our team's part. We got it back late to get that one off. That was very dramatic. It will go down in history as a great college basketball game. It hurts right now. I am sure these guys will appreciate it later on.

COACH SMITH: When was this?

COACH SMITH: When he didn't get a shot and Kelenna dribbled around? Yeah. We wanted Rajon to try to beat his man off the dribble and penetrate. I think he pitched it to Kelenna and I think he waited until seven or eight seconds. We held it to the right time. I hoped he would take it all in. We were looking to get a foul. We probably should have dumped it inside. We were running the play. They were defending it pretty well and trying to get it inside to Chuck to try to draw the foul. You hand it to Kelenna and hope he would jump up and shoot it, but he didn't.

COACH SMITH: Just poor -- I thought we just -- they really started taking us off the dribble. We just couldn't stop them. You get in that shooting zone sometimes and we were having defensive breakdowns. That is pretty much what was causing the great shooting on their part. They made them and you have to give them credit. They made some big shots. A lot of it has to do with experience and being able to make those plays. My hat is off to them.

COACH SMITH: He has had a couple of concussions this year. We were concerned about that. He took a very hard fall there. He seemed to be coherent and okay. He definitely had a concussion. He hit his chin. He was doing okay when I left him in the locker room. That was tremendous effort. We kind of threw the ball up there for grabs. He did a -- we were looking to attack. We thought we had it over the top. He went over it and the collision took place. When Patrick went in I think there was 20 seconds left in the game. But he is a tough kid. He has a hard chin. He will recover. He did a good job for us. I was impressed with his running the team. I think our situation is very solid there for the future with our back court with Patrick, Ramel, Rajon and guys like that. I am proud of the effort they gave, especially Ramel.

COACH SMITH: Chuck is a guy that gets a lot of those rebounds. When he is hampered with fouls -- they were really just controlling both backboards, especially the offensive glass. That is demoralizing when you give up two and three offensive rebounds. I think it was couple of air balls, balls shot on the basket. One of things, Davis dunked and we fouled him twice on it. Those are critical plays, scores that just take the wind out of your sails. You work so hard on defense, to have that type of breakdown, it will crush you. Again, that is what Michigan State does as well as anybody in the country, is attack the boards.

COACH SMITH: It was a hard fall.

COACH SMITH: You never know. I thought there was contact. But then again, you can't see -- the official had a better view than we did.

COACH SMITH: Chuck is a special person. He is special young man. He understands what it means to -- what sacrifice means, what commitment means. He is a living example for all players to follow. He respects everything about college basketball that is good and wholesome. Certainly we're going to honor him. He has done so much for us, things that you can't really look in the box scores and see. We just hope and pray that he is able to continue to reach his dreams and goals. I know he wanted this pretty bad. It just leaves an empty feeling when a person has worked as had as he has. He has done everything the right way. He will be someone that is always in our memory and always a part of our family, the Wildcat family. We love him. Again, great career and a special person.

COACH SMITH: I thought our guys had a tremendous year. I have had a chance to -- just to get to this point, I thought we had a chance to move on to the Final Four. I know that we still have a very young team with a lot of potential. The future is very bright. Knowing that, I am not going to dwell on it. No one has prepared any harder all year long. These guys, my staff, we haven't had any days off in forever, seems like. So, I know these players have just been a joy to work with. It is disappointing but it is gratifying to know that I think they gave it all they had all year long.