MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 12, 2005

Tim Drisdom

Ray Giacoletti

COACH GIACOLETTI: I thought the first half, New Mexico was definitely the aggressor. They game out right from the very start and got us back on our heels. We are at our best when we are the aggressor. We were not that in the first half. Second half I think Tim did a great job of getting us aggressive defensively. I think that was the difference why we were able to get back in the game and go up a point. Down the stretch we couldn't get a stop. If you can't get stops late in games it will be really hard to win basketball games. A credit goes to New Mexico. They got the ball in the right guys' hands at the right time. We tried to take a charge one time, didn't go. Offensive rebound where they got a stick back dunk. The last four possessions we just could not come up with the stop. If you can't do that, you are not going to win games at the end. It doesn't matter if they are regular season games or tournament championship games.

TIM DRISDOM: That had nothing do to with it. We were taught never to be satisfied. It is second nature to be never satisfied.

TIM DRISDOM: They got off to a good start. Like Coach said, we weren't the more aggressive team. When they jumped ahead, they gave off that energy in the first half. We got it going better the second half. Down the stretch we couldn't get stops.

TIM DRISDOM: They crowded him on every swing of the ball. I think the easiest time we got the ball in was from the top of the key. We kind of figured that out late. With game adjustments -- we have got to adjust. That made it hard. Guys have to step up and knock down shots. We were off a little bit. There was no excuse on the defensive end.

TIM DRISDOM: We were supposed to switch in the start of game. Lack of communication on a couple of occasions. On some other occasions, he hit some tough shots. He is a tough player. A credit to him. He is a good player. We did our best, like I said, in the second half. He got off to a good first half start. He had eighteen first half points. He was confident going into the second half. He is a really good player.

COACH GIACOLETTI: Nothing happens. Find out tomorrow if we are one of sixty-five. See if our name comes up. And hopefully we got a bad taste in our mouth. This team is 27 and 5. I mean, I don't think in my expectations or the staffs' expectations, or the team's expectations, we would have imagined we would be at the point, especially on a bus ride back from Utah State in December. One loss along the way here in the great basketball game that is life. If our name comes up, it will be a great honor to be in the NCAA tournament. We'll start preparing get ourselves ready.

COACH GIACOLETTI: Critical call that Randy said he didn't get hit hard enough. I take Randy's word. Randy is a good official. The call didn't go our way.

COACH GIACOLETTI: Again, you got to knock down shots to stretch the defense. I mean, there were times tonight where they had three people around Andrew and basically daring us to shoot the basketball and not necessarily from the three point line. They were daring us to shoot it. There is nothing our staff or myself can draw up to get ourselves a better look or find another way to get the ball until we knock down shots. Last night with Jonas hitting big threes, it stretched the defense.

COACH GIACOLETTI: They know if they are open. We want to spend at least 20, 25 seconds to try to skip the ball, punch a gap, kick out opposite, and try to make the defense adjust. It seemed like to me without watching the tape, the ball would get stuck in guys' hands for too long a period of time. They were looking for things. If it ain't open in the first count, you have got to swing it. The ball was dying at times in our hands. It was, I am going to make the play instead of reading the situation and reading the defense or skipping it or getting the ball to the first open man.