MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 12, 2005

David Chiotti

Danny Granger

Ritchie McKay

Alfered Neale

COACH MCKAY: This is a great win for us because of the quality of the opponent. I think Utah is the best team in the country, so for us to do this third game in three nights with that obviously great player Andrew Bogut, I am really proud of our young men. Those of you who left Danny Granger off your All-American Team, you need to get another vote. He's one of the best players in America. He won't say that, and we try to do it with humility. He has a supporting cast. I can't say enough about that young man and his contribution to the University of New Mexico and our basketball program.

DANNY GRANGER: We got an automatic bid but we were worthy of a higher seed than what they were willing to give us. We are a good team. We are on a really hot streak right now.

DANNY GRANGER: Coach told me when I was driving and penetrating and catching the ball in the post, I was starting to draw a lot of attention. I use that to get opportunities to get my teammates open. I tried to do that more in the second half.

DAVID CHIOTTI: Basically, it was like a team effort. My whole job is to get him off the block and limit his catches but without tremendous help from Alfred and Danny and other people down low -- he is a great player. We basically just surrounded him the best we could, make it harder for him to catch it, and when he did catch it, he would be seven to ten feet off the block so he wouldn't be as effective when he turns to score.

DANNY GRANGER: You think about your mental capacity. You can't just let your nerves affect your shots. I was trying to get my elbow straight and follow through.

DANNY GRANGER: I know that I was in the camp with them in the summer. I wasn't thinking about that at that time. I was concentrating on making those free throws. Luckily I made them.

ALFRED NEALE: I believe that was Danny that actually shot the shot. I think that was Marcus on Danny at the time. Kind of doubled down and left me open to try to get the offensive rebound. It was one of those things to throw off Danny and it gave me the opportunity to get the put back.

DANNY GRANGER: I told Al after that shot that basket was huge. I missed the shot; he came on. That gave us the momentum we needed to finish the game. That was one of the biggest shots of the night.

DANNY GRANGER: We have come such a long way. We have been through injuries with this -- our program has been through a lot. It is good to get us back on track with Coach leading us. This is great stuff for the program.

COACH MCKAY: We knew they weren't going to put a guard on Danny, so to have them bring it up against one of their guards was going to be okay. I wasn't too happy they were trying to do the Alan Iverson crossover. That is about all he didn't do tonight.

COACH MCKAY: Honestly, Natalie, I was thankful that God provided me this opportunity. People have said this and that about our moves. But the University of New Mexico is where my dad played, and I followed it so long. It is a privilege to lead this program. I have had great support by this administration and it finally came to fruition by us getting to the tournament.

COACH MCKAY: That credit goes to our players. We made the decision after BYU that we would do individual work to prevent injuries. They did a tremendous job in developing, especially Tony Dandridge and Ryan Wall. It happened because it was infectious. Danny and Troy started it. David and the other fourteen guys worked tremendously hard individually to improve. I think we got confidence from repetition. Those guys have great character, so we were able to achieve this step.

COACH MCKAY: I watched some scores. My plan was to go home tonight and watch Pacific and Utah State. I don't have to watch that game anymore. I am pleased with our program. The contingency of the Lobos fans here is so phenomenal. To have them celebrate both Lobos championships. Hopefully we'll continue the streak.

COACH MCKAY: I am little bit of a copy cat. I have copied some stuff from Kelvin Sampson. I have had great plays from Bob Bender, Jack Malaney, John Beline from West Virginia. I just try to pick and choose. We try to recruit a certain type of player and personality. We still think we can get better and keep improving on this season.

COACH MCKAY: I think Lunardi had us as an 11 seed. I guess a win like this would make us ten or hopefully nine. I don't know if I want to play in the eight-nine game. They are a difficult opponent. I know we were criticized for our schedule. We played Utah three times now. I don't think we will be afraid. I think we will try to get better, keep improving. We walk in any arena we get placed in with confidence.

COACH MCKAY: Thank you.