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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 8, 2007

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA

CHARLIE FISK: We're joined by Coach Greg McDermott and his two student athletes, Rahshon Clark and Mike Taylor.
COACH GREG MCDERMOTT: As has been the case many times this year, these guys didn't quit and that's -- that's been a theme with this group all season long.
We didn't play very good basketball the first half, Oklahoma had a lot to do with that, their ability to get Nate Carter started was the difference between the difference in Ames and the game here today. While they did that, we got in foul trouble and weren't able to keep the game close in the first half because of that. They competed the second half. We got back in the game, actually took the lead and put ourselves in a position to win and in the end Oklahoma just made a few more plays than we did.

Q. Rahshon, can you talk about what it was like this year. A new coach, new system and what it has been like for you this year?
RAHSHON CLARK: It has been a good season for me. You know, I wasn't as much as a scorer as I was last year. It is no big deal about that. But I have been doing things that I really haven't been doing last year as far as me playing good defense or rebounding the ball that much. But the season has been great. I'm surrounded by good players. Mike Taylor, he is a good player. You know, I felt bad for the seniors that we couldn't pull this win off so we could continue our season but they're great. The seniors that are leaving are great. We are going to miss them and I wish them the best for whatever they do.

Q. Mike, I wonder if you can talk about you guys rallied back to take the lead. You had boisterous fans behind you. Would you talk about what happened then afterwards? It seems like you had the momentum going pretty good at that point.
MIKE TAYLOR: It was a story of our season, this game that we played today. There was a lot of ups and downs in the first half but we put ourself in a position to win. We had a couple of good looks at the basket. It just didn't fall and came down on the defense end and it was a contested shot but the shot went in and I felt like everybody that stepped on the floor tonight gave it their all. We left it all out on the floor for the last 20 minutes in the second half.

Q. How tough is it when you have to come back from a hole that you guys have dug at different times in the ball game? You guys had that first hole that you dug out of, then Oklahoma extends the lead again and you have to come back and take the lead. How tough is it to finish a game when you have to do that multiple times?
MIKE TAYLOR: It is real tough but we never gave up. We never thought that we was out of the game. I was telling the guys that it is not over until the horn sounds, until that last horn sounds. We just gave it -- we just gave it our all and put everything out there on the floor.
I still think that we had a terrific chance to take the lead up four, maybe five points, some great shots. Some wide-open looks at the basket. It just rattled out a couple times and one was short. It was great looks at the basket, so, I mean, if them shots had of falled, then the game probably would have been our way.

Q. Mike, can you look back at this year and what you guys have done and what do you see for the future?
MIKE TAYLOR: This season, I think it was a great season for us, great first year for the Cyclones. At the beginning of the year, before the preseason even started, critics were saying, the media was saying that we was the bottom of the Big 12, finish the bottom of the Big 12, 11th and 12th in the Big 12. And we finished off the conference at the 8th seed.
We had a chance to be 6th, so, I mean -- I felt it was a great season for us in our first year here. Next year we just got to learn from the mistakes and learn from the hard times that we went through this year and just get better. We had a nice freshmen class coming in that we can build on.
That's about it.

Q. Coach, Jiri and Wesley both struggled in the first half. How did they overcome that? And they came out and had a much better second half. What did you do to adjust?
COACH GREG MCDERMOTT: Part of their struggles was their foul trouble and not being able to get into the flow of the game because of the foul trouble. Wes got a couple quick ones and we made the decision to leave him on the bench. I felt if we could keep it within ten we could keep Mike and Wes on the bench. We were able to sneak Mike in there for a couple minutes. Had he a big three and cut it to nine. And then we got him out of there again.
We got Jiri some touches and he didn't finish the plays down low and Oklahoma did some good things to keep it out of his hands with some switching and some helping that they provided when caught the ball.
But we just -- we played much better the second half than we did the first half. We were more inspired. Offensively, we moved the ball a little bit better and we shot it better, obviously.

Q. Greg, I know it is kind of early to ask for some year-end perspective on a season. Do you think this team -- how well do you think this team maximized its ability this year?
COACH GREG MCDERMOTT: The important thing is that we've made strides in really all areas. Our offense has improved. Our defense gave us an opportunity to be in games in the Big 12 because if you look at our offensive numbers, field-goal percentage, three-point field-goal percentage and our assist-to-turnover ratio, it is pitiful. We have probably grown as a team more than anything. We started 6-0 and lost five of our next six.
Any time there is a new coaching staff and we had only four or five returning players and then you bring in five or six new players and there is all these new coaches, when that happens, when you lose five out of six, you find out a lot about guys' character. That's when they are going to turn on each other, start pointing fingers and come up with every reason under the sun as to what's wrong besides taking a look in the mirror.
To our guys' credit, they did not do that. They stayed on the same page. We kept moving forward. And, you know, there's guys that have plenty of room to grow. As a unit, what we were dealing with, I'm pretty proud of where they finished and most proud they never quit. They didn't quit early in the season, they had that bad stretch. They didn't quit in a game like today when the chips were really against on when we were down 14.
CHARLIE FISK: Thank you, Coach.

End of FastScripts

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