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NIT POSTSEASONMarch 29, 2007Oliver PurnellNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK COACH OLIVER PURNELL: First of all I would like to congratulate West Virginia on being champions. I thought that they definitely outplayed us tonight. Their zone gave us all kinds of problems. Just looking at the turnover total, which is pretty shocking, given the fact that we turned the ball over so many times in the first half to kind of give them the margin -- we turned ball over seven or eight times and they had 14 or 15 more shot attempts than we did, you know, during that stretch and probably toward the end -- maybe even into the half. It's just really tough when a team has that many more shot attempts. They got a couple off the offensive glass. You know, we didn't get to the offensive glass, which I thought that we could, but again, you've got to give them credit for their aggressiveness to keep us off. I thought that our inability to finish at the basket in the second half kept us from creeping back into it, and you know, I really think the story of the game was us giving up 3s and then making 3s obviously. They count three -- they shot over 50 percent the first half. The second half, 60 percent for the game, so that's the ballgame right there. Our game plan was to take those away. We didn't do that. That's West Virginia's game. They actually took more three-point shots than they did 2s during the regular season. We knew that and we had a game plan to take that away and we didn't do it. As a result, we turned the ball over and they had many more shot attempts than we did. We shot 60 percent; that's the ballgame. Again, I give them credit for being aggressive, physical and doing a good job. I give our guys credit for hanging in there all year long and the way they battled, and I think even tonight, seeing the game was out of reach, they continued to battle which is the way they have been all year long. Q. Was it just great ball movement or a lot of lapses on your guys part? COACH OLIVER PURNELL: We didn't pick up Young in transition a couple of times off of our turnovers. We helped off their center, on what we call the Richmond screen, and just popped back and shot it. That's something we talked about. I thought we had some mental lapses. And they did obviously move the ball well. They execute well; you have to be there to guard them. We were doing a pretty good job on the back door but we were not doing a good job on that turnaround coming off that screen, and then the center popping back. We went over it, but we didn't execute it well enough. Q. As much as we bragged on the bench for last two games, do you think a couple of guys got overwhelmed by their zone? COACH OLIVER PURNELL: Yeah, just overwhelmed or didn't play well versus it. It's a little easier when you have a couple of days preparation. It's a little easier when the zone isn't as good as the zone from West Virginia. Again, I think you have to give them credit. Everyone knows they have a very good zone. It a big part of what they do and it certainly gave us some problems turning us over in the first half. Q. They struggled from the free throw line today; did you consider to start fouling with three minutes, four minutes to go when you're down 13, 14, 15? COACH OLIVER PURNELL: Yeah, but not really. If you look at their stats, they are a pretty good free throw shooting team, they can put a couple of guys out there. They did finally start fouling but didn't consider fouling that much earlier. Q. How much was K.C.'s night their zone and how much he had just an off-night? COACH OLIVER PURNELL: I think a combination. I think in general our team did not play as well as it had been playing. You know, I thought we could have done some things better. I think being shot ready, penetrating, those kind of things better; again, maybe with the short turnaround, we weren't sharp, and as comfortable against the zone as I would like for us to be. I think it was a combination, but again, I give their zone an awful lot of credit. A short turnaround is tough to prepare for. Q. Looking at the season now, how do you assess it, your season? COACH OLIVER PURNELL: Well, I think we had a good year. We tied a school record for wins. We tied our school record for most consecutive wins to start a season. We were ranked many weeks in the Top-25. Obviously we hit a very tough spot; yet this group hung in there to the point where we were playing some of our best basketball in the postseason. We advanced all the way to the final of the NIT. Kids had a great experience here in New York. By my definition of success, it was a successful season and I would certainly call it a good one. Q. Vernon Hamilton had kind of a scrappy game tonight, 16 points; what has he meant to you? COACH OLIVER PURNELL: I think he played very well in the tournament, certainly in the tournament he's played well. I'm happy for him that he has done that and he'll leave here now and go to the Final Four where he'll participate in the All-Star Game with the top seniors. I'm glad he'll have an opportunity to do that. Every year he's gotten better and I think that's not a coincidence. Q. Is their defense or offense harder to prepare for? COACH OLIVER PURNELL: Probably would say their defense, but both of them -- in a short turnaround -- they execute very well, so both of them are tough. Q. You said you were not worried about the short turnaround yesterday because they had to do the same thing. Do you think they handled the turnaround a little better? COACH OLIVER PURNELL: I think they did. I was not happy with our aggressiveness all game long. I thought we were aggressive at the beginning and at the end. I thought in the middle we were not as aggressive defensively as we needed to be and without question they handled the turnaround better. I don't think there's any question about that. Q. Did it surprise you that your team was not as mentally in it for as long of a stretch today? You really lit into them early in the second half. COACH OLIVER PURNELL: I won't say I was surprised. I've been coaching for a long time, you see certain things happen, kids react to certain situations differently. Sometimes you can be mentally tired after a long series of games, and then adversity hits and it kind of slows down and you might need a little shock therapy to get yourself going. That's really all I was trying to do was just kind of give our guys a little bit of a jolt. I thought they reacted to that. I thought they reacted to it and we kind of settled back in. Definitely have to give West Virginia, they are working a margin, it's not a chop liver team. It's not all of a sudden they are going to lay down and you're going to turn them over and that kind of thing. They did a good job of turning over a few times and making a few mistakes and okay, now let's run some tempo, let's run some clock, let's spread out, let's give them something they have not been able to handle well, which is the Richmond screen, which they set some screens on our four-man which he's not used to handling when they have four perimeter players out there, they have the ability to do that. Q. What did you say to Vernon when he came off with there? COACH OLIVER PURNELL: I just gave him a hug. Q. Can you talk about Butler's play and what kind of future he might have? COACH OLIVER PURNELL: Well, he played extremely well. I can only assume that he's going to have a very bright future. He played extremely well. End of FastScripts |
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