|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2008Talor BattleEd DeChellisStanley PringleINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA THE MODERATOR: Coach, we'll ask you to make a couple of quick opening comments then we'll take questions for the players. Then we'll finish up with questions for you. COACH DECHELLIS: Well, I thought our kids really battled and played hard. We got ourselves in the hole the second half. But I think we've got a bunch of kids who really believe they can win and did a great job fighting back and putting us in a position to win the game. And I think that's all you can ask for. We've had three great games with Illinois. They've all been a possession game. It's always come down to a last possession. Today they made the play when we didn't. But I'm really proud of our kids and the way they played and the way they battled here this afternoon. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. We'll take any questions for Talor or Stanley, please. Q. Talor, what happened on the last play on the inbounds play? TALOR BATTLE: Well, I was guarding the inbounder, were told to kind of help. I seen Meacham come off and he kind of tried to turn the corner dribbling the basketball. And it's my job to help. So I kind of came out to help. And we had a trap on him. And I actually kind of had the ball and he jumped out and made a pass and Frazier was heady enough to step in and he was right there and he laid the ball. Q. Talor, after they went up by 10 in the second half, seemed like you kind of wanted to have the ball in your hands on a lot of occasions going after it. Is that kind of your mind-set you had to take over the game there? TALOR BATTLE: I kind of -- I just, when you're down like that, especially in a tournament where it's kind of one game you're out, I just been taught my whole life to never stop fighting. And that's kind of what I'm made of. And Coach, he kept calling plays for me trying to get me the basketball. And when Coach called them I tried to make great opportunity of them and convert and help my team come back. Q. Do you feel you've gained some experience from this and is it something you can build on for next year? TALOR BATTLE: I think losing here in the first round hurts. But, like you said, this is a great step forward for us. The past three games we've been playing with four freshman and Stanley, a transfer, and we never played collegiate basketball until this year. So for us to come out and play so competitively against Indiana and here against Illinois, and we had the game right down to the last seven seconds. I think it's a great step forward. And Coach did a great job, especially losing Geary Claxton and Jamelle Cornley, kind of rebuilding our team and having the other guys step up and other guys in position to score baskets. STANLEY PRINGLE: I feel like we gained some experience from this. It was a disappointing loss, but, like I said, overall I feel like due to the circumstances it was a good season. We lost Geary Claxton and Jamelle Cornley, but everybody kept fighting, upset two top-ranked teams and won our last five games at home. I feel like the season was good due to circumstances, but disappointing loss, that last possession. Q. You guys went to man there at the end, seemed like you were getting to Illinois, flustering them a bit. Do you prefer to play man to man because you have a chance to get at it on defense try to get some steals? TALOR BATTLE: Well, the past two games, we play zone, and that worked great for us. But tonight Meacham, McCamey and even Frazier and Brian, they were hitting shots. So credit them. And then the last four minutes we kind of just going man to man is like a gut check and you have to dig deep and you have to contain the basketball and fight through screens and that takes so much toughness. For us to play if last four or five minutes like that, with that much energy, is great. It brought us back into the game. It threw them off as they haven't seen zone the past three times they've played us. So Coach kind of changed things up and it worked. And I can't explain the feeling how it feels to lose on that last play. THE MODERATOR: Thank you for your time. Finish up with questions for Coach. Q. Coach, what did you see on the last play that happened? COACH DECHELLIS: I don't really believe games sometimes come down to the last play. I think there's several plays we didn't make leading up to the last play. I thought we had a pretty good shot or two. We were up one a couple times with the ball, didn't score. The last play we didn't get a rebound on the previous play. We knew we'd get the rebound and feeling a little better about ourselves. So to say we didn't do this on the last play, Talor tried to help on Meacham. Thought he was coming clean. Danny thought he had him. And we left the inbounder and they made a play out of the little trap there and he laid it in the basket. So that's the play. But there's several plays leading up to that that I didn't think we made that we had an opportunity to. And we had an opportunity to get a rebound we didn't get. As I always thought before, it didn't come down to the last one. I mean, there's plays throughout the game that you gotta make, or the last five minutes there were plays we didn't make, I thought. Q. At the same time, when you go into the locker room afterwards knowing that play meant whether you could play on or not probably, that changes the tenor of your speech to the kids? COACH DECHELLIS: I didn't say it didn't hurt. I'm never going to say we didn't -- that in this last one we didn't do this, we didn't do that. But we didn't. We didn't kind of guard the way we needed to. I'll be up all night wondering, okay, we should have switched this, go back to zone on the baseline play. I was worried about playing to the rim. You can second-guess yourself until you're blue in the face. We need to get a rebound. We need to get a rebound and we're all pretty happy and going down and going back and watching Purdue tape. But it didn't happen that way. We have had three close games with these guys. It's all come down to the last possession almost every game. And I was hoping it would tonight and hopefully we can make a play. Just didn't happen. Q. Why the decision not to take the time out after their basket, did you consider it? COACH DECHELLIS: We only had seven on the clock. To go baseline to baseline, when you get the defense set up, it's really hard. So we thought we would have a better chance, the ball went in with 3.8. And I told them in the tank we're going to push it. If the ball went into the basket push it as hard as we could the other way and catch them celebrating. And I think we probably had another dribble or two and maybe a better shot. But, you know, with three seconds to go or 3.5, I think it went in, we just made that decision in the timeout earlier if the ball went in the basket we were getting it out and going and we were pushing it hard and not give them an opportunity to set up and make a play. Q. What did you say to the guys on the team when you got back to the locker room? COACH DECHELLIS: I think it's been a learning experience, a year for us. Some kids grew up, had to grow up very, very quickly. I told them I was very proud of them. We played hard here the last month or so. I think we've really improved as a basketball team. I'm proud of them for that. I feel bad for the seniors. But, you know, we've got a long way to go, too. We've got a long way to go. We've got to improve over spring and summer. But I think our kids have worked hard and they've tried to execute what we've asked them to do. And so for that I'm proud of them. And they've been a very resilient group. I've said that all year. And down 10 or whatever, 11, they came storming back. So there's some really, really good things. To kind of focus on the last negative thing, I don't think that does anybody any good. Q. Can you talk about what these last two games have meant for Jeff Brooks? COACH DECHELLIS: I think Jeffrey's grown up. And we saw this for most of the year out of Jeff. And maybe I didn't coach him right. I just told him he's going to go out there and play you're not coming out. You make a mistake you make a mistake, go play and have some fun. And I think he's done a real good job the last few games. He's grown up a little bit and figured out how hard you have to play at this level and how competitive it is night in and night out and day in and day out in practice. He's going to be fine. He's a great kid. Wants to learn. It's a big spring for him strength training-wise, get stronger. They beat us up in the first half, second half I think we did a much better job rebounding the ball. Q. You said maybe you didn't coach Jeff right. Could you elaborate on that, could you have done something different? COACH DECHELLIS: We threw him out there to play. We didn't have that luxury. We threw him out there. You make a couple mistakes, you gotta get a guy out. But we didn't have the -- he didn't have to look over his shoulder. He could just go play. And I think that's maybe what he needed, just a confidence that I'm playing and play free and play loose and Jeff, he wants to do things really, really well. And he wants to do things right. And sometimes, you know, things just don't work out that way and you have to be able to adapt. That's what I've tried to get across to him, in the sense that you can't play perfect. When you make a mistake don't worry about it. And just move on to the next play and so that's what I mean by coaching him well. I don't know if I got that point across to him throughout the year that you just gotta, you gotta let it roll off your back and keep making basketball plays and working. Q. Pruitt was really banging around inside. How do you think your guys handled him and his presence? COACH DECHELLIS: Pruitt. He's a big kid and fifth-year senior, knows how to play and get position. I think the kids did a good job and fought. I don't think we did a good job the first half especially rebounding the basketball. The second half, I thought we did a much better job and we're more physical and aggressive. That's what we've tried to get the kids to be, they're not strong. They're not bulky, but I think they can be very aggressive. We wanted our post guys to be aggressive inside. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|