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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: BIRMINGHAMMarch 21, 2008Wayne ChismBruce PearlJaJuan SmithTyler SmithBIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement by Coach Pearl and then take questions for the student-athletes. COACH PEARL: Just congratulations to American University. They represented themselves and the patriot league extremely well. They made shots, particularly Carr was just spectacular. They played with great energy. Particularly on the offensive boards where we knew they really run to the boards and they bothered us early. With their offensive rebounding. But, I thought we were able to turn them over. And I think our press was particularly effective and without pressure defense, we would have been in perhaps more of a similar situation to what Duke was in last night. Going up against a great team, very well-coached, very-well spaced, but it was nine assists and 22 turnovers, I think, I think that was probably a big difference, as well as these three guys sitting to my left. THE MODERATOR: Okay. Questions for the student-athletes. Q. JaJuan, why did the offense appear to be so out of sync most of the game? JAJUAN SMITH: There was a great defensive team out there. We just weren't playing our ball, we were a little sloppy with you but we turned it on in the second half and made plays. Q. Tyler and Wayne, guys, talk about that sequence there at the end. I thought it was a big one when Tyler came up with the block and then down at the other end Wayne the 3-point to put you guys back up about 10. Maybe both of you could talk about that. TYLER SMITH: We were trying to make a play and force our team. Our last outing we got kind of frustrated because of the bigs and as far as rebounding, but we were trying to come in and show that we were trying to make a defensive effort and Wayne came down and made a big shot for us. WAYNE CHISM: Well, we wanted to run anyway, but Tyler came in with a good block so you transitioned off, and it was pretty good, so once Tyler cut to the basket, they left a trail wide open and I let one go and it went in. Q. Defense, guys, has not been real good the last few games, much better today. Is that something that you really concentrated on? TYLER SMITH: Of course. They had two great players that we were trying to slow down as far as Carr and Mercer. And we put one of our best defenders and Carr and had JaJuan on the other guard. Q. For Wayne, can you just talk about hitting those threes and just the difference in your confidence now versus maybe a year ago playing in the tournament as a freshman? WAYNE CHISM: When I came in as a freshman I think I played pretty good as a freshman. When I entered the tournament -- I mean I did good things in the tournament as a freshman. But coming into this tournament I had two fouls in the first half and two points. So I had to come out in the second half and play better. And coach came out with a quick play for me and I hit that one and then it came down to another one and I kept going on and Tyler went for a lay up and missed, so I picked my team up on offense big time because I changed on defense in the first half. Q. I'm sure you all were well prepared by your coach for this team, but did you really believe how good they could be and did you have to make up a little bit during the game early in the game? JAJUAN SMITH: Coach prepared us for a close game. He's been telling us all week long how close this game was going to be. We were well prepared, been getting up early in the morning for this early game. So we were real focused for this. TYLER SMITH: Having a player like Carr, as far as you got -- another Chris out there so we had to watch him shoot and he could get a shot any time and one player can beat you if he gets that shot. But they were a great team and they came out with a lot of effort. But coach had us as far as defense, ready to play them. THE MODERATOR: No further questions for the student-athletes we'll let you guys get back to the locker room and take questions for coach. Q. Could you, as the second-half progressed, could you see American's confidence building? Could you see them believing more as the game wore on? COACH PEARL: I thought they came in confident. I thought they came in knowing that they could play with us. I actually felt like our confidence was building as the second half -- as the second half wore on. I thought American came here to win the game and knew that they, if they played well, I think watching Belmont last night had to be encouraging for them. We were in a 2-15 game against Winthrop and Chris Lofton had to make a shot to win. This is the NCAA tournament. And no matter how we try and prepare you guys to understand that this is what it is, you get -- you just think that we're supposed to roll out there and knock these guys off and in a huge way. And we shot 49 percent from two, we were the more patient team with only 45 shots. As opposed to American's 58 shots. Now part of that was they did a good job on the offensive boards but we made 1 percent of our free throws, those are really good offensive statistics that good teams have to do. Q. Can you comment on Brian and Ramar sitting out the first half and also rebounding and their advantage on the boards. COACH PEARL: We're trying to get better point guard play and so J.P. Prince played a lot of point guard tonight. When Jordan Howell, I thought, struggled some in the first half I just I went with Ramar. And then Brian had no points and five fouls in his last game. And just wasn't pleased with his performance, against Arkansas, and so went with Ryan Childress in the first half. And then at half time some of it worked and some of it didn't. Q. It looked like you guarded your team guarded a lot harder in the last 15 minutes than they did the first 25 minutes. That's what it looked like? COACH PEARL: Yeah. Well, American shot 31 percent in the first half, they lead their league in field goal percentage at about 44. And they only made two 3-points in the first half, both by Carr. I think maybe in the last ten minutes or so American got a little tired. They may have fatigued. And so I don't know that we played any more effectively lately, but they had just, you know, being pressed and guarding the way we guard, we didn't sit back, there wasn't any zone, Carr plays 40 minutes and Mercer plays 39. I think that fatigue may have been a bit of a factor and we played a lot more guys than they did. Q. They out rebounded you by 39-27. They get 18 offensive rebounds, a lot of the balls were bouncing their way, but how disturbing is that? COACH PEARL: They had great energy on the offensive boards. And they do that all year long. They have got a pretty good idea -- couple things: They got a pretty good idea when Carr's going to shoot the ball. And because you have to have your bigs out there hedging him and doubling him some, when shots are taking place your inside guys aren't inside their guys. So, it's really not a checkout situation, it's a race to the boards. In the next game, watch Butler. And watch Butler's ball screen, and spread out. And watch Butler's guys run to the boards and there's no one there to check them out. Because you're out there doubling Garrison, doubling Mercer, doubling Graves or Green, and that's what can happen with spread and good ball screen offense. And that's why they're a very, very effective offensive rebounding team. THE MODERATOR: Okay, thank you, coach. COACH PEARL: Thank you. 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