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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: LITTLE ROCK

March 21, 2008

LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS

THE MODERATOR: With us Coach Randy Bennett, Patrick Mills and Todd Golden. Comments from the coach and then hold your questions for the players, and they will depart and the coach will answer other questions.
COACH BENNETT: My comments on this. Tale of two halves this game. First half we played pretty well defensively, I thought, and kept McClinton in check for the most part. And then second half, first eight minutes were just got outscored by 19. That hasn't happened to us very often, but I don't know. That's all we talked about at halftime was McClinton was going -- he's going to really try and win this game for them, and that's what he did. He came out, and I think he had like 32 in the second half.
I just thought the way we started that second half really jeopardized our chances of winning that game. You just can't give up a run like that. It was transition D, offensive boards, just some things we normally do and proud of our guys.
I thought we played pretty well for the other 32 minutes, and I was proud they came back and tightened the game up. Had some good looks at it to really get it close. And so I'm not down at all, just wish we would have played better to start the second half and done a better job on McClinton in the second half. He's a really good player.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the players, please.

Q. Question for Patty. What was it like just going against McClinton? Seemed like at times he couldn't miss, and when you guys did pressure him, he was finding the open player.
PATRICK MILLS: Yeah. It was a great experience firstly to play in a game like this. Being told that there's no media containment at all in the tournament, when it comes to the tournament and, yeah, he's playing, the way he plays, is one of the top in the country and I believe that.
There's things that I believe that we can learn from every game, and one of the things, you know, I can learn from the way McClinton handled the game was the way he controlled the whole game, you know. He took the game over when it needed to be took over by the team, and, you know, he just went to work.
So that's something that I can definitely learn from that, and, yeah, like I said, it was a great experience.

Q. Todd, can you go into a little bit what coach was talking about at the start of the second half, what do you think the problem was, and when did you guys kind of feel it slipping away a little bit?
TODD GOLDEN: No. What coach said hit the nail right on the head. We did what we wanted to do in the first half. We limited their transition. We didn't give up one 3 to McClinton. We just wanted to force him to take tough 2s. We did it the first half. Just our inability to keep him off the offensive boards early in the second half hurt us. When I was guarding McClinton, I had trouble getting over the double screens, which lead to some easy baskets which really got him going. Tough players like that, it's a really tough sign. If we wanted to advance, we had to do it, and we weren't able to.
He's a really good player, made some tough shots, and we just kind of have to tip our cap a little bit.

Q. Patty, the game just ended, so I don't know if this is the right time to ask this question, but can you just reflect a little bit on this season, what the experience has been like, how it compares with other basketball experiences you've had, and kind of what this ride has been like for you?
PATRICK MILLS: College, D1, college basketball, it's more than I expected, and the experience I had from the beginning, first setting foot on the campus in Moraga has been a wonderful experience. For me, the seniors that have been involved, in Todd and Tron, really showed me, really showed me how to take care of a team and showed me how to be great leaders over a Division I college basketball team. So, you know, even though the season has ended now, I'm sure I'll still be involved with the team somehow, and, you know, hopefully next year when it comes around, I can just follow in their footsteps and learn what they've taught me.
Yeah, like I said, since day one has been a wonderful experience and I've loved every moment of it.

Q. Can I just follow-up with one question. When is Boomer Camp? Have you spoken to the coach about playing for Australia?
PATRICK MILLS: No idea. No idea.

Q. This question is for Todd. Can you kind of just reflect on the last six games that you guys have had. You've had a chance to win the regular season, have a chance to advance to the WCC Tournament to get in the finals. You got knocked off in the first round. To get knocked out in the first round of the NCAA, it's not the way you imagined it for your senior year, right?
TODD GOLDEN: You know, I don't know -- our last six games were really a difficult stretch in the schedule. We played at Gonzaga, at San Diego. These are tough teams, and I'm just proud of my teammates the way we just played hard and we never, never let down. We played hard every game like we were expecting to win it, and, you know, we went 26 -- 25 and 6 or 7. We had a great season. I'm proud as hell to be a part of this team. This is the best team I've ever been on. To go to the tournament twice in four years of playing, I think it's a great accomplishment for myself, and it speaks a lot for the program that Coach Bennett has been able to put together here.
I'm just very proud to be a part of it.

Q. Patrick, you had made a shot with about four minutes left to get you guys within 8. They had a turnover, you missed a 3-pointer. Did you feel like that was -- gave you a good chance to get back in it? Do you feel with the missed 3-pointer, it was going to be real tough at that point?
PATRICK MILLS: I think on a tournament you don't give up until the final buzzer sounds. That's what we've done this whole season. Moments like that, I guess great players make the most of those opportunities and chances, and, you know, it doesn't really come down to that play. I mean, there's other opportunities during the game that I could have made the most of and -- but it's not only that. I thought our effort during the whole game was good. But, you know, that's the NCAA Tournament that I've just experienced, I mean, they came at us with everything. So I've experienced it now. So just got to move on, I guess.
THE MODERATOR: Patrick, Todd, we'll excuse you now. Congratulations on a terrific year.
Questions for Coach Bennett.

Q. Coach, just wanted to ask you about second time in a row where the first round out and I know you want to push to get to that next level, but until you can win that first one, is that kind of the way you see it?
COACH BENNETT: No. I think we took our program to a different level this year, and to be an at-large team two times in four years, it says a lot about our program and the people in our program, the people at our school, and the commitment that we've made to try to be a good program.
So, you got to take each year as one year. I don't really compare the two. Anytime you play in the NCAA Tournament, you're be playing a really good team and especially when you're in the 7s, 10s, 8s, 9s. You're going to have to play well for 40 minutes.
I don't make the comparison. In no way am I disappointed in the season. I'm really proud of the guys. I thought our leadership from our seniors was outstanding, and it starts there. And so I think look to the future. I think we have a lot returning, and some guys that last time we -- last time we went to the NCAA Tournament, we lost five of our top seven. This year we don't do that. These guys have a chance to build on the experience of not only getting to the NCAA Tournament, which is an experience in itself, it's tough to do, but actually playing in the NCAA Tournament.
Now they -- they need to take some time off, but when we get back going, they'll know what they're shooting for, and they'll know if they do get the opportunity to play in it again, they'll know how -- what it's like to play in it and how hard it is.

Q. Coach, following up on what Patty said, it did seem like you guys played hard until the end. Every time you made a run and made a big shot, it seemed like Miami made a big shot, usually by make Clinton. Is there anything that you can do when a guy like Jack is going like that?
COACH BENNETT: That's all we talked about at halftime was McClinton. I've seen five games on these guys. In about four of those games, he's done it. He's really got a will to win, a will to take over the game. And our players, they haven't seen all five, so they have to go based on what we tell them.
I was trying to emphasize to them that you're going to have to really guard him hard because he's going to try and win this game, and so he had a lot of answers. They had a lot of answers. They did a good job. They did a good job on Diamon, guarding him, make it tough on our inside attack. And so they -- I don't want to diminish the importance of the other players because the other players are important in what they do, too, for the team. But as far as scoring, McClinton had a lot of answers in the second half. We haven't had anybody do that to us. We had a guy score 28, but scoring 32 in a half, that doesn't happen very often.

Q. Coach, NCAA rules are that you can travel overseas once every four years. I believe 2009 would be your next opportunity to travel overseas, if I'm not mistaken. Are your Aussie players petitioning to try to get you to come back to Australia?
COACH BENNETT: Absolutely, and we need to do some fundraising. I can start right here if any of you guys want to write some checks for us to make that trip.
Our guys, we'll go next year and a good chance to go to Australia.

Q. When a guy goes off for 32 in a half and 38 overall, whatever, does it make it in a way easier to accept, or are you going to grind on this for what you guys could have done better?
COACH BENNETT: As a coach you'll grind on it. You'll think about what adjustments you could have made. You didn't have much time to make them because it happened quick. The first half we did a really good job on him. I think as a coach you always have to try to figure out what you could have done better and then go from there.

Q. I think a lot of people may be coming in felt that Tron would be the guy to try to contain Jack. But it seemed like that during the course of the game, it was mostly Patty, Todd, and Carlin for a little bit. Did you want Tron to cover him a little bit more than he did today?
COACH BENNETT: It's a little tricky because 68, three man. (Mark). To put Tron on that kid, you're going to have trouble on the boards with those others. They beat us 14 on the boards. I thought Todd had done a really good job on Brandon Johnson when we played them, and so we kind of went with our two who was going to guard him and keep a lot -- keep those guys fresh as much as we could. But, like I said, it worked out first half. Didn't work out the second.
THE MODERATOR: One more question, gentlemen. Anyone else? Coach, congratulations on a great year. It's an honor having you here.
COACH BENNETT: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts

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