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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: KANSAS CITY

March 19, 2009

Tremaine Townsend

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

MEMPHIS Â– 81
CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE - 70

KEVIN KLINTWORTH: Now joined by Cal State Northridge, Head Coach Bobby Braswell, Tremaine Townsend, Mark Hill, student athletes.
COACH BOBBY BRASWELL: Obviously I don't even know if I have the words to really say how proud I am of my team. Group showed a lot of heart, lot of tenacity and, you know, we asked them to do some things.
We asked them to come out here and fight and compete, which we've done all season long, and obviously they came out here and did that tonight and I'm extremely proud of them.
Give Memphis credit. Obviously, down the stretch they're as good as teams do. They made some big shots and had a great run at the end of the game.
Again, it doesn't take away how I feel about my team and I'm extremely blessed and proud of them.
KEVIN KLINTWORTH: Thank you Coach. Questions for student athletes right now.

Q. Can you talk about, Bobby, about the decision to start zone from the start of game and how much that seemed to frustrate Memphis?
COACH BOBBY BRASWELL: We actually played the first possession man, one possession of man and we went to zone. I think obviously we felt that with what we do out of our zone defense that we could force some guys to handle the ball that weren't normally handling the ball.
We also wanted to try to force them to shoot contested jump shots and we did that. All along we wanted to try to take away their main, main offensive weapons and we've been able to do that all year with our zone defense and we did it today but obviously they had -- Sallie stepped up today and made some big, huge shots for them.
Again, if we had to redesign it and do it all over again, we would do the same thing that we were -- we wanted to make some secondary guys make some plays and, unfortunately, he made quite a few tonight.
KEVIN KLINTWORTH: Questions for student athletes, please.

Q. Randy, both you guys, especially Mark, you made the little scoop under net. Did you think you guys had it? Did you think that the possibility was really there with five, six minutes to go in the game and you're up four, five points?
MARK HILL: Oh, yes, sir. I felt going into the game, I felt that, you know, we was confident and we weren't tired all year long and all summer long. We just played with heart.
I felt confident in the beginning of the game and also when it was five minutes left, you know, but as I have to give credit for Memphis for making key plays at times when they did. I'm real proud of my teammates.

Q. Mark, did you have some familiarity with Memphis because of your time at Tulsa?
MARK HILL: Yes, sir. You know, I played with. I played them twice I was in Conference USA. I just know how they want to play. They spread you out and attack the rim. They're very long and athletic so, yes, sir.
KEVIN KLINTWORTH: Anymore questions for the student athletes?

Q. Can you guys talk about almost getting or getting close to getting this, what that would have meant for Cal State Northridge and did you guys start to think about that at some point during the game like we might actually win this, only 15 seeds --
TREMAINE TOWNSEND: I don't know how you would say it. We just had the idea we was going to win from the very beginning but as time went on, you know, you felt -- we felt like we got to keep playing like we're playing with the intensity and get it in the bag but, you know, the game is runs and ups and downs and like Mark said, we gave all the credit to Memphis. They made some clutch plays and the players stepped up and made some good shots.

Q. Can you talk about Sallie, he was just on fire? Can you talk about facing him and what could you do?
MARK HILL: Tonight was just his night. Sallie, he's a great shooter. He's a great player. We just kind of wanted just to take Dozier and them out of the game and you know, have someone else beat us and that's what he did.

Q. Can you guys talk about, did you ever see anything on their faces or notice any frustration, anything happen that you guys, people might have thought it was the other way around that you guys might have been intimidated? Did you ever see anything on their end when you guys had the lead late in the second half?
MARK HILL: Not really. I think they were just kind of shocked just like the world was, these guys are actually in the game, you know. People really don't know of Cal State Northridge basketball. That's what we want to show today. They were kind of shocked as probably the world was.

Q. What do you think people learned about you guys?
MARK HILL: Just learned Cal State Northridge basketball. We like to run. We have great players. You know, we defend. And I think the people just learned that Cal State Northridge is a great program.
KEVIN KLINTWORTH: Any other questions for the student athletes?

Q. Mark, did you have trouble finding Sallie? Were you so concentrating on Dozier and inside that you guys had trouble finding him?
MARK HILL: Not really. I just feel that he was at the right place at the right time. You know, we kind of just focus in our zone in the middle so they won't get the ball in the middle and attack the rim like they want to do. They were finding him. I give credit to Memphis for finding the hot man.
KEVIN KLINTWORTH: Anyone else? Thanks guys. Questions for Coach Braswell.

Q. Coach, Townsend got in some foul trouble. Could you talk about what that did?
COACH BOBBY BRASWELL: Obviously it affected us. We were -- I was kind of surprised. We thought he only had two when they had him for three and when he got that, a fourth foul, it changed things for us a little bit and, you know, obviously having Tre on the floor is important to our basketball team, his presence on the floor defensively and rebounding the ball and the scoring threat he gives us.
When he went down we lost that a little bit. We've been through this before and I thought Vincent Cordell stepped up and made a couple big plays when Tre was out, Willie Galick played well in there, too.
Obviously that was a big hit to us to have to take Tre out during that stretch. We wanted to have him -- with 2.30 left in the game, four point game win and we had him in then, I thought we had a chance.

Q. The 3-point defense, Sallie had ten 3-pointers but the rest of team was 1 for 13. Can you just talk about that and also Sallie's performance?
COACH BOBBY BRASWELL: That's kind of a mixed bag. 3-point defense, one guy hit ten but the other guys 1 for 13. Obviously we didn't anticipate Sallie going off the way he did today and as Mark said, part of our game plan was to make it tough on Dozier and those guys on the inside, force some other guys to take shots. Other guys took shots and missed and unfortunately he was extremely hot today.
I have no problem with that because all I ask our guys to do starting practice two days ago to force them to take contested jump shots. I believe most of his shots were contested and he stepped up and made big plays. I was walking past Coach Calipari through the hall. Obviously the biggest game he ever played. He hit some big shots.

Q. Bobby, your last tournament, NCAA Tournament game was not quite like this at all. Did you ever have a moment during the game where you even said, "I can't believe we might win this"?
COACH BOBBY BRASWELL: No. I would agree with Tre. I believed. I always believed at the beginning we had a shot if we played well and, you know, had to play all this. We turned the ball over a little bit too much.
I thought if our guys defensively -- you heard me say before we had four goals defensively, hold our opponents to under 40 percent field goal percentage, protecting the paint, between 35 and 45 deflections a game and out rebounded our opponents, and halftime we had two of those goals. We were short two. I told them that's why we were down.
The second half they shot 60 percent. We ended up getting only one of our particular defensive goals and so for us, that pretty much will end up on the wrong side of things for us.

Q. Considering all you guys have gone through, what was the mood in the locker room after the game? I would imagine the kids were able to put this in perspective considering what you guys have gone through. Was it like that?
COACH BOBBY BRASWELL: I hope so. Obviously tears and disappointment. There's a sense that you realize your season is over. And you know what I was most pleased with and most satisfied for me and gratifying for me as their coach was how the fans began to support them and, you know considering what this group has gone through and how they've persevered and the maturity that they've shown and the character that they've shown, it felt really good for people for them to have that kind of response from this crowd, because if we did come up short, at least our guys were going to remember this and this is that I always wanted for them, I wanted there to be an experience that they would always remember and I think they will.
Obviously we played a game to win, we don't want to lose but if you keep things in perspective, this team will go down as one of the greatest basketball at Cal State Northridge.
KEVIN KLINTWORTH: Any others questions? Thank you, Coach.

End of FastScripts

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