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

March 20, 2009

Donnie Tyndall

DAYTON, OHIO

Louisville Â– 74
Morehead State - 54

THE MODERATOR: Joining us are Morehead State student-athletes Kenneth Faried and Leon Buchanan. Coach, an opening statement, please.
COACH TYNDALL: It was a typical Louisville-type performance. We talked about it prior to the game in that what they try to do is just wear you down and wear you down, and their depth and physicality and size allows them to do that.
Coach Pitino's teams, that's been his MOs since I've watched his teams play at Providence. They're 10 or 11 deep. They're strong. They have great size and great length. But I thought our kids played extremely hard. The first half, I thought when we were fresh, before we wore down a little bit, we played them basically possession-for-possession and matched their physicality and their athleticism.
I think it's been a great season for our team. We've brought some pride and passion back to MSU and back to MSU basketball. I'm extremely proud of these two guys and the other 10 young men on our team. Unfortunately, we ran into maybe the best team in college basketball tonight.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes, only.

Q. Leon and Kenneth, can you guys talk about after what a hard-fought game you guys had what was going through your heads when you guys had that full five-substitution with about a minute and a half left? What was going through your kids knowing that would be the last time you guys would be coming out to the floor for Morehead State this year?
LEON BUCHANAN: What was going through my head is I'm a senior. This could be my last college basketball game, and I just wanted to stay out there and play as hard as I can for as long as I could.
KENNETH FARIED: What was going through my head was that we played our hearts out. We really tried to compete and Louisville, they're a great team. They're physical. We tried to match their physicality in the first half as my coach said. But they was just too much for us in the end.
Arguably, the best team in college basketball. And I was thinking I had one hell of a role model in senior Leon. I'm going to miss him.

Q. What were you guys feeling at halftime? Were you feeling pretty good about where the game was at that point?
LEON BUCHANAN: Yeah, we were feeling very confident at halftime. Louisville is another basketball team for us. We went out there and from the get-go we said we're going to give it our best shot. We didn't feel we had any pressure on us. Halftime we were feeling really good. We were hoping the game was going to be a little closer and we wanted to step it up we came back in the second half because we knew they would go on the run, typical of college basketball. We wanted to come out and play a little harder than we did the first half.

Q. It was a new game at halftime. I think your first possessions in the second half were four turnovers and four missed shots. Was that strictly their defense, or did you guys get a little bit going too fast or what exactly happened on that stretch?
LEON BUCHANAN: You can say it was their defense or you can say it was ours. I personally think it was us. It was like starting the game all over again and guys started the game nervous and things like that. So you can say it was them or you can say it was us. I personally think it was us.
We came out. They made a little run. We got a little tight. We wasn't loose like we came out at the beginning of the game.
KENNETH FARIED: I would agree with Leon, that it was us more than Louisville. Louisville played some great defense but we came out a little tight still. We came in thinking that, we came in thinking we was going to compete, play hard and try to get it down to a two possession game or one possession game at the two-minute mark, but it just so happens Louisville Cardinals.

Q. Can you guys talk about the effect Louisville's press had on you, did you feel it was wearing you down in the second half, or did you feel winded at times or exhausted from it?
KENNETH FARIED: Well, I believe they pressed down. We were trying to get fresh bodies in and out. But Louisville is a relentless team when they press and that's what they base their whole offense and defense around, their press. So we were trying to get them in half court but we just did too many turnovers.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys. Questions for Coach.

Q. They did to you what they did to Syracuse and Villanova in the second half, just came out with a more powerful wave of defense. Was it a matter of you guys not handling it, or they just picked up their intensity or what happens there?
COACH TYNDALL: I don't really think their intensity changed a whole bunch. It's just the constant pressure. Eventually they force you into some mistakes. McGee and Sosa and Preston Knowles, and those guys, they're relentless, and I think they play the exact same way whether they're playing 22 minutes or 36 minutes. Those guards just wear you down. And we don't have the depth they have.
Brandon Shingles is a very good player, but as he became a little fatigued his turnovers went up. He was a little careless with the ball. And our two guards are very good players but not only did they turn it over a little bit but they were 2 of 14 from the floor combined, so they harass you into taking some tough shots, and I don't know that necessarily the intensity or pressure was turned up, it's just a great pressure from the tipoff to the buzzer and it eventually wears on you.

Q. Can you talk about the tremendous effort these guys put forth until the final buzzer tonight against one of the elite teams in the country, what that says about the character of the guys on the team and the program you built at Morehead?
COACH TYNDALL: I appreciate you saying that. That's what we're all about. We're not the most talented team in the league. Although, we do have very good players.
But our whole MO since we took the program over was to play with a pride and passion and be excited about wearing the Morehead State jersey. I don't know that that's always been the case. But our three years, I can't think of one time that we didn't compete. We have certainly taken our losses like every other team in the country, but our team plays hard every night and we talked about it at the four-minute mark. We were down about 16. I said, men, we're going to keep grinding. We're going to finish this thing the right way.
And I agree with you, we played extremely hard right until the final buzzer.

Q. Can you talk a little bit just about what the two weeks since the OVC tournament, just what it's meant to you personally and what you think it's done for your program?
COACH TYNDALL: Other than the birth of my two girls, it's been the best week and a half, two weeks in my life. For many reasons. And most of them not pertaining to me, but just to see the pride in our community, to see how excited our administration, our faculty and staff are at the university and to see how excited our 12 great young men are and the fun they've had with this opportunity. It's really been a dream come true.
I think that it will impact our program in many different ways. I think attendance will continue to go up like it has in each of the past three seasons. More people obviously will have pride in our program and be excited about what we're building. And you would certainly hope maybe most importantly that it helps us in recruiting, to continue to recruit good players like Leon and Kenneth and Demonte Harper, some of the young players that we have in our program.

Q. The influence that their point guard Andre McGee had on the game especially in the second half, what impact did he have on you all in the game?
COACH TYNDALL: He's just a relentless defender. He's a guy that makes his teammates better. Not necessarily as a creator, but just running their offenses, turnovers are pretty low for the most part. He makes open shots.
But he picks up the basketball at 94 feet and he gets those other guys to go with him. When he's playing hard and turning the point guard, coming up the floor or causing havoc like he does, you can almost see the Terrence Williams and the Earl Clarks of the world feed off that.
So I heard some things or have read some things coach Pitino said about him, and obviously McGee takes a great deal of pride in his defense in getting his teammates to do the same. So he's very impactful on the game even if he doesn't score a point.

Q. Can you comment, when you took your guys out with about a minute to go, they got a standing ovation, what was that moment like when they all came over and gave you a big hug, what kind of things were you saying to him and what will you remember about that?
COACH TYNDALL: I just told them that I loved them and each one of them that I loved them and those guys have been warriors, as well as the reserves on our bench, all season long, and I wanted to show them some appreciation and let our crowd acknowledge them.
They've put MSU basketball on the map. Losing Leon Buchanan will be a big hit to our team. Hopefully we'll be able to replace him, whether it's a returning guy or through recruiting. But I just wanted those guys to hear from me how much I loved them and cared about them and hear it from the crowd and our fans how much they love and appreciate them.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

End of FastScripts

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