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NIT POSTSEASON

March 31, 2009

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

Q. Drew, you got almost no help on (Luke) Harangody most of the day; was that part of the team philosophy, that you were not going to get much help and you had to go straight up?
ANDREW JONES III: Not really. The game plan was to try to push them off the block a little bit, get them as far and away from the basket as I could, and you know, we couldn't really help off of (Kyle) McAlarney, but as far as (Tory) Jackson and (Zach) Hillesland, we tried to -- at times tried to play with them a little bit and get him out of his comfort zone.

Q. How did you get him out of his comfort zone?
ANDREW JONES III: Honestly, I just moved my feet and tried to contest all the shots. You know, early on, some of them didn't fall. So usually he makes those, the flip-up type of shots, but they didn't fall today.

Q. Talk about your performance and performance in the paint, how much of a difference was that and also getting off to a fast start?
JAMELLE CORNLEY: Me personally, I was just trying to get used to the environment, the overall atmosphere, the lighting, the complete energy. Everybody else stepped up. Drew was able to step up early and smash down a couple rebounds. Our guards were able to penetrate into the lane and got some easy buckets. I fed off of them in this time and during this game because it was easier for them to open it up to me, and that's what I did.

Q. At the end of the game, it was like the Florida game in some respects. Can you take us through that possession?
JAMELLE CORNLEY: When it gets down to crunch time and I feel like I've got a little rhythm going, I feel I have the need to ask for the ball and coach was able to draw up a few place and put the ball in my hand and started to go to work. Whether I make the bucket or not is up to me but make sure I draw some type of foul or make a bucket, or in worst-case scenario, both.

Q. Talk about the crowd.
TALOR BATTLE: It was great. It felt like a home game. When we came out, it was really loud and felt like we was in front of our home crowd. We came out and jumped on them early. They made a great run in the second half, but you know that, happened a couple of times to us last year but we never panic and we just kind of put the nail in the coffin to finish the game off.

Q. When you got into it a little bit down there, tell me -- well, go ahead. Tell me anything you want to tell me. It was entertaining to watch.
JAMELLE CORNLEY: Honestly I decided to initiate something. I wanted to see exactly what he was all about and I was not trying to disrespect him or anything but just try to get a feel for how he played. I know that Drew had manned up on him the entire night and I wanted to get a shot at him and see what was going on.
But he's a solid player. He got me on a nice little flop, but it was a small play at that time of the game. Overall, I think he really tried to be relentless tonight. A couple of shots of his did not fall, but overall, I think it was a good performance by both of us.

Q. What do you mean by "initiate something"?
JAMELLE CORNLEY: I wanted to again, be a little physical with him and see how he would respond, what moves he would give me. I think I was pretty successful with that at times.

Q. Can you talk about what it means playing for an NIT championship Thursday?
JAMELLE CORNLEY: I think any time you are able to play for any championship regardless of the circumstances, you really want to leave all that you have on the table.
By playing in an NIT Tournament with all of the history that's been made here, I think it's going to be very fun and exciting. Hopefully we are able to come out and put on another great performance like we did tonight, jump out early and go from there.

Q. You guys obviously were probably a little disappointed a few weeks ago. Can you talk about how the mood of the team has changed in these last couple of weeks now that you find yourselves playing for a championship?
ANDREW JONES III: Well, obviously we were disappointed. We felt as though we were a good enough team to play and compete in the NCAA Tournament.
We just played the hand we were dealt. We said, all right, we were in the NIT, let's go make the best of it. Let's go win it. We are not in it to win a couple of games and show everybody, okay; we want to show everybody in the NIT that we are good enough to play in the NCAAs.

Q. How did it feel to come to New York and your home state and play in the championship game?
TALOR BATTLE: It was fun. I knew I had a lot of people from home down here it. Was the first time I've had that many people from home at a game. It kind of felt like a high school game. I fed off the energy a little early, maybe too much, because I got tired and my adrenaline was rushing too much. I got fatigued quick and I needed a breather.
It was great and I'm just so happy we won and give a chance for them to come down again on Thursday.

Q. How many people, 60?
TALOR BATTLE: Probably. I would say somewhere around there, total family members, from family and friends from home and then some that traveled up from Pennsylvania. So all of my family was here, so it was great.

Q. What struck you most about playing in this arena tonight, actually playing in the game; when did it hit you?
JAMELLE CORNLEY: I think in shoot-around when we were able to just come in and just see everything. Nobody on our team has been in this arena, and to be here and to just think about everybody who has played in this arena was just fun in itself.
To play on the same court, against a solid team like Notre Dame, we just were all happy and we wanted to seize the moment.
ED DeCHELLIS: I thought we come out, we were ready to play. We've had three or four really good practices leading into the tournament here in New York. Kids were excited and kids have been excited to play.
I thought we were ready to go, and we came out pretty strong. I thought defensively the first half, we played very, very well. I thought, you know, we got into them, and what we had tried to do was not let 42 and 23 get open shots, and we tried to make it as tough for them as possible. We knew the big kid would probably get some stuff inside but we wanted to take the other two kids out and we did a good job of -- we call it "gloving" them the first half. I don't think they got many good looks or clean looks.

Q. Does that make what Andrew did even more impressive?
ED DeCHELLIS: Andrew did a good job. He missed some easy shots, but I said to him, you've got to challenge them and you've got to guard this guy and do as good as you can and keep them off the glass and limit him to one shot and one shot only and make him shoot over you, don't foul him. He draws a lot of contact, gets to the free throw line. Don't foul him. Make him make baskets. He didn't know where the double was coming from; we doubled off of (Tory) Jackson, (Tyrone) Nash, ran different guys at him, just so he could not get in a rhythm in the post.

Q. The eight fast-break points, were you trying to tell the kids --
ED DeCHELLIS: We were pushing transition. If we got something good, great, but if not, pull it out and make them guard us in the halfcourt, turn it over, reverse the ball, work it inside out and make them guard us.
I thought in the first half, let's go fast but don't hurry. We had a couple hurry plays where we didn't catch the ball and catch it cleanly but for the most part I thought we did a good job of that.

Q. When you talk about Jamelle (Cornley) being physical?
ED DeCHELLIS: I just said in the time-out, we don't need a technical. We don't need a foul and free throws and all that stuff. I know what you're doing but we need to have some sense in this thing, too.
We play in a great league with physical play. This is who we are, and if you don't play physical in our league, you're not going to be around very long.

Q. You couldn't dig off of Ayers and (Kyle) McAlarney, and Drew really had him on his own quite a lot of times.
ED DeCHELLIS: Right.

Q. Is that the best defensive game you've seen?
ED DeCHELLIS: I thought Drew did a great job, best defensive game Drew's played in a long time without fouling. That was the thing, we had to try to keep him off the line. I think the other guys came in enough to -- thought he got in a little better rhythm in the second half. We were not as active and we could not get down there as quickly as we could the first time.

Q. How is he?
ED DeCHELLIS: He's really sore. He fell on his tailbone kind of thing and couldn't go at all. We are concerned about him, whether he'll be ready to go Thursday or not.

Q. Talk about what it means for the team and the program to play for a title Thursday night.
ED DeCHELLIS: Well, you know, this was a goal we had. When things did not go for us on Sunday night, we met and the first words out of my mouth were, we have an opportunity to win a championship of a national tournament, and that's our goal. Our goal is to win the Championship, and we are going to do everything we can to prepare you guys. I know you guys will do everything you can on your end, and together, we are going to try to do something that Penn State has not done before.
We had a lot of firsts this year. We won some games in a row in places where we have not won. We beat some people twice we have not beat before. And so I said, this will be another first for us, and we've got an opportunity here, and I'm not going to let two seniors go away without giving it our best shot.

Q. What do you see with Baylor?
ED DeCHELLIS: You know, I haven't seen a whole lot. My guys have. I know they are very athletic and they are going to attack the zone. They are very good offensively. We'll have our hands full on Thursday night. They are a very good basketball team.
There's two teams left in this tournament, and there's four in another tournament, and not many left. Everybody playing now is something special I think.

Q. Can you talk about the support you had?
ED DeCHELLIS: We had a great turnout. We are four hours from here and I knew once we got here, we would have a great turnout. Our fans have supported us all year. We've had great home crowds, and this has excited them, and again, to have an opportunity to come to New York and play here in this greatest arena in college basketball and pro basketball. It's fun for them. It's fun for our campus and our students and our fans and alumni in the area. It's been nice for us.

Q. And Coach Paterno?
ED DeCHELLIS: Yeah, we had Coach here tonight, too.
Andrew Jones has done a good job and I have not done a good job of getting him the ball enough, that's my fault. He's played extremely well and made his free throws and he's rebounded. He's a tremendous rebounder and that's what I've asked him to do, is rebound, defend and hopefully we can feed off the other guys and get some shots and I thought he did that in the first half and made his free throws in the second half.
If he rebounds, I just love him. He's a great rebounder and that's what I need out of him. He's done everything I've asked him to do.

End of FastScripts

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NIT POSTSEASON

March 31, 2009

Talor Battle

Jamelle Cornley

Ed DeChellis

Andrew Jones III