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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 10, 2010

Jeff Reynolds

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

Air Force Â– 59
Wyoming - 40

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Air Force academy. We'll start with general comments about the game from you, coach.
COACH REYNOLDS: First of all, these two guys to the left of me did an outstanding job today. They were aggressive. They attacked the basket. When Wyoming made their run, they were the difference.
Grant is getting ready to graduate. He's going to represent the United States Air Force Academy as an outstanding officer. And he sort of demonstrated that leadership today in the huddle many, many, many times. Todd Fletcher is a freshman, but he certainly demonstrated that kind of leadership that we built at the academy that we're proud of.
We were a little bit blessed today in the sense that JayDee Luster wasn't able to play, and I think it changed Wyoming's game plan significantly from when we played them earlier, and it allowed us to do some things that we were able to be successful with.
THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll open it for questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Todd, can you talk about the play where I think you broke the press and you just decided to take it to the hole and got fouled.
TODD FLETCHER: I made my diagonal cut. I just hear Evan in the background saying, Go, go, attack. Their big guy was backing up. I had to make a layup. I went in, got hit. My coach says always keep your eyes on the rim and I did and it went in.

Q. Grant and Todd, can you talk about how what you did in the Pit where you lost by just three points to the Lobos maybe will aid your confidence level tomorrow when you face the Lobos again.
GRANT PARKER: Well, we definitely know we can play with them. We showed that at their place. This is just a great chance to come out and compete with them again. We know we can do it. It's a lot like BYU last year. We competed with them at their place, played 'em really tough in the tournament.
So we plan on doing that this year, except just coming out with a win.
New Mexico is a great team, really well-coached. We just want to come out and compete and play hard and give them our best shot.
TODD FLETCHER: Same thing Grant said. I mean, we know we can play with them now. As long as we control the game. We don't want to get up and down with them. As long as we do that, we'll have our chance.

Q. Grant, can you talk about how you played defensively. Seemed there was just a lot of defensive energy tonight.
GRANT PARKER: There was. I mean, we were really well-prepared. We knew what they were going to do pretty much every single play. We knew their options and what they could possibly run.
So, you know, I mean, Jackson, he's such a great player. We knew a lot of the game was going to be trying to contain him as much as possible just because he knows how to get to the bucket and put the ball in the hole.
You know, I thought energy was a big thing tonight or today. You know, just trying to cut down on Dermody on the threes, just staying in every drive and rebounding. I think, you know, we pretty much did all of those. We had a couple breakdowns, but overall I think we executed the game plan and stopped the plays that we knew they were going to run, so...

Q. Grant, can you talk about what was it that allowed you to go on that game-ending run once they cut it to seven.
GRANT PARKER: Todd's play. Everybody could see it. They got within seven. He drove to the hole and finished, got the and-one. I think right after that, that kind of put 'em away.
You know, seven points, all they have to do is hit a couple threes, which they're definitely capable of doing. He pushed it out to 10. After that, they kind of gave up. Then we were able to just continue to attack them the rest of the game.
So I think that's kind of what did it for us at the end.
THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll dismiss the student-athletes. We'll open it up for questions for coach Reynolds.

Q. Coach, was that the best defense you've played this year?
COACH REYNOLDS: I think there were stretches that we were very solid. You know, Desmar is so good as getting into the lane. I thought Avery Merriex came off the bench and did an outstanding job of forcing him to go side to side versus to the basket. I thought Mike McLain did a really good job, as well, as well as Grant. I think that's the -- I think folks out there today saw the Grant Parker prior to the injury. He was a little bit more focused today and a little bit more driven and very intense. You could tell it in the pregame.

Q. Can you speak about what that game at the Pit means to you tomorrow.
COACH REYNOLDS: As I've said, being from the state of North Carolina, growing up in ACC country, people don't realize how good Mountain West basketball is. They don't understand the venues that makes up the league. And the Pit may be the toughest place in the country. It's close. I've been fortunate enough to play at Rupp, at Duke, fortunate to coach at the Dean Dome. The Pit and their fans, they challenge you. And I thought our kids showed great leadership. They showed tenacity.
The game is going to be a little different tomorrow. We had a week off to prepare for New Mexico prior to that game. Coach Alford had a week off to prepare for us. So it will be a challenge. They're very, very talented.
If they're not a top-10 team in the country, then I think they're currently ranked 11th in one poll, that's very surprising to me.

Q. You were able to dictate the tempo the Pit. Is it going to be easier to be able to dictate the tempo on a neutral court?
COACH REYNOLDS: You know, I think they had some shots that didn't go down that allowed us to stay in the game. And we made some really tough contested threes. We were able to get the ball inside and score on different angles.
It will be very difficult tomorrow to control the tempo just from the standpoint that they've had some time to prep for us.

Q. Even though Wyoming shot a decent field goal percentage, you held them to 33 attempts, which is a season low. In the Pit, you held UNM to one of their season lows, too. What do you attribute that to?
COACH REYNOLDS: I think our matchup zone. When we have six or seven freshmen, folks, and it takes a year, sometimes two years, for those guys to really grasp what we're doing. It's almost like the triple option in football.
I think each game our players get a little better with it. Sort of like seasoning, a little bit better with the games.
Today I just felt like the big difference in the game was the fact that JayDee Luster didn't play and they weren't able to push their transition nearly as quickly, and we were able to make them have to attack our halfcourt defense. We were fortunate to only give up three offensive rebounds. That was a real key for us today, was to keep them off the glass.

Q. Mike Lyons had a tough stretch coming into the game.
COACH REYNOLDS: You've let him know that many times when he reads your articles.

Q. Missed 15 straight threes. How big was it for him to hit the one early?
COACH REYNOLDS: I think it gave him some confidence. I think anytime you have a freshman that has played the number of minutes that he has, he's still a freshman. His confidence was a little bit fragile. We as a coaching staff, particularly Coach Pryor and Coach Snell, have constantly been on him the last couple days about taking the open shot, get your feet set, take the open shot. I think today he was really prepped for it.
He shot-prepped very well and we were fortunate it went in.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach.
COACH REYNOLDS: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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