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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS: PROVIDENCEMarch 18, 2010Karon AbrahamDallas GreenMezie NwigweMike RicePROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND Villanova – 73 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Robert Morris student-athletes and head coach Mike Rice. Coach Rice, would you mind making an opening statement? COACH RICE: It's easier said than done right now. My inside just got torn out. We talked about believing. We talked about laying it all on the floor, all the good coach speak. And yet, I don't know, in 19 years of college coaching, especially my three, that they truly did that. They were just there for one another, whether it was on the offensive, defensive end, they played for one another. Tremendous perseverance through some interesting times we had playing the last four minutes without a point guard. But I give these guys tremendous credit. They really believed not just in each other, but the system and what we do and the game plan. Showed a lot about what as individuals they are and a lot about this team. I'm proud to coach them. Q. You held Villanova to 7 field goals in the first half. Can you just explain what you were doing on defense, especially in the first half? KARON ABRAHAM: That's been our formula all year. Start on the defensive end. Defend well, and you always put yourself in position to win a game. And tonight we defended just as good as we did in the Quinnipiac game. That kept us in the game and I guess we can't ask for more. But to hold a Big East team to 7 field goals in the first half and defend as well as we did. DALLAS GREEN: Coach Rice, his main focus was more like defense, defense. And playing in Villanova defense was the main thing. We just knew that we had to have another defensive stop. I'm kind of proud of our guys to holding them to only 7 field goals in the first half. Q. You played ball an Dominic Cheek and you played against him a good bit today. Having played against him in the past and a few of those guys, talk about the confidence that gave you to go out and do what you did? KARON ABRAHAM: It's a big confidence builder. Playing with him for the players and being able to attack and play against other teams when I was in Las Vegas, going against Doug Favors, big names, Abdul Gaddy, all those teams like that. So there's no fear. It's just confidence. And there's nothing to be afraid of because they put on the jersey just like I put on the jersey. You just go out there and give everything you've got. Q. Mezie, you guys lost both Velton and Gary in the final few minutes of the fourth quarter, and played the final stretch of the game without a true point guard. You were running the point. Have you done that much in practice and what was the adjustment like for you and for the team overall without those guys in there? MEZIE NWIGWE: It was tough at first, you know, we've practiced it but not as much as -- we never really thought both our point guards would be fouled out. We just tried to make it simple and call simple plays out and just tried to play with each other. They knew I didn't know the position that well. We just tried to make simple plays and stick together no matter what. Q. You hit the big three to give you guys a shot. And at the end how frustrating was it trying to get open for the last shot? KARON ABRAHAM: It was very frustrating because I felt if I got my hands on the ball I had a good chance of making that last shot. As a team we did not want to lose this game. We were going to do whatever we had to do, fight, scratch and claw to win this game this afternoon. But we got the shortened of the stick. But keep our heads high and look ahead. Q. Is there a time during this game today when you could enjoy what you were doing, beyond the competition, is there anything enjoyable about it or is it strictly you got played? KARON ABRAHAM: The whole experience was enjoyable, but nobody wanted to end their career like that, losing in over time like that. But take it for what it's worth. We fought as hard as we could and left it out on the court. DALLAS GREEN: I'm never going to forget us playing Villanova, almost beating Villanova, up by 6 with without 2 minutes left in the game. I'll never forget that experience. That's it. Q. Dallas, you guys had such a rebounding edge in the first half. What changed in the second half, either in what they were able to do or anything you guys did that end that out in their favor? DALLAS GREEN: We knew another key, instead of our defense it was rebounding. Coach always tells us, all five guys have to crash. He always jokes with us, like, K, you can join the party anytime to crash for rebounding. No matter what one through five we had to rebound, and we kind of slacked off second half, but it was still a tough game. Q. Were you given any explanation regarding the jump ball that was called a foul? It looked like two of them came in and signified a jump ball and the third called a foul. COACH RICE: I probably acted with more poise and less emotional, they probably would have come over to me. But they don't come over to people who are emotionally challenged at that point. And I know it. And it's just what I am and what my team is. We're a passionate, emotional team. The one person had it, he said there was a foul before it. That's what I took upon it. Whether I agree or disagree, it's what happens in basketball games. Q. There were a lot of fouls called towards the end of the second half and not in your favor. Do you feel when you're a 15 playing a 2 that that's part of the ballgame sometimes, that there's contact, you might not get -- in other words you have to knock out a champ? COACH RICE: No, I felt, we let what was affecting us on the offensive end -- what was happening to us on the offensive end affect our defensive end. We weren't in the gaps. Do I agree with all the calls? No. It's neither here nor there. We started to come apart a little bit and really stick to that formula, which was really closing, making the lane crowded. And we switch ball screens anyway. So I thought because of the -- putting people in different positions and just guys weren't in tune and they just kind of started to spread out a little bit more and hug their man. We weren't there -- we were reaching instead of being there with your chest. So it's part of the game. And 15-2, no, I really don't. I think they called a good game. I maybe question two of them. We might have got a little bit loose with our help side defense. Q. After the game, most of your team came out on the court and went over to your crowd and were you aware of not only that moment, but the entire arena was giving you a big ovation? COACH RICE: Yes and no. Again, when you're Northeast Conference team, Robert Morris, and playing to a packed house every night, you appreciate what the -- the effort the fans gave us tonight, including the three buses of students that left at 9 p.m. last night to drive all night so we could be represented. I was proud of them and proud of the program. And so I just wanted to just go over and make sure we acknowledge how appreciative we are to them. Q. You were making allusion to how your offense affected your defense. Specifically up 8 with 4:19 to go -- COACH RICE: Don't tell me that. Q. Is that the game in your mind, the four unproductive possessions? COACH RICE: Yeah. My two reach ins by my point guards who was trying to make plays to help their team, you can't come away -- at that point in time you can't come away with nothing. And, again -- I don't remember the possessions, per se, but I know we didn't get what we wanted. And it's just one of those things you'd like to have a floor general on the floor with the last four minutes. But that wasn't the case. They just kept coming at us. I'll give them credit because they did keep coming at us and that last four minutes I just didn't like the flow of our offense, getting what we needed, and that's not having a point guard on the floor. Q. I've never seen you live before, and the way you act on the sidelines is compelling and interesting, and at one point you got down on both knees -- COACH RICE: I told my wife the same thing, she disagrees with me. Q. At one point you got down on both knees and raised your hands toward the heavens like the scene in Platoon. Are you always like that, when you look back, when you see yourself on tapes, do you say I need to calm down or is it okay with everyone? COACH RICE: No, believe me, I calmed down, President Dell'Omo will tell you. It's one of those things that we just -- it's not an act. This is who I am. This is the passion I have. I'm a coach's son. That's the way my father was. And so it's the way I want my teams. I want my teams to play with passion and have emotion. It's a joy for the game. It's a joy just to play the game. Yeah, it does hurt you, though, there's no question it hurts you with the referees, you've got to remain poised after sometimes. I would love to remain poised after a couple of jump balls. My players understand that. Again, that's part of our formula. I put these guys in a lot of positions where they're uncomfortable during practice or during film session and that's a part of just being okay with chaos. And our guys are pretty good in the chaos situations. Q. Could you just talk a little bit about the play of your freshman Karon, especially that four point play in the second half and what he did today? COACH RICE: Yeah, he doesn't know he's five-six, whatever how many pounds. Just plays with such heart and such toughness. And again, that's -- but he out works everybody. In the summer he's doing pull ups and he's doing his ball handling, he's doing his shooting. He out-works people. It's funny, the people who work the hardest usually get the most. And he's -- from where we were in the beginning of the season where our starting point guard tore his knee out, injecting him in the starting lineup, he's done everything we've asked for him to do. Become our leading scorer, tremendous defender, ask him to join the party and rebound once in an while. I give his teammates a lot of credit, too, because they allowed him to do that. I have four seniors, it's their turn, that's the mentality a lot of older seniors take at times. They didn't take that. Okay, Karon, you're our scoring leader, you're our guy. They make unselfish plays for him. It was a tremendous flare screen, a tremendous jump shot to let that play happen. There was two seniors involved in that tremendous freshman's play. Again, you need a lot of people to make it. But he is gutsy, God, I love him. Q. Four seniors on the floor tonight all played their last game. It's been sort of a roller coaster for you with their relationship this season, with you and with this team. Can you just talk about sending them off beyond college? COACH RICE: Yeah, and again, you're going to get me all emotional. But I'm so proud of my senior class. I'm not easy to deal with. They're not easy to deal with. We're all emotional. We always -- they don't want to come and play as hard as they can every second. And it's just something you have to do at Robert Morris in our program. My staff demands it. I demand it. At times there's some give and take. And God, three years ago, you know, you just never would have thought Dallas Green, Mezie and Rob, how poised and how they've become -- it's incredible to me. Just the perseverance in them. Before, something bad happened, you'd lose them for practice, you'd lose them for the games. They have an ability now to get in here and fight through things. And I'm just -- boy, I'm proud of my senior class. The winningest class in the history of our program. Q. I don't mean this in any condescending way, but the block Sutton made on Karon, is something you would see in an ordinary game in your conference. In an ordinary game in your conference -- COACH RICE: Are you kidding me? We kept getting to the basket, and they're 6-11, one of their tremendous athletes -- I was coaching the Big East and -- it doesn't happen. All of a sudden we get ahead, we're getting fouled in the Northeast Conference. It happened to us four or five times. Jay would switch and he'd just started denying the wings and not letting us run a fluid offense. You penetrate pressure. We did what we needed to do. Boy, they had a couple of great -- again, referees had about four or five great no calls because they weren't, they just made tremendous plays at the end of the game. And it happens. End of FastScripts |
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