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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS: PROVIDENCEMarch 18, 2010Kevin AndersonDavid GonzalezChris MooneyPROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND St. Mary's – 80 THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by Richmond student-athletes David Gonzalvez and Kevin Anderson and head Coach Chris Mooney. COACH MOONEY: Well, first I'd like to congratulate St. Mary's, not only on a great season, but today's win. They're a great, great program and a very good team. And I thought they out played us today and I congratulate them on advancing. I think a big part of the game was we couldn't guard Omar. Even when he got into foul trouble and came out of the game a couple of times we weren't able to -- if the first half we were able to establish our speed a little bit when he went out with three fouls, but in the second half not as much. Our inability to guard him led to other troubles. They made timely three point shots. They obviously hurt us on the backboard. And I thought it started with him. I think he probably had -- the first 12 points. And from there on it was very, very difficult to contain them as a team, because of his dominance. Q. Kevin, how much did their size affect you guys driving to the basket? It looked like they altered a bunch of your shots. KEVIN ANDERSON: The size really didn't affect us. I don't feel like we lost the game because of our offense. We definitely lost the game because of our defense. It was just hard to guard Samhan. He played a great game and he affected the game, even though he was in foul trouble. It was just hard to guard him. Q. David, could you describe the challenges presented by their offense with how spread they are with the four and then they've got the post guy who is huge, obviously. DAVID GONZALVEZ: Yeah. It was really tough because we usually surround the post and our defense is based so much on helping, you really can't help too much with this team because all four guys on the perimeter can knock down 3's. It was tough. Our big men were kind of left on an island to guard Samhan and he's just really, really good down there. Q. Kevin, was it difficult not to get out of character when it game was progressing like it was in terms of how you were trying to score, things like that, or no problems offensively in your view? KEVIN ANDERSON: Our problems were defensively. We couldn't get the stops we normally get. He's a great post player. It was hard for us to guard him, because like David said, we couldn't help him. It left our big guys along with him. And he's good enough to score. Q. David, I know this is a bitter disappointment. Could you talk for a second, though, and reflect on what you put into getting to this point and how you feel about the success you've had with the program? DAVID GONZALVEZ: I'm still really proud of my team. I'm really proud of my guys. We fought hard throughout this season, even from the offseason last summer guys really worked hard in the weight room to put on some weight. I just can't say enough about how hard my teammates worked and just how much we came together as a program, on and off the court. And it showed with the success we had this season. It's really hard for me to just hold my head down for the rest of the day, because I'm still proud of my team. We lost to a really good team today. Those guys are good. I tip my hat off to them. I'm still really proud of my team and the success we had this year. I expect to continue. Q. Kevin, can you elaborate on that a little bit, the springboard effect this might have with so many guys coming back? KEVIN ANDERSON: Yeah, I expect everybody to work hard like we did in previous offseason, we lose Butler and David. I don't know if you can replace those guys, because they do so much on the defensive end and offensive end. They're leaders on our team. It's hard to replace them. I expect them to work just as hard if not harder this offseason and not let this loss just set us back, really. It really hurts to lose this game. They just came out and they played better than us. It really hurts to lose this game. But we've got to work hard in the offseason like we did in the previous offseason. Q. Is it the dominance of Samhan that allowed a 40-17 discrepancy on the boards? Did concentrating on him throw it off and make it easier to rebound all around, because you're concentrating on their big guy? COACH MOONEY: I think that was part of it. They're a good rebounding team and a better rebounding team than we are. I think that was part of it. His ability to impact the game so much right from the beginning had us -- not only worried about him and worried about three point shooters, and I thought they were a little quicker to the ball than us. And to get that many second shots in a game it's just too many to give up. I do think that has a lot to do with it how much we were concentrating on him. Q. I'm well aware that your bread and butter has been that match-up zone all year and it serves you well. Was there any temptation to scrap it and go to something more firm inside, especially the way the game started? COACH MOONEY: There was. It's very difficult with playing against them because of how well they shoot the ball from the perimeter. They shoot over 40 percent from three. So we were -- you have to be extended a little bit. And a couple of times where we -- whether we doubled -- I think Dave knocked the ball out of his hands one time and he got it back and scored. They keep moving on the perimeter so it makes it difficult to double without losing your man. He's willing to pass out of the low post enough to find three point shooters. So that was difficult. And we can make adjustments a lot of times within our defense, and the adjustments we made just weren't good enough. Q. Very difficult for you now, but I wonder if you can reflect on what it took to get to this point, what the players put into it and what you think this will do for your program? COACH MOONEY: Well, I think this was a tremendous season for us. To win as many games as we did, to beat the teams that we've beat, to be in the NCAA Tournament, those are all significant accomplishments. I couldn't be more proud of our team, if we won the game and advanced in the tournament. I thought we were just a terrific team. A fun team to watch. A very hard working team and a great group of kids. And I think this is very important and significant for us as not a final destination but a step. We have a lot of good players coming back. We're confident in everybody's ability. I think we're well rounded enough that we can continue to be very, very good and competitive on a national level. Q. So much was made of Richmond's style going in and Coach Bennett suggested in retrospect maybe the match up was good for them given their shooting ability against you. Do you see that and were you concerned that your defense may not be able to hold up against what they feature? COACH MOONEY: Yeah, I was concerned. You'd be concerned about anybody you're going to play in the NCAA Tournament, there's only very good teams. I was concerned. I was hoping that we could make Omar miss a couple of shots. We could throw some indecision into him. And I think once he got going it really settled down to their shooters. I think they're a difficult match up for almost anybody, just because of their ability to shoot so well. All four players around him. So I think they're a difficult match up for anybody. End of FastScripts |
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