home jobs contact us
Our Clients:
Browse by Sport
Find us on ASAP sports on Facebook ASAP sports on Twitter
ASAP Sports RSS Subscribe to RSS
Click to go to
Asaptext.com		 ASAPtext.com
ASAP Sports e-Brochure View our
e-Brochure

NIT POSTSEASON


March 30, 2010


Brian Gregory

Chris Johnson

Chris Wright


NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

COACH BRIAN GREGORY: We played an extremely physical, tough, well-coached team today in Mississippi. Hats off to them. They had a great year, and are only going to get better. And for us to figure out a way to kind of pull that thing out at the end speaks volumes for our guys' mental toughness, they just kind of kept fighting. You know, it's never a dull moment sometimes with our team, but their heart and the way they work has kind of just lifted us over the edge and pushed us along right now.
Really proud, as I talked in the press conference yesterday, University of Dayton has a great tradition in the NIT. Some great teams have played in this. Some great teams have made it to the finals and some great teams have won the Championship. It's really neat that these guys, as underclassmen and our seniors will get an opportunity to play in the championship game and just add another really nice chapter to our history, our tradition, and its connection to New York City and Madison Square Garden.

Q. For any of the guys, what were your thoughts when Trevor missed the last shot, when he got free and got that clean look?
CHRIS JOHNSON: I for sure thought he was going to make it but I mean, I think it was London (Warren) did a great job of cutting him off. He was an anchor and missed the layup and I just knew we had to get the opportunity to rebound.

Q. What exactly happened on the technical, Chris?
CHRIS JOHNSON: Just trying to get the ball, got a jump ball and guys got to anchor it, just threw an elbow and I just disciplined enough to just keep my poise.

Q. Chris, can you talk about, you know, the first half to the second half, what did you guys think; did you change your momentum in the halftime to the end of the game?
CHRIS JOHNSON: Yeah, I think we -- I mean, we did a good job in the first half but not as great a job as we wanted to do, so we came out the second half to try to defend and make transition and rebound it, and I think we did a better job of that in the second half.

Q. Looked like Warren was able to get off more three point shots in the second half and get some cleaner looks; what was going on between halves there with him?
CHRIS JOHNSON: He was in foul trouble early, so he got a lot of energy. He came out in the second half being aggressive. We knew he was going to do that, so we had our point guard try to command oh him, and he just got open looks and started knocking them down.

Q. Just your thoughts, post game, second half of the season, games have not gone your way; your thoughts as it got tight and how confident were you?
CHRIS WRIGHT: We just had to stay true to who we are. We didn't do things -- a couple of times we tried to throw lobs but down the stretch you can't do that.
You have to stay poised and if you have an opportunity to have an open shot, you have to be able to knock it down in the clutch. You have to be able to knock it down the stretch. You have to be able to knock down the free throw or cut down and get the rebound.

Q. Chris Wright, just a little on Chris Johnson's performance tonight.
CHRIS WRIGHT: I think the basket was about the size of the back board tonight, he was knocking them down. He was just firing and he was in a rhythm. He told me a couple of days ago, he was ready to go and tonight he showed that.

Q. Your thoughts on going to the NIT Finals and the push you've had these past four games.
CHRIS JOHNSON: I think we showed a lot of character. We know we could have easily given up but we showed a lot of character, showing that we still wanted it and we have an opportunity to still do something special here at the NIT at Madison Square Garden in competing for a championship now.

Q. Same question about Trevor getting that shot: What were your thoughts from your vantage point, because you were watching it.
COACH BRIAN GREGORY: Right, there's ladies present; I can't say what I was thinking. (Laughter).
They did a good job of spacing the corner. Their initial job on our first couple of actions was good. We went to a coverage where we had five perimeter players because Chris Wright was our lone big guy out there and we did a pretty good job. (Trevor) Gaskins is a dangerous player. He's very aggressive to score. He had a pretty good look on the initial dribble, and then London did a pretty good job of kind of arcing him out and kind of forcing him into a difficult angle.
The kid is a lefty and he's actually driving with a strong hand but London was able to get just enough. He wasn't able to get fully in front but just enough inside to force a tough shot and KJ came flying in there. It was a good look and they executed what they wanted to extremely well.
Our defense was, you know -- I have been on the other end enough this year, you know, where a guy makes that shot. You know, so sometimes, you just miss it. You know, he missed it. I thought our defense was pretty good, but then we were able to make some free throws and put the thing away. So obviously happy.

Q. After all of the close ones you've been through, did you feel like you were maybe owed one a little bit?
COACH BRIAN GREGORY: Well, you just -- you've got to have a strong faith and belief in what you do and your guys. You know, for some reason, we went through a lot this year. Guys never got discouraged. We were disappointed, but they just kind of kept fighting through. They always got up. They never stopped believing in themselves or believing in the coaches.
For some reason, I just had a feeling something good was bound to happen to these guys. You know, at least you hope. And, you know, through challenges comes some perseverance and through that some character; our guys have got great character. So even in that crucial time down the stretch, God, we made some bold-handed plays, you know what I mean. We are still tough enough to figure out a way to win.
You know, really happy for the guys.

Q. How does it feel to be on the right end of this one?
COACH BRIAN GREGORY: A lot better than the other 11 games we lost by five points or less; I can tell you that.
Again, we were good at the free throw line. You know, again, what happened was our defense bailed us out. We held them to 33 percent, 26 from the 3, out-rebounded them. We only gave up ten offensive rebounds to a team that was averaging 17 going into this game in the NIT.
Someone asked about, you know, White from the 3, well -- White and Warren from the 3 were 4 of 17. That's pretty good defense, because those two guards are as good as any two guards we faced all year long.

Q. How about Chris Johnson?
COACH BRIAN GREGORY: Chris has been -- you know, he's been tremendous. The thing I just told him right before, I'm not going to stop -- I know it's the 35th game or 36th game. I'm going to keep coaching him. You know, if he does something wrong or he's got to do something better, he's going to hear about it. And he's a guy that doesn't flinch at that. That's why he's going to continue keep getting better. He knows he's sitting in that locker room right now and he's ticked off at the layup he missed at the end of the game because he double-clipped it because he knew he was getting hit and he's got to finish that. He's the kind of guy, I say that great players do what they don't want to do and he doesn't, because he knows he's going to make it better.
Really pleased with him. I thought his defensive effort was going to be overlooked but he was guarding (Zach) Graham, did a great job on him, as well, kind of a key to the third perimeter score.

Q. How big of a key was the technical?
COACH BRIAN GREGORY: At the time, I thought, I'll take those two points. You just -- I don't know. I've been on the other end of that, you know what I mean, and so again, I didn't see it. I didn't really see it. Because once they called the jump ball, first thing I did was double-check to make sure nobody flipped an arrow on us because nobody told us we had the arrow, and then it happened.

Q. Just your thoughts on this NIT run?
COACH BRIAN GREGORY: Well, we have those seven seniors, and we've had some obstacles and ups and downs this year. And I said that, you know, the one thing you always want for your seniors is to go out on a high note. And they have been able to do that. They have been able to rally the troops and do what needs to be done in order to do what gets better every single day.
We are playing our best basketball of the year right now. Guys are fresh. Guys are playing hard. We are playing with great energy. And, as I said, you know, tradition and history of our program has always been important to me. You know, Coach Don May said what a great thing if they could figure out a way to win it and to kind of be put in the same category as Don May's team that won it here in '68, that would be a hell of a deal.

End of FastScripts




About ASAP Sports • FastScripts Archive • Recent Interviews • Captioning • Upcoming Events • Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297