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NIT POSTSEASON

March 30, 2010

Jim Baron

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

JIM BARON: I thought it was a hard-fought game. Seemed like both teams were struggling shooting the basketball. We both were kind of out-strapping each other, and seems like they made, you know, made more plays down the stretch to get it into overtime and made some free throws.
But I just thought, you know, we wanted to do what we wanted to do right there. We got the rebound and we were aiming to push it down the other end. I thought there was some contact and he tripped and I just thought that -- he looked like he clearly tripped running down the court.
So that was just a disappointing thing, just because, you know, down the stretch, it seemed like they were getting a couple of calls of it being real physical. But you know, stepped up and made their plays.

Q. Can you just talk about the free throws at the end of regulation.
JIM BARON: There's no question, we've been very good with that all year long, and you know, it just -- we just didn't make them. In the past, we've made them, and you know, even in the NIT, we stepped up and made them for the most part. And it seemed like, you know, they made their free throws down the stretch to, you know, stay in the game and then pull ahead.

Q. What about the play of (Delroy) James in the second half?
JIM BARON: What about it?

Q. Can you talk about it?
JIM BARON: Yeah, it's kind of tough coming back to New York. It seemed like he was carrying a piano on his shoulders to have a knockout punch. But he's been terrific, you know, down the stretch. And seemed like they were doing a good job of really collectively jumping to the ball and seemed like every time he was trying to go by him, they had another guy there in front of him.
But I thought (Keith) Cothran and Lamonte (Ulmer), those guys played with a tremendous amount of heart. And our guys, that's why I told them how proud I was, they put it all out there. As a coach, you know, I'm just elated and I'm proud that they did put it all out there.
And to come this far, it was an incredible year for us, especially when we were picked eighth early on, and then coming into the NIT and winning those three games and coming to this game, could have went either way. That's the way I look at it, could have went either way, and it was a hard-fought game. They made the plays down the stretch and made some shots.

Q. What did the ref say to you after the game?
JIM BARON: Didn't say anything. Just left.

Q. You mentioned a lot about the fact that you were picked to finish eighth right through the season; was that a chip on shoulder and did that serve as motivation?
JIM BARON: Yeah, I think any time you come off winning 23 games last year and then you're coming back and you have some upperclassmen that are really not getting a lot of respect, they have something to prove.
I think they really proved that the entire year, and, you know, for their career, they won over 85 games. I mean, it's just absolutely incredible when you look at it. But it's a tough way -- it's a tough way to go down, especially in overtime, Madison Square Garden in a prestigious tournament like the NIT. But I just can't be more proud of our guys. They put their hearts out there and they had a lot of fight in them.
I just want to thank the fans for coming down from Rhode Island and the alumni and students. It's just a tremendous atmosphere for college basketball.

Q. Speaking of that, did you feel like that gave you a home-court advantage being that Rhode Island is not that far away?
JIM BARON: I thought it catapulted us ahead, you know, and we made a couple of crucial turnovers down the stretch. We missed some shots. But I thought that that really helped us keep moving it forward. And then they had to make some big plays to catch up and tie it.

Q. Can you just talk about Keith and Lamonte, the two seniors in their final game?
JIM BARON: Yeah, you look at their stats, Lamonte, ten rebounds, 8-for-12, they just couldn't stop him and he was incredible on the glass.
Cothran, 9-for-19, what a way to finish. It would have been nice to grab it, you know, going into the Championship game, but just wasn't meant to be. But those guys, you know, they were just very, very special, I mean, phenomenal careers. They are going to go down as all-time most wins two players ever had in the history of Rhode Island basketball.

Q. How does the way you guys played down the stretch here affect next season's expectations for yourself as well as your kids?
JIM BARON: It was a tremendous run. I mean, it was a tremendous run. I mean, you know, with coming into the tournament, beating Northwestern, beating Nevada, beating Virginia Tech; we knew that was going to be a hard-fought game because this was a good basketball team. They beat Michigan and they beat Ohio State. They have got some very good players.
So, you know, I mean, we are going to take a lot from this to keep moving this forward. Again, we have got some guys that, you know, I think the program is in great shape to keep moving it forward.

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