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ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2011

Ramone Moore

ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY

Temple Â– 96
La Salle - 76

MODERATOR: Coach Fran Dunphy for Temple, student-athletes Ramone Moore and Lavoy Allen. We're going to ask Coach Dunphy to make an opening statement, and then we'll take questions for the student-athletes and then dismiss them and then take questions for Coach Dunphy. Coach?
COACH DUNPHY: We are thrilled to have won the game. It was obviously fast-paced, in particular the second half. I thought we played well offensively. I thought -- and just like the other -- last Saturday when we didn't guard La Salle well, it was because they were so tough to guard when we are on the defensive end obviously, and they scored a lot of points.
But again, it was one of those games where we just had to find a way to get more, and I thought these two guys to my left here did a great job, as did we all, certainly on the offensive end. We only turned it six times, which was certainly key to our getting more shots than they, and I thought we made some timely shots as well.
So we're thrilled to be moving on, and I felt La Salle played very, very tough. And they wanted it just as badly. I hope Steve Weingarten is okay here at the end. That's not what you want to see.
MODERATOR: Questions for Lavoy or Ramone.

Q. Lavoy, just can you talk about your play tonight in terms of both on the offensive and defensive ends? I know you had 14 and 12, but also the six assists which is just one turnover for you. Did it feel like the offense was flowing through you?
LAVOY ALLEN: No. I got going a little bit early in the game and then they started to double down on me, and so I had to make plays for my team. Got my teammates open for open jump shots and they knocked it down.

Q. Question for Ramone. Ramone, I'm not sure if the team was aware of what happened in the afternoon, and I know with the upset, did that make you more determined that you weren't going to fall victim to that?
RAMONE MOORE: Yeah. I think I mentioned that to the team before. You know, a lot of top teams have fallen in a tournament, and I told the guys we don't want that to be us, so we gotta come out and focus and get a victory. And La Salle is a tough team. I don't think they gave up the whole game so it was a tough victory but I'm glad we got it and are moving to the next round.

Q. Guys, this is for either one of you guys. Duquesne and Xavier both go down being the favorite seeds, winning that game. Did it kind of hit you guys like a reality check or something going into the game that this is to perk you guys up, that you might get upset or something like that?
LAVOY ALLEN: Yeah, definitely. Like Ramone said, he mentioned it to us before the game, that top guys are getting eliminated. So we definitely came out with a purpose. This is our third time playing La Salle, so this is going to be the toughest game out of all three of them, so we just came out prepared.

Q. Lavoy, you're 10-0 at Boardwalk Hall. You've never lost a game here. What is it? You like playing down here or what?
LAVOY ALLEN: I played with some great teammates over the years, and I think we just had a determination to win those games. So it's not just me. It's just the guys that I played with.
MODERATOR: Thanks, guys, appreciate it. Questions for Coach Dunphy?

Q. Coach, can you talk a little bit about Aaron Brown's performance? Not just the points. 34 minutes is a lot of --
COACH DUNPHY: I thought Aaron was terrific, and I would agree, not just the points. I thought he did a great job on the defensive end. He battled. We were obviously going small a number of minutes out there with Rahlir, and not that Rahlir is the biggest guy either, but we asked Aaron to guard some of their upfront guys, and I thought he battled as best he possibly could. And he made a couple of big, big shots for us. Late in the game, the bank shot in the lane was a huge play for us, and very proud of Aaron.
But he's done a good job all year long in terms of staying ready, and now his opportunity is coming and he looks like he's growing up in front of us.

Q. Coach, you did an excellent job dissecting that La Salle zone when they went in it. Can you talk about that a little bit?
COACH DUNPHY: I think somebody like Lavoy, when you can get the ball to him in the middle of the floor, he makes such good decisions and good plays that it makes us tough to guard when they do go zones because we can throw him in the middle of the floor. So I think he was as big a key as we had. Plus we made some jumpers that made it look like we know what we were doing.
But I think we moved the ball a little bit, but again, I think Lavoy is such a key piece of that. For him to get six assists and one turnover today, and his only turnover was in the first half where I thought he did get head and shoulders by his guy, but there was an offensive foul on him, so never threw it away once, and pretty special player.

Q. Coach, Scootie didn't get in today. What's Scootie status for the tournament?
COACH DUNPHY: He hasn't practiced. He shot around a little bit. Just day to day and if he says I'm ready to go and the doctors and trainers says he's ready to go, then we'll throw him in there, but he still is hurt.

Q. Coach, can I can you to assess your defensive performance how were you able to field so many turnovers?
COACH DUNPHY: Well, I appreciate that, Glen. We did force turnovers, 15 in the first half, which was very good for us. We're not that good of a forcing-turnovers kind of team. But I'm sure if you ask John and his group, they probably said they made some decisions they probably shouldn't have made.
But we certainly didn't guard them well when they shot the ball. They shot a great percentage over 53 percent.
But it was just one of those games where we were in passing lanes. I thought we made some pretty good decisions, but some of that was us and some of that was them, as typically this goes.

Q. This is the third year in a row where you guys have beaten a team three times in the same season. Is there something to be said for that, for the guys maintaining their focus, or is that something that the teams don't really think about too much?
COACH DUNPHY: You don't talk about it too much. It's just the fact. And we've been fortunate. And today, as Lavoy said, it was the third time we played them. We thought it was going to be the most difficult time because many times -- I think in this situation, too, everybody knows each other in the league. It's like trying to get blood from a stone each and every possession.
But obviously there was a lot of good shots made by both teams, and we just happened to make more of them today.

Q. Coach, we heard Lavoy allude to a little bit playing here in this tournament where a lot of your guys have never lost here. Do you get a sense as you go into this tournament now after another win that they just expect to win? How could you characterize that?
COACH DUNPHY: I don't think so. I think that what we -- I hope what we do each and every time out is respect the opponent, respect the game, and understand that anything can happen at any time.
And what we talk about so often is just respect every possession. Each possession is critical. And so I don't think there's any misunderstanding of why they have been successful here. They've worked pretty hard at it, but we've had our level of luck as well, and hopefully that luck can continue.

Q. How would you assess where this team is overall right now?
COACH DUNPHY: Well, I mean, I love the team. They've shown great resiliency. If you said to me, you can have Scootie and Mike Eric back again, that would be great. But they have found a way to get things done and I'm very proud of them for that. Guys have come off the bench and stepped up and -- but I think we're at a good place but we got a long way to go here. We'll have a difficult task tomorrow afternoon, but we'll try to get some rest and try to get ready to go against a very good opponent tomorrow.
MODERATOR: All right. Thank you, Coach.

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