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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: DENVER

March 17, 2011

Donnie Tyndall

DENVER, COLORADO

Morehead State Â– 62
Louisville - 61

THE MODERATOR: Now joined by Morehead State. Coach, if you want to give us your thoughts on the game.
COACH TYNDALL: Well, first of all, I want to say that no coach in college basketball respects Coach Pitino, his staff, and how they play, and their program more than me. I can assure you that. He's been a guy I've looked up to for many years as a role model and a guy you try to exemplify yourself after both on and off the floor.
So with that being said, I thought that these guys next to me and our team competed for 40 minutes. That's what it takes to beat a team like Louisville, that is one of the best teams in college basketball.
I thought that we played unselfish. We turned it over a little bit more than we had hoped to. But we had a nice advantage on the backboards, in large part to Kenneth. I thought our guys played extremely hard and we were fortunate to make one more play than they did at the end.
THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Demonte, take me through that last shot, what you were thinking. Was it a three? Were you going for the win all the time?
DEMONTE HARPER: During the media timeout, coach said, I dreamt about this last night, this exact position we would be in this situation.
He said, I know exactly where I'm going to, I'm going to put it right in your hands, Demonte. I don't want you to drive it to the hole, I want you to pull up and win the game off a three-pointer.
He told me in the media timeout.
I said, Coach, I'm going to hit the shot.
He said, At six seconds, I want you to attack him hard, pull up and hit the shot.
I hit the shot and it feels unreal right now (smiling).

Q. Kenneth, talk about, at one point I know your team was down by eight in the second half, what was going through your mind at that point and what do you feel like brought this club back?
KENNETH FARIED: Pretty much basketball. Basketball is a game of runs. Louisville is a great team. But we got a group here that has no quitting in them and a group of coaches that won't let us quit. We just stayed focused and stayed the course, came out with the win.

Q. Demonte, how many times in your life have you stayed late in the gym or just been out on the court going three, two, one, good?
DEMONTE HARPER: What's funny is, as we was walking to this interview, I was actually telling them how two how in the media timeout, you have the ball, you be like, Five, four, three, two...
That's funny you brought that up because I was thinking that exact same thing before I actually took the shot. Just came out. I believed in myself and my teammates, and coaching staff as well, to put the ball in my hands for me to take those type of shots.

Q. You don't get, Seven, six, five, four?
DEMONTE HARPER: No (smiling). You want to count quick.

Q. Kenneth, talk about the last play. Was it all ball?
KENNETH FARIED: Well, yeah, it was all ball. But my coach told me that we was going to pressure Siva, put him in a trap situation. If he passed it on whatever side, I got to be there to make that play. I just kept my hand straight up. When he shot the ball, I just smacked it down.
COACH TYNDALL: Absolutely, all ball (smiling).

Q. Terrance, your shooting, was that the best you've shot the ball?
TERRANCE HILL: Yeah, my teammates was finding me open. I knocked a lot of shots in. I went 5-6 tonight. Glad it happened. We've been shooting in practice, shoot-arounds, two-line shots, we shoot shots for five minutes, so it paid off.

Q. Kenneth, what is it like to have this kind of a win when you shoot 4-17? You do so many things right, yet offensively you struggled.
KENNETH FARIED: Words can't explain how proud I am of my teammates because everybody thinks Morehead State and Kenneth Faried. But it's Morehead State, "the team." It just speak volumes how my teammates who just stepped up. Harper hitting the last shot, 23, that speaks volumes for us as a team as a whole.

Q. Terrance, you had a career-high 23. You looked comfortable from the get-go out there. You didn't look nervous at all. Hit a lot of big shots. Talk about it.
TERRANCE HILL: I mean, from the tip of the start, I had to be focused. I was ready. I can't explain it. The shots I was making, I was like, Good, thank you, thank you, thank you (smiling).
COACH TYNDALL: I have to add, Terrance Hill is one of those guys, when he walks in the gym, he thinks he's open. He has no conscious, trust me. He's missed a few over the years. He's going to make his share and he certainly did tonight (smiling).

Q. As you come out to have that last offensive possession, did any of you think at any time before you started to play, We can tie it with a quick basket, have two more possessions after this? Did you wonder about holding for the last shot?
DEMONTE HARPER: No. Honestly we just listened to coach. He told us, We're going to take a three, we're going a try to win the game.
TERRANCE HILL: Demonte made a tough shot. Fortunately it went in. It was all coach's decision.
KENNETH FARIED: Yeah, we were just going to go for the win. It's the NCAA tournament. You go big or go home.
COACH TYNDALL: Plus I was tired from the altitude (laughter).

Q. Truth be told, when the ball was in the air, what did you think?
KENNETH FARIED: That's the money. I'm just being honest. We stay after late in the gym. I shoot my free throws, he's shooting his three-point shot. I just think he got that perfect form, that perfect step back. He was up. Eyes lit up. It was good.
TERRANCE HILL: Well, me and Demonte are like brothers, the whole team is like brothers. He said, I'm going to knock the shot in. Fortunately, I believed him. He made it count.

Q. With all the times you've seen Louisville in this tournament, how good does it feel to get past them?
KENNETH FARIED: A big relief, huge relief (smiling). My sophomore year, they had three draft picks and two lotteries. That was a big team for us.
TERRANCE HILL: It was a hard-fought battle, you know. Right now I'm still shaking. I'm thinking I'm dreaming right now. Words can't explain how I feel.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, guys. We'll dismiss you at this time and continue with questions for Coach Tyndall.

Q. Can you give us some perspective, how big a victory is this for Morehead State, what it means to the school?
COACH TYNDALL: I think it's, without question, the biggest win in the history of our program. Coach Martin, who is the best coach to ever coach at Morehead State, had some big wins during his time. I think to be a first-round game against an in-state power, to be able to knock them off, I don't think it's ever been bigger than that in the history of our school.
It ties us for 25 wins, for the single-season most victories in the history of the program. It doesn't get any bigger than that.

Q. Why did you go with Demonte on the final shot? He was 0-5 from three-points during the game, Terrance was 5-6. It was the dream?
COACH TYNDALL: I really didn't dream it. I was just up about 2:30, and couldn't get back to sleep. I kept saying, What am I going to do here?
I just said, Man or zone, down one or down two, we're going to go for the win.
Demonte struggled from the three-point line. But he's better at creating his own shot off the dribble than Terrance is. Terrance is more of a catch-and-shoot guy. We wanted to put it in his hands, let him go make a play.
I'm saying in that setting. I'm not saying we couldn't or wouldn't have won in overtime. But let's go try to win the game. And I think when we told him what we did in the huddle, it gave him an incredible amount of confidence to go make his play. To his credit, he did.

Q. Talk about the confidence level of your team. We talked a lot during the week. I know that in talking to you and your players, there was a great confidence that you could win this game.
COACH TYNDALL: Well, no question. Sometimes when you say those things, I mean, I'm a young coach that hasn't done very much in my career. You're playing against Coach Pitino, who is one of the five best coaches in America, maybe one of the best coaches to ever coach the game. You get asked the question, Coach, do you feel like you can win? Well, of course you feel like you can win. You don't want that to come across brash or arrogant or cocky. But if you don't think you can win every time you step between the lines, you shouldn't be coaching.
I never want that to come across the wrong way or disrespectfully. We have good players. We have a guy who is going to be a first-round pick. Demonte Harper was the best guard in our league, which is a very mid-major league. We have good, solid role players around those guys. We know we have a nice team. We play with a confidence and a swagger.
I hope it never comes across as arrogant or overbearing in any way. To be a good team or a good coach, you have to have a nice confidence level. I think our team has that.

Q. A couple years ago you went in the locker room down by two, then they pulled away. Today you went in tied and it looked like they were going to take control of the game. Your guys kept making plays, staying in it. Is that what you were talking about a couple days ago as far as experience goes?
COACH TYNDALL: Absolutely. When you reflect back on that game, first and foremost, Louisville was better. They were the No. 1 overall seed in America. They had Terrence Williams, first round pick, Earl Clark, first round pick, Samardo Samuels, who is in the NBA. They had a veteran team with Andre McGee and Jerry Smith, as juniors and seniors. They were just better. Their team is still very, very good, don't get me wrong.
But now our team is better, led by Demonte and Kenneth, who are seniors. They're stronger, more confident, played in big games. I think anytime you carry that experience into settings like this, whether it's conference tournament play, NCAA tournament play, it's going to lend itself to playing with poise and a certain confidence level.
I thought even though we got down eight, our guys kept coming to the huddle saying, We're going to win this game, man, keep grinding, keep grinding. That was their mindset.

Q. You said in the parking lot yesterday you needed luck. Didn't look like it was luck today. Looked like you actually beat them. As you reflect on it, you don't feel lucky, do you?
COACH TYNDALL: No, I don't feel lucky. Certainly some balls can bounce your way here or there. At times they bounced their way. So luck can be a tad bit of a factor.
But, you know, when you think about it, we beat 'em on the backboard by 12. We forced them into 16 turnovers with our pressure. We came up with 12 steals. I don't think there was any luck involved. We were just very, very fortunate to make one more play than they did. That's it.
If Demonte doesn't make the shot, they had made one more play than us up to that point.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, congratulations. We'll see you tomorrow.
COACH TYNDALL: Thank you very much.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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