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

March 17, 2011

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

GREG GREENWELL: From St. Peter's we have student-athletes Ryan Bacon, Jeron Belin, Wesley Jenkins, and Nick Leon. We'll go ahead and start with questions.

Q. Wesley, you missed the big moment this year, I would think, was your team's win over Alabama down in the Virgin Islands, and you missed that with the knee. Is this kind of a second chance for you to get an opportunity to play a major conference school and kind of shock the world this week? What was it like to miss out on that opportunity earlier?
WESLEY JENKINS: It really wasn't that bad because I still was there to root my team on. Me being out didn't really have an effect on us so it really wasn't that bad. Now I do have a chance to play with them, to play another big time school. So we're just going to do our best to try to win.

Q. Nick, for you, just for those of us who haven't seen you play, can you describe the style of defense. I know statistically you're pretty highly ranked in the NCAA.
NICK LEON: Well, yeah, that's true. We just play together, you know, and helping each other out on the defensive side, talking to each other, communicating.
When each of us make a mistake, we pick each other up on the defensive side. So I guess that just gives us the confidence to just go down on the next play and make another defensive stop. So I guess it's just confidence and defense and just, like I said, the communication. Communication is key in defense. So we take that with pride. That's what helps us with our success on defense.

Q. Nick just talked about staying together in terms of defense, but I just wanted to ask in terms of staying together as a group. I mean, you guys went through some pretty tough times early. I think, Nick, you were actually there for the five win, right?
NICK LEON: Yeah, I was.

Q. Specifically, Nick, could you talk about that season, and as a group, could you talk about why you guys stayed together. Nobody seemed to want to get out. Nobody seemed to want to transfer or what not. Could you just talk about, I guess, that decision to stay together and fight through rather than leave.
NICK LEON: Well, at first, meeting Wesley, it was kind of like competition because coming from high school, I come from a winning program, and so did he. So first year I figured I'm going to come in and score the ball. And when they recruited him, I said, oh, man, he going to take all my shots.
But building a relationship with him and building a bond, it kept us together, and it kept us saying, you know, one day we're going to be on the big stage, and one day we're going to accomplish a lot of goals. And that's what we did.
And basically on the first year after losing all them games, we just said, you know what, next year we've got to pick it up, pick up slack, and hopefully we come out with better wins.
WESLEY JENKINS: Just everybody wanted to say just because all of us came from winter programs and we was going to find a will to win. So we just wanted to stick together. Just going through the hard times, we knew we were going to stick together and finish on top.

Q. Ryan, could you just talk about what coach has told you about Purdue and how familiar you are with them and Big Ten basketball.
RYAN BACON: We watched their film. They're a lot stronger and bigger. We haven't learned a lot about them. We just know we've got to play hard to win. We don't have to play a perfect game, but we've got to play good. And anything is possible.

Q. Ryan, specifically about Purdue -- another Purdue question. I think you'll be the guy dealing with JaJuan Johnson a lot. What do you know about him from watching tape thus far, and how does it change your game to go up -- to give up inches, which you probably don't always give up that many, as you will tomorrow.
RYAN BACON: I watch video all the time. I watch film with coaches. He's a very good player. I think my game plan is -- our team game plan is the same as any other good big man in our league or any other team that we play, just to play defense, and be solid, rebound, box out, same thing.
GREG GREENWELL: Thank you, guys.
GREG GREENWELL: St. Peter's Head Coach John Dunne. Coach, you can start with an opening statement.
COACH DUNNE: We're just really excited to be here. We're excited about competing. Obviously for our St. Peter's community as well as our friends, family, and our league, to represent our league.
So, obviously, it's going to be a tough matchup for us. They're a little bigger. They're a little stronger. They got two tremendous players in Johnson and Moore, and then they have some ultimate role guys that can space the floor. So it will be a tough matchup, but we're looking forward to it. We're looking to compete. And we'll see what happens.

Q. How do you kind of simulate Purdue's defense? I know that's kind of a big issue usually for smaller schools to try to figure out how you're going to be able to go against that type kind of man-to-man pressure defense.
COACH DUNNE: The one thing that's hard to simulate is JaJuan Johnson blocking shots, coming from the weak side. We're actually a pretty good defensive team ourselves. We're number two in the country in defensive field goal percentage. So their style is very similar to our style.
So as far as the ball pressure, the help defense, that's very similar. We just don't have the shot blocking that they do when you beat the first offender and get into the paint. So we're used to that style.

Q. Kind of a followup to her question, but does Ryan Bacon have to change his game going against JaJuan Johnson. Just stay out of foul trouble early, that kind of thing, get him some more help on defense? How does he prepare for a matchup like this?
COACH SMART: I don't think he does anything differently. We'll start Conley on Johnson and move Bacon over to him once we sub Belin in. Our game plan is basically the same game in and game out regardless of our opponents, trying to make them catch it as far away from the basket as we can and make them make plays over us. The difference is he's going to make a lot over us because he's a tremendous player.
I don't think his game plan is any different.

Q. Coach, you're watching them after two tough losses. It's the first round of the tournament as it is, but how tough is it when you catch a team like that when they've been stung twice in a row?
COACH DUNNE: I get -- I don't know. I guess it's the first round of the tournament for all of us. They have more experience with the tournament than we do, but I'm sure they're going to just want to get out and play as hard as we can and have a good feeling going into the second round, or I guess third round now. We feel the same way.
So I'm sure they're going to come out and compete hard, as are we, and we both have -- they have pretty good seniors, and so do we. I don't know if that makes much of a difference.

Q. In a game like this, do you have to sort of pick your poison knowing if you sag down on Johnson, you might leave some perimeter things open for guys like E'Twaun Moore?
COACH DUNNE: No question. You have to pick your poison against these guys and then kind of hope the bounces go your way. Johnson's tremendous. I mean, you can throw three guys at him, and he can take his little fadeaway and knock it down.
Watching the Indiana game, they played a lot of zone, and then they ran doubles at him, and he was hitting jump hooks and right shoulder turnaround shots with Big Ten big bodies running at him. So we're not going to be able to stop him. He just try to be able to contain him enough, but we certainly don't want their role guy -- he can't get 24, and then Moore can't get 18, and then the rest of them all chip in 14, 15. We're obviously going to lose the game then.
So you have to pick your poison and then see how the ball bounces.

Q. I apologize if it's already been asked. Have you been able to sense that, since you guys won up in Bridgeport, that there's been not only a greater sense of pride around the campus but this has given people in Jersey City a little something to be proud of?
COACH DUNNE: No, absolutely. It's been great for our community, Jersey City, alumni that live around the country that just have a sense of pride.
The e-mails that I've been getting from people from Los Angeles and West Coast reading headlines, just a lot of prize, and it just makes me proud. I know the administration feels great, and the players because, when you don't have -- you know, when you haven't made it to the NCAA Tournament in 16 years and then you're not getting a lot of fans to your games when you win 6 games and then 11, they kind of wonder who cares? Who cares about them?
Now they know there's just a lot of people behind them that were just waiting to cheer for them. From going from 6 to 11 to 16, now 20 wins and being champions, they feel great, and it just gives them a great sense of accomplishment to make others proud of them.

Q. Coach, you had mentioned your defense. You played some zone two, right? What's the ratio?
COACH DUNNE: We sprinkle some zone in, just depending on matchups. We're a quarter court, man-to-man team. Not a lot of trapping, doubling. We are what we are. Just depending on matchups, we can sprinkle in some zone here and there.

Q. Obviously, you got a number of guys that were with you from the six wins, and I guess in one case even the five wins. How close were a lot of these guys to leaving? That's a lot to sit through for some kids. Some kids would leave. How close were a lot of those, and did you have to basically re-recruit guys all year or fend off the negative recruiting and so forth and so on?
COACH DUNNE: I don't necessarily think you re-recruit as the year is going along because, if you give in to that temptation, then you're really not going to build towards something because you have to be hard on them. You have to teach them what it takes to win. Freshmen usually don't understand that.
But certainly at the end of the year, it's always at the back of your head. I think Wesley Jenkins -- and I don't know if it was his second or his third game as a freshman, but I think he scored like 27 points against Rutgers. So everybody comes out of the wood work saying that, you know, you should leave, maybe try to get to a higher level. You're only winning six games. You're not going to win there.
But Wesley's a strong individual. He has a strong family. They just wanted to remain loyal to, not just me, but to St. Peter's, and I think they all felt that way. A lot of guys we recruit might have gotten snubbed from higher levels or even other MAC teams. So they kind of play with a chip on their shoulder, and we've used that as motivation through the years to just try to get better every day, stick together, and eventually the wins will start coming.
And then once the wins start coming, then you have to learn how to get consistent. Then they got consistent enough, and obviously we got hot at the right time at the end of this year.
GREG GREENWELL: Thank you, Coach.

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