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NCAA MEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: NEW ORLEANSMarch 24, 2011Jackson EmeryJimmer FredetteDave RoseNEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA Florida – 83 COACH ROSE: Well, that was a great college game. Both teams played hard. I thought that we got behind early and then showed a lot of fight and got back into the game. You know, then it was just about guys making plays. They made a few more plays than we did at the end, but I was really proud of how our players competed. I thought that it was a game where either team could have won right at the end, and it got into overtime. And their overtime looked like they had a little more to finish the game than we did. It's a great Florida team, and I wish Coach Donovan and his staff and his team the best. Q. Jimmer, how much did Kenny Boynton make it difficult for you to even get clean looks at the basket tonight? JIMMER FREDETTE: You know, he did a pretty good job. He was just contesting shots, he's athletic, a good defender. They were really hedging hard on those ball screens, they were doubling or switching or whatever it was. So they did a good job. I just didn't make quite enough shots. I didn't shoot the ball great, but credit to their defense. Q. Jimmer, you've played a team that was bigger and thicker, and you guys did a good job hanging with them. Do you think maybe you just ran out of gas there at the end? Did you feel like maybe you lost your legs there in the last couple minutes? JIMMER FREDETTE: Maybe a little bit at the end. We played the whole game, and I was a little bit tired. But it's not an excuse. They were ready to go, especially in that overtime. We had a chance, we got a stop, we had a chance to get a rebound, they got an offensive rebound and put it out. And you never know what could have happened if we got that rebound. But they definitely had fresh legs and they were ready to go in that overtime. Q. Jackson, could you talk about starting the game with three shots, three makes that you had outside and how hard it was to sit out the rest of that half? JACKSON EMERY: Yeah, I came out and I knew I wanted to be a little aggressive. I got some good looks, and you know, I was fortunate enough to hit those shots. I've shot the ball this week pretty well in this arena, so I felt confident all week. And then you get in foul trouble and it's just tough. You know, I've played through that a couple games this year. But it's hard to bounce back. You get out of rhythm, or you just try to find your shot again. But that's just part of the basketball game. Q. Jimmer, we noticed that Rob Ramos was working on your calf at halftime. Was that an injury in the game? JIMMER FREDETTE: Yeah, it happened in the game. I don't know what happened, if I got kneed or if it cramped. It definitely didn't cramp, but if I got kneed or got a little strain or something. But my upper left calf was kind of bothering me, so he just kind of warmed it up and everything before I went out to go. Q. Talk about your chin. JIMMER FREDETTE: I was going down the floor and I tripped, and I just fell to the ground and my chin hit the floor, and then after that it was starting to bleed. Q. Is it still bleeding? JIMMER FREDETTE: I don't know. I think so, but they bandaged it up pretty good. Q. Jimmer, I saw you had a couple of testy exchanges with the bald official in the second half at one point. It seemed like with your injury and your calf it was a frustrating night. Could you talk about all the elements that went into that? JIMMER FREDETTE: You know, sometimes you've got to play through everything. Both teams had times where they had to play through calls, and it wasn't anything bad. It was just a little maybe frustration, just because that's what happens sometimes during basketball games. But I tried to keep an even keel, and we were still right in there at the end of the game. We just didn't win. Q. Jimmer, do you think that towards the end of the game in regulation maybe shot selection hurt you guys a little bit? You were 7 for 7 from the free-throw line, and you didn't draw it really in at the end of the game and took some outside shots. Do you think maybe you should have taken the ball inside more a little bit at the end of the game? JIMMER FREDETTE: You know, I had two threes, two opportunities, and I thought that both of them were actually pretty good looks. I had space to shoot the shot, and I had confidence to make that shot. It just didn't happen. So I didn't think necessarily it was bad, bad shots. I thought they were pretty good shots, but I just didn't happen to make them. You never know what happens when you get in there. I didn't score 7 for 7, but I felt like they were good looks, and if I would have made them it would have been a different story. Q. Jimmer and Jackson, if you could just describe what's going through your head and what emotions you have, the last game of your college careers, looking back on what you've accomplished, and just what are your comments on that? JIMMER FREDETTE: You know, it's definitely tough. It's tough that it's over, hasn't really sunk in yet that it's fully over right now. But I've had a great time. This team has been extremely tough, resilient, and we've fought through a lot of things. And you know, a lot of people didn't think we could even make it this far. We believed in ourselves, and we thought that we could do it, a possession away to get into the Elite Eight, we won the Mountain West Conference Championship this regular season. We've had a great year and I love going to battle with these guys every single night. Every day they've been great friends to me and I've enjoyed every single minute of it. JACKSON EMERY: I agree with Jimmer. It's been an incredible journey. I was here in Coach Rose's first year we came together. One thing we wanted to do with this program is build it up and every year get better. I feel like every year we've gotten better. We've raised expectations. And we've had a lot of doubt on the outside, but all that matters is what we believe as a team. I thought we accomplished what we wanted to and beyond. I'm proud to say we had a great season, and I'm excited to move on, and I'm excited to see BYU next year because I know they'll continue to work hard and become better. Q. Jimmer, to clarify the cut on your chin, did that come when you drove to the basket and they called the foul on you? JIMMER FREDETTE: It wasn't the one where they called a foul on me. I was in transition and I was dribbling and Macklin was in front of me and I was dribbling past him and he tripped me, and I just fell to the ground. There was no call, and then I hit my chin on the floor and I just went down and it started bleeding. Q. No stitches? JIMMER FREDETTE: Not yet, but I think I'm going to have to get some. Q. So this is the biggest stage you've ever played on. How do you think you did? JIMMER FREDETTE: You know, we didn't win the game, so not great. You know, we had chances, and I thought that we fought and we battled. Sometimes we didn't play as well as we wanted to. But I just didn't make some shots at the end, and I thought that we battled hard. But sometimes you lose games. Q. Jimmer, did you feel that regulation was going to come down to a shot at the end for you until that rebound got away there at the end on the side? JIMMER FREDETTE: I knew if we got a miss we were going to have an opportunity to get a shot off, and if we got the rebound, because there was an eight-second differential. So we knew we were going to get a shot off anyway, but we got a miss and then he came in and got the rebound. So we had to play defense one more time and got a good stop and then got it into overtime. But definitely if it was at the end of the game, I would have had the ball. I didn't know if I would have got to shoot it or not, but at least I would have had an opportunity to make a play. Q. Jackson, your coach played with a guy named Clyde Drexler and you played with a guy named Jimmer Fredette. Do you want to talk about that experience as you look back right now? JACKSON EMERY: It's great. It's been a great career with Jimmer. Not very many college athletes can say they played with a guy for three years and started along with him the whole three years. But it's been a terrific duo, Jimmer and me, and a terrific ride. And Jimmer is a terrific player, and I know he's going to have a great career professionally because one thing that I admire about Jimmer is just the work ethic he has. I know a lot of people have doubted his ability, but Jimmer continues to shut down doubters and continues to work hard in the off-season. You know, he's a great player. And the reason I love playing with him is because he's a great guy off the floor, and I know we're going to stay in contact afterwards. It's hard to not play with him, but I know we're going to be great friends after. Q. Coach, can you just talk about the play Walker made to get the hustle rebound on the missed shot that gave them a second possession? Even though they didn't win it, they kept you from running it there. COACH ROSE: Yeah, I think that the shot -- he had a pretty good look at it from the top and was able to track it down. They're a big, physical team and we were doing a pretty good job of matching up to them body for body when the shots gone up and kind of caromed off and he had a good look at it to kind of run it down. Q. Coach Rose, how did Florida's defense on Jimmer stack up against your other opponents this year? COACH ROSE: Well, you know, I think that Florida defensively does a great job of protecting the basket. It's hard to get to the rim and score against them. And so we got ourselves some really good looks in areas with space at our rhythm that we've hit consistently throughout the year. Tonight we didn't hit as many as we needed to. But I thought that the length of Florida caused some problems. I also think that the fact that they changed up a lot on how they were guarding him and individuals that they were guarding him with. But Jimmer has seen that a lot. Tonight we just needed to make a few more shots. I mean, if we make a few more shots, get another rebound or two here, we're talking about a different story. Q. You've come to rely on your zone quite a bit this year, but they kind of forced you out of it and you had to go man. Was that a breakdown on your defense or was that something they attacked very well? COACH ROSE: No, they do a great job of spacing the floor, moving the ball. They had 23 assists in the game and that's what they do. They space the floor so well, it's really hard to zone them. We tried to zone them early because we didn't want to get in foul trouble and tried to -- you can save a lot of energy up top in those two positions. But we just couldn't because they just kept -- I think they were 9 for 11 to start the game, something like that. They just kept hitting shots. I thought our man to man was effective at times, and doubling the post. We got them to turn it over a couple times trying to get it out of the post. But it comes down to a couple plays. We were right there, and you know, weren't able to get it done. Q. Looking at your season and seeing that you lost both of the Collinsworths, part of the season with injuries, you lost Brandon Davies at the end. Going into this year if somebody had said you're going to have all this happen, would you expect to be in the Sweet 16? COACH ROSE: Well, I think that that group of players in the locker room, we just -- it was a pretty tough eight to ten minutes we just had together as a group because they have been through a lot, and we've been through a lot as a group. We've always seemed to find a way to rise up and be successful. There's so many goals that you set as a team before the season starts, and probably your biggest goal is to qualify for the NCAA Tournament and then advance in that tournament. We were able to advance twice and came pretty close to advancing the third time. That will probably feel better later, because it's tough to -- I told the guys that the toughest thing for us as coaches is that we don't get a chance to bounce back from this. That seems to be a real trademark of our guys and our program is that we have a chance to bounce back after we get beat, and this time we don't have that chance. Q. Can you talk about the night that Tyus had? I think he had 19 and 17. And does it linger in the back of your mind that that would have been Brandon's match-up and probably could have contained him a little bit? COACH ROSE: You know, I think that somebody on every team always steps up to -- especially in big games. Tyus is a really good player, athletic, long, is a guy who can hit shots from the perimeter. But I thought that the Florida coaching staff did a great job of kind of isolating him in space and getting him a chance to have some pretty good match-ups. But he did a lot of damage on the boards where he got offensive rebounds and scored. They're just tough. They have four big post guys. We tried to run a couple guys at them a couple times, but I just -- I like the fight in our players, but we just didn't have enough. Q. Could you tell us what will be your lasting memory of Jimmer, and then this team in particular? COACH ROSE: Well, I think that their competitive spirit, this group, they're just tough. You know, they all have a different personality of toughness, but the bottom line is that they're competitors, and they want to win, and they trust each other and they play together. Jimmer's ability to make shots late in the game, Jackson's ability to defend and rebound and make winning plays consistently, Logan's ability to come in and just give you whatever you need to win a game. I mean, those are three great seniors that we'll be proud of their season once they can get through this. Q. You talked about you liked the fight that you had in your players. Was there a time a little bit deep into that second half where you were concerned a little bit about some of the referees' calls weren't going, you screamed at the referee one time when Fredette got tripped, you picked up a technical foul, and Jimmer had to be sternly warned by an official as a time-out was happening from not saying anything further that would have drawn something. Were you concerned a little bit about composure during that period? COACH ROSE: Yeah, it was tough. It was tough to get a call, I think, for both teams. But the technical called on Jackson surprised me because I wanted to know what he said because Jackson's -- I just wouldn't believe that there would be something that he would say that would get a technical, and he didn't say anything. He gestured negatively towards the official's call. So I spoke to the referee to see if maybe we could get the same call if they gestured negatively towards a call, and that was kind of the exchange. Q. With this year's success getting to the Sweet 16, what are you looking forward to most with next year's team? After losing Jimmer and Jackson, you've got some exciting players coming back and exciting new players. What are you looking forward to the most? COACH ROSE: Well, the most exciting thing is the fact that you get to be on a team. You get to coach a team. You get to start from the beginning of the season, the off-season, and work towards it and watch guys improve, watch guys gain confidence, watch your team come together and hopefully you can be successful. But the most exciting thing for me each year is to be part of a team. Q. I know it's fresh from the game and it's hard to have perspective, but maybe touch on Jimmer's legacy a little bit and what he's meant to BYU and your program. COACH ROSE: You know, it's hard to kind of put into words, really. I mean, he's -- there's been such a journey from his first day on campus and the expectations that he had and the expectations that we had for him, and coming to campus as a freshman and playing on a team that won 27 games and won the Mountain West Conference, regular season championship and went to the NCAA Tournament. He didn't start in one game. And then his second year, he comes into my office after his freshman year and says, coach, I'm your point guard and I'll be your point guard next year, and I'll spend all summer working on everything that I need to work on so I can run the program? And the next year he's first team all-Mountain West Conference. That's a hard thing to do. And the next year he goes back to work again in the summer and he comes back and he's an All-American. And then he decides to take his name out of the NBA draft and he comes back, and to start the season he's on eight pre-season All-American teams, and now our conversations are, okay, people believe you're good. Now you have to go be good. You think of every season and the different challenges that he had and the way he finished his career being probably better than everyone thought he was when he started the year, and everyone thought he was pretty good when he started the year. And then winning games. That's his legacy. He just helped his team find ways to win games. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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