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NIT POSTSEASONMarch 29, 2011Anthony GrantJaMychal GreenTrevor RelefordNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK ALABAMA – 62 COACH ANTHONY GRANT: It's a great win for our team. We are excited about the opportunity to compete for a championship. You have to obviously give Colorado credit. They are a great team and we knew in the second half they would have a lot of fight in them. I thought in the first half we set the tone and the second half they did. They went on a couple of runs that we had to answer and thankfully, we had guys that stepped up, persevered and made the plays that we needed to make to win the game. Q. Talk about the game-winning shot. TREVOR RELEFORD: The game-winning shot, I just felt like they kept wanting me to go to the screen and were blitzing me and I rejected it and I was able to get a shot up and it went in. Q. How big of a lift was that for you? TREVOR RELEFORD: It's great for me and great for the team. I'm just glad we were able to advance and play for a championship. Q. How did the team act when JaMychel (Green) fouled out? Did you keep your composure? TREVOR RELEFORD: Everybody came over to him and told him we have his back and we are his brother and that's what we did. Q. You put your head down when you got on the bench and looked like you might have thought the season was over what were you thinking a couple seconds after you fouled out? JAMYCHEL GREEN: I was just praying that we come out with a victory. My teammates and Coach told me they had my back and I did what they said. Q. The pace of the game, you dictated it early, what was Colorado doing to take you out of that in the second half? TREVOR RELEFORD: The second half, I mean, I think the blitzing, that kind of got me for a minute and I was just trying to force it and once I just started like passing it back, we started executing better. Q. In terms of big shots in your career, have you ever made as big a shot as that one? TREVOR RELEFORD: No, that had to be the biggest one (chuckling). Q. You missed some free throws; how did you feel your game was heading into that final minute? TREVOR RELEFORD: I mean, at the point guard position, I've got to like control the team. I can't turn the ball over. So I kind of felt like I was letting my team down with a couple turnovers. I'm just glad I did something that helped us get to the championship. Q. And JaMychel, you had so much success down low, you were the primary scorer tonight. Just talk about the game you had. JAMYCHEL GREEN: I just tried my best to make shots to help my team win. My teammates, they found me down there so I just did my job and finished. Q. For both, to pass a gut check like this, how big of a deal was that, especially as you go into the championship game? TREVOR RELEFORD: That was a good test for us heading into the Championship, and just know we have to just come harder the next game. JAMYCHEL GREEN: Coming in, we knew Colorado was a good team and it wasn't going to be a blowout. We knew it was going to be a close game. Trevor did a great job stepping up to the lane, made a big shot, and my teammates did a great job on the defensive end. Second half they made a couple of 3s but we kept fighting them. Q. You guys were obviously right on the bubble of making the tournament. A lot of times teams don't make it. They might pull out early in the NIT. You must be pretty thrilled the way you've persevered. COACH ANTHONY GRANT: We are, and obviously we are excited about the opportunity to compete for a championship. And obviously it would be natural to have disappointment when you don't achieve one of the goals that you want to set for yourself. But our guys very quickly turned the page and we were very excited about the opportunity to continue to play. There are a lot of teams that would have loved to have had the opportunity to compete in the NIT and we were fortunate to be one of those teams. So we are excited to be here in New York and our guys are excited about the opportunity to win a championship. Q. JaMychel was really emotional. What did you tell the team when you guys were teetering on the edges with a few minutes left? COACH ANTHONY GRANT: The guys, when they came over to the sideline, they said what Trevor told you, they said, "We've got your back. We've got you." I just told him to keep his head up and told the guys that we needed to go finish and proud of the guys, the way they went out and finished it. Q. Played zone defense in the first half, I think almost every possession. What was your philosophy of playing zone against that team? COACH ANTHONY GRANT: Colorado, they are a very explosive offensive team. Just watching them on film, we felt like they did a great job of dribble penetration, creating contact and getting fouls and we felt like we could have some success keeping them out of the lane, forcing them to take contested perimeter shots. It worked in the first half. They got on a roll in the second half, which obviously changed what we wanted to do, and obviously the thing we have talked about all year is that defensively, we are a team that can defend a lot of different ways. We can play zone. We can play man. We can press. We can do a lot of different things. And I think obviously maybe in the first half, kind of -- they were off-balance a little bit, kind of off kilter because of the zone. I don't think it was something they expected. Like any good team, they regrouped at halftime and they came out and they attacked it pretty aggressively. I thought we were able to change defenses. They hurt us in transition in the second half with our turnovers and easy baskets they got, that's where they had the most success. But I thought our man was pretty good and we were able to come back to the zone and we had some success when we got out of it and came back to it. I thought our guys overall did a pretty good job of mixing up and defending. You look at the final numbers, this is a very, very explosive offensive team. They average 80 points a game and we held them to 61, 40 percent from the field. Obviously they made eight 3s in the game, 25 shots, more than we would like to give up, but overall we did a pretty good job and limited the number of free throws they got in the game. Like we talk about defense for us, it gives us a chance to win every game and I thought it did tonight. Q. Trevor certainly had his ups and downs in this game, but talk about the confidence you have in him in a big situation like that late in the game despite everything that went on. COACH ANTHONY GRANT: He is a playmaker and obviously as a freshman, that's a big responsibility, as he mentioned, to be able to run your team and obviously play through adversity as it happens. He's learning how to do that, but at the end of the game there, I wanted the ball in his hands and I wanted him to make a play. What we designed there was a play to get the ball in his hands and then get a ball screen for him. Again, even though they were blitzing it, we felt like we could get contact or create a foul, drive it to the rim and get on the glass. They were trying to cheat the ball screen. He read it, had an opportunity to rip the baseline and he made the play. It's great to see him with the confidence and the willingness to go out there and make the play that needed to be made. Q. You had some unusual personnel groupings in the second half; what was Tony's status? COACH ANTHONY GRANT: I thought Charles came in and did a great job. For the 17 minutes he came, he was extremely alert and rebounded the basketball and was aggressive and made great plays. Charles came in and gave us some great minutes. Really proud of those players as freshmen in this environment to be able to step up and do the things they did. Q. Getting this win on the road at a neutral site, it's something you have to be happy for your team. COACH ANTHONY GRANT: Yeah, this is a big win. Obviously this is the Final Four of the NIT. With the stakes being as high as they are, I am extremely proud of the way our guys persevered. Obviously the game could have gone either way. (Alec) Burks took the last shot and he has made so many of those. We were fortunate the bounce went our way and we have the opportunity to play for a championship. Q. You mentioned that if you guys happened to win, the kids could see more of the city. How will you handle tomorrow? COACH ANTHONY GRANT: We'll see. We'll see. I hope that we'll have a chance to do that. The main focus is we had some guys that made some big minutes, some guys got in foul trouble so making sure we are recovered and prepared for the opportunity that lies ahead. First and foremost in our guys' mind is making sure we have a chance to win the Championship, and keeping that first and foremost but certainly we are having a great time here. The guys have had a chance to get around downtown and see a little bit of New York. I think they are enjoying themselves and enjoying the experience. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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