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NIT POSTSEASONMarch 31, 2011Charvez DavisAnthony GrantTrevor RelefordNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK WICHITA – 66 COACH ANTHONY GRANT: Well, congratulations to Wichita State. I thought they played outstanding today. Really, you look at what they were able to do from an offensive standpoint and then from a defense standpoint, I think the stat sheet really tells the story in terms of how the game was played. Their depth, size of physicality and skill was just too much for us today. They were the better team today so we give them credit. At the same time it takes nothing away from our young men and what we accomplished during the course of the season. I'm extremely proud of the effort our guys gave us and proud of our seniors. Obviously this is the last game for us, so it's difficult. You want to play for a championship and end this thing the right way for our seniors but I'm very proud of the effort that those guys gave us and for our younger guys. I think this is a great building block and learning experience as we continue to build our program with the aspirations of playing for championships. Q. Was second half perimeter shooting the difference in the game? CHARVEZ DAVIS: In the second half, they shot the ball well. We had a lost mental breakdowns, and offensively, we had a hard time even going out. But we have though give them credit. They made some wide-open shots and made great shots, and they were just the better team today. Q. Trevor, what did you think the difference was? TREVOR RELEFORD: Just like Charvez says, we had mental breakdowns and let them hit some 3s. There's a game-changer right there when you can knock down 3s. Q. For either player, Michael missed a long stretch with foul trouble; how does that affect the offense? CHARVEZ DAVIS: JaMychel is a key player to our team and he's a threat. For him to go out -- we had to keep playing. We couldn't worry about that and we still had Chris and Tony to alternate sometimes. We just had to keep playing when he got out. Q. It was still a manageable game it seems until Hatch hit two big 3s. How difficult was that to overcome after he hit those two big shots in? TREVOR RELEFORD: That was big for them because three, like I said, it's a game-changer. You hit that shot, take a lot of momentum from us and give them a lot of momentum to build off of. He just kept hitting them and they got the lead. Q. How much was their depth a factor? It seems like they just kept substituting with a revolving door there. TREVOR RELEFORD: Probably played a little bit of a factor in the game but they was able to knock down shots. They played better today. Q. What do they mean by mental breakdowns? COACH ANTHONY GRANT: Well, you know, we talked about in the first half, offensively, we kind of hurt ourselves in the first half. We had opportunities in transition, whether we forced a turnover and couldn't complete plays; we were somewhat anxious in the first half from an offensive standpoint. Got out of character. Did some things offensively that hurt ourselves and allowed them to get out and get easy baskets. So we had some breakdowns from that standpoint. You know, there were a lot of breakdowns, when you go back and look at it from a defensive standpoint, we had breakdowns in the post, breakdowns in the perimeter. And then offensively, you know, we were struggling. We couldn't get in a rhythm. And give them credit. They were going back and forth between man and zone, and it took us out of rhythm and took us out of where we were having success, and when we did settle down in the first half, we had success going inside and attacking them at the rim. They took those things away from us. The credit belongs to Wichita State and we don't want to take anything away from them. Obviously we feel like we could have played better but they had a lot to do with it. Q. JaMychel picked up his third foul -- did he want to stay in the game after he picked up that third? COACH ANTHONY GRANT: I would imagine, yes. I don't think, you know, anybody does anything to come out of a game, especially a championship of this caliber. JaMychel has had an outstanding season for us. And as we have talked about, obviously we are a better team when he is on the floor and he understands that. I thought that we had a stretch where it was a two-possession game and him with four fouls, maybe I went a little too long not putting him back in the game. I was trying to get him to the five-minute mark and come back with him. I think we got maybe seven, six and a half, and they made some open looks, and their guys stepped up and knocked them down and opened the lead up. So, you know, we couldn't recover from that point. We had a difficult time. You look at the numbers in the second half for us offensively, we rushed some. We got out of character early. But you know, some were wide-open looks that we're more than capable of making and didn't make and give them credit. They made the plays that they needed to make, timely plays, and they really controlled the pace of the game, the flow of the game in the second half, and the numbers showed that. Q. Hatch had two three-pointers and went from six to 12, JaMychel setting the table; did you consider calling the time-out? COACH ANTHONY GRANT: I think at that time, you know, when it goes to 12, it wasn't because of anything offensively or anything. JaMychel is going to guard the front-court player and what we were trying to do is attack them and go at them. I don't remember how long he was at the table. I don't really remember the situation. But those shots were certainly big shots. Q. Do you regret not taking him out after his third foul? COACH ANTHONY GRANT: No, I can't say right now that I do. I don't even -- I thought his fourth foul, I didn't really see what happened. So I don't know, you know, whether or not it was an emotional foul or was it -- I think it was an off-the-ball foul. That's a part of the game. I'm go back and look at the game and I'm sure I'll dissect it and look at a million things that if I had to do it over again, I would do differently. Again give them credit. They played a great game. They were better than us today. Q. Talk about what this team has done in terms of the caliber of this program. COACH ANTHONY GRANT: I'm really proud of what our guys were able to accomplish over the course of the season. When you look at where we started and really the things that we had to overcome, really, go back a year ago, probably from today, and where our programs come from, you know, the new guys that we sign, their impact on the program, guys that decided to leave the program; the way guys came together at the beginning of the year after a difficult start to the season; us figuring out who we were as a basketball team and what would allow us to be successful with a freshman point guard and some uncertainty in terms of the depth of our team and the roles that guys would play and all of those things. You know, we grew, and we learned over the course of the year. And I think as a basketball team, we got better, and that's really -- as a coach, that's really what you want to be able to do. We had some things this year, quite frankly, that we had to overcome. A lot of it was ourselves in terms of how we approached and what we needed to do. I think over the course of the year, I think I was able to grow as a coach. I think our players grew. And I think overall, when it's all said and done after tonight and we have time to reflect, we'll look back on this, and it's a great experience for our team to be playing here at the end of March, considering where we started, I think this is a great accomplishment for us and hopefully one that obviously for your seniors, you want to send them out with a championship. And disappointed that we were not able to do that, but for the young guys, hopefully they will look at this and they will look at some of the things that we had to overcome that were our own doing over the course of the year, and we'll mature and grow and be better for it. So that's what you hope as a coach as we continue to move forward with building our program. Q. You have a lot of talent coming back and you have a lot of talent coming in. How excited are you looking ahead to next year? COACH ANTHONY GRANT: You know, I'm still obviously in this right now. So next year will be a new team with -- I'm happy about the growth of our team this year and I think if you can build on that, you know, if you can take steps forward as opposed to taking steps back and having to relearn the same lessons we learned this year, I think there's promise. So I'm optimistic, but we'll wait to be seeing how the new guys acclimate and learn and grow, how quickly they can acclimate themselves to what we have and the improvement of the guys that are currently here both on the floor, skill-wise, but also off the floor in terms of maturity, the leadership and those things that you need and that you've got to have, the character things that you've got to have to be successful. So you know, we'll see where we end up when we start next year. Q. Was fatigue at all a factor in the second half, do you think? COACH ANTHONY GRANT: You know, I don't know. I think we've played with what we have all year. And I think our guys have done a very good job with the hand that we were dealt. You can look at their team and their rotation. They had ten guys that they rotated in and out. They were all very effective and I think for Coach Marshall, that's been the strength of their team all year. Different guys have stepped up. The last game, Stutz stepped up and had 24 and 11. Today, Ellis really made some timely shots and Hatch with the 3s. Gregg has got an older team, a veteran team and a deep team and guys that are extremely experienced. They understand what their roles are and they did a great job today. You know, we lost to a better team today, and we were outplayed today. They did a great job -- and you know, I can live with that. I can live with that and hopefully this experience will make us better. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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