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MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 1, 2012Kenneth HarrisDenver HolmesColt RyanMarty SimmonsST. LOUIS, MISSOURI THE MODERATOR: Please welcome Evansville. COACH SIMMONS: We're just super excited to be here. It's always been one of the best tournaments that I've ever been involved with. Obviously you've got two outstanding teams in Wichita State in Creighton, and they've done some pretty remarkable things here in the regular season. But I think you've got a bunch of team that's think maybe they have the opportunity to do something special. So we're looking forward to the competition. Q. Coach, you're coming in as a three seed. Talk about that as opposed to usually having to play on Thursday and the different strategies of how you're going to go about it? COACH SIMMONS: It's pretty similar to last year. We were a 6 seed and played in the same game. So it's been, I don't even know what to say to explain it. It's been just kind of a roller coaster year. We've had some really good wins, and we've had some tough defeats. One thing that we're really, really proud of is the resiliency that this team has shown. They have the ability after a tough loss or a couple of stuff losses to bounce back and compete at a high level. I don't know. I've never really put a high price tag on seedings. I just know that we have an opportunity. We're playing a very good basketball team. One we have a tremendous amount of respect for and we know we're going to have to play very, very well for 40 minutes if we're going to have a chance to win. Q. Coach, about a week and a half ago you had a hotly contested tough overtime loss to Creighton. An emotional game. You had to turn around and play a very key game against Missouri State. Talk about getting your team past that game against Creighton and how proud you were how they came out and performed Saturday? COACH SIMMONS: I think more than anything they have drawn from their experiences early in the season. We've been‑‑ Carmichael has shot the buzzer on us. We've had some tough losses. And, again, it wasn't me. It was these guys. They've been together from day one. I think they're a close‑knit group. They have good chemistry. I think they love basketball. I think they love being together on the floor, off the floor. But they deserve the credit, because that was an emotional thing. To play as well as we did for as long as we did and not get it done was tough. But I think they've been down that road before. I think that is a true sign of the type of people they are. To have the character they have to bounce back like that and perform the way they did. Q. Colt and Denver, what can you take from your two games against Missouri State this year? Obviously overtime games, what can you take from those games going into tomorrow's game? COLT RYAN: We take from it that we're going to have to come out and play extremely hard for 40 minutes. Missouri State's a great basketball team, and we've been kind of fortunate in the aspect that we were down late in both games, and Denver made some big shots for us and we were able to get over the hump. But we know we're going to play a lot better than that if we want to get a win tomorrow. DENVER HOLMES: Yeah, I agree with Colt. We've been talking about it we have to come up from the start. They got up on us both times during the regular season. We've got to come out from the start and execute for 40 minutes. Really stop their transition defense and execute towards the end of the game. Q. Kenneth, when you've been in this many close games, some have gone your way and some haven't. Have you drawn a certain amount of confidence having been through so many? KENNETH HARRIS: Yes, we just know in the close games we didn't execute right and listen to the coaches. I think we listen better, and it gives us a lot of confidence knowing that we can go out and compete with other teams? Q. Coach, in a tournament setting there are so many close games and you guys have had more than your share this year. Do you have a certain level that your guys have an advantage over some of the other teams in that regard? COACH SIMMONS: We'd like to spin it that way with our guys. But in reality, every close situation can be a little different with guys that are in foul trouble. Just the way guys are playing during the course of the game, match‑ups. There are just so many things to factor in with each and every close game. But I would certainly hope that as we move down the stretch‑‑ we had close wins at home against Creighton, against Northern Iowa, and then Missouri State. We had the tough loss at Creighton. But at the end of the day it's who executes the best at the end of those games, those close games that are going to come out on top. That's where our focus has to be, and I think that's what Kenny was saying. When we have executed well both offensively and defensively, we found a way to get it done. Q. Colt, as a shooter, how have you liked this arena? Was the background good? What's it like to shoot here compared to other places? COLT RYAN: It is a rather large arena, but we play a lot of different venues throughout the nation. I mean, I wouldn't say it's anymore different than Creighton with the large back drop. Ours with our new Ford Center. It has a pretty large backdrop. But it's just as a shooter you come out and shoot the ball the same way all the time. We're going to get to shoot it a little bit today and tomorrow to get a good feel for it ask go out and compete. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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