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MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 2, 2012Paul LuskCaleb PattersonKyle WeemsST. LOUIS, MISSOURI Evansville 72 PAUL LUSK: Well, a lot of credit to Evansville. They've got kids that they've worked on their game. I saw Kenny Harris in junior college. I saw Troy Taylor. Those kids have worked on their game. They've gotten better. Kenny Harris makes his free throws, he makes wide‑open jumpers. It's just improvement. We need to improve in a lot of areas. Disappointed, we out rebounded them 50 to 30 last game, and last game we started a different lineup to go with a better defensive lineup and a better rebounding lineup, but we turned it over 24 times. So then today we go back with our other lineup that can hopefully take care of the ball better, and we don't guard them at all in the first half and we don't rebound. So as a coach it's very difficult to find combinations out there that you can play and have success with. Last game we guarded them to start the first half with that lineup, but then we turned it over 24 times. Well, today we didn't turn it over but we didn't guard them and we didn't rebound. A lot of credit to Evansville. Very pleased with Kyle. I thought he was terrific today. He really played hard and was good, and then I thought Caleb did some very good things, as well. It really affected us having Jarmar Gulley and Keith Pickens out of the game early, and you have to have discipline in the game of basketball, and we fouled. Keith had two fouls that were absolute fouls, and Jarmar had some fouls, and we had some charges we shouldn't have had, and then we just fouled too much. It seemed like once we got the game back, we made that little run in the second half. We had it to two, then we'd turn it over two straight times, one on an under OB and another on an second OB of a guy stepping out of bounds. It seemed like Evansville, they're very mobile, they're a fast team, but a lot of credit to them. Q. Kyle, the second half they go about six and a half minutes without a point and you guys weren't able to make much headway. Talk about that being a key to the game. KYLE WEEMS: Well, halftime we talked about it was a do or die, and we just wanted to come out with more energy than we did to start the game. We got some good stops and got some good rebounds and a couple put backs and some good drives and got stuff rolling, and they got hot again, and that comes from us letting them get their head up too much in the first half and they just felt comfortable, and you've got to give them credit. PAUL LUSK: I thought we really guarded better the second half. Obviously having Keith and Jarmar out there helped, but then we struggled to score at times. You can only put so much pressure on your defense. You know, we missed a lot of shots. We missed lay‑ups, we missed free throws, and they make their shots, and they make their free throws. That comes with improvement in the off season. I told our guys, when you don't get guarded, there's one thing to do about it, and that's to get in the gym and to work on your game, and we absolutely have to do that. There's no doubt that when Kyle and Caleb were out there, everything centered on them, then they're leaving some other guys open. I thought our defense was pretty good the second half. We had a chance to cut it to six, I believe, when Gulley got the steal and he goes in and tries dunking it, and he shouldn't have done that. He's got to go make a lay‑up. I thought our kids battled the second half in the end, though. Colt Ryan is very good. He makes big plays and big shots for them, and then I thought Kenny Harris was terrific. And then when you have a guard getting 13 rebounds, that's more than anybody on our team, and in two games against us, he's got 14 and 13, and that's why we made the change last game. We didn't want Troy Taylor to kill us on the glass. But then as I said, we had too many turnovers. But I thought our defense was pretty good the second half, but it's just very taxing on you when you can't score the basketball. Q. Kyle, can you talk a little bit about losing to Evansville for the third straight time this year and the frustration that might exist with that? KYLE WEEMS: Most definitely not a good feeling. I've beat them a lot of times in my career, but you've got to give Marty Simmons credit. He's done a great job, and I told him that when we were shaking hands because they weren't that good, and he's got them beating the best in the league and competing in any game. You've got to give him credit because they play hard and they're extremely great on offense, and they make you kind of pick your poison, do you want this guy to get open shots or do you want this guy. That's just a sign of a good program headed in the right direction and great coaches, and you just have to give them credit. But definitely not a good feeling losing to a team three times. Q. Caleb, what is it about Evansville? Obviously the first two were so different and then you guys got off to fast starts. None of that happened today. What is it about them that makes it so tough? CALEB PATTERSON: It's a real scrappy team. You know, they just play offensively and defensively a little different, and defensively they definitely key on some guys, and it just makes it a little more difficult for the team. And then offensively they have those two guys that can get shots any time they want, and they're going to make them a lot. They're just a tough team all around? Q. Is it a physical match‑up for you? CALEB PATTERSON: Yeah, personally, just because they don't have a big guy, really, and then the way they play the post defense is a lot different than anybody I've played in my whole career, so it probably is definitely self‑esteem. PAUL LUSK: It's a difficult match‑up for us because they're small and they're mobile, and they put guys on the floor that can make plays. They're one of the best teams offensively in the league in almost every category, and they're difficult. They're difficult to guard. I thought we guarded them really well over at their place last time, and then we did what we needed to do. Caleb is talking about post defense. When Caleb is posting, there are particular guys that are on that weak side that they're not guarding on our guys, and they're just sagging and laying, and it makes it very difficult to get the ball to the point. We didn't guard them like we needed to tonight. They're going to make shots. Colt Ryan and Denver Holmes, they make shots. They're like professional shooters. They come off screens at a very high level. The shots they were making against Creighton a week and a half ago were unbelievable. But those guys are good players. I thought Denver Holmes should have been a second‑team all‑league guy, I really did. I thought he was that good, and he's made such good plays down the stretch. You've got Ned Cox who was the sixth man of the year who was a very good player, and then Sawvell was on the all‑freshman thing. I think Sawvell will be terrific because he's got a great motor, he's a role guy now, but he catches the ball in the post, he's athletic, he's got bounce in his legs. He's going to be a very good player. Q. Would you like to play in one of the lesser tournaments? KYLE WEEMS: I'd like to play until I can't play anymore. It's tough because I kind of feel like I failed to get one of my goals, and the same goal with Isaiah and Mike and the rest of the team, and that was to hang a banner in my four years. I felt like I've been through pretty much any possible scenario, coaches get being fired, coaches getting hired, coaches getting a better job, a new coach coming in, and I felt like we had the right pieces to do some special things, and we let some big games slip. But you know, that's on my shoulders. That's on the rest of the seniors, and there's no doubt in my mind that Coach will get this program better than 16 and 16 because I felt like we should have had a better record than that anyway with some tough losses. But Coach and the rest of the staff, they do a great job of developing us and putting us in a position to be successful. But just right now, it's just tough because I feel like I let Missouri State down and the city of Springfield down because they definitely deserve it. Q. Caleb, your answer on postseason play? CALEB PATTERSON: Obviously I want to continue to play, and right now we don't know what's going to happen. But if we get invited to play any more, the whole team, we're ready to play, and we'll come out and play anywhere. Q. Kyle, you talked a little bit about some of the things you reflected on throughout the season and you said you're excited about the future of Missouri State. What about the future of Kyle Weems? What are you looking forward to? KYLE WEEMS:  Well, just trying to keep getting better, keep getting better, working on my game. I'll be part of Missouri State for the rest of my life because I really feel like that's my second home, and everybody there is my family. I've been blessed with a great opportunity to spend five years of my life there, but if it's the NBA, it's the NBA. If it's overseas, it's overseas. I still feel like God has a plan for me and just keep getting better and basically wherever the wind blows me, I guess. Q. Coach, could you just talk about there at the end of the season, five straight losses, kind of the down spiral that happened? PAUL LUSK: Sure. It's disappointing. I think Kyle said something the other day in the press conference with so many new faces and just trying to find that continuity and that‑‑ just having a fluid team out there and guys fighting through certain situations, we obviously didn't finish on a strong note and we didn't have that. I go back to the Indiana State game. You know, the five losses, we lost at Wichita State, then we lost to Old Dominion, who's a very good team. But I thought the Indiana State game on senior night, as I said, I was very disappointed in some of our guys' effort. We had to throw a team together last spring. That's what we did. We got two guys in Jarmar Gulley and Anthony Downing as junior college kids that came in and had a very good year. Anthony struggled tonight, but it's his first Missouri Valley Conference game, they were keying in on him, but those two guys have been pretty good. I thought they made the transition a little bit quicker than I thought they would. Gulley has got to improve in some areas. They took some things away from him in league play, but I think he'll get better in those areas. We got Mike Bizoukas late who was a very good addition for us. We just struggled down the stretch. As I said, Kyle did his job tonight. He was going to have to be great if we were going to move on and win some games, and I thought he did his job. It's just one thing or another sometimes. As I said, we've been a good defensive team all year. We were in the top one or two in every defensive statistic category, but we don't have anyone on the all‑defensive team, and I thought that our guys tonight, we made the change in the lineup to take care of the basketball and then we get burned on the defensive end. We struggled down the stretch. I think there's a lot of reflection as a coach, and for our players that are still in the program, and I challenge them. We were very positive in the locker room with them but said we've got to get better in areas. You have to look in the mirror and look at your deficiencies, and it's major college basketball. We have to go to work in the off season. Q. Would you be hopeful for playing more ball in one of those tournaments? PAUL LUSK: Sure, you always want to play. We were picked sixth in the league. Kyle Weems, as I said, was the one returning scorer and the one returning guy that we had that was established, and then you have to throw four new starters out there, it's difficult. We jumped out of the gates awfully well, but I still knew we had a lot of deficiencies. But if playing more is good for the seniors, but they've got to want to do that, and then it's certainly very positive for the other guys that are in the program, and Anthony Downing, Jarmar Gulley, Keith Pickens, those are guys that are going to have to be big time players for us in the future. Those guys came in and did a very good job. It was great getting Pick back. He's been beat up and we've got to get him healthy in the off season. But yeah, you certainly would like to play more basketball. Q. Kyle expressed just a passion and faith that you were going to improve next season, and he really believed that you would be able to do that. Could you talk to some of the Missouri State fans and say what it is that you plan on doing going into next season to improve upon that? PAUL LUSK: Well, we've got‑‑ if you look at our roster, we've got the two new guys that we got in Jarmar Gulley and Anthony Downing. They came in and had very good years for us. And they earned their spot. They have got to get better, and we'll go as those guys go. Keith Pickens has got to continue to get healthy, and then really after that there are a lot of things that are up for grabs. I was very pleased with Christian Kirk this year, didn't want to put that much responsibility on him as a young kid, especially after he sat out his senior year, but I thought he did some very good things. Christian will work. He will get better. He'll get in the gym. And then some of our young guys are going to have to play in terms of guys that are coming into the program because that's where we're at. I think we have to get better defensively. I absolutely know that we have to get better from a skill standpoint. There's just too many guys out there that they don't guard. I told our guys, I said, I watched Kenny Harris in junior college, and he's made himself a player. Well, that's from getting in the gym and doing it. So hard work can allow that to happen. But we've got to get in the gym and get better. Q. Obviously you don't know about a postseason at this point, but you said the comments in the locker room were positive from yourself and the staff. Can you expand on how you addressed the team after the loss tonight? PAUL LUSK: Well, I told them the truth. I told them what areas we're lacking in and what some of them need to do to get better. But I was very positive with the guys. Thankful for the seniors. It was a different senior group. Kyle Weems was the one guy that was established. Caleb Patterson made the most‑improved team. He was a guy that wasn't used a whole lot in the previous years. Caleb can really score the basketball, and he was a threat for us down there. Isaiah did some good things for us this year. There's no doubt, Isaiah is a great kid. They all have their degrees. And then Mike Bizoukas was a kid that was seldom used at DePaul and came in and did some great things for us, might have ended up leading us in minutes played, and very happy for him that the end of his career was an enjoyable experience. Sure, he didn't like losing his last five games, but he played and he was productive and he helped us get 16 wins. We don't have 16 wins if Mike Bizoukas isn't there. I don't know if we have five. I'm not going to come down on the guys right now. It's about the seniors. I want them to reflect and be positive, and if we get a postseason chance, then we'll see what we can do. But it's just all positive. You want those guys‑‑ you don't want them to end on a losing note, but nonetheless, it's happened, and we're here to help them the rest of their lives, whatever they choose to do. That was really about it in the locker room. Q. There at the end of the players talking, Kyle Weems mentioned about his future, the possibility of an NBA appearance or overseas. What do you think his chances are of making it to the NBA, and what type of player do you think he would be in the professional level? PAUL LUSK: Well, I mean, Kyle is going to have an opportunity to play basketball and make a living doing that. If it's in the NBA, then that would be absolutely terrific. If it's overseas, then that would be terrific. We worked on Portsmouth. He's going to the Portsmouth Invitational, and that will be a very good opportunity for him. The one thing, Kyle said he feels like he may have failed a little bit. I'm very proud of Kyle Weems. Kyle Weems, this was hard for Kyle Weems this year. He was the one guy, and he was the main target, and he said it the other day: He goes, there's just so many new guys on the team, we're trying to find the right chemistry. And his job was as difficult as it's ever been. He said it about two weeks ago, it's been really hard because they've just clamped down on him. He can't get loose. And then when you have other guys out there that they're not guarding it makes it even more difficult. But he'll have an opportunity to go play. He's got his degree. He'll be successful with whatever he does. He's a very good kid. He was fun to coach. He's been great, great for Missouri State, great for the Missouri Valley. He's had three different coaches, and my biggest concern coming into the job was will your best player accept you and will you be able to coach him because coachability is so important. Kyle was very good from day one, and I think Kyle has improved in areas. He wasn't much of a sprinter last year because they played more possession basketball with that team. He wasn't much of a poster in terms of getting on the blocks and posting, and we had to‑‑ he had to do all of those things for us this year. He had to rebound, he had to defend, he had to posts, he had to drive it. You know, last year he could get loose and knock those threes down because they had so many other pieces on the team, and I thought he did a very good job of handling all of that, because there were times when it was difficult for him. We started out 4 and 0, and Kyle was a guy that had struggled a little bit when we were 4 and 0, and he just kept working, he kept coming in the gym, and you knew it was going to go‑‑ if you put the work in and you give 100 percent all of the time, good things are going to happen. Good things happen to good people, and he's going to be successful with whatever he does. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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