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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 6, 2012Mike DunlapMoe HarklessNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK PITTSBURGH – 73 COACH DUNLAP: The difference between the first time we played Pitt and the second was that we were able to rebound with them a little bit better, but we weren't able to finish at the rim. We had a lot of easy baskets that didn't go in. And I think when we came out in the second half, that impacted our ability to play probably a little bit more intense. We let that bleed into our defense. But the story was we had plenty of good looks, we just couldn't finish. Q. Looks like you did a pretty good job the first half, you had a lead. Is there wear and tear having two players play a lot of games in a very short amount of time? COACH DUNLAP: Well, from our vantage point we never forwarded that, so when we go in at halftime, we tried to lock in on two or three adjustments. I'm sure that your question, it's factored in, but that'll be down the road. Because the journey, this journey, is over with, we're not going to give ourselves the luxury of evaluating in that form. There were some tactical things in terms of I just thought we moved the ball great. We had some great player movement. The game had a tone to it of a playoff game. But I think that what really played in, we had some guys that were 1 for 8 or whatnot, and I think that that kind of took a little bit of the wind out of our sails. Q. How much of that do you think is attributed to you? You've got a good team. COACH DUNLAP: The seeds are there, and the wisdom that was gained this year and where we're headed. Certainly we have steel girders in terms of the players that we have now. Now to add to them and to advance forward, and there was never, the entire journey, where we got down. This team was resilient. We came back and played a quality team in Pitt, one. But two is the way we played, the esprit de corps was high, high level, and that's kind of the way it's been all year long with our guys. They were a joy to coach the entire year. We didn't have one player miss one practice and we didn't have one player of the six that went down with injury. So it's attributable to a lot of our support staff, whether it's weights or trainer, but also to these guys how mentally tough they grew over the course of the journey. Q. Mo, it was a pretty physical game today. Sometimes you guys were on the floor with no call. Does that get frustrating after a while? MOE HARKLESS: Yeah, definitely, because I think we didn't get a lot of calls that were like clearly fouls. But you've just got to keep playing through it and you can't really worry about it too much and not worry about what the refs call and just play the game? Q. D'Angelo had it going in the first half and he got cold as the game went on. What changed in the second half? COACH DUNLAP: Well, I think some of that is our sensitivity, as we grow, that to play the hot hand out, and I think Mo was 5 for 7 from the floor going in at halftime, so we tried to point out those two things. We have a couple of actions for them and we isolated them quite a bit in the second half. But I think some of that is attributed to how well coached Pitt is. You know, you definitely‑‑ they know who D'Angelo is. I think it's a combination of the two. Q. That late first half run you guys got up 6 and then they ran off 13‑2. How deflating is that going into the locker room? COACH DUNLAP: As they say in the Westerns, we had them right where we wanted them. We knew what was hurting us. We had a two‑minute patch, and again, you have to give Pitt credit. Towards the end of the first half, and I think some of that had to do with just the intensity of the way we played in the first 18 minutes, and also as they wear you down physically, because they're much heavier in the pockets at their fours and fives, where they're pushing you and driving you and playing physical, as we tried to. But I think we got a little bit weary with the short patch in there. So during halftime, we didn't even address that phase. We just told them here is what's good about what you're doing and we tried to replicate that in the second half. Q. At one point in the half you guys hit a lull in rebounding. Was that attributed to foul trouble? COACH DUNLAP: Combination of foul trouble and also Pitt's ability to wedge on the weak side and use their thickness and height to drive some of our smaller players under the basket because they're going to do that all game long and you've got to be sturdy and withstand that kind of thing. So that's full credit to Pitt. Q. When they went on the 13‑2 run and the game got quick and you guys didn't get the kind of offensive stuff you wanted, did you feel that you were hurrying, that the game was getting faster and you guys were maybe shooting the ball a little bit? MOE HARKLESS: I think we like to play a fast‑paced game but I think when the pace switched, we were rushing a little bit. A lot of shots that we took during that time were bad shots and I think if we would have slowed down and took our time, I think we would have been able to overcome that hump. Q. For Mo, obviously all year with basically six guys, can you describe how tough that's been to go 32 games that way? MOE HARKLESS: You know, it's pretty tough, but I think our guys on our team, everybody is like‑‑ everybody is tough on our team. Nobody gave up on each other. Everybody just kept at it every day, even on our days off we'd be in the gym playing pickup and everything. I think this group has a bright future. A lot of guys on this team are young and we're talented, and I think how this team, they never give up. A lot of people didn't expect us to even play this way, the way we did this season. A lot of people expected us to do a lot worse, and I think we did a good job keep fighting. I think as coach said we showed a lot of resiliency, and I think we have a bright future? Q. Ashton Gibbs has struggled, but what do you make of the way he played today and what have you seen from him in those two games? COACH DUNLAP: Well, the one thing about him is he's always going to come back to his better self, you just don't know when. He ran into a really tough patch when Woodall went down, so it forced him to change his game a little bit, and when Woodall came back, he got back to his natural position. Unfortunately, we were probably the recipient of them feeling that whole situation out and he came back to his better self. We know he's one of the better shooters if not the best shooter in the Big East, but if you look at his field goal percentage from the three, it was down because he was taking more contested shots because Woodall wasn't there to drive gaps and kick and all that kind of stuff. Again, it's just a very fine player wearing us out a little bit and doing a good job, and he's got a little mojo going. He's just playing off momentum right now, and he's found his better self. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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