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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 8, 2012Anthony DrmicDerrick MarksLeon RiceLAS VEGAS, NEVADA San Diego State – 65 THE MODERATOR: We're ready to begin with Boise State. Coach, if we could start with you, just some remarks on today's game. COACH RICE: Well, you know, I was really proud of the way our guys battled against the league champions. The staff did a great job putting in a game plan. These guys, more importantly, did a great job of going out and executing it, executing the tempo we wanted, the offense we wanted, making some shots, just battling 'em, especially on the boards in that first half. THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll open it up to questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Anthony, could you talk about the stretch, you were down, then all of a sudden you were tied after some free throws and the turnover. What was going through your mind at that stretch? ANTHONY DRMIC: I mean, a lot of times throughout the year we've struggled down the stretch. We just try to stick together, get some stops, make some shots. Unfortunately we didn't come out with the win. Q. Derrick, what was the defensive plan in the last 20 seconds? DERRICK MARKS: Well, uhm, everyone in the gym knew who the last shot was going to. So, uhm, Xavier Thames passed the ball, I was supposed to go double. He just made an incredible shot. Q. I know it's tough right now, but on the flight back or even in a couple days, what are you going to think about your performance here and over this first season in the Mountain West? ANTHONY DRMIC: I mean, we're an extremely young team. We've got a lot of experience throughout the year, a lot of freshmen playing. We're going to be back next year. Just play harder, play more together and hopefully get more wins next year. DERRICK MARKS: Same thing. THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll dismiss our student‑athletes and take questions for Coach Rice. Q. Coach, if you could talk about your defense on that last play. Looked like you did what you wanted. COACH RICE: Yeah, there's no question. The guys did a great job of that. First wanted to deny the inbound pass. They got it in pretty easy. Tried to create a little bit of chaos, pressure them. We knew it was going to Franklin. Like Derrick said, everybody in the gym knew it was going to Franklin. That's where it should go, obviously. He showed why it should go there. Our guys couldn't have guarded it better. Derrick almost poked it away to start out with, then Thomas did a great job of guarding him without fouling him, too. He threw up a tough, tough shot. But, you know, a great player like that is a shot‑maker, especially at the end of the game. That's why we were committed to take two guys to guard him. You got to give him credit. He made a heck of a shot. When he let it go, I felt good about it as far as you couldn't guard it any better. That's why he's Player of the Year in the league. Q. You were able to keep Jamaal under wraps for various stretches of the game. What were you doing to deny him the ball early? COACH RICE: The thing about him is you got to give something up because he gets going to the hoop so well that if you try to guard him with one guy, you're in trouble. We came off the shooters a little bit. They made us pay a few times on it, especially in the first half. We gave up some threes. It was almost pick your poison a little bit. That's the thing about SanDiego State, they're good in all those positions, too. If you do pick your poison, Tapley is going to make those, Rahon is going to make those. That's why they drive such a hard bargain at you. Q. The first half you probably did everything that you wanted. Second half they made seven of their first ten shots. What is it like when a team is doing that? How tough is it to watch because there's not much you can do about it? COACH RICE: Yeah, we changed defenses on them a few times. Like I said, that's the league champion. That's a really good basketball team. I said this all along about SanDiego State. The quality that I admire the most about those guys is they're winners. They know how to win those games. They know what it takes to win 'em. They do whatever it takes. You saw that at the end. That's just a big‑time player making a big‑time play. When we got the lead, you knew they weren't just going to roll over. We had to be prepared to counter‑punch. They knocked us down. We got up a couple times. We really got up good at the end and were able to tie 'em. Q. Talk about the play of the freshmen. Anthony really came out at the end, Derrick gave you a chance. COACH RICE: No question. These guys have gotten better. This league is raising our program. I mean, it's raising the bar for our program. It raises the bar for these guys individually. I was looking at our schedule saying, It feels like we're playing pretty good basketball right now. But four of our last five games have been against top‑25 teams, and three of 'em, one day here, two of 'em on the road, then SanDiego State at home. It's just the level of competition. But it makes these guys better. It's tough to go through. It's tough to lose these games. But, you know, we made some mistakes that freshmen are going to make down the stretch of that game. You're able to break that down in the off‑season, you're able to look at that. They're mistakes we'll minimize down the road. These guys will get better at stuff like that. So there's no question the competition in this league is amazing, but there's no question that it's really helping our program. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach Rice. COACH RICE: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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