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ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 9, 2012Charlon KloofAndrew NicholsonMark SchmidtATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY St. Bonaventure – 76 THE MODERATOR: Coach? COACH SCHMIDT: A great game, probably not as good as the one we played up at the rally center in game one with St. Jones going into double over time. I thought we found a way to win got Andrew played terrific, I thought Youssou gave us a huge lift in the first half we defended much better than we did in game one but it was a great game, they have a talented team and we found a way to win. They were terrific coming off ball screens and I thought we did as good of a job as we could on Galloway. When we do those three things we have success and we didn't do a great job taking care of the basketball but we did the other two things and that's why we won. Q. Can you talk about the last possession, the play Andrew made, the block? COACH SCHMIDT: It was a great play, we talk about finishing plays, and we did that today, we showed some mental and physical toughness, the guards are tremendous for them, Jones and Galloway, we did a great job of containing them, we played. I told the team before the game you gotta play to win and not to play not to loose and I thought our guys came out and played well today. Q. You mentioned the mental toughness, the game, 30 lead changes, to be in that type of a game and to continue to play, talk about the way they were able to keep their poise, keep their heads in it despite going back and forth like that. COACH SCHMIDT: We got good players. We have hard‑nosed players, players that play with confidence and they trust each other and I think that's how you win games at this level. We've been in a lot of tight games, especially early on when we lost and I think our guys learned from that, gained some experience and you learn how to win by win and go our guys did a tremendous job today. Q. Andrew, can you talk about the last two defensive series you took the charge on Galloway and blocked Jones, could you talk us through those? ANDREW NICHOLSON: I shot an air ball on offense so I had to get back on "D" and make a big play. Q. Coach, can you talk about Charlon's play today and how comfortable is he getting? COACH SCHMIDT: A big transition from where he came from to America to play at this level. The point guard position is the quarterback, I'm hard on the quarterback, he needs to know his position and everybody else's position, we run a lot of stuff so as the season has gone along he's improved. He works extremely hard not just in, practice, outside of practice time. He's a tremendous kid, a tremendous hard worker and I'm glad he's having the success that he's having. Q. Coach, how much did it mean when you pulled out the game last week, how much did that pay dividends coming into today? When that game looked like it was a lost cause? COACH SCHMIDT: We had a tough call at the end of that regulation and our guys fought through it. Probably you learn how to win by winning and go gettin' in those tight situations. As another guy talked about, 30 lead changes if you're in that situation you become more comfortable so I would assume the guys probably know better but I think that helps us. It helps us in terms of knowing we could beat 'em, and income that situation, being able to handle the pressure that comes along with it. Q. Coach, now in the Atlantic 10 semifinals, can you talk about the step now that you're advancing? COACH SCHMIDT: This is tremendous, we started the season and one of our goals was to try to get to the top four. We built that thing and my assistants have done a great job and the players have done even better. From three scholarship guys five years ago to where the program was dead and, you know, we worked hard to play and we did a tremendous job, we went 13 to 10 to 8 to 7 and making that jump is hard, especially with the teams we're playing against with bigger budgets and all that stuff, and to do that stuff is a tremendous accomplishment for our program, for our players and it means a great deal. If somebody would have said we were going to be in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 tournament, people would have laughed at us but because of the work our players have put in and what my staff has done, we're here and hopefully we can play well tomorrow. Q. Andrew, you have a career 2,000‑point scorer, how much goes into today when the game is the on the line and you're thinking that there is no tomorrow for you guys? Does that come into play when you're thinking that this could be your last game? ANDREW NICHOLSON: It's tournament play so you've got on play every possession like it's your last. Q. For both Coach and Andrew, what do you remember about your last game with UMASS and what do you take from that? COACH SCHMIDT: They got us in the second half pretty good. If I remember right I think we were up by 3 or 4 in the first half and the second half they came out and really played well, took us out of things, we didn't play well, we turned the ball over, their pressure hurt us a little bit. She shot the ball really well, too. So we've got to play much better tomorrow if we have a chance against a long, talented, athletic team as you mass is. Q. Charlon, can you talk about your play, getting to the basket, career high in points, can you talk about that? CHARLON KLOOF: (Away from mic.) Q. Coach, what happened with the technical foul for the Jersey number and were you sweatin' that at all? The 1 point that they got off the technical foul? COACH SCHMIDT: I looked in the paper today and we were a 2‑point underdog so that 1 point was going to be a big thing. The guys names weren't in the book, Quan's, and a couple of walk‑ons, I can tell you that won't happen tomorrow. Q. (Away from mic.) COACH SCHMIDT: You have to coach every possession, I'm not smart enough to sweat that out, we would have sweat it if we would have lost by 1. Q. Coach, can you talk about Charlons' recruitment and the expectations you had coming with him coming into the season? COACH SCHMIDT: I went to the Canary Islands and I thought that was in South America but I found out it was off the coast of Spain and we heard about him, so I went out to the Canary Islands, good place if you haven't been, and recruited him, watched him play, saw him on tape and he trusted us. We had a good relationship, he trusted us and came without seeing the university, without seeing my assistant coaches, seeing anything. He trusted us and his coach did a tremendous job helping us but he's been tremendous for us and when you talk about Andrew and‑‑ we wouldn't be here without Andrew but we wouldn't be here without Charlon, either. He has been tremendous. Hopefully I can make more trips to the Canary Islands. Q. Coach, the last time I looked you guys had a huge advantage reboundingwise. Talk about the controlling the boards and the post, scoring so many points in the paint. COACH SCHMIDT: It's toughness, you win in games like this with rebounding, you defend and you rebound, they shot 43% and we out rebound them by nine and that's how you win. In game one we outrebounded them by 19, they shot a higher percentage but we got more shots. Rebound it's just a mental thing, it's physical, and when you out redound guys it means you're ready to play, we were first or second in league play and we did that today and that's one of the reasons why we won. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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