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NCAA MEN'S 1ST ROUND: DAYTONMarch 14, 2012Mike JamesPat KnightAnthony MilesDAYTON, OHIO THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Lamar head coach Pat Knight, student‑athletes Mike James and Anthony Miles. We'll begin with an opening statement by Coach Knight. COACH KNIGHT: I don't do the coaches speak, so I'm not going to do it now. So just questions. Go ahead. Q. You got an early lead and all of a sudden the shots started, just didn't fall anymore. Talk a little bit about that. ANTHONY MILES: I mean, like you said, shots didn't fall. I don't know if it was because we were a little timid or what it is. But second half we finally relaxed. We started off hot, but I don't know, just a couple of bad plays and we just couldn't get it going. So that hurt us going down the stretch. Q. Was that one of the most frustrating defenses you've ever faced while being a player here at Lamar? It seems like you couldn't get anything going inside or outside tonight. MIKE JAMES: Not really. I mean, they were a solid defensive team. They weren't really defensive stopping team. I think more has to go back on our offense. I just think we didn't execute today. Q. You talked about not executing your offense well. Was that why you didn't shoot well or in what ways didn't you execute well? MIKE JAMES: I think we just didn't space out. We didn't cut like we normally do. I don't know if, like Anthony said, we were timid or got caught up in the spotlight. But we didn't play like Lamar, I didn't feel like, on the offensive side. Q. Anthony, is it tough to get into a rhythm because of the type of offense they're in, they're slowing it up like you saw at Stephen F. Austin and Nicholls State this year? Was it tough to get into a rhythm because they were slowing the ball down? ANTHONY MILES: Yes, but that's where patience comes in. We didn't seem to have patience tonight. Like I said, I don't know. We were just a little timid and we wanted to make that big play or what, but we just could never‑‑ we didn't just finally settle down until the second half. And with a good team like this, it's an NCAA team you can't shoot yourself in the foot like that. That's what we did. Q. Anthony, what do you take out of this experience? Especially these seniors, they've been together, become a close tight‑knit group. What do you take from this experience of playing in this tournament? ANTHONY MILES: Just the long season we went through, man. We went through a lot, man. And I led these guys, and I'm going to miss it. It's tough. Just the whole Canada trip, the whole incident that happened a couple of weeks ago, it's fun. Like through the whole season you just look at it. It hurts because you just have a lot of fun with these guys and you just don't want it to stop. And I guess everything don't last forever and it's going to be tough, seeing them go away and me go away leaving this university. But I couldn't ask for no more going to the NCAA and having a chance to play in front of millions. I'm just grateful. Q. You're heading out. What memories will you take from Lamar, Mike? MIKE JAMES: It was a great experience. Like you said, everything we've been through, Canada, just everything with the media, stuff like that. And even coming to the NCAA Tournament, it's stuff that normal people don't get to go through and we got to go through, we overcame it, had a great season. But it's sad that it's so short. Q. You feel that Lamar is back on the map because for the late'70s, early'80s this was a tradition of going to the NCAA Tournament? You guys feel like Lamar has kind of put their stamp on the South Conference and back on the map? ANTHONY MILES: I wouldn't say back on the map. You can't be a one‑hit wonder. I know Coach Knight is going to do a good job with the program, and it's just a good start to something great. I'm glad we did a good job, just putting us back on the scene. I got a lot of faith they're going to keep it going and keep the winning column, you know, margin up. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach. Q. You said this team had a chance to leave a legacy, leave their stamp on the program, to kick start it. Do you feel like they've left that legacy? COACH KNIGHT: Yeah, I mean, don't you? It's obvious you take a team that hasn't been in the conference tournament, wins 23 games. They haven't won 20 games since 1988. Won the division, went to the NCAA Tournament, and they haven't been to the NCAA Tournament since 2000. I think these guys did a heck of a job of leaving their legacy. I don't know. If there are people that disagree about that, they're morons. These guys just made Lamar relevant again. And it gives us something to build on from here on out, and it puts pressure on the team next year to get something done. I mean, these guys did something this year a lot of college athletes don't ever get to experience. They're down right now. Losing hurts. But what a ride. These guys were a blast to coach all year long. It was fun. I enjoyed it and I'm going to miss them. But these guys, boy, I'll be talking about them until the day I die, this group. Q. There were times where Mike James is defending Matt Glass, how indicative was that of just the kind of height disparity and the matchup problems that they caused for you? COACH KNIGHT: They caused a lot of matchup problems. It's what you gotta deal with. What they did a good job of‑‑ we weren't shooting the ball well because we weren't cutting or moving. But they had great pressure on us. We took a lot of contested shots. We held them to 30points in the first half. That's enough to beat anybody. But we couldn't shoot. We couldn't get a shot, and we weren't cutting and moving, so we were easier for them to guard. They put great pressure on us. We took a lot of contested shots. We shoot 20‑something percent, and a team like that gets a lead by 9, it's really like they're almost up 16 or 18, because they're so good with the ball and take their time that, you don't like to say it, but you can say it now, the game was kind of over after the first half. They're a hard team to try to come back on, because if you try to make a run, they're not going to fall for that. They're going to walk it up, take their time, make you make a mistake. And they did a really good job running the shot clock towards the end and making us call some bad fouls. And that's really because of them. I mean, they caused us to get tired, not to think. And you stop moving your feet. Because we left them off the hook maybe four or five times, it would have been huge stops for us, but they took their time. And then with about five seconds to go, drove on us, we got our hands on, weren't moving our feet. But we have a hard time playing against teams like that. They remind me of Nicholls State and Stephen F. Austin. And of course we had our problems with them. So I knew it was going to be that type of game. But I was hoping we could get off to a big lead and maybe sustain it because they'd slow it up. But they did good being able to jump right on us. Q. How frustrating was it to see when the shot clock was winding down that they would hit easy layups in the middle and you would have any backside help? COACH KNIGHT: That's tough. We didn't guard the post extremely well, just kind of laid behind and they stepped over us. But the most frustrating part is when you foul. It's a 50/50 chance the kid's going to hit the shot, even if it's a layup. But when you foul, put him on a line, that's even more frustrating. Q. What do you take away from your first year here at Lamar? COACH KNIGHT: I can't wait until next year. But I'm going to miss these guys. It's been a special year. Sorry. You go from getting fired a year ago and make the NCAA Tournament. It's not anything I did, it's what these six seniors did. So I'm going to miss the under‑the‑bus gang, I can tell you that. Q. Did you just come up with that name for them? COACH KNIGHT: Yeah. It's pretty good, wasn't it? THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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