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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: LOUISVILLEMarch 15, 2012Jess CarrPierce HornungTim MilesLOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY Murray State – 58 THE MODERATOR: We'll begin first with an opening statement from Colorado State Head Coach Tim Miles. Then we will ask questions just directed towards the student‑athletes and then back to Coach Miles following that. Coach, if you don't mind. COACH MILES: I congratulate Murray State on the victory. I thought their team defense the second half was outstanding. Their physicality, I think, got us off the attack. Obviously, we turned the ball over 14 times in 35 possessions. Just didn't give ourselves a chance. Not only that, I think we shot poorly, but I think we shot poorly because of Murray's intensity. We just never matched that. We could feel it from the first couple of minutes. So congratulations to Murray State. THE MODERATOR: We'd like to open it up to the floor for questions about today's game for the student‑athletes. Q. Pierce, what was the difference they were doing defensively in the second half? Was it a big change, or just they got better at doing it? PIERCE HORNUNG: You know, they just got into our action. I never felt like we could get it into an operating area. It just got us off the attack, and we played tentative the whole second half. Q. Jesse, just what were they doing defensively to create some of the turnovers? JESSE CARR: Like Coach and Pierce said, they were just very physical in the second half. We didn't respond to that very well. I personally didn't respond to it as good as I should have. I think we allowed them to get into us, and we picked up our ball a lot, as you saw. That's when they were able to force turnovers is when we picked up our dribble. Q. Jesse, how frustrating was it after that first half to have had that first ten minutes of the second half? To just be going through that on the court when you guys had to feel great when you went in for halftime? JESSE CARR: It's very frustrating. I think we came out and just didn't execute as planned. They got into us. They were picking up the ball on offense. Defensively, I think our intensity, we didn't match it. We didn't come out defensively like they did. You've got to credit them. I think they have 30 wins on the regular season for a reason, and they were able to show that today. Q. Guys, would you just kind of wrap up the season for us, talk about, despite the loss, what this whole ride has meant to you guys? PIERCE HORNUNG: It's been a lot of fun. It certainly didn't end how we'd all like it to, but I'd say as a team we just played our hearts out all year long, and I just want to commend the seniors, Kaipo and Will, they did just a great job for us all year. They were just the heart and soul of our team. It didn't turn out like we wanted, but we still‑‑ I feel like we accomplished a lot. We definitely have goals next year that exceed where this year ended. Q. Jesse, you talked about the offense was not flowing as well in the second half. Did you change, or was it just their defense that made you change everything, or maybe it got into your head a little bit and it got harder and harder to do the things you needed to do? JESSE CARR: I think we just let their physicality bother us. That's all we did. There were times when we definitely let them get into us. We kind of stopped cutting every once in a while, and that just allows them to pressure us even more and more and pick us up even further out there. I think a lot of times, we just‑‑ we kind of sped up, and just like I said, we picked the ball up too much, kind of sped up, and just got going too fast a lot of times. Q. For both you guys, it did look a couple times like some of you guys were getting a little fatigued. How much was their speed and what they do a problem for you guys or a challenge for you guys? JESSE CARR: They're a very athletic team, their guards are really fast. There definitely are times where you're going to be tired out there, but that's just part of the game. I don't think I've ever met any player who goes out there and plays a whole game and doesn't get tired. I think our guys did a good job of getting themselves ready for the game, and I think we were in pretty good shape. Yeah, they did wear us out a lot, and you just, once again, have to commend them for the way they played and just were able to attack the way they were and not turning the ball over like we did. Q. Pierce, just if somebody had told you going into the game you were going to have 12 points, 17 rebounds, would you have thought there was a way you guys could lose that game? PIERCE HORNUNG: I mean, there's‑‑ I don't know how to really answer that. COACH MILES: I don't think Pierce has ever considered an individual stat in his life. So I think you befuddled him, and rightfully so. JESSE CARR: He probably didn't know he had 17 rebounds, honestly. COACH MILES: He probably didn't even read it. THE MODERATOR: Any more questions for our student‑athletes? Thank you, guys. Now we'd like to open the floor to questions for Head Coach Tim Miles. Q. Coach, for those of us who don't get a chance to see you guys, we saw you Tweeted right before the start of the second half. Is that something you normally do? Just tell us a little bit about that. COACH MILES: I'm not going to answer that unless you're following me. Q. I did. COACH MILES: We Tweet at halftime. We've always done that. Danny Mattie, our SID, I just walk by him, say something. He edits it and posts it on my account. Q. Coach, explain a little bit more about their pressure and what they were doing to kind of get you guys off rhythm. COACH MILES: It was funny. I think Kelly maybe asked what our offensive flow was like in the second half. More like a drip. I just thought they brought physicality. They brought an energy level. Every time we‑‑ we never got the corner. Every time we got shoulder to shoulder, we'd kind of stop. They did a really good job moving. That just didn't go well for us. They're quicker than us at some of those spots. I just look at the numbers. We have 17 points, 14 turnovers in 35 possessions, 7 of 25 from the field. We get to the foul line three times. You know we're in trouble when we're all going to the foul line three times. That's not part of officiating or anything. That's just us. We need to do well in the paint. If you don't do well in the paint, you're in trouble. Q. How disappointing is it for you to have the season that you guys have to come out there in the second half and perform the way you did? COACH MILES: You look in our locker room, and those kids were really disappointed, very frustrated, and their coach feels the same way. Nobody wants to go out and perform poorly. Everybody is disappointed when you do. The special teams find a way to kind of pop through that. I just thought Murray‑‑ this is our first time through this at CSU. Murray's been through it. They lost a tough one in '10, I think. I just think that you need to go through this. You need to feel the shame and to bounce back and do it again. I've been a small college coach where we set records, 54‑17 at halftime. We set every conceivable record for apathetic play that you could possibly do. And those are frustrating moments. And the next year when we got back to the tournament, we were way better. I would expect the same with this group. They'll live to see a brighter day. Q. Talk a little bit about what you did to try and contain Isaiah Canaan. COACH MILES: I just think those two guards on him have good feet and are able to get through screens and stay in front of his hesitation. And when you get on a new floor with different balls and all that stuff, it's just harder to have your same mojo too, as you can see. More shots hit the backboard and came flying off. One of them, I think we shot, went over across half‑court. It's just a different game. So I think his natural stuff, as he plays on this floor next, I think he'll be better on Saturday and better on Saturday. I think Wes, Jesse a little bit, Dorian did a nice job on him. Q. Coach, if you could just kind of put a wrap on the season. Run through the year real quick, if you could. COACH MILES: Oh, yeah, the season. Hell, it was great. You can't get more out of a group of guys. If you're me and any of you folks are sitting right here in this chair and you're look at what we've gone through and look at those guys out there, they won 20 games, got to the NCAA, finished top four in the fifth best conference in the country. For the first time ever in school history, they beat three ranked teams. First undefeated conference season at home in 51 years. As a coach, I just can't be prouder of a group of guys. Look at our two seniors. Kaipo, Sabas and Will Bell came as unrecruited walk‑ons. They earned scholarships. Their pride in their accomplishment even going that far and then get us into the NCAA Tournament, I couldn't be prouder. So am I frustrated and ticked off? Hell, who wouldn't be? You stand out there for an hour. That's no fun. But these guys, this group, I'd take anywhere, any time against anybody. We'd do it all again. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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