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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: LOUISVILLEMarch 15, 2012Derrick GordonRay HarperT.J. PriceLOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY University of Kentucky – 81  THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen of the media, I'd like to welcome the WKU Head Coach Ray Harper and student‑athletes Derrick Gordon and T.J. Price. We're going to ask Coach Harper to open with a statement, and then we'll direct questions about the game to the student‑athletes and then questions for Coach Harper. Coach? COACH HARPER: First, I'd like to say how proud I am of these young men. It's been quite a journey, and I'm just thankful that I was able to be along for the ride. They're terrific. I think you kind of get to see a little bit about their character and their heart. They just wouldn't quit. They kept playing. They played to the final buzzer, and that's who these young men are. I'm excited about the future, and I look to my right, and I've got two outstanding freshmen setting here, and the future is bright for the Hilltoppers. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. We begin with questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Derrick or T.J., either one, I know you guys knew how talented and athletic Kentucky was, but what was it like when you guys got out there and started playing them. Were you surprised how talented that team is? DERRICK GORDON: That basketball team isn't named the number one team in this tournament for nothing. We just sort of rushed things in the first half. We wasn't playing like ourselves. We didn't get back in transition defense. That really messed us up a lot. We were just doing some things that we're not used to doing. Q. T.J., can you talk a little bit about the way this entire season went? I mean, your season started on a losing streak and ended with a huge winning streak. A lot of ups and downs and a lot of good things came out of it. Can you explain a little bit about what the emotions are like and what it was to go through those. T.J. PRICE: It was a lot of ups and downs. And sometimes, we didn't really know if we was going to get through all the hard patches, but we came together. We came as a team, and we knew it was going to take us together to get through everything. That's what we did. That's how we made the big run at the end. Q. Derrick, just the emotions of the amazing run you all had and finally coming to an end tonight. DERRICK GORDON: It was a good run. Big turnaround as far as the coaching changes at the beginning of the season up to winning the conference and up to now. Got to keep doing what we're doing and keep getting better and better. Still got three more years left, so it's going to be big things ahead. Q. Derrick, I know you wanted to beat Mike, but now that the game is over, would you like to see him go on and win a National Championship? Especially given what happened to you guys last year against St. Anthony, what would it mean for you for him to win a title? Will you be rooting for him the rest of the way? DERRICK GORDON: Yeah, that's like my brother. One of us had to lose. We played on the Number 1 team in the country last year and lost to St. Anthony's, and we both was hurt. I do wish him the best of luck and hope he does win it all. Q. Derrick, can you just expound a little bit more‑‑ Coach said you guys have a bright future. I guess in your words, in your own thoughts, what exactly is in store for the future of Hilltopper basketball? DERRICK GORDON: Just keep working and working and being in the Top 25. Q. T.J., what was the team's confidence level going into this game? When you score those 12 straight points to put your team ahead, were you thinking at that point, hey, maybe we can do this? T.J. PRICE: Our confidence was already good. We knew we could play them, we could win this ball game. Like Derrick said, we just didn't come back in transition defense. That killed us. That was the really big thing. Our confidence was already high. We didn't come up in the game thinking we were going to lose or it was going to be a hard game. We knew it was going to be a tough game. But confidence‑wise, it was already there, we was going to win this game. THE MODERATOR: Guys, thank you. We'll open it up to questions to Coach Harper about tonight's game. Q. Coach, what enabled your team to catch fire when they did and have that winning streak going, this last seven in a row before you got here, and sweep through the tournament. COACH HARPER: You got to see glimpses of it tonight. I thought we became a basketball team that was really tough. We understood what was a good shot, what was a bad shot. We shared the basketball. But the one thing that was a constant with this team was we became a really good half‑court defensive team. We could put teams in situations where they had trouble scoring against us because we were not a high octane offense by any means. So we knew, if we had any chance of playing in the NCAA Tournament or winning at tournament time, we had to become a really good half‑court defensive team, and that's what we did. Q. I just want to find out, you guys haven't played UK in nearly 10 years, 11 years. Do you want to make that something that happens on a regular basis? COACH HARPER: We're open if we have room on the schedule. I think it would be a great home and home series. Q.  Did you know about the Syracuse game? Did you talk to your kids that a 16 almost beat a 1? Did you watch any of that? COACH HARPER: No. Coaches caught the end of the game. We didn't talk about any of that. We talked about what we thought we needed to do to win the game. We needed to make sure we didn't get in a hurry in the half‑court and rush shots. At times, we got off to a really slow start, 10‑0 start. And our kids responded and got themselves right back in the game. When we rushed and took some bad shots, it got us in trouble. It became long rebounds, and because of it, they got some transition buckets. They're too talented to allow that to happen. You got to be smart. It just got away from us a little bit there. We couldn't get it corralled back in there in the first half. Q. Coach, what did you think about the play of Terrence Jones for Kentucky? When he's got it going like that, how much better does that make them? COACH HARPER: He's another weapon. I think, for them to‑‑ if they want to advance and win a National Championship, they're going to have to shoot the ball better from the perimeter. Doron Lamb may have been the only one. Terrence made a three. They're going to have to find somebody else that can make a shot from the perimeter. They're talented. They're extremely talented. Q. You know, out of everything you guys got accomplished this season, especially towards the end of the season, what are you going to be most proud of about this team or with what you guys were able to do? COACH HARPER: Their never‑say‑die attitude. Just their willingness to compete each and every day, and not only that, to compete to the end. We were counted out long before today, guys. There were people, I'm sure, turned the television off on Tuesday night or Monday night, whenever it was we played. We feel like the Globetrotters. We'd play, get on the bus, and travel to the next city. But it was a great group. The future's bright. We've got a lot of young kids. We had three really good players in street clothes that had to due to injuries this season. They're going to be back. And they have a foundation. Derrick and T.J. and George‑‑ you talk about three freshmen that just went up against the Number 1 team in the country, and they didn't back down one step. As they go on in their college careers, they can look back on this experience and really help any new guys that we may have in the program about how we do things and how we compete. So I'm excited about where we're going. Obviously disappointed about tonight's loss, but, guys, I couldn't be happier to walk back in that locker room with those guys. I'm going back with the right team. Q. Losing one player, Kahlil McDonald. What did you say to him after the game? You hugged him as he came off the court. What was your message to him? COACH HARPER: Thank you. Thank you for the last three or four weeks, just being the type of senior I want him to be. You want to go out the right way. You're remembered by how you finish. I told those guys they will be remembered, when people talk about them ten years from now, as a basketball team that fought. They hung in there, and they would not quit. For me as a coach, if that's what you say about my teams, I'm proud. I've lost before. I've been in basketball games, and we'll lose another one somewhere down the road. But the most important thing to me is that your guys will compete, and they'll play hard. I think, as we go on in the future, that will one thing people will always say about this basketball team. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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