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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: GREENSBOROMarch 18, 2012Gabe KnutsonC.J. McCollumMackey McKnightBrett ReedGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA Xavier – 70 THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement from coach and then take questions for the student‑athletes. COACH REED: I sit here in front of all of you disappointed, but very proud, proud of the young men that I've had the opportunity to coach throughout the course of this season, proud of the young men who have grown and developed through the course of their career in our program, proud of the development of underclassmen as they have become stronger and greater leaders. And I'm proud to be able to represent Lehigh University in the NCAA tournament, and the Patriot League, and the wonderful academic institution that we are as well. There's so many things that we can draw from this season. Certainly I'm very disappointed, particularly with the last 25, 28 minutes of the game; however, that does not take away some of the memories that I believe our team will have, these young men will have moving forward as a byproduct of their experience together. THE MODERATOR: Take questions for the student‑athletes. Q. For the players, when C.J. picked up his second foul and sat towards the end of the first half there, what changed out there? It just seemed that you guys really lost your momentum or something came out of you guys. C.J. MCCOLLUM: Personally I felt like they just went on a little run. Basketball's a game of runs so that happens throughout the course of a game. I thought that the guys did a great job of sustaining their run and we kept the lead. We had a lead going into the half. I don't think me getting in foul trouble had anything to do with the outcome of the game by any means. GABE KNUTSON: I think C.J.'s a major portion of our offense and he helps us go. But, yeah as he said before, I think that they did a tremendous job of going on some runs and we didn't come up with the defensive stops that we needed. MACKEY MCKNIGHT: Same thing as he said, C.J.'s a great part of our offense, he makes us go, he makes us be versatile, he gets other people open, he's just such a threat and I think we just ‑‑ I mean, we wintered the storm really. Basketball is just a game of runs. They made their run. We still had a four‑point lead going into halftime. Once it came to that second half, we just went cold a little bit. Q. C.J., following up on that, having to go to the bench, did it affect your shooting, your offensive rhythm at all? Seemed like the whole team had a tough time shooting the ball in the second half. C.J. MCCOLLUM: I'm not one to make excuses. I just wasn't making shots. I'm not going to blame picking up two fouls with shooting a basketball; it has nothing to do with it. I just missed some shots tonight and offense is going to come and go. We still have to get stops on defense and we didn't do that tonight. Q. For any of you, what are you guys going to do to prepare for next season using this as momentum or anything like that? GABE KNUTSON: Obviously coming to the NCAA tournament that's a goal of ours and that's what I worked for the whole offseason. I think we'll take some time off here, rest, and then look to get back after it in the gym and in the weight room. I think that winning that last game and having a chance at the Sweet 16, being that close, that's a lot of motivation to work that much harder to get there. MACKEY MCKNIGHT: We always take the offseason as time to get better, especially in the summer, we always get in contact with our freshmen in coming next year very, very early to let them though that what we have accomplished and what we want to accomplish to go further and one more step each year. So I think this will be just the same offseason as it's always been, work hard, try to get better each and every day just know that somebody is getting better if you're not and I think it will be an important offseason. C.J. MCCOLLUM: I think this will be good motivation, a good learning experience not only for myself but the rest of the team. It was a good win against Duke in the first round but every round you go into it's going to be a tough dog fight and we got to be ready to play. So hopefully we can learn from this and continue to get better for next year. Q. Guys, can you put the last 48 hours in perspective going from the real emotional high of Friday night to now what you're going through right now? GABE KNUTSON: It's been really exciting ups and downs going from beating Duke and barely getting any sleep because we feel so excited coming here and being obviously very disappointed in the way we performed, especially in the second half. It's been a great opportunity for us to represent the school and the Bethlehem community, but at the same time we're obviously very disappointed that we couldn't pull out a win today. C.J. MCCOLLUM: There's been a lot of emotional highs and lows, that's a part of life. We're not satisfied. We're not going to hold our heads down because we fought as hard as we could. We left everything we had on the court, but at the same time we're a little disappointed with the outcome. MACKEY MCKNIGHT: It's a amazing high note to be here. It was an amazing honor to play Duke. It's just basketball; we love it. It's a dream come true to be here; it's a dream come true to even beat Duke and to even to play Xavier and even to lose to them. But I think we just enjoyed every single moment of it and that's‑‑ so that's what it's about coming to college and playing basketball and just enjoying every single moment with your family, with your brothers in the same uniform as you. So I think we enjoyed it, the highs and the lows, and we'll always remember this. We'll never forget it. Q. I'm surprised nobody's asked yet, but Frease on the inside it just seemed you guys couldn't stop him and obviously you couldn't. GABE KNUTSON: Obviously a size disadvantage for me in there. They did a really nice job of looking for him. He's a great player and I thought their coaching staff did a really nice job of looking in. And I think I didn't do as good a job as I could have on the inside denying catches and everything. I'll put that on me. But he's a tremendous player and he definitely had a tremendous night. THE MODERATOR: Okay, guys. Thanks. Take questions for coach. Q. What do you think that this whole experience has meant to the program in terms of just overall recruiting, positive advertising for the university? And can you compare the program to where it is now being able to attract top athletes to where it was when you maybe first got here as an assistant or a little bit before you got here and the evolution of the program? COACH REED: I'm very pleased with the way the program has continued to develop. It comes from a solid foundation and core principles that our athletic department promotes. It's taken very creative and diligent people far beyond myself that have put a lot of effort and energy and commitment into this program from assistant coaches that have been here, from other support staff as well. I give a lot of credit to the people who I have had the opportunity to work with over essentially the last decade, those that have walked hand in hand with me and have continued to put everything forward. Very fortunate even today that some of those people who have worked in this program as assistant coaches now lead their own programs, are very successful, and they're utilizing a lot of the information and I think the principles, ideals, and values that we are trying to promote in this program now even in their programs as well. That's a great feeling for me as a coach. I also have had the opportunity to hear from many alums, alums that have been involved with this program for a number of years, also recent alums. And for them to have a sense of pride in Lehigh is very important to me as well. And I hope our community is proud of our effort. I hope our university is proud of our effort. And I think there's a lot of positive things to draw from this. Where we go from here, there's no exact formula and it's not always a linear process. It will take the same creativity. It will take the same determination. It will take the same alignment and focus on core values and the commitment to those things to continue to have success repeat itself. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you. COACH REED: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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