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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2013Derrious GilmoreLarry Nance, Jr.Larry ShyattLeonard WashingtonLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Wyoming – 85 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the University of Wyoming. Coach, just some general comments on today's game. COACH SHYATT: Well, 19 was a long time coming. I can remember back when we beat Fresno a couple weeks ago for number 18, then we lost the boss here with an injury. We had some tough sledding. I thought if you watched this as a casual observer tonight, I thought you saw two teams played pretty hard. I don't think there was a record on either team. I thought they played hard to the finish. It was a game of runs. I thought our run the second half when we came out and showed a level of toughness and a level of rebounding maybe separated us. But the shots that they were putting in at the end were terrific. We're very fortunate to get a W. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes. Q. You've been beat up and had some illness and injury. Leonard and Larry, pretty good performances tonight. How nice is it to have you both back on the rebound from injury, playing at a high level again at the same time? LARRY NANCE JR.: It's great. I mean, to have him out for the period of time where he was, I mean, you can't take our leading scorer, leading rebounder out and expect us to be right at the same level we were with him out. It's really nice to have him back and have me healthy. I mean, I think you saw tonight what we can do. Q. You made that run early in the second half, got the ball inside. Did you do anything different or make a concerted effort to do that? LEONARD WASHINGTON: I think it would be our defense. We've been preaching about defense the entire year. Tonight was just another one of those nights that it came through for us. We're just lucky to have a group of guys that love to play together and also love to play defense together. Q. Leonard, how good did this feel for you tonight? LEONARD WASHINGTON: I still wouldn't say I'm back to myself. But it did feel good to get out and help my team out tonight with a victory. I played as hard as I could, as long as I could. I think it helped everyone else. Q. Leonard, right there at the end, you were up 2. Nevada had a chance to come down and tie the game. You got the bucket. Can you take us through what happened there on that play, because it was a good one. LEONARD WASHINGTON: Read Burton's eyes. He was getting ready to pass the ball to my man. I jumped in the passing lane. Fortunately I got the steal. Came down. He fouled me. I made the basket. Q. Quick turnaround playing New Mexico tomorrow. Your thoughts on that and what do you need to do to get ready for that? DERRIOUS GILMORE: I think we just need to listen to what our coaches come up with. We've been here before with New Mexico. They're a really good team. We believe we can be prepared. We going to do our best tomorrow night. Q. Leonard, New Mexico, the last time you played, you were injured, couldn't give them your best shot. Are you anxious to get that one back? LEONARD WASHINGTON: I'm just anxious in general to get back to myself. It's not about New Mexico. It's about getting back 100% to help my team out. THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions for coach. Q. From your standpoint, how big was that steal by Leonard? COACH SHYATT: Well, it was a big play. It was a very similar play when we were on the road the first game without Luke in a one‑point game at SMU. Leonard saw something he liked and grabbed it and went down and scored and separated us about 10 seconds to go in that game to win the game on the road. We saw that before. If he would have got back‑cut, I would have killed him. Q. First half they really got after you on the glass, had a big advantage with the offensive boards. Did you do anything differently in the second half? Was it more of a mindset for you guys? COACH SHYATT: We went in at half and like seven old grandmothers, as a coaching staff, we're complaining about the fact that we're getting beat to balls, 50/50 balls, offensive rebounds. I told the team the same thing. I said, We just analyzed this and it's not about the actions they're running and the actions we're running, it's all about the mindset. They are beating us to the ball. I wish I had the words to put in their bodies or their heads. This is what I told them. You know what, they came out and went on about a 19‑3 run and they did it. They earned it on the glass. They made some toughness plays. I think that separated us for a long time. Then I know they hit some bombs at the end, but I really think that separated us for a long period of time, that run. Q. Was this as healthy as your team has been maybe in the last two months? COACH SHYATT: Physically (smiling). Yeah, there's no question. We never got a break like every other team in the league during January and February because we chose to play a road game midweek. The timing wasn't so good with illness and injuries. But every team might go through that. But this past Thursday, Friday and Saturday, we had 72 hours where it was only rehab and only schoolwork, no basketball and no Coach Shy. I think they came back refreshed. They had good energy tonight. I'm quite sure they'll come out with some pretty good energy tomorrow. Q. Your thoughts of facing top‑seed New Mexico tomorrow, what you're going to have to do well in that one. COACH SHYATT: I'm excited. At this time of year you want to play the best. They're the best. They deserve the rest. They won the championship easily. They put themselves in position that they deserve right now, both as a staff and team. But you know what, like a multiple vitamin, you pick up the newspaper every day, and one of those happens. So that's what we'll plan on, something happening like that. Q. You have done a fairly good job against Burton and Story in the previous two games. Talk about the play of Burton specifically. COACH SHYATT: I thought he was terrific. You know, a lot of guys set up their drives with their jump shot. He sets up his jump shot with a terrific body and a terrific drive, which is unique. And when he knocked in a couple early, that was not a good sign for us. So, you know, he's got a tremendous upside because, again, he's got the body of a pro. I don't know him personally, but he seemingly has a great court disposition, too. He was a lot to handle. Like I said, I think that early second half separation helped us a great deal. Q. He has a decision to go pro or not. Do you see him as an NBA‑caliber player? COACH SHYATT: I would never speculate like that. I'd love to see him back at Reno. Q. Another question about New Mexico. Getting them a third time, when you get to this part of the season everybody knows everything about one another, no secrets. Do you go about preparing different or just go play tournament ball? COACH SHYATT: We'll talk about it tonight. This time of year it's hard to make changes for many teams. I'm going to see if the commissioner will let us play without a shot clock, that's the first thing I'm going to do (smiling). Q. The New Mexico game 10 days ago, the second one, you had a look at that game even though Leonard played 10 minutes and you shot 28% from the floor. Got to give you a little confidence. Was there something they were doing different in the second game or was it Leonard not being on the floor as much? COACH SHYATT: Well, our offense has struggled from time to time. That's saying it kindly. But in that particular game, the second time, I thought we battled as hard as we have battled in a long time defensively. So for a long period of time, we were able to just hang in the game, ugly as it was, hang in the game. Sometimes when you hang around long enough, good things happen. Tonight we dropped some shots. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to do the same. We're not accustomed to playing in the 80s. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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