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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2013Mike FitzgeraldKyle GreenDave PilipovichLAS VEGAS, NEVADA UNLV – 72 THE MODERATOR: We're ready to begin with Air Force. Coach, just some general comments on today's game. COACH PILIPOVICH: Yes. Couldn't be more proud of our group. You know, obviously it wasn't a game that we anticipated or prepped for. When you lose two key components of your starting group, Mike Lyons, in the first minute or two of the game, then Tyler Broekhuis, we had to make some adjustments on the fly. Really feel bad for Mike because he's worked so hard to put our team in position to play today, to do what he's done, then not to be able to compete, that's a tough thing. Also with Taylor. It took us a while. You guys probably wondered, we weren't going to score again. I think it was about a 10‑minute drought. To regroup, play without two key components on the floor and see where we're at. We had some looks. We got out of character a little bit. We didn't get some back‑cuts as we normally do.  They were physical on the cuts and did an outstanding job. Let's give credit to UNLV, they were really good today. But very proud of our young men. Hopefully this is not our last game, that we'll continue to play somewhere. THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Mike, can you express the frustration of getting into the tournament, then going through this with the injuries. MIKE FITZGERALD: It really is frustrating. Like coach said, it's something you can't really expect when you come into a game. We've been pretty fortunate all year without having many injuries. I remember my first three years here, we had injuries every year that really set us back. But this year we were strong, confident coming into this game. So it was very disappointing. Q. Can you explain what UNLV is doing defensively early. MIKE FITZGERALD: They understood that we get a lot of our offense off back‑cuts and a lot of our energy. They did a lot of emphasis on being physical, stand us up while we're cutting back door. They did a great job. Q. What is going through your head when you saw Mike on the floor? Did you expect he'd be out for the whole game? KYLE GREEN: When he went down, we expected Mike to come back. He's a tough kid. It hurts that he went down. Right now we're hoping he can come back. Number one priority is making sure he's okay. It's frustrating to see him get hurt, but we know he'll be okay. Q. Did either of you talk to him in the locker room afterwards? MIKE FITZGERALD: Just briefly, saying, Sorry, man. KYLE GREEN: He's okay. He's fine. MIKE FITZGERALD: He's fine. THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions for coach. Q. Can you explain how it changes your offense. COACH PILIPOVICH: Mike has been our leading scorer, leading scorer in the conference, overall games. As he goes, we go. I think we were in a position for a few minutes, Where is he at? Our eyes were wide open, Where is he at? It took us a while to adjust. Their defensive pressure at that time, our inability to regroup quickly, get some scores, really hurt us, set us back. Q. What happened to Taylor? COACH PILIPOVICH: Taylor got hit in the head a few times. He was bleeding from the chin. He went out first to stop the bleeding. Came back in, got hit. He was a little woozy. Q. You came out looking to hit some threes early. UNLV answered those. Were you expecting them to be able to counter that? COACH PILIPOVICH: We expected them to play very well. They're a talented team, very well‑coached. We expected because of how things ended for them on Saturday they would be very good today and they were. We wanted to be more aggressive. We wanted to push the ball down the floor, get out in transitions, get some early scores, make them defend. The way things occurred, we had to patch some things instead of continue with our game plan. Q. Do you feel like your school is cursed in this tournament? COACH PILIPOVICH: No. I mean, everyone gets hurt. You expect things will happen. You've got to play through that. Hopefully we'll continue to play. But we've had 17 wins, six best in the history of Air Force basketball. 8‑8 in the conference, best in the conference of Air Force basketball. These young men have done some great things. I'm disappointed that they didn't get to finish with Mike Lyons, Taylor Broekhuis. We had a great run and we want to continue to do some things. Q. What exactly is the injury to Michael? Did you see it happen? COACH PILIPOVICH: It's too early to tell. He was in with our training staff. But it's too early to tell. It's a knee injury. Hopefully once some swelling goes down, they'll be able to diagnose it and we'll be able to move forward. He was not in a position where he was able to come back out and play. As tough as he is, as much as he wants to play, you knew he was hurt. Q. The one silver lining would be you played some guys you wouldn't normally play. COACH PILIPOVICH: You guys were checking your scorebook. Who are these guys (laughter)? Cameron Michael is a good shooter. He's a talented player. He can make shots. For him to play in this environment helped him. Tre Coggins with a few minutes, those are two freshmen. Marek Olesinski had a great game on Saturday, continued to play well today. Those are young guys we can build on and hopefully continue to develop those younger players. Q. Which knee did Michael hurt? COACH PILIPOVICH: Right knee. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. COACH PILIPOVICH: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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