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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2013Daniel BejaranoWes EikmeierLarry EustachyLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Colorado State – 67 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Colorado State. Coach, just some general remarks on today's game. COACH EUSTACHY: Well, I made it clear time and time again when I think of Rodney, he's a great coach. Our team knew who we were going to play today, that it was going to be very difficult. What I like about our team, I told them when I first came here, that the catalyst to the team is Dorian. I challenged him and said, Maybe they're right. Particularly Daniel was terrific. The whole team was terrific. But particularly Wes. I thought Wes really, really responded to that remark, just took the team. Didn't let his shooting affect him. I just liked the way the team responded at half and into the second half a little shorthanded. Obviously there's 46 fouls in the game. Everybody had foul trouble. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Wes, both you personally and the team started out sluggishly offensively. How much of that do you think is due to Green being out or not being focused right away? WES EIKMEIER: Maybe a little bit not having Dor. But I think the thing that switched it around for us was our defense. That really fuels our offense, it has all year long. Just playing hard and contesting shots at the other end really gets us going on offense a little better. Once we started doing that, we got into a flow a little bit. Q. Wes, what happened after halftime?  Two points in the first half, 16 in the second. Was there something said? WES EIKMEIER: Yeah, coach said that he challenged all of us to, you know, play harder, play more physical, prove that this whole team is something special. You know, that first half didn't really show what we were capable of. I think the second half our team really responded, played really well. Q. Wes, how valuable was it to have guys like Gerson Santo? What do you think of the contributions of those guys, especially given that a lot of them haven't played a lot of minutes in pressure games? WES EIKMEIER: I said it earlier, right before we hit the locker room, they're the reason we won the game, you know. Our team's been known all year for our experience and our seniors. We'd be going home if it wasn't for our younger guys, too. Like I said, this is a team together. We're all one unit. When we're all clicking, it's something good. Those younger guys, particularly Daniel and Gerson really stepped up. Q. Talk about Gerson, what he brought. DANIEL BEJARANO: Gerson brings a lot. You just have him rebounding. You have him playing defense, taking charge. He's a big key to us winning today, for us to go down the stretch, do what we want to do. WES EIKMEIER: Yeah, I told coach walking down, we didn't lose a whole lot when Colton stepped off the floor, which is a mighty comment for Gerson. Really, he played great. He was grabbing loose balls, taking charges. Daniel said he did what it took to win. We give him as much credit on the team as anybody for winning today. Q. Daniel, did you know you were going to have to have a much bigger game with how much the bench had to play? DANIEL BEJARANO: Coming in I knew I had to have a big game. I wasn't ready to play once I came in. Coach took me out. He challenged me by putting me back in. Not just then, but at halftime. I just try to do what I do best. Q. Wes, can you talk about his back‑to‑back three‑pointers. WES EIKMEIER: It was huge. Game momentum. Like he said, he rose to the challenge and made some big plays. Daniel has been giving us a spark all years. He obviously got the sixth man award this year. So huge play. Q. Can you both talk a little bit about the challenge of facing UNLV on their home floor in this tournament. WES EIKMEIER: Yeah. Last time we took them all the way down to the wire, to that last shot. Unfortunately lost that game. But these are the kind of things that we look forward to. Another opportunity to win on someone else's floor, which is usually done by the end of the season. But we get another opportunity here. We know coach loves winning on those situations. So we're going to bring it. You're going to see a similar game to what it was today. It's going to be a blood bath, 12 rounds all the way down to the end again. Q. Daniel, do you relish that opportunity? DANIEL BEJARANO: Big‑time. After we won, that's what I want. I want big games. We're not going to back down. We can take on any challenge. We have a great team. Anyone can step up at any given time. So we're ready to take on any challenge. THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions for Coach Eustachy. Q. Can you give us an update on the status of Green? Will he be available Friday? COACH EUSTACHY: You know, if I had to guess, I don't think he will. It's a little more than we thought. This tournament is extremely important, but obviously the NCAA tournament is what we've worked for all year. If there's any doubt at all, he won't play. Again, it's something that we thought he'd bounce right back from. It's a little more serious than we thought. Q. Can you take us through the game Friday, tell us about the matchup. Do you have a concern about UNLV being at home? COACH EUSTACHY: Obviously. We tried it here once and couldn't do it. We'll be without Dorian. We're going to practice and prepare as if we don't have him, which I think is 99.9% chance he won't. That makes it even more difficult. David has done a great job with this team. I love the fact that the tournament's here. I know there's other coaches that would like it somewhere else. But it's all about, you know, money. Obviously this generates the most. But the pressure is on Coach Rice. I mean, it's not a fun situation to be in as a coach. I've been there before. I'm not sure if you really asked him if he wouldn't prefer having it somewhere else because it just puts the pressure on the home team. It's really on them, but we're looking forward to whatever team we can put out there and see what happens. Q. Coach Terry gave you a great compliment. He said he told you he could see this team being a Sweet 16 team. What did you think when he told you that? COACH EUSTACHY: You know, I think we're going to have to be at full strength and things are going to have to fall exactly right, have some luck. When you look at some of these national championship teams, they had a little luck in the first round or they wouldn't even have advanced. I think this team's capable of beating a lot of people. It's just a matter of I don't have a ouija board, crystal ball. I can't tell you what type of health we'll be in. When we're right, we're playing right, we're a top‑25 team. So we have a chance. Q. Did you learn any more about the grit of your team? COACH EUSTACHY: Well, there's 46 fouls in this game. Make no mistake about it. I'm not critical of the officiating. I'm just saying it's too bad that guys can be eliminated from an event that everybody pays good money to come see. I've said that forever. You've heard me say that. Under the circumstances everybody had their foul issues, both teams and all the individuals. I think it became frustrating. But obviously we overcame. But I've known these young guys are that good. I've told you. How you going to be next year? I think we're going to be good. When you think about Gerson, is he better off at a lower‑level program and being a 35‑minute starter or is he better playing against Colton Iverson every day? I think the answer is simple. He's playing against an NBA player every day. He's just stuck behind a guy that's going to play in the NBA until he physically can't do it anymore. We've got some depth with some young guys. Under the circumstances it was terrific. Like Wes touched on, great team effort, which is what we're all about. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. COACH EUSTACHY: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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