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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2013Marvelle HarrisTyler JohnsonRodney TerryLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Colorado State – 67 THE MODERATOR: We're ready to begin with Fresno State. Coach, just some general remarks on today's game. COACH TERRY: You know what, we knew coming into this game it was going to be a hard‑fought contest. I think we're playing the mentally most tough team in this league, a team that has the best effort players in the country. We knew what we were up against in terms of having to win the 50/50 balls against a very tough team. I thought our guys really competed at a very high level. We left it all out on the floor. THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Tyler, how much of building off of what you did Saturday night did you take into this game against Colorado State? TYLER JOHNSON: I think we took a lot into it, we had a really hard‑fought game against UNLV. We kind of got accustomed to the building, had a leg up on the fact we just played here and we played pretty well. I think it carried over for a little bit. Down the stretch unfortunately we didn't make all the plays that we were supposed to to come out on the right end. Q. Marvelle, I just wanted to ask you how different Colorado State was with Jon running the offense or did it seem like the team you faced the other two times? MARVELLE HARRIS: It was the same team. I mean, without Green, they didn't have as much outside shooting. But Octeus, he stepped up and made some shots. I would say it was the same team. Q. Colorado State obviously with Green out had some other guys step up; Santo, Bejarano. Were those guys you expected to come through or was it a little bit of a surprise that some of those guys that don't play as many minutes came up big? TYLER JOHNSON: Coach talks about how anybody can have a big night. I mean, they're on the scouting report. You see that everybody has talent at this level. I mean, they're not on that team for no reason. Fortunately for them, some guys stepped up when Green was hurt. We kind of came out on the wrong end of that. Q. Tyler, even though you were the underdogs coming into this game, how disappointing is it to come so close and not be able to make the plays to get the victory? TYLER JOHNSON: In our locker room, we weren't an underdog. We were playing as well as anybody coming down the stretch. We had won more games in the last second half of the season than we did the whole first half. In our mind we weren't really underdogs. Unfortunately, again, with Green being out, I mean, nobody took anything for granted. But, again, we just could not make some of the plays on defense, getting those stops, finishing with rebounds to go to the other end and get scores. Q. Can you talk about you played so well down the stretch, the last three games, about the future, how excited you are. TYLER JOHNSON: I mean, you see this guy to my left has turned himself into a pretty good player, All‑League type player if he continues on the same type of path he's been doing. He's in there, in the gym working hard. We got a couple guys back at home who had to redshirt who we're excited about, Cezar Guerrero and Broderick Newbill. We're excited about the new guys we got coming in. We're not really looking at that right now. Just kind of trying to send our seniors off the right way and make sure that they're mentally okay. MARVELLE HARRIS: Yeah, we're excited about the future. But like Tyler was saying, we're in the moment right now. We're just ready to get back home, start working hard in the off‑season, getting prepared for next season. We don't want to dwell on this loss. Basically our motive is to get back, prepare hard and get ready for next season. THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions for Coach Terry. Q. Having played one season in each league, can you talk a little bit about the differences between the two leagues, and the trajectory of your program in the new league? COACH TERRY: I just said this to our guys a little while ago, how proud I was of the way they competed in, I think, the best league in this country. We definitely stepped up a level of competition this year. I also said that those guys, if we were in the WAC, we'd be in the top two or three in the league, I think, because of night in and night out the way we bring it. This league has been arguably No.1, No. 2 RPI all year long. There are no nights off in this league at all. It's an older league, a lot of established programs. Again, toughest league I've been a part of. As an assistant I was in the Big 12 for nine years at Texas, two years at Baylor. This year in this league with the coaches, the venues, the talent level, it's the best in the country. Q. What did you do that really slowed down Colton Iverson? COACH TERRY: He's a load to slow down, to begin with. Over the course of the first two ball games we played those guys, we pretty much had the same type of defensive set that we wanted to work with. We work with the baseline trap coming mostly from our guards, perimeter players, hoping to pick up a charge and get him off the floor. We know they're a different team with him not being on the floor. We were able to do that early in this ballgame, got him off the floor early in the game. But I'll give him a lot of credit. He's one of the best big man passers, not only in our league, but in the country. He finds guys. You can only hope to try to contain him from an offensive standpoint. You want to try to keep him off the glass because that's where he's a major problem. I know he's been shooting the ball well from the field. If you can get fouls on him, keep him off the glass, obviously it slows those guys' motion a little bit. Q. If somebody had told you you were going to hold Iverson to seven points, Hornung to four points, and Green wouldn't play at all, would you have thought you had a pretty good chance of winning this game? COACH TERRY: I like our chances. We had a good contest with those guys up there, a one‑possession game on their home court. But I definitely would like my chances with Green out of the game. Give those guys off the bench a lot of credit. They came in and gave them a great lift. Coach Eustachy has done a great job. I know this is considered the best team that ever played at Colorado State. I've said this to Larry, no pressure to him, but I think they're a Sweet 16 team, to make a deep run in March if they're healthy and if the guys are playing at the level they've been playing. Q. Missing the three free throws down the stretch, do you look at that as a pivotal point in the game? COACH TERRY: Well, if you look at it as a whole, I think free throws was the biggest part of the game for us. We shot 56% from the line. We've been pretty consistent. We've made those over the last three ball games. It's given us great momentum in terms of opportunities to win ballgames. But we knew today we had to make free throws. We had to win the effort game in terms of the 50/50 plays. For the better part of the game, we did that. We came up a little short at the free‑throw line. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much, coach. COACH TERRY: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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