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MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2013Josh AdamsDerrious GilmoreLarry Nance, Jr.Larry ShyattLAS VEGAS, NEVADA New Mexico – 59 THE MODERATOR: We're ready to begin with Wyoming. Coach, your comments on today's game. COACH SHYATT: Well, I'm really proud of these guys. I'm proud of a lot of things and a lot of attributes. But I'm probably proudest of the fact that today was probably synonymous with many games we played this year because they really didn't care if a team was 14th in the nation or on the road or home. They played with a sense of urgency. They played with a level of toughness. Especially coming out in the second half down 10 to make their staff call timeout to cut the game to 3, and to hold them, if I'm not mistaken, for 11 and a half minutes without a basket, to me really is an example of what they've been to me personally. It's not easy to rely on defense when you're troubled on offense. This team has consistently done that. I'm proud of 'em. The other things I can't say because my wife would kill me and the Commissioner would be pissed, too. THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Shots couldn't go down. Were they doing anything defensively? Tough to get shots going? DERRIOUS GILMORE: Shots, we got good looks at the rim. Some shots we had to force up. Besides that I think we executed as well as we possibly could. You got to give credit to New Mexico. They're a really good defensive team. Shots just didn't go in. But we okay. Q. Larry, I know you and Leonard were both in foul trouble tonight. How tough was that to juggle? LARRY NANCE, JR.: It's always tough to be playing this caliber of a team in foul trouble. But I definitely think we did a fairly good job of kind of playing them and staying in the game for the most part. I mean, but those free throws is what hurt us. So, I mean, foul trouble hurts. Q. Derrious, you played them hard for three straight games. How overly difficult is the fact you weren't able to get over the top of one of them? DERRIOUS GILMORE: I think that we played them tough three games. All three games we was right there. A few possessions away from actually taking the lead and running away with the game. Today I really thought we had a great chance. We was right there. We was down 10 going into the second half. Come back, start the second half, we went on a good run. We had the momentum. Then they just made like 11 or 12 straight free throws. That kind of just separated the game. From there, we was trying to hustle and get back into it as much as possible. Q. Josh, the first half was more high‑scoring. More than what you wanted for a game like this? JOSH ADAMS: I guess you could say that. We try to go out there and try to slow a team like New Mexico down. They're a well‑coached team. They have good scorers on their team in Williams and Snell. Early in the first half they hit shots we didn't. They hit some tough shots, they had some open shots. It was just rolling their way. Like Derrious said, we came out in the second half and went on a nice run and keep them at bay. That's why I think it was a little bit lower scoring in the second half. Q. Larry, coach said this has been synonymous with the season. Do you agree with that? Do you feel this game shows kind of how you have played all year? LARRY NANCE, JR.: Absolutely. Like you said, coach said that we were not going to give up. Whether we're down 10 or 19 to Illinois State, we're not going to give up. I think that's the kind of attitude this team has had from the very beginning. I think that's a pretty good attitude to have: never give up. THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions for coach. Q. I know you don't want to upset your wife or Commissioner, but I want to ask about the free throw disparity. How much do you credit to a tempo of slowing it down and running a weave beyond the arc? How much of that did New Mexico create by attacking? COACH SHYATT: I thought they created a lot by attacking. Q. Looked like Leonard was really hurting out there tonight. I know he was in foul trouble. How hard was that for him? COACH SHYATT: Well, first of all, they have great talent at every position. They're the best in our league. When you say, Is it disappointing to lose to them three times? I'm proud we played well against them three times. You know, results obviously count. But they've won 27 games, they've only lost 5. We're in a long list of losers. To me it's not the final score, it's what you do with what you have. That's what I'm proud of. And Leonard, for seven games now has tried to give this school, this team, this state everything he's had. He's the first to admit, like yesterday, he just doesn't have it right now. The back is just at a point where the greatest gift he has is lift, and he doesn't have lift right now. I tell you what, I owe him a lot of respect for the level of toughness he's tried to show. I just wish he could have performed like Leonard these last six or seven games. Hopefully with three or four more days' rest, he will in the next tournament. Q. I know you've mentioned the next tournament before. Whatever post‑season tournament it is, you feel this team is worthy and deserving to go? If so, do you think they'll be excited and ready for that next tournament? COACH SHYATT: Well, when we came to Wyoming two years ago, they were 280 on the RPI. You fill in the blank. Last year we were 90. This year we're 67. After tonight maybe we went forward after playing No. 2 in the computer. I've said this all year: They never went to college. The computers don't know the names of the coaches or players. They don't know who is supposed to win. They only know who the best teams are if you played home and away. Right now that's where we're at. I don't think there's ever been a NIT team not selected below 70. Q. You mentioned the 11 and a half minutes that you were able to hold them to no field goals. What was the difference in that stretch versus what you were doing in the first half? COACH SHYATT: You know, they had a couple run‑outs. Snell hit a three on a run‑out. They got an offensive rebound on a run‑out early in the game. The game was a lot faster than most of our games began. Actually, they had 10 points in the first 4 minutes, which was on their way to 55. We just set all kinds of records. As the tempo began to go more the way we are familiar with, I thought they struggled to score from our people. They caused us to foul excessively. Isn't that a nice way to put it? Q. The Lobos travel a lot. Your tempo did a great job in pretty much quieting them down. Going in, did you mention that to your team, you needed to take the crowd out? COACH SHYATT: Didn't talk about the crowd. I will tell you this, I felt like I was in the Pit and I was really disappointed. But we felt there's certain things we could take advantage of playing the Lobos all three games. At home we actually tied it with 21 seconds to go and got a tough call, and the ball went the other way. I thought today, to the relative sense, with about 12 and change to play, I felt pretty good, not only about the tempo, I felt like the heart of our team was really in pace with the game. Then, as Larry said, it's very difficult. You got three guys with four, then a couple foul out. You know, kudos to New Mexico. I thought their staff did a great job fouling us out. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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