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NCAA MEN'S 1ST ROUND: DAYTONMarch 19, 2013Kermit DavisMarcos KnightBruce MasseyDAYTON, OHIO Saint MaryÂ’s – 67 THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by the head coach of Middle Tennessee State University, Kermit Davis, as well as student‑athletes Marcos Knight and Bruce Massey Jr. We'll start with an opening statement by Coach Davis, then open the floor for questions for our student‑athletes only. COACH DAVIS: I thought we got off to a good start. We went through a scoring drought in the first half. About six or seven minutes, Marcos got in foul trouble. Dellavedova has really been struggling shooting the ball. We thought two things. He's 1 for 18 from 3 coming into the night. We got him going. We missed a couple of assignments early and kind of got his head up, then he made two or three really tough 3s in the first half. We thought we had to turn him over. We only turned him over seven times. We had 14 assists, 9 turnovers. The whole stat was the free‑throw line. They shot 20 times, and we shot seven. That was kind of the difference in the game. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Bruce, just talk about the game plan on trying to stop Dellavedova, and it just seemed like you guys tried a lot of different things, but every time he got loose, he was able to convert there. BRUCE MASSEY, JR.: We just wanted to slow him down, limit his possessions and looks at the basket. Like Coach said, he was struggling shooting the ball coming into the game, but he got going early. I think he hit the first 3 he took, and then he got another one, and then a transition layup, and after that he started hitting tough shots and got going early. Q. Marcos, it seemed like the first half you guys started slow, only 20 points. Was it nerves? What was it out there? MARCOS KNIGHT: I think we got a lot of good possessions. We've just got to finish the ball at the rim. The second half we did finish better. Second half. Early in the game, we just couldn't finish balls at the rim. We got great shots. I don't think it was nerves at all. Q. Marcos, let's talk about that late run there. They had a 10‑point lead, I believe, and you guys kept going. Got a layup, cut it down to 3 there. Just talk about how you seemed to have the momentum there, forcing him to call a 30‑second time‑out. MARCOS KNIGHT: It started with our defense. We play a great defense. We got out in transition and cut it to three, and they called a time‑out. We ran a set play, but we didn't execute it well. You know, our defense leads our offense. That's a great point that you made about getting out in transition and how we had to make them call a 30‑second time‑out. Q. Marcos, I think you were one of the guys that also defended Matthew there. Just talk about how tough he is to defend because he doesn't‑‑ he seems to find ways to get shots off. MARCOS KNIGHT: He's a great player. Like Bruce and Coach Davis say, coming into the game, he was struggling. He was 1 for 18 from the 3‑point line. But we try a lot of combinations on him. At the end of the day, he just made great plays. Q. Bruce, can you just talk about this two‑year run that you guys did. Obviously, to get here this year. Just talk about what it means to leave this year. BRUCE MASSEY, JR.: It's been a great two years. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I wish it ended differently, but we broke the drought for MTSU going to the NCAA Tournament in 20‑plus years, so you hang your hat on that. After a tough loss like this, you don't forget what you did the last two years for the program. We help MTSU get back on the rise, and hopefully it continues to make further steps into the future. THE MODERATOR: Marcos and Bruce, thank you for your time. Congratulations on your season. We'll open the floor for questions for Coach Davis at this time. Q. Coach, I asked the players about Dellavedova. Talk about some of the things you tried to do to slow him down. COACH DAVIS: Well, we hard hedged ball screens. We trapped him at times. We were going to 1‑3‑1 him and trap him and take the ball out of his hands. I thought in the second half we got him tired, and then he responded better. So he just‑‑ he shoots the ball like that. He's big, strong, and he still can run a team, but he hadn't made plays like that from the perimeter. When he does that, he may be the best point guard in college basketball. When he shoots it like that‑‑ from 1 for 18 to 5 for 7 from 3 is a big difference. Q. Just further on Dellavedova, for a lot of the country that's not familiar with him, can you just put into context what caliber a point guard you think he is? COACH DAVIS: I just think there's no question he'll make some NBA team. Wouldn't you love to have him as your 11th or 12th man on an NBA squad. He's strong. He's physical. They'll pick apart some things he can't do. He's got quicker feet than you think. The NBA is full of ball screens, and he uses his best judgment on ball screens. The whole thing is can he shoot it? If he shoots it like he shot tonight, he'll make a team. You just sit over there and watch him play. I know Randy's got to love that. He just puts guys at different spots. He sees it as good as anybody. Q. Coach, can you just talk about that late run when you really needed a spark there to get a little run there. Cut to the 3 on Marcos' layup there off a steal from Tweety. Things are going well. Talk about that run there and just couldn't keep it going. COACH DAVIS: We defended. We got in transition. We needed to get in transition. That's where our team's at its strength. We turned them over, rebound the ball. Then we had the ball up 3‑‑ excuse me. Down 3, and Trantell (Tweety Knight) got on the side real close to the backboard and kind of forced up a shot, and they went down and scored. After he got about 7, we could never get the game back. I was proud of our guys. They competed hard, played their tail off. Saint Mary's played good tonight, but like I said, you look at all the stats. 17 for 25. We were 6 for 7. That was kind of just they got to the line better than we did. Q. Coach, last two years, something to remember, 27 wins last year, 20 this year. Just put in context what it's meant to see what this team's done the last two years. COACH DAVIS: It's just I'm so proud of our players. I'm happy for our fan base, and Dr. McPhee, our president, Chris, our AD. It's just been fun to watch. It's been fun to see Blue Raider basketball and the program grow. The national attention we've kind of gotten, the MT brand these past two years is fantastic. Those six seniors will be sorely missed, but we've got a top 25 recruiting class coming in and a good number of players coming back. So we feel really good about the future. THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you for your time. Congratulations. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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