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NCAA MEN'S 1ST ROUND: DAYTONMarch 20, 2013Ramon GallowayTyrone GarlandJohn GianniniSam MillsDAYTON, OHIO La Salle – 80 THE MODERATOR: We will start with an opening statement by Coach Giannini. After that we'll open the floor for questions for the student‑athletes. COACH GIANNINI: Obviously, we're ecstatic. We were able to beat a very good team. 2 (Derrick Marks) and 3 (Anthony Drmic) were really a handful. They played great. They were hard to stop. We couldn't put them away. I think the difference in the game was we had maybe four or five guards that were playing at a high level, and certainly their whole roster played well, but 2 and 3 played at a particularly high level. Again, we had four or five guys playing at a high level, and I think that was the difference. Q. Ramon, can you just talk about what this win means to you personally. You're a senior. And everything that has happened this year. RAMON GALLOWAY: It means a lot. It sums up the whole year. We worked hard to get here. We're absolutely happy that we won because we're actually making a statement. We just didn't get selected. We want to make a run, and we want to show everybody that La Salle can play with the best teams in the country. Q. Tyrone, you had a pretty amazing game tonight. What was it like for you out there? Seemed like most of your shots were going in. TYRONE GARLAND: It just was amazing, man. I just was feeding off my coach and my teammates. They told me to be aggressive and keep shooting, and that's what I was doing. Coach said to share the ball, and I was sharing the ball, and that's how we got open shots. Q. Sam and Ramon, how easy is it for you guys to space the floor when Tyrone is having the kind of game he is? SAM MILLS: We shared the ball, like Tyrone said. We shared the ball pretty good. Coach G wants us to do that, and our guards were able to get open looks, and we were hitting our shots today. Q. Ramon, could you please address the faith that you and Tyreek have in the rest of your guard rotation? You guys have not only four good starting guards, but you go Tyrone deep, and ordinarily he would start in a lot of programs. It makes the difference tonight when those guys only missed four shots. RAMON GALLOWAY: It means a lot when you have Ty and Sam, Tyreek, and me, because even the players on the bench, everybody plays a part. We're all a team. Just having four guards that can go out for each other and play, it makes the game a lot easier because you don't have to force a lot, and you don't have to rush when you have players that can get you easy shots and you can get your teammates easy shots. Q. After the first few minutes, you started to score, but it had been about 2 1/2 games almost before we saw the Ramon Galloway that led the team in scoring, and these guys kind of picked up the slack. Can you address that? RAMON GALLOWAY: Coach G told me that I just have to be myself, don't force it. The last two games, I felt as though I was forcing it because I wasn't getting stuff going on offense. So Coach G, me and him had a meeting, and he just said relax and play your game. Like you said, the beginning of the game, I wasn't forcing anything. I was trying to get my teammates into the game. I was trying to help out the game in other aspects, just not being the leading scorer because that's not what it's about. It's about helping your team all around‑‑ assists, rebounds, steals, and sometimes points. Eventually, it started to fall, and I was happy because I was in a slump. But I just wanted my team to win, and I wanted to do it for my teammates and La Salle. Q. Ramon, you guys have played small, three, four guards all year, but once Steve went out, you had to play small for even longer stretches. Have you made any adjustments since he went out, or is it kind of the same thing? RAMON GALLOWAY: The adjustment was that the guards have to get more rebounds. Basically, you have a 7‑footer out, and you only have Jerrell down there, it's going to be hard for him to grab every rebound. Boise State, that No.2, he crashes the boards, and No. 1‑‑ they just all play hard. We just know that we have to help Jerrell rebound. It's not just on him, and it's not just on Garvin. It's on the team when other teams grab rebounds. They don't say Jerrell rebounded bad. They say La Salle. Q. Ramon, you guys shot 63 percent from the field. Considering the last two games didn't go well, you weren't shooting well, do you think it's a little bit of validation to show people what you guys can do? RAMON GALLOWAY: It was a relief because we were kind of in a slump. We're at our best when we can knock down shots and make shots and get up and down the floor and play. Just for us to have this type of game and win, it relieves great pressure off our chest because now we have even more confidence going into the next game. We know that every day is win or go home, and we want to be here. We want to make a statement. Q. For Tyrone and Ramon, a lot of people are transferring college basketball these days. It kind of stands out, this effort tonight, that you guys were both transferred, and it seems to work out pretty much ideally. I mean, this has to be the way that you imagined it when you decided to come to La Salle. Is that accurate? TYRONE GARLAND: When I first transferred, Coach told me it could be like this and we could do special things. So for me seeing it happen, and he's always been a loyal guy, and I believe in his word, I wasn't even shocked when we started winning games and making it to the tournament. This is what he told me was going to happen, and I just believe in this guy, and I just thank him for giving me the opportunity to play. RAMON GALLOWAY: It was the same for me. The first day I was thinking about transferring, I met Coach G, and he told me it's a two‑way street. All you got to do is listen, and he's going to let you do what you do best. It's a blessing. I mean, I never thought that we'd be in the NCAA Tournament playing and making a statement for La Salle, but here we are, and I'm happy as can be because I've never been here. It's my last year. So it's every college player's dream to be in the NCAA Tournament. Q. Ramon, as a Philadelphian and a La Salle guy now, can you address what this means to the La Salle community, having not been in this position in more than two decades and now not only having made the NCAA Tournament but having won a game and looking to, like you said, make a run or make a statement? RAMON GALLOWAY: It means a lot because it's going to bring our fans, and it's going to bring our alumni back. When you're winning, alumnis and fans start to feel good about the school. And when I seen that we had our own little section in there, it made us play so much harder because we knew we had support. I probably didn't think it was going to be that many people traveling to Ohio, but they were there, and they proved me wrong. So we got to fight for them. We got to fight for the name on our chest. THE MODERATOR: Sam, Ramon, and Tyrone, thank you for your time. Good luck in Kansas City. We'll open the floor for questions for Coach Giannini. Q. John, what's your reaction to some of the things that Ty and Ramon have just said? COACH GIANNINI: I'm just really proud of them, and I'm not surprised at all. They're great kids. We don't have distractions. We have great chemistry. They work hard. They listen. I'm emotional. Basketball's emotional. Sometimes they're emotional. And short of a moment where we get a little excited, a moment later, we're on track and trusting each other, and everyone doing their part. Q. John, Ramon mentioned the fans that traveled to the game tonight. I saw, as you were walking off the court, you gave them a little wave. How was that for you? COACH GIANNINI: It's great. It's great. I think everyone loves to be appreciated, and our fans make us feel extremely appreciated. It's a great feeling. We really do play for them as much as we play for ourselves. I know that sounds corny, but it's a great feeling. It's just a great feeling to have people pull for you. It's a great feeling to see them excited and happy and cheering. There's no better feeling in life than making other people happy. To see our fans happy because of the effort that we put out is really gratifying. It's a great thing. For any school, it's a great thing. Q. John, you've now made it to the NCAA Tournament as a head coach and won a game as a head coach and had to sort of rebuild this program three times since you've been there in a very short span of time. How satisfying is this moment for you professionally and personally? COACH GIANNINI: It's really satisfying, but I don't want it to be satisfying because satisfied competitors aren't as good as hungry ones. Again, the boardwalk on a fishing trip, I'll be probably more satisfied, but right now we really want to get ready for Kansas State. Your point is well taken. It's very important, but we're still playing. So it's not the time to be satisfied. But at some point I definitely will. Q. Coach, can you talk about how important Tyrone is to this team as the sixth man off the bench? COACH GIANNINI: When you have guys off the bench that are good enough to start at other places, you really have a chance to be really good. When you sub and you don't drop off, you could be really good. And when you can bring a scorer off the bench‑‑ so now one of your best scorers might be going against their sub, and their sub might not be a starter‑level quality player. So it's huge.  It's absolutely huge, yeah. Q. Can you, John, describe the way this team plays, in your own words, and also for those of us who haven't seen them play and are used to seeing the Big East style of basketball, do these guys seem to take a particular joy in the way that they play the game? COACH GIANNINI: Yeah, we recruited to play this way, and, of course, we're playing to our players' strengths. They're really quick. We played four guards today that are outstanding, and 3 and 2 could play anywhere. We had a quickness advantage, and it was the difference in the game. Of course, when you recruit quick kids, you want to keep the floor spread, and you want to be aggressive off the dribble and teach them to space and share the ball. And you want to work on their skill and make sure they can knock down the open 3s that they're going to get. And that's how we play. Q. Program's first NCAA Tournament win since the heyday of the L‑train. COACH GIANNINI: Who, by the way, Lionel Simmons was here. How awesome is that. Third leading scorer in college basketball history, pretty cool. Pretty cool to have him here. Q. Can you give some perspective on getting this win 23 years later, what it means for the program, what it really dropped to and now back on the rise over the last two decades? COACH GIANNINI: It's our anniversary of winning the National Championship, two Final Fours, National Championship, NIT champions, three National Players of the Year, second only to Duke and Ohio State. Pretty much NCAA or NIT consistently '60s, '70s, '80s, early '90s. Many NBA players. I've gotten texts from Tim Legler, Doug Overton, Rasual Butler. Unbelievable tradition here. I think people have tended to have forgotten what a basketball power La Salle was for over four decades. So it's a big deal. It's a big deal to re‑establish that. It's a big deal for people who attended La Salle and love La Salle, who had great basketball, and certainly they've longed for that. So it's big. THE MODERATOR: Coach Giannini, thank you. Good luck in the second round. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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