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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: SALT LAKE CITYMarch 23, 2013Tommy AmakerSiyani ChambersSteve Moundou-MissiChristian WebsterSALT LAKE CITY, UTAH Arizona – 74 Harvard – 51 THE MODERATOR: We have Harvard representatives on the stage, Christian Webster, Steve Moundou‑Missi and Siyani Chambers. Please direct your questions to the student‑athletes. We will have an opening statement from Coach Tommy Amaker. COACH AMAKER: First of all, I would like to congratulate Arizona. They're a sensational basketball team. I thought they played very, very well, very tough team, have all the pieces when you think about what's necessary to possibly have a championship‑level team in season. They're certainly one of those kinds of teams. Disappointing for us that we didn't play better. I think we've shown that we have been a better team than we displayed this afternoon. But nonetheless, we have had a wonderful season, very proud of our team and our program. You give a lot of credit to these kids up here and certainly the way they have tried to help us throughout this ballgame here. Arizona played an outstanding ballgame; they deserved to win. We wish them well going forward. THE MODERATOR: Questions for our athletes. Q. Siyani, is it difficult to translate what you saw on film to seeing guys that tall, that long, that athletic? SIYANI CHAMBERS: Definitely, film didn't give them as much credit as they deserved. They were tremendous on defense, their rotations, their size. Their length was a problem tonight, but give all the credit to them; they played a great game and they played great defense. Q. Siyani, I saw you lost a little bit of your tooth. Can you tell us what happened? SIYANI CHAMBERS: I don't know. I got a rebound, kicked it out going up the court for a fast break and saw Christian on the wing. I tried to throw it to him, went up in the air, came down and before I knew it my tooth was out. Q. What was the big difference tonight as opposed to how well you played on Thursday that made it so difficult and challenging for you today? STEVE MOUNDOU‑MISSI: I thought they were athletic; they played really hard. I feel like we didn't have our best game, but we could have is played better. They obviously inside were faster. CHRISTIAN WEBSTER: They pounced on us from the beginning. I think it took us by surprise how hard they played, how physical they were, and like Siyani said, their length and size and speed. From there it was just an uphill battle. Q. Christian, I want to congratulate you on your senior year going over a thousand. Could you put into context what this season has meant to you, making history in this tournament before going out? CHRISTIAN WEBSTER: Means a lot. Thank you for that. It means a lot to me. My teammates and my coaches believing all year and not to keep harping on it, but all the adversity we went through this year, for my senior year, for these guys to buy‑in like they did and for us to have the great year that we did. We accomplished all our goals this year. We have nothing to be ashamed of. We're going out with our heads held high and that's what really matters. Q. The way the game started when you missed your first 13 shots, you and Laurent had struggled to get going. To what extent was their length bothering you? CHRISTIAN WEBSTER: The shots we missed at the beginning were open. We should have made 'em. If we would have made the shots, maybe the game would have been different. But the length was a problem, obviously, trying to shoot over their length was hard. But we played teams like that all year. We had open shots that we could have made, just didn't go down today. Q. Steve, can you talk about your attempts to pound the ball inside, get something going inside against them? How difficult was that for you? And did you feel like you started generating momentum before the end of the half? STEVE MOUNDOU‑MISSI: As the sixth man on this team, I feel like my job is to bring energy to the team. I tried my best in the first half, and obviously every shot didn't go in. But, I mean, that's the game of basketball, I feel like. You're not always going to get what you want, but we did our best. We didn't play our best, but I felt like the effort was there. Q. Looking big picture at what this tournament run has meant, what's it going to take to get to the next level? What's this going to mean for your program as a whole? CHRISTIAN WEBSTER: Just that level of‑‑ the level that they played at today, that's the level we have to play at, whether that's the speed, strength, athleticism, and I feel like we can get there, just with hard work. Looking at where the program came from, it's just rising; it's just going up. It's going to take a lot of hard work, and that's what we've been putting into it so far and we'll get there. STEVE MOUNDOU‑MISSI: This season has obviously been great for us. We didn't end the way we wanted to end, but it's all about the journey and not the destination. It was a great year, and I really feel bad for Christian right now. It's his senior year. He's been a great leader for us throughout the year and we're just proud of him. SIYANI CHAMBERS: This year showed us that we have been able to play with teams like this all year‑round. I feel like we belong in this tournament and we can play with these teams. I think moving forward, what we can learn from this game is the next level we have to take it to in order to win this type of game. Q. Siyani, what was Mark Lyons doing that was enabling him to be so effective offensively? And how did it compare to other guards you faced this season? SIYANI CHAMBERS: He was big off the ball screen, attacked the bigs, attacked the ball screens, trying to get into the paint and get a piece every time. He did what most great guards to, tried to make plays for himself, get two people to guard him and make plays for his teammates. That's what he did that I thought was very, very effective tonight. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. Questions to Coach Tommy Amaker. Q. Was that kind of worst case scenario, your worst nightmare the way that game started tonight? COACH AMAKER: Yeah, it was. I think in order for us to make this a magical moment for our team and program, which we have been able to do at other points in this season, you've probably got to get off to a good start against a team like that and we had our chances. We had some open opportunities early, and once we missed some we kinda got our heads down and they took advantage of it. They're outstanding. They played very well today with having so much talent. I think Sean has done a terrific job with their team and certainly the start that we had pretty much kind of was the answer right there. I felt that doomed us from the start. Q. Tommy, can you talk about their length. As Brian asked one of your players, did it translate to you from the film to what you saw on the court? COACH AMAKER: We knew. There is no question we knew. But as you mentioned, until you go against it firsthand it can be eye‑opening. They're big up front; they have an NBA‑size frontline. Their guards played exceptionally well; they shot the ball well. I think everything was clicking this afternoon and this evening and they deserved to be in the position they're in for this particular game. We didn't play as well as we are certainly capable of which I think certainly had a lot to do with that. Q. Did you just kinda get discouraged, Rivard didn't get off to that good start, and it was like we couldn't really find him the rest of the game? COACH AMAKER: They locked down on him. You can obviously see there was a point of emphasis for their team to not lose him, not to be able to find him in transition. We had some early, again, that we didn't knock in that could have‑‑ you get your momentum going, gain confidence, you try to get off to a good start, maybe put a little heat on them in that way. But that wasn't there for us today. Certainly they did an outstanding job of guarding our shooters from the perimeter. Q. Talk about the effort that Steve gave you there off the bench; talk about the energy. Especially toward the end of that first of half? COACH AMAKER: Steve has done that for us all year. We consider him a sixth starter, and he's a guy that could be a starter for us. We have asked him to accept that roll off the bench, and he's as useful of a kid as you could imagine, open arms, whatever we need him to do for the team and our program. He's been a sensational player for us as a sophomore, being Honorable Mention, All‑Conference for us this year and big, big moments for our bull club this season. So very, very proud and not surprised how well he has played in stretches for us today and in the past. Q. Probably the best season Harvard had going into this tournament. What does it take to continue this momentum next season and seasons after that? COACH AMAKER: We are excited for the growth of our program. We're constantly trying to develop. We return a lot of players; Christian is our lone senior and we're excited about where we're headed. Every year is a new year. We hope to continue to keep scratching and grinding. With the kind of kids we have, I suspect that's going to happen. They have worked hard for us all year and the fact that they're disappointed and dejected and down about the way we have ended this is an indication of how hard I think they will work and put in the effort so we can get better. Q. How much do you relish those kinds of, I guess, having those aspirations, one that they were clearly disappointed, they thought they could win; and, two, when you look at the progress that you have made, playoff game, losing in the first round to winning this. How much do you relish that people have those expectations for you now? COACH AMAKER: We have tried to build a first‑class program at a first‑class school. We're proud of who we represent. We're proud of what we have been able to accomplish up to this point. Next year is a new year and we're hopeful that we can keep gettin' better. That's one of the main goals that we have for our team, to get better today. We'll try to embrace that as we move along but I do understand the question in terms of the expectations. We try to always exclude or we look at that as an external word we focus on our internal word and that word is "standard." We want to live up to our internal standards and we feel that our standards are probably going to be higher than anybody else's expectations. That's important for us, and our kids have been able to embrace that and adopt that. I think they believe in that. Q.  Coach, can you talk about the defensive job they were able to do against Wes? COACH AMAKER: Yeah, he was 1 for 11, a lot of opportunities to get to the rim. But they're 7', 6'9", 6'11", 6'8", around the rim and in front of the rim made it difficult to finish. We tried to drive and kick and penetrate and we needed open shots from the perimeter. We didn't have either of those helping us, one usually helps the other, and neither were working for us. Wesley didn't finish, and he's our best finisher. Sometimes those things can become contagious. We were hoping things would be contagious the other way for us, but unfortunately it went against us this afternoon. Q. Kenyatta had 10 points for you, only guy in double figures for you. In what way did you see him grow as a player, not only in this experience, but toward the end of the season. COACH AMAKER: We're a young team. Someone said we're maybe the 13th youngest team in the country with one senior. Laurent being a junior and the other guys freshmen and sophomores on our roster that are getting playing time, and Kenyatta being a sophomore. We need him to keep developing, last year he didn't play a lot, to this year where he had some big moments to get to this point, he's been a starter at various times throughout this season. So I think you've seen a lot of growth in his game and confidence growing as well. So the next step is to continue that and become more consistent. That's what we're looking for in some of the younger players, the sophomore group in particular to become a more consistent class. I think if we get that within our team, within our program I think you will see the growth and the strides that we will make. Q. This is the second time in a row you've played such a big team. Going up against a 7‑footer back‑to‑back, New Mexico and Arizona, talk about what Arizona did that New Mexico didn't and why you couldn't get past the size of Arizona. COACH AMAKER: Looks appear to be and the way they played‑‑ they get the ball inside, that's what New Mexico was doing against us and the difference in the two games, you can look at what Arizona was able to do not only inside, but what they got outside the arc. They shot the ball very well and that's something that didn't happen in our previous game which allowed us to play a lot better, and I think certainly enough to win that game. Arizona is a balanced team, deep up front and wanted to get the ball inside, did that exceptionally well. But also they were able to the shoot ball from the perimeter very well. You see the percentages, you have the stats and I thought they played an efficient offensive game, something that didn't happen as much for New Mexico. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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