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EA SPORTS MAUI INVITATIONALNovember 25, 2013Lee BaileyEric BovairdChristophe VaridelLAHAINA, HAWAII Baylor – 93 THE MODERATOR: Coach Bovaird, some opening comments, please. COACH BOVAIRD: I thought we played really well for about 33 to 35 minutes of the game. Obviously, you guys know there was a stretch in the second half there where we couldn't buy a basket and that kind of put us in the hole. We were able to battle back a little bit there towards the end, but that one bad stretch, I don't know the exact minutes, but we had a hard time scoring. They were advancing the lead. Proud of the guys. They played tough. You know, there's definitely 7'1", 6'10" guys that are probably NBA players that were really tough to guard. And they were the focus for us the whole past two weeks on how to stop them as much as possible. Our game plan was to make them make outside shots, and besides Heslip, we were trying to get everybody else to shoot the ball. Wouldn't you know Franklin stepped up and made, I don't know, what did he make? Five or six? That was a struggle for us. Q. Coach, we saw Christophe go back in. Did Dave Odom come over and tell you about the scoring record? COACH BOVAIRD: Yeah, yeah. About the scoring, but also the three‑point record. Christophe's a great kid. He's a great player. You know, this is a great tournament, and you think about the history of the 30 years. For one of our players to have a shot at a record like that, I wanted him to have a shot. As soon as I‑‑ I didn't realize he was that close or any idea what the record is. But as soon as I found out I looked at him to see if he wanted to go back in, because he's had a little bit of issues with tendinitis, and as much rest as I can give him‑‑ I didn't take him out until then. I wanted to try to give him a little rest. But it's an honor for him to break a record like that. Q. Christophe, first I'd like to congratulate you on your honor. It's pretty cool to amass that record. But how do you deal with Isaiah Austin and Royce O'Neale? Two really big guys. How did you deal with those guys inside and coming around and making shots? CHRISTOPHE VARIDEL: I made a lot of points, but unfortunately I didn't think I got a lot of rebounds. I didn't know if I was down there too much today. We tried to do our best as a team to contain them. But when they jumped, I think their head was above the rim, so it was pretty hard. I think really what messed us up is the amount of free throws they had. Not only the big guys, but even the guards. So I don't think it's only a matter of the big guys, we just gave them too many free throws today. Q. Christophe, unbelievable in the first half. You made six of your first seven threes, 7 for 10 in the first half, all those points. Have you ever been that kind of hot even on the playground or anywhere? Have you ever been like that? CHRISTOPHE VARIDEL: Oh, yeah, yeah. I played in Geneva until I was 18, and that was pretty much my role over there. I had to change my role when I came to America, but you know, one of the reasons why I transferred here is I knew the way Coach Bovaird made us play would fit me, and that is really the reason I chose Chaminade. Q. Did they do anything differently against you in the second half or perhaps were you a little bit worn down from running so much to get open in the first half? CHRISTOPHE VARIDEL: They were a little bit tougher denying the ball. They didn't let me get the handle with Lee on the first half. I think I had at least three or four shots on just the hand off. But of course I was a little tired. You can feel the legs after 40 minutes. Q. Lee, could you just talk about what it was like trying to set him up for some of those or just keep him going or what it was like from your perspective to see Christophe go off like that? LEE BAILEY: Christophe is an aggressive shooter. He doesn't need much space to get his shot off. Really all I was trying to do is make his defender take a step or at least in the hand off make him have to brush around me so he could get that half a second to get his shot off. He make it's really easy, obviously, hitting all kinds of fades and deep balls and things like that. But I just try to do anything I can to make a defender commit towards me or at least not be able to face guard him, which I think they did the second half. They just put one person on him and kind of did it like that. Other people had to step up, but he did a great job getting himself up and coming off screens, and I was just trying to find him when he came off. Q. Coach Bovaird, was it the game plan to let your best player go out there and let him do his thing? Or was that the game plan rather than to go straight up? COACH BOVAIRD: Yeah, not necessarily. You'll see as the tournament goes on and as our season goes on we've got some really good players on the team. On different nights we have about seven or eight guys that can lead us in scoring. He just happened to be the one that's really, really hot tonight we play another game, and it could be Lee, it could be Rhys or anything like that. He was definitely feeling it tonight. Obviously he's a good player. He's proven himself in the NCAA Division 1 tournament. I think he might. Do you have the school record? So I mean, he's a good shooter. Q. Coach, what point did you realize Christophe was nearing the three‑point title and then the all over points record? COACH BOVAIRD: Soon after he checked out. I had no idea what those records are. No clue. As soon as I found out that he was close to a record I just looked at him and said you want to go back in? And he said, yeah, sure. He very easily could have said no, my knees are killing me. But, hey, that opportunity to set a record like that, if I think about all the players. I've watched this tournament for years and there have been some great shooters and he's up there with the best of them. Q. Christophe, could you talk about what Coach was just talking about being one point off the scoring record here in Maui and setting the three‑point record and just what that meant to you in the end? CHRISTOPHE VARIDEL: I wanted the W tonight, that's for sure. But I'm really thankful to play for Coach Bovaird because I know he has a huge confidence in me, and that's something I don't think I had in my previous years of college basketball. I was always, you know, the coach always told me not to dribble too much or just catch and shoot, and not more than one or two dribbles. I always knew I could do a little bit more. But Coach Bovaird has confidence, and I know he does. So it's really easy to relax and just play my game. Also it's really nice to play with Lee because we really understand each other. That dribble handoff I think is going to do some damage during the year because we really understand each other on the floor. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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