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EA SPORTS MAUI INVITATIONALNovember 25, 2013Archie MillerDevin OliverJordan SibertLAHAINA, HAWAII Dayton – 84 THE MODERATOR: We have Coach Archie Miller, Devin Oliver, and Jordan Sibert coming in. Coach, some opening comments? COACH MILLER:  Well, obviously, a heck of a game. You know, Gonzaga's a terrific team. We had a lot of respect coming in for them. You know, obviously the game kind of swiftly changed in the second half early on. It's a credit to some of these guys sitting right here, guys weren't panicked at halftime at all. Very simple couple things that we talked about. Our guys were able to do that. Once we started to make a few shots and get a little confidence, obviously, at that point in time it was a 50‑50 game. At the end of the day, the way we rebounded the ball and made timely shots, that's what college basketball is about. Players make plays. Just very, very proud of our group. A very together group right now. Believing in one another is something that we talked about. They're having an opportunity to do it on a big stage, so hopefully they'll continue to keep believing in one another. Q. Coach, can you talk about the difference between 10 for 31 in the first half and 17 for 28 in the second half? COACH MILLER: We did miss some good shots in the first half, some open ones. Maybe we were a little tight. There were some around the basket that didn't go in that maybe led to some tightness. But just thought in general, our ball movement and our confidence against their zone, our confidence just in general of trusting one another. We didn't move the ball, we didn't execute. At the end of the day, I'm not sure we got great quality shots. Second half, guys were ready to play the right way. Got off to a really hot start. And I think from that point forward, we were the team that we wanted to be. Q. Can you guys talk about your crowd support tonight and just how loud and how vocal you found them supporting you guys? DEVIN OLIVER: It was amazing, man. You know, we had so many people out there before we even played. We were told that we sold the most tickets out of all the teams at the tournament. To have such a powerful fan base means a lot to us as players. In such a smaller gym, it's like being at home. They stuck with us even when we were down, so it was great to have them here. JORDAN SIBERT: Just to piggy back off what he said, it was a home game for us. To feel the energy and whenever we made a run to feel the crowd behind us, it was able to give us more energy to be able to go out there and play our game. It was definitely great to have our crowd behind us. Q. That was a tough one to close out when you had that one‑point lead and it looked like things might shift the other way. How did that change? You guys came up big at the foul line at the end? STUDENT‑ATHLETE: Yeah, that's a big thing that I love about our team this year. Even when it was really close, we stuck together as a team. I think that's something we've been doing really well this year. We just knew in our minds that we were going to win. We just had to stick together and execute down the stretch. It was good to see guys like Dyshawn Pierre and Khari Price hit those big free throws at the end. So it was good. STUDENT‑ATHLETE: We've supported each other all year regardless what the situation has been. Missed free throws and missed shots, we've looked at each other and told them next play. Don't worry about it. We'll pick you up next play. Even me missing my two free throws, Dyshawn looked at me and said don't worry about it, you've got the next one. Just Khari came up big with his free‑throws and we did it together. Q. Did you guys have any idea of the pictures of the faces of the gentlemen behind your bench?  They were holding up four different signs of four different guys. I have no idea who those guys are. Do you have any idea who they are? COACH MILLER: That was our president, President Dan Curran, I did see that one. STUDENT‑ATHLETE: I didn't even see the faces. COACH MILLER: I saw President Curran. In general, when we play an event, a pre‑season event, our fans take over the town. Doesn't matter if it's in Maui, Orlando or in Charleston. Gonzaga is maybe one of the most passionate fan bases you'll see. They had their work cut out for them in there tonight. As the games continue to go, they'll continue to be the most boisterous, most positive fan base in the tournament. We have one of the best fan bases in the nation. Q. I saw a great game in 2003 when you guys won the whole thing. I think Dayton beat Arizona that year. This tournament is known for its great games. What do you think? Do you think you can get to the finals? COACH MILLER: It's one step at a time. We'll figure it out here. Tonight we have Baylor that presents a lot of challenges, obviously. Great size, great talent. But these guys right here are pretty to compete regardless. We fight. We have guys that play really, really hard. If we play together hopefully we'll give ourselves a chance. But we've got to get those guys home. They've got to get off their feet and you've got to take care of yourself here in this tournament. One player with a cramp can cost you the game. Our staff does a great job. We'll be ready tomorrow. Q. This definitely was a game of a tale of two halves here. I'm wondering, Coach, specifically, what did you tell your group going into halftime? Did you say something specific to motivate them? Because they came out playing completely different. In the first half it seemed they were just hesitant? COACH MILLER: No, I thought we were pretty calm at halftime. I thought the guys were all kind of chin up so to speak. They weren't down. To be honest with you, we could have been down 16 or 17, and we got that thing under 9 which to me maybe changed the perspective at halftime a little bit. We had ball coming out, and a couple quick directions, spacing, movement. Couple guys willing to make a couple tough passes. Once we got off to a good start in that first four‑minute segment in the second half, you could just tell at the timeouts we were going to be in it for the long run. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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