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ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2014Ryan CantyBranden FrazierTom PecoraBryan SmithBROOKLYN, NEW YORK FORDHAM – 70 TOM PECORA: You know our focus to the game was controlling the backboards, and then protecting the paint, especially off the dribble and post ups. So being able to out‑rebound them plus eight was huge for us; only having seven turnovers, we got a lot of shot attempts up, as they did. I think we are very similar teams. Both teams, you look at the offensive rebound numbers, we had 24 offensive rebound, they had 17. Two teams playing really, really hard and that's the way it should be in March. And, look, I have tremendous respect for Paul. He's a dear friend and that program, they are a very proud program, and that's a good win, because trust me, they are as good as any 11‑win team in the country. They have played a lot of close games in this conference and lost a lot of really close, tough basketball games, so we have great respect for them. But a career night for Ryan Canty. He's been coming on, getting better and better, he had 19 rebounds and we needed just about every one of them. Our foul shooting slipped on us, and I think we were top in the league, or second, top team in the league all year. We missed a few down the stretch and needed to make and could have got some separation. I'm very proud of them. I wrote on the board before, "Only courage can secure victory: And I thought we were very courageous. We played without fear and we continued to do the things we needed to do. Q. For Bryan and Brandon, what does it mean for you guys to come into this building where you grew up and know your season is going another game? BRYAN SMITH: It was a great feeling because a lot of people that were not able to come to the Forum and watch me play and came today and played a good game, so it was a good game for them to watch me play. BRANDEN FRAZIER: I would just say it's good to be here. I grew up down the block from here, a lot of my friends and family got to see me play. And I just think playing in Brooklyn was good for our team, for our fans to come down and just we heard a lot of people in the crowd rooting us on, so I think that helped a lot today. Q. BRANDEN and Ryan and Bryan, what were your thoughts when that final shot was in the air? BRYAN SMITH: Miss it‑‑ (players speaking together) BRANDEN FRAZIER: Just hope it don't go in. Got a good look, too‑‑ got to do a second‑‑ and miss it. Q. Ryan, 16 rebounds in your last game, 9 today, seven on the offensive glass, talk about how you were able to position yourself? RYAN CANTY: I just try to crash the boards. Every time I see the ball go up, I just basically run at the rim and try to see the ball hitting off the rim and go where the ball is and just grab it, every one I can. TOM PECORA: I use the term with Ryan, very often in football ‑‑ we use a lot of football terms because they are aggressive and we always say, just blow up the play; get in like a linebacker might and blow up the play. So when he gets to the rim, you see Bobby is flying and he's a great rebounder. Q. Ryan, over the past four games, double‑digit rebounds, when did this monster finally come out of you where you're playing tough and you're playing as hard as you can out there on the floor like we didn't see earlier in the year? RYAN CANTY: The first time I remember, it clicked when we were playing at BCU, something clicked in my head, basically, earlier in the year and last year, I was following a lot but now I just control myself and keep the same energy and keep attacking the boards the same way. If I can stay out of foul trouble, I'll play with that intensity all game so that's basically the key to it. Q. For Bryan and BRANDEN, does the team really feed off of Ryan when he is hustling, grabbing rebounds? Not getting put‑backs? Is that something you really feed off? BRANDEN FRAZIER: Yeah, I think we feed off that. I mean, Ryan, as you see, he enjoys doing that, like you see him jumping everywhere. He's a jumper, like he likes jumping around all the time so for him to go out there and get 19 rebounds and he enjoys doing that, like some people just enjoy scoring and getting assists, he enjoys rebounding. That's what he likes to do. So I think we feel his energy and we just know that ball going up, he's going to get it‑‑ he brings a lot of energy for us. RYAN CANTY: And he's like always the heart and soul of the team; like he's always pumped up, he gets the team and the crowd going, and that's great for the team. Q. You had a lot of good wins during your tenure but how does it feel to get a win in the A‑10 tournament? TOM PECORA: It's nice to be in the postseason. You see what we've been through, every win is special. I've learned to appreciate that. It came a little easier a few years back for me, and right now, I think it was important‑‑ it's not only important for‑‑ it's important for Fordham. It's a big step for us, and we're right there in rebuilding this. We are so close. We're right there. One‑possession game with GW at home, one‑possession game with La Salle at home, and these are good basketball teams.  We're right there. So for them to win this, it's another step in our growth process, and you know, now we are going to prepare for Dayton. I said to them in practice on Monday, I said‑‑ and you know, us coaches, we are always trying to motivate and I just said, well, we lost to GW by a possession. What do you think GW is thinking going into this tournament? And they say, well, they are thinking about winning it‑‑ I said exactly right. We just played them to the wire. Why are we not thinking about winning. And Tuesday, I gave them the Jostens book that every coach gets sent to pick out rings. I always keep it in the drawer, and I showed it to them Tuesday and I said to ‑‑ Frazier, guys, let's sit down and pick out rings, because we are going to win the tournament. Now, someone could write a book, but you just always are looking to get them motivated and for them to understand, look, they are part of history tonight. They did something special and at halftime, they said, we're in Brooklyn; this is a home game, we are not in Virginia, let's go out and play. And we couldn't make a shot, we shot 25percent. But I think it was a great effort game, and you can win a lot of games playing with great effort like that. Q. You guys attempted I think one free throw in the first half, and maybe 20 more in the second; did you say something at halftime? TOM PECORA: No, I think they were fouling us a bunch near the end obviously and that got us up. I think the offensive rebounds led to a lot of free throws. I thought there were a couple possessions where we could have had separation and we took it to the rim soft. So during the time‑out I kind of talked to them about doing everything hard to get it the rim hard, gain the respect of the officials, you go to the foul line, so maybe a little more of that when I watch the tape, I'll see. But if you can shoot more free throws than your opponent, and once again, we missed 11 free throws, that's crazy for us. And to have that many offensive rebounds, you're going to win a lot of games. Q. In terms of effort, was this the team's best game of the season just on an effort standpoint? TOM PECORA: I think the last few have been. I think it's really clicked in a little bit. A lot of it has to do with Ryan Canton. We lost six or seven games in the middle of the year, and that was a blow because he is; he's like a big St. Bernard. He's always bouncing around in practice. He's always laughing. He's a little cooky but that's okay, 19 rebounds, I can live with cooky. He's got great bloodlines: Both his parents played at Providence, and his grandfather was a great player at Harvard; so he oozes potential and he's finally coming around in his junior year, and so I'm excited he's a junior and not a senior. Q. What does it mean for your New York kids to finally get that step up and feel like they are on top of the world after that win? TOM PECORA: I think it's, once again, for all of them, but the New York kids especially, especially Branden, he's a senior, but Bryan Smith‑‑ they are pretty highly recruited kids. Branden was going to come with me, and then when I came to Fordham he came with me and showed great loyalty. So I have got a place in my heart for this kid for the rest of my life; he's special. Bryan Smith could have gone to a lot of other places. His dad is an alum, and he chose Fordham; and it took guts for these guys to choose Fordham because we were really coming out of a rough spot. So I have a wonderful appreciation for that. And I think it's special for the local kids because they could say to people, see, I told you we were going to get this thing going. And maybe this is a step in the right direction; and for all of them, they have had a rough year. We have lost a lot of close games. We lost some games early in the year when we were up and gave away leads. I mean, we practiced the last two weeks as hard as we have ever practiced, and I said to my assistants, we have not lost them, and that's really important, because there's a lot of kids when you're 9‑20, you're just going to go through the motions every day in practice but they have really been practicing hard and I'm very proud of their effort for that and that speaks to their character and their substance. Q. At the end, the first foul, did you want to give it at that time? Was it a little too early? And for the second foul, I know you wanted John to cover Holloway and he still ended up somehow getting the ball. The first foul, was it too early? TOM PECORA: You're playing with fire there. And I've been converted, because you can lose the game fouling. We almost did. You know, if it goes one way or the other, you know‑‑ but we practice it, and we practice faking and then fouling, because guys are going to try to shoot the ball, so you want to fake it the one time to see if they just throw up a crazy shot in hopes of getting fouled and getting free throws. So we tried to do that in the backcourt, might have been a little early, but you know what, it's the second‑‑ I thought Branden did a great job of press offense of getting the ball and Bryan Smith, they are both very good free throw shooters, so you know, I'm going to live with it. I think you've got to foul, because the teams are just so good. I mean, Allen made that three up top and we were in our 3‑3 defense where he was basically shooting about 17 percent from three against and he came down and just drilled and Branden for some reason backed off him. I'm going to keep fouling. I just hope I'm in that situation every game the rest of the weekend. Q. When did you convert? TOM PECORA: During the season. You know, I did it once years ago against Drexel when I was at Hofstra, and they missed a shot like that, tipped it out, missed a three, tipped it out, missed a second three, and I said, I'm never going this again because we were only up two at the time. I was like, I almost lost this game‑‑ but watching it more and seeing how well teams‑‑ and everyone runs great stuff now against the zones and all of that. And then, you know, at home, I might not do it. But at Rose Hill, we have a huge advantage, we might not do it at home. But if you're on the road; if you're a team that you think you can win in overtime‑‑ there's a lot of things that go into it, but most of the time we are going to foul. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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