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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2014Melvin EjimDustin HogueFred HoibergGeorges NiangKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI Iowa State – 91 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Iowa State, Coach Fred Hoiberg and student‑athletes Melvin Ejim, Dustin Hogue and Georges Niang. Coach? COACH HOIBERG: Couldn't be more proud of these guys for how we handled some pretty tough situations out there. Had a couple of guys, key guys, get in foul trouble with four, with about eight or nine to go. And we decided to gamble, put DeAndre back in there, felt we needed one of our playmakers in the game. I thought he made some really good plays, helped keep us in it and put Georges back in at the last media. Went in and made some great plays. Just talking about these three here, I thought Melvin, all night long, was unbelievable. And in that basket he made driving to the basket to keep our lead, I thought, was as big a basket as we had all game. Dustin Hogue, I thought, did everything today. He's always been a guy that's done the dirty work for this team, all throughout the year. He doesn't get the credit he deserves today, not only on the defensive end and rebounding, which he always does, but made some huge plays for us on offense. So a big win. Had our backs against the wall on a couple of occasions, fought through adversity and found a way to get a big win. Q. Dustin, can you talk about that? There was a three‑ to four‑ to five‑minute stretch when Georges had four fouls and DeAndre had four fouls. They needed you offensively in the ways coach talked about. How do you approach those minutes when those guys were on the bench? DUSTIN HOGUE: Normally in a game, we have to be playmakers, so I just played my role most of the time, you know, trying to rebound and defend. But with a couple of our key guys out, I decided to try to be more aggressive because we didn't have the playmakers usually in the game and I started hitting some shots. Q. It was mentioned on the K‑State radio broadcast that when you two played each other during the regular season, it had been tied late in the ballgame both times and today you had the same thing. Why do you feel like these two teams match up so well whenever they face each other? GEORGES NIANG: I think K‑State does a great job of pressuring and playing defense, and whenever you play a team like that, it's hard to get going against them. So credit to us when we were tied up. I felt like Coach put in some plays that really helped us expose the way they pack in their defense. So that helped us and led us to the win. DUSTIN HOGUE: I just think that we were just being aggressive. They're a really good team. They go kind of small with their guards, their four‑man stretch on the floor, so they kind of match us real well. I think in the long run we just made key stops and we was able to hit shots down the stretch. MELVIN EJIM: Just to piggyback off what they said, they match up really well with us. They play a smaller four and it's always up and down, high‑paced game. I think that's the reason why it's always a close game to the end and it comes down to who can make shots and stops. And they're a great team, played defense really hard and matched up really well with us. Q. Georges, you said this was going to be a bar fight and it was probably more beautiful basketball than that. What was it like out there just with the intensity of every possession? GEORGES NIANG: It was real physical. I mean, every team is trying to outwill their team to win. So people are playing extremely hard and at a high level. Credit to them, they played extremely hard and they played extremely well. We just executed better down the stretch and I just felt like that was key to the game. Q. Fred, Monte, ten assists, one turnover with the DeAndre out for a good stretch of the second half how important was he today? COACH HOIBERG: I thought he was great. He always does the right thing defensively, got some key deflections. We were having trouble getting stops unless we got a turnover and I thought he did a really good job of staying tight with Spradling. It's not an easy matchup. He moves so much and Monte, I thought, did a great job chasing him all over the floor. And ten assists and one turnover, it's hard when you have an 8‑to‑1 assist‑to‑turnover ratio to increase that in a game. But to go out there and do that as a freshman in his first Big 12 tournament tells you all you need to know about that kid. He loves the big stage. He won back to back state championships in Michigan. He came out and played as poised a game as I think you can have as a freshman. Q. Fred, were you surprised how well K‑State kept coming at you? Because it seemed like the tempo was in your favor all night. COACH HOIBERG: We wanted to really get it going. They do such a good job slowing you down, making you start your offense further out on the floor. If you would have told me they would score 85, I would have told you we're going to have trouble winning a game because they're so good and sound defensively. They really pack that thing in off the corners. But I thought our guys made big plays. You look at what Georges did at the end, those last couple of minutes he was in there, we gave the ball to him and he just went out there made unbelievable basketball plays. I was a little worried when that one that Foster made stuck in the back of the rim and went in. You almost think, well, maybe it's not our day to get this one. But I give Bruce a lot of credit. That's an excellent basketball team. They've got a lot of weapons out there, both inside and out. And I think they have a chance to go on a nice run in the NCAA Tournament. Q. Melvin presented with the Big 12 Player of the Year trophy before the game. He's had some 20‑10 games throughout the course of the regular season. How well did he show today that he was deserving of that award? COACH HOIBERG: Melvin, to go out there, and he had five offensive rebounds in the first half, did a good job I thought. He missed a couple of easy ones there in the first. He could have had a 30‑point game, but then made those really tough finishes around the basket, down the stretch. He hit some big free throws for us and again really helped us do the job on the glass. We felt if we won the battle on the boards that we would have a very good chance of winning this game. Melvin certainly helps us in that department. I was a little worried about it, though. I was part of the Timberwolves and KG got MVP, and it was our first game in the Western Conference semifinals against Sacramento. And we went out there laid an egg because of the emotion. I was a little concerned about that, tried to downplay it as much as I could today. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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