|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2014Anthony DrmicLeon RiceRyan WatkinsLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Boise State – 75 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Boise State. Coach, your thoughts on tonight's game. COACH RICE: It was a gritty effort by our guys. We really dug in and got some stops when we needed them. I thought Anthony really sparked us in the second half with his defensive effort. That got our offense going. But it was primarily I think we won this game on the defensive end. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Anthony, how you feeling right now? You look exhausted, a little banged up. ANTHONY DRMIC: I'm okay. Whenever the game starts, I just go out there and play. I don't think about injuries or if I'm hurt. I have to play for the team, give them my all. I'm okay. I'll be all right. Q. Anthony, how hard has it been to deal with this injury that's lingered around? Do you feel it right now? ANTHONY DRMIC: I mean, a little bit. It's hurt that I haven't been able to practice as much. To be out there with the team, to build more chemistry, more team cohesiveness. But I've tried my best to stay together with the team, in the games to give it my all, yeah. Q. Coach talked about defense setting the tone for this win. Probably did last night. You have barely allowed your opponents to shoot 30%. Your thoughts on that setting the tone for you guys. ANTHONY DRMIC: It's been our goal all year. I think we're starting to peak a little bit here at the right time defensively. It's all about team. When we're moving together as one, as one unit, we're really good defensively. If we can keep doing that, I think we'll be okay. Q. Ryan, 14 assists on 19 field goals made. Talk about that. RYAN WATKINS: That's how we usually play. That's when we're tough to beat. When we play like that, we move the ball, we give everybody touches. That's how we're tough to beat. Q. Ryan, your thoughts on when a guy like Anthony, you see him taking a shot to the ribs, going off the floor, coming back in, what that means as a teammate. RYAN WATKINS: That gets us fired up. When he went down taking a charge like that, Jeff was like, We have to sacrifice more if Anthony is going to sacrifice. We know how he's been dealing with injuries. It fires us up. Q. Ryan, you don't have a lot of time to enjoy this because tomorrow you have a tough assignment. Talk about that. RYAN WATKINS: I mean, I enjoy that assignment. It's part of the game. It's going to be a great, great game. We know we got to come out and play hard. They're a team that's going to come out and play hard and they're solid. Q. Anthony, you had a 10‑minute drought when you didn't have a field goal, then you went on a 15‑0 run. How did that spark you? ANTHONY DRMIC: Like coach said, it was all defensively. We were making a couple shots. It's all about getting stops down the other end. I think we were forcing tough shots, getting a couple steals here and there. It sparked us, got us on that run. Q. Ryan, you have been in so many close games. It was a game of runs. All the close battles you've been in, did that help you in that moment to finish? RYAN WATKINS: Yeah, of course. We know we have to stay together. We know Nevada is going to come back and make runs. Nevada is a tough team. They proved that at our place. We went to two overtimes. We knew we had to stay together, keep fighting, keep chipping away. Q. Ryan, that 15‑0 run that was started with the botched alley‑oop, did you get a sense watching Nevada from that point on that something was amiss? RYAN WATKINS: You know, a little bit. We just got to worry about ourselves when we're on the court. We can't worry about what the other team is doing as far as between them. We did what we had to do. We got stops. That's what we needed to do. Q. How big was that three by Jeff in that instance? RYAN WATKINS: It was huge. He always makes big shots for us. Q. Ryan, they took a brief lead about six minutes left. You finished the game 18‑5. How big was it for you to close so well? RYAN WATKINS: The key is defense. Defense has been huge for us in this tournament. We just have to keep it going. Q. What did you say to Deonte out there on the floor? How much respect do you have for a guy like that? RYAN WATKINS: We have a lot of respect for him. He's an outstanding player. We didn't say too much to him. COACH RICE: We don't talk trash. RYAN WATKINS: Not at all. ANTHONY DRMIC: All good things. Q. Anthony, the conference tournament is so unique, you don't have much time to savor these victories. How quickly do you have to shift your focus to the task at hand tomorrow? ANTHONY DRMIC: The focus is shifted already. We got to focus on New Mexico now. Played them twice already. A couple of us have played them three seasons, four seasons already. We know what to expect. We just got to come out focused. I think we got a good shot at it. Q. Ryan, the dunk, take us through that. RYAN WATKINS: I mean, it was in the heat of the moment. People aren't used to seeing me dunk, but I got a little bit of boost. THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions for coach. Q. Defense, it has been your strong suit over these first two games. What has led to their ability to clamp down like this? COACH RICE: We've been trying to build to this. I think Anthony said it, where we feel like we're kind of peaking defensively. We have a good understanding of what we're doing. They're playing together, defensively helping each other out, great energy, and a commitment to it. I actually talked to them about Colorado. They came down and won the PAC‑12 tournament and won eight games. There was a four‑minute stretch in their game against Arizona where they didn't score a field goal and they still won that game. I said, That's the only way we're going to be able to go down and compete for this tournament. These guys bought into it. Q. You talk about peaking on defense at the right time. Yesterday you said you believe in practice. How about getting everybody back? COACH RICE: I said that earlier in the week. That was huge to have everybody back. It's been a month, month and a half since we've had everybody. You're talking about Anthony who played 33 minutes, 30‑plus minutes, Jeff who played 30‑plus minutes. Your main guys that haven't been able to practice. Then it puts more heat on the other guys as far as, Well, I can't lose one of them, too. So you don't want them out there at practice getting all the reps. It really slid for us. As a coach, and for the players, it was pretty frustrating. Our job is to keep getting better and keep getting them better. When they're not on the practice floor, it's pretty tough. Q. I don't know if one‑dimensional is the right word to use, Perez had a bum wrist, his shot was off, Evans sat most of the second half. Did they become semi‑one‑dimensional with the way you defended them in the second half? COACH RICE: You never feel like it because Burton, you always feel like you're trying to guard him on roller skates. When he's out there, you just got your hands full. He can make other guys‑‑ get them shots, but he can put so much foul pressure on you. He was pinning fouls on Derrick, he'd cycle other guys on him, he was fouling them, getting to the free‑throw line. You never feel they're one‑dimensional when Burton is out there. Q. How much has Anthony had to persevere through the injury? COACH RICE: It affected him. He was playing so well when it really started hurting him. We're like, We can't lose him. As you see our team, you know we can't lose him. You couldn't risk putting him out there in practice. When we got to the end of the season now, Anthony felt like he was getting worse as far as playing without practicing. He just said, I'm just going to do it, I have to. I think it was the right decision. Q. Thoughts on the rematch with New Mexico. COACH RICE: I said right after the game, I think we played good and we played good defense both games. We've done some nice things. But against New Mexico we got to play great. They're a terrific basketball team. They got a lot of guys that know how to win games, a lot of guys that have been together for a long time. You talk about having a lot of weapons, that's New Mexico. They can go inside, outside. They got heady guards, great shooters. One of the best front lines in the country. I'm not Lou Holtzing this either. Everybody that has watched them certainly understands that. They're a terrific basketball team. They've proven it on the court and proven it to me over and over again. Q. Your thoughts on the 14 assists on the 19 field goals made. COACH RICE: It was kind of in streaks. We started out and had seven assists right away, then we couldn't get any for the rest of the first half. We kind of bogged down a little bit. Then we came out the second half and got it moving again. That's the key to us; if we have great spacing, great ball movement and good pace. Like I say, we bogged down and lost our pace to our offense a little bit. Q. Did you try last night not to overlook Anthony? COACH RICE: Yeah, absolutely. I kept him out as quick as I could. I kept Ryan out as quick as I could. I'm glad we were fortunate to be able to do that 'cause we needed him obviously tonight. They're going to play the whole game tomorrow. I think there's a benefit to that. Q. Anthony just seems like one of those kids that's indestructible. What's going on in your head and heart when you see a guy go down? COACH RICE: I let him have the 10 count because my assistants kept saying, Let him go, he'll get up. They gave him the standing A and I had to go out and check him because he wasn't getting up. That was a little scary. I know Anthony. Coaching him for three years, he's one of the toughest competitors I've ever been around. I've said that over and over again. He took one to the ribs there. I went out there. He said, Just give me a minute. He's back. Q. As we get deeper into this tournament, I know the team will be up for it tomorrow, but how hard is it to get up for the third game in three days? COACH RICE: Emotionally it won't be at all hard to get up. First of all, the atmosphere will be terrific. You have the semifinals of the Mountain West tournament. You have a great first game with San Diego State/UNLV. A great second game New Mexico/Boise State. What a terrific night of basketball. Our guys are going to be excited to play. Q. The second half you had Derrick sitting down for a while. He had some turnovers before that. COACH RICE: It was to protect him from fouls because you see he doesn't miss those free throws. I needed him at that end of the game. I wanted to make sure I had him at the end of the game to finish off the game. Iggy is a great defender. Gives Derrick a little rest when I can. So sometimes I take some criticism for having Derrick out, but I'm bringing in a great defender. I've had Derrick at the end of the game to win us the game, too. I don't want him sitting when I need him to make those shots or free throws. Q. Seeing your team respond, less than a week ago the situation they were in, to see where they are right now. COACH RICE: Anybody that knows these guys or watched us isn't surprised by the way they bounce back and how tough they are. We were tough in those games. We just missed free throws and they competed. When you go back and watch the films, We missed free throws down the stretch. But they always compete. When we came down here, they came down with the right attitude. Like I said, though, we're going to have to play a great game tomorrow. Q. You played Iowa State, Kentucky, Aztecs. Bairstow seems like he's taken that team up a notch this year. COACH RICE: I put them with anybody in the country. When you have guards that are that smart and have been through all that they've been through together, you've got big guys that are that big, strong, physical, skilled. I mean, they're not just big, strong big guys, they're great basketballs, their two big guys, all of them. You're facing a unique animal. Not a lot of teams in the country that have what they have. I put them up against anybody. Q. How much fun is it this time of year when you get on a roll in tournament play? Last night you said you're America's team. Must be a lot of fun. COACH RICE: I said that jokingly, but it's kind of true. Boise is loved by everybody because of what football did. I think our fans, the same Bronco fans that watch our football team, they love to watch these guys because they know they play their hearts out. You have to appreciate a scrappy, tough squad that plays together and kind of overachieves. That's what we are right now a little bit as far as size night in, night out in the Mountain West. So no, they're a fun team to coach, they're great to be around. You come down to these tournaments. It's fun to stay around. Like you said, I was in a situation where I got to stay around for 11 straight years till the championship. That's a lot of fun. So I looked up at Bronco Nation and said, We got to keep them here another day. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|