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AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 14, 2014James DickeyDanuel HouseMEMPHIS, TENNESSEE Louisville -  94 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the University of Houston head coach, James Dickey, student athletes, Danuel House and TaShawn Thomas. Coach? COACH DICKEY: I'm certainly disappointed for our team and for our seniors that we didn't have a chance to advance. I want to congratulate Louisville, they played an outstanding game. Rick's got a heck of a team. Russ played‑‑ he was terrific tonight. We had trouble containing him. He had big shots. Not to take anything away from what they do because this is the way they play, they create opportunities off turnovers, and off second‑chance points and they did that, they got 54 tonight. In the first half I thought there was critical plays, there was 8 points off free‑throw box outs, Russ hit two three's and Hancock got a foul on an offensive rebound and made two free throws. So you can't help them and they're good enough that you don't have to. They made it tough on us, defensively they were a little more physical than we were, and we just never could‑‑ once we got behind in double digits, we could never make a run at them. Q. Danuel, could you talk about trying to contain Smith in the open floor and then when he's got the 3‑point shot going as well? DANUEL HOUSE: Our goal was to try to stop him before he get a head full of steam. Certainly he got a head full of steam. As a good player should, he knocked down the three ball and once that got going we started falling for the head fake and not guarding the way we were capable of guarding and we just let him get going. COACH DICKEY: I thought he was very balanced. He attacked well in the open floor, he's great off ball screens. You know, he gets 42 points on 22 shots, he gets to the free‑throw line. We were talking back in the holding area about getting to the free‑throw line. He gets to the free‑throw line ten times. He got his three going as you mentioned, but he is so terrific at driving the ball and making good decisions with it and really did a good job offensively, great speed with the ball. Q. Coach, you think you guys have done enough to get a postseason invite somewhere? COACH DICKEY: We hope so. As I told our guys, we are going to go home and hope that we get an opportunity to continue to play. I've got two great young players here that they're going to be special for many years to come. We've got a locker room full of guys that are dejected that would like to continue to play. We have been inconsistent. We had some guys injured during the year, that's not an excuse, that was a fact that happened, some guys got hurt. I know the guys would like to continue to play. We're certainly disappointed we didn't have a chance to get to the championship game but we got beat by an outstanding team. I will say this about our league. We're going to get five teams in and I think all of them will do great in the NCAA Tournament. They all deserve to be there. We hope we get a chance to play somewhere, and we look forward‑‑ we played pretty well the last three weeks and I think our team has gotten better. Our guys know how to play and anytime you can play in postseason I think it gives you a boost and helps you toward next year. Q. Coach, how do you see the American Conference with the former conference you were in, in intensity, not to say quality? COACH DICKEY: Conference USA was a great league and they had some wonderful teams and they did a good job. When you look at the American Conference it's certainly a step up. It's a step up in terms of talent and in competition. I know there was a lot of talk about the teams at the top and the other five, but everyone had to play ten games against top‑20 teams all year, five teams that are going to be in there. We were fortunate to have some big wins during the year, just weren't as consistent as we needed to be. But I think this league is terrific and I think that will be validated over the next three weeks in the tournament. I think you're going to see The American do extremely well in the NCAA Tournament. They will be well battle tested. Q. As you say, there are five possibly six. How do you see Houston in the next couple of years? COACH DICKEY: Well, we want to make a jump and be a top‑25 program, be in the NCAA Tournament. That's been the goal since I've been there and we've been fortunate to get some special guys, two of them sitting to my left. They want to help that program and certainly they have aspirations and will play at the next level in time and we want that for them, but in the meantime, we certainly want to be a quality program that is in the top‑25, and get a chance to participate in the NCAA Tournament. Q. Coach, at what point did you sense this game was getting away from your team? COACH DICKEY: Well, when we got in foul trouble in the first half, and we had TaShawn on the bench much of the first half and Danuel was having to play a lot of minutes I talked with him about that when I took him out in the second half. He had to play a lot of minutes for us. We were not as efficient offensively and defensively. The biggest disappointment I thought was on our execution, like on the free‑throws, because you can't help a team and I thought we did that. It caused us to play a little bit faster. We probably didn't have the confidence in our offense as well as we did when we had our starters in there. When we got behind in double figures, that's one of the things that they do well. When they get you down they try to pound on ya and they're good at it. THE MODERATOR: Guys, we appreciate your time. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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