Postgame Quotes
2/11/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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Graduate Forward Tyler Cavanaugh
On closing out the win after Wednesday's loss
It was huge. I mean, that's a very good team we just played. We had a great scouting report coming in and I think we executed, we defended, starting with Yuta â€" defending one of the best players in the conference. He shot him (Jaylen Adams) down, 1-10 from three. Yuta was great today and I think that energy filtered out throughout the rest of the team. Jaren made big plays down the stretch. It starts with our defense, our resiliency to fight back from what happened Wednesday night.
On putting on the scoring pressure when it becomes a one point game
Down the stretch, your upperclassman have to make plays. We knew they were going to make a run, they're a very great team. So Jaren had a big three and Yuta made a great pass to me underneath and I was able to finish and we just stuck it out. That's huge.
Red Shirt Junior Guard Jaren Sina
On putting on the scoring pressure when it becomes a one point game
I mean, the biggest thing is when you have a player like Tyler, in a situation like that, just get the ball in the post and let him work. He shot 14 free throws, so in a situation like that it's the easiest way honestly. Just get the ball in the post and I think we did a pretty good job of that.
On sharing the point with Jair
Jair has been tremendous. He's really grown throughout the season. I think his relationship with Coach MoJo and myself has been great, we work really well together these past couple weeks and I'm really proud of him. Maybe his stat line wasn't great tonight, but I thought what he brought to the game today was phenomenal. I'm really proud of him. If he keeps bringing that effort defensively and just continues staying poised out there â€" he's doing a phenomenal job.
Interim Head Coach Maurice Joseph
On the defensive play
We threw some junk at them a little bit. Obviously, we had that triangle and two which confused them some. We also played straight up man and really blitzed them on the ball screens to get them out of their groove. The biggest thing with them too is that you can't let them get comfortable. If they get going early, it's going to be a long night for you. So we did a good job of making sure they weren't comfortable, and it was evident by them not shooting the ball well. But I credit guys like Jair who stepped up to the plate and did a great job defensively. I credit guys like Yuta, who's been doing it his entire career guarding small guards and all-conference type guys. He's just a warrior, and his offensive production kind of suffers for that because he's fatigued but he doesn't care. It's all about team, it's all about giving whatever he has, it's all about emptying his tank, and he did that tonight. I'm proud of our guys, I really am.
On getting Tyler to the line
We knew their big guys had some fouling tendencies; some of those guys get into foul trouble fairly frequently. So one of our plans was to get the ball into the post and kind of play inside out. We knew they were going to play their hybrid 1-3-1 that morphs into a 2-3 â€" but we knew when they played man, we had to feed the ball into the post and force them to guard us in the paint. Lucky enough for us Denzel Gregg picked up fouls, and David Andoh picked up fouls. When that happens, the team loses their chemistry; a team kind of loses their flow. Credit to our guys for following the game plan and understanding that we had to play inside out and Tyler was great. He went to the line 14 times, which is tremendous. That's two games in a row where our guys have come out with unbelievable focus. Just following the scouting report, that we did something different that we hadn't done before in the season, and that's a sign of growth. To do that with four or five freshman or whatever it is that play in your rotation is a scary thing. You don't know if they will really comprehend it, execute it well, if it's going to work, are we going to hit enough shots on the other end to make it feel like we're successful in it. That's two games in a row where we have really executed it. So our guys have grown. They're really starting to understand the importance of paying attention to details.
On the rebounding advantage
A big part of that was Jaren Sina getting seven. I joke around with him, that he couldn't jump over this piece of paper right here and then he got seven rebounds. I have to watch the film. I was shocked. I don't know if it's a typo or not. I was absolutely shocked that he got seven rebounds. Him doing that obviously helps a lot. Collin Smith having eight, Tyler having 10. These guys battle. The biggest part about outrebounding them was because we got stops. It's hard to rebound when you make a bucket. So we got stops, we were able to rebound, and that's what it is. The guys are starting to understand that it starts on defense. We get stops, we rebound, we go down to run our offense, we execute, and we make it a game at that. Proud of our guys. They really did follow the scout really well against a really good team.
On getting an impressive win after Wednesday
That was a dark night for myself. It was honestly a dark night for our team. The two practices leading up to this game were some of the most energetic we had. The following day was Tyler's birthday, and I let the guys, who's ever birthday it is, shoot half court shots and they get a little something if they make it. We're energetic; we're bouncing off the walls. I met with the staff and I made sure that we were particularly energetic, more so than usual. Didn't watch the film, we just put it behind us. The good thing about basketball is the sun comes up and you live to hoop another day. That's the best medicine after suffering something like that. Credit to our guys, the toughness and the resilience because .003 percent of basketball players ever will ever lose a game like that -- ever. To do that, on your home court, in a whiteout and sell-out and all that kind of stuff against VCU, one of the better teams â€" that's heart breaking. But we have some tough kids, resilient, hard-nosed kids, young, but tough. To bounce back the way we did and be up 16 at the first half against a team that in my opinion has one of the best guards in the country in Jaylen Adams and doing well defensively and rebounding â€" I'm just proud. I honestly am. They bought in, they didn't waiver, they were just rock solid. I credit my staff as well. The staff did a great job â€" Carm, Hajj, Chris, Joe â€" next day, music in practice and bouncing off the walls. No time to dwell, not easy to do, but there's no time to dwell. St. Bonaventure knows how we feel. I feel like both of us are like the ugly boyfriends that got dumped by the same girl, you know what I mean? We kind of went through some stuff together, but proud of our guys â€" way to bounce back. Very resilient.
