home jobs contact us
Our Clients:
Browse by Sport
Find us on ASAP sports on Facebook ASAP sports on Twitter
ASAP Sports RSS Subscribe to RSS
Click to go to
Asaptext.com
ASAPtext.com
ASAP Sports e-Brochure View our
e-Brochure

ATLANTIC-10 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT


March 13, 2015


John Giannini

Jerrell Wright

Steve Zack


BROOKLYN, NEW YORK

DAVIDSON – 67
LA SALLE - 66


COACH GIANNINI:  That's one of the better games I've ever been involved with.  Both teams deserved to win.  I was surprised that shot went in.  I thought that we had them out of rhythm a little bit and it looked like the ball was thrown towards the rim and not shot as well as they normally do, and it just kind of took a couple bounces and went in.
Our seniors were absolutely amazing.  The stats show that.  Your eyes could have seen it.  They played with incredible effort and pride and togetherness, and they displayed everything that a coach appreciates and admires.  Of course, they have been great all four years.
So you know, I can't say enough about them or our effort or the effort of both teams.

Q.  We'll start with the first half, were you surprised how well things were going?  You turn around, you're up 18 out of nowhere.  What led to that in the first half and how you guys were able to take advantage?
JERRELL WRIGHT:  Just being aggressive inside.  Me and Steve knew that we can get the ball inside and score over their bigs.  So the first half, we just want to just be aggressive and look for each other down low.

Q.  Were you surprised with how long they stayed with that small lineup?
STEVE ZACK:  Not really.  They only have one center.  If you look at the roster, that's the game they play.

Q.  On the final play, did you feel like it was maybe a little bit of an awkward shot and it was going to be short?  What was your vantage point?  And did them not calling time‑out throw you off?
STEVE ZACK:  We weren't even thinking about them calling time‑out.  We were thinking about getting back in transition.

Q.  What does it feel to put an offensive display in the final‑‑
STEVE ZACK:  I can't think about that right now.  Just my career is over on a buzzer beater and we had a chance to win.  That doesn't matter right now.

Q.  Were you expecting Davidson to not be in a time‑out?  What did you tell your guys?
COACH GIANNINI:  Absolutely nothing.  They were getting back on defense the whole game.  They took on a very difficult shot.  It's not like they didn't get a great shot because they didn't call time‑out‑‑

Q.  Were you expecting‑‑
COACH GIANNINI:  No‑‑

Q.  ‑‑ they penetrated, were you expecting a drive to the hoop in that situation?
COACH GIANNINI:  I expect them to do what they normally do which is to take the best shot they can get and be aggressive.
I think you're ‑‑ that there's some overanalysis is there.

Q.  With 1:20 left, there was that free throw missed that both teams went for.  Did you think there was maybe a quick whistle for the time‑out for Davidson‑‑
COACH GIANNINI:  I wasn't down there.  Those guys are great officials.  To me, from 70 feet away, it looked like it was a tied up ball and I was confused how they got the time‑out, but I was 70 feet away.

Q.  And the horn that went on, do you think that caused a little confusion for players on the court?
COACH GIANNINI:  At what point?

Q.  The shot goes off the rim‑‑
COACH GIANNINI:  The jumped ball?

Q.  The horn sounded for a second and seems like some of the players‑‑
COACH GIANNINI:  I didn't notice that.

Q.  I know you've said it before but how would you characterize the senior class?
COACH GIANNINI:  Well, first, I'll tell what you people don't know.  I mean, everyone knows they have been to the NIT and NCAA Tournament and everyone knows they put together three winning seasons out of the four year and really we were a play away from making it four out of four good winning seasons, in terms of being so close last year.
But what people don't know is how great they are to coach and how great they are to have as teammates, and how they are just wonderful and they are just great kids and they are never in trouble, and they have great personalities and they work hard and they want to be good.
They are more than basketball players.  They are good students and they are loyal friends, and they are just about as good as people as I could hope to coach‑‑ in fact, no, they are; I can't hope to coach better people.

Q.  Could you reflect on the season as a whole, how you feel about the season, also the week as a whole?
COACH GIANNINI:  Well, first, us, I think our last two games showed that we are capable of more than what our final record indicates.  And I don't know why we didn't perform a little bit better at times, because we do have good kids would want to be successful.  And I do think that we work them and taught them as best as we could.
So whatever we were lacking in, it wasn't attitudinal or in terms of the work we put in.  We are certainly lacking of something; the things that we were lacking I'll probably keep to myself.  But, these last three games, that was a really good teams Dayton, UMASS and Davidson.  That was a good team.  We matured into that team.  We are the tiniest of differences from still playing.  But yeah, these last three games was the kind of team that I really thought that we could be.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




About ASAP SportsFastScripts ArchiveRecent InterviewsCaptioningUpcoming EventsContact 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