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STATE FARM MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 4, 2016

St. Louis, Missouri - Arch Madness

University of Northern Iowa-66, Southern Illinois-60

THE MODERATOR: Anthony Beane and Sean O'Brien represent the Salukis. Coach Barry Hinson is in the middle.

COACH HINSON: I've walked off this floor 13 times in my career, and sometimes you walk off the floor, and you're disgusted how you play or this or that. I just told a group of 12 individuals in the locker room that I couldn't be any prouder of them.

I thought today that, quite frankly, they gave me everything they had. For you to be in the ball game when you go 3-for-18 from the threes and turn it over 18 times and still have a chance to win it, I think that tells you a little bit about grit. We had a lot of John Wayne guys out there today, and I was proud of them.

I'm sorry specifically for this young man on my left (Beane), that that was his last ball game, but I told him that. That's why I subbed him there at the end. I wanted to tell him how much he meant to me and to this program. I'll expand on that later after you talk to these guys.

Q. Anthony, you were honored last week obviously being All MVC First Team. To go out like this, tell me what was going through your mind as the buzzer went to zero.
ANTHONY BEANE: Mainly just everything that we've been through as a team and how this team stuck together, through the good times, through the bad times. And I thought we knew what we did wrong, but everybody played their hardest, and nobody got down on themselves. We were all positive for each other, and we were all there for each other. Not much we can do.

Credit to Northern Iowa.

Q. Anthony, they're a hard team to attack, but you were pretty good in the second half. How difficult was that today to get to the rim against them?
ANTHONY BEANE: My main thing was just getting the ball moving. I thought we took a lot of quick shots at the first half. We went to halftime, and Coach Hinson told us we've got to get the ball moving in order to get to the paint. That's what we were doing. We started moving the ball, and we started finding the guys when we started getting to the basket.

Q. Coach Jacobson was talking about how to guard you, and he was giving a lot of credit to Wes. What was the hardest part about scoring on him out there?
ANTHONY BEANE: He's just extremely athletic. He's a great defender. He's just really athletic. I just feel like in order for us to do what we got to do, he's got to play our game. But credit to him. He's extremely athletic.

Q. Sean, they're a tough team to play from behind, but you guys were able to tie it. How did you guys feel about your chances when you tied it at 68?
SEAN O'BRIEN: We were feeling pretty good. Armon capitalized on that and one. We just knew we had to get a couple stops at the end there and couldn't get them. Offensively, I think they just out-executed us a little bit. Like Coach said, you can't have 18 turnovers and not shoot the ball that well and expect to beat a good team.

Q. Sean, you had five offensive rebounds on the day. Was there anything specifically you were doing to exploit them? Maybe experience, having an extra year on some of those sophomores on UNI?
SEAN O'BRIEN: No, that's just our game plan every game, playing the floor. I got to crash every time, so some balls were coming my way, and just being aggressive.

Q. Sean, I wanted to ask you about that guy, that senior you watched, and talk a little bit about Armon, the young guy today. He was pretty good today as well.
SEAN O'BRIEN: Anthony came here four years ago when the program wasn't at its best. He's probably the main reason why it's turned around, along with our coaching staff. He's one of the nicest guys to be around all the time. One of the nicest, most humble guys to be with, and he's the best player I've played with.

And Armon, he's just started to grow up, the last four or five games of the year, and this game especially. He's going to be a special player, and we're really excited about him.

Q. For Sean and Anthony, if you could talk about it, you want to play your best, and you can't fault your effort, but why was it so hard to get everybody to play your best game, have your bench and your three-point shooting all at the same time? Why was it not so hard to not just have that game where you guys all played your best really at the end of the year?
ANTHONY BEANE: I thought we were all amped to play, and everybody wanted to make a play. I just thought everybody was coming out, and we weren't really moving the ball. We were trying to get things done in the first hald. And the second half is when we started opening things up because we started moving the ball, and good things started happening for us.

SEAN O'BRIEN: I just think, where we hurt ourselves was the start of each half. We got down and put ourselves in a hole. We kept competing and battled back and would tie it up. We just felt like we could never get the lead.

But I did feel we played a lot better offensively in the second half. Like Anthony said, we started moving the ball and found a little rhythm there.

Q. Sean, you had another double-double tonight. You've got Anthony leaving this season. What's it going to be like to be the man, the leader next season?
SEAN O'BRIEN: We've got a lot of guys coming back, Bola, Leo, Tyler, Mike. I don't think it's on me. It's all of us. For me, I just want to be the vocal leader and just lead by example. I think that's what I'm best at.

Q. Coach, if you could just talk about Anthony's presence and what he means to the university.
COACH HINSON: I think this is probably the easiest thing for me to say about Anthony is today culminated a great season, from this kid being loyal, this kid being consistent, this kid just not giving up at all because he's been through it all.

Freshman year was a little difficult for him just because it was a little unusual as a freshman, as it is for all freshmen. Sophomore year, we felt we were trying to count on him as much as Desmar, a senior. And then last year really hurt him. I think last year really hurt him. He was, for lack of a better term, hell bent for leather that he was going to make sure that this season wasn't going to crash and burn during his senior year.

That's what I just told him in the locker room. You can't discount what this young man's done over the last four years, and I hope our fan base really understands what he's done and what he's been through. It's going to be especially exciting the second week in May when he walks across that stage and gets that diploma.

Q. It's easier said than done, but why do you think it's so tough to not have everybody play their best? Other than that one game, you're always trying to work toward that at the end of the year. Having Vincent, having the bench and having everybody there?
COACH HINSON: I wanted these guys to answer it like this, but if I knew the answer to that question, I'd be a hell of a rich guy right now. That's basketball. That's basketball.

I will say this. It's really different and difficult to come in it to play in this environment your first time, and that's why I think next year we'll come in this building, and we'll play much better.

I know we had some veterans today, but we also had a lot of guys that have never been on the floor today, and when you look through their stats, you go hmmm. They probably didn't play the best that they'd played in a long time. So I think there's that transition period and the process of maturation.

Hopefully, I'll figure that out by this time next year, and you can help me write the book, and we'll just get out of this coaching game and just make money hand over fist. Me, you, and Tony Robbins.

Q. Coach, you got O'Brien. You got Armon coming back, all the transfers coming back. What is your expectation for the Salukis moving forward without Anthony Beane?
COACH HINSON: I can tell you right now, my expectation is that this program continues to rise. I don't mind saying this. I'll say this proudly. Saluki basketball is back. We're back. We're back. Period. And I'm proud to say that.

It's been a rough three years. So if I sound kind of frisky when I say that, I kind of like saying it like that. But it is. I don't have a problem saying that.

Q. Two things, Barry. First one is should you guys make it into one of the other tournaments -- and I assume you will -- how rewarding will that be, particularly for Anthony? You were talking about that. And then secondly, can you just comment on Armon's play today as well.
COACH HINSON: Let's talk about Armon, and then I'll handle the first one later. I just told a group of media in the locker room -- and I met with all these guys last night personally in front of the team because I wanted to tell them how special they were to me, because the reward, or the reward that I received yesterday was a direct correlation and an influence of those guys.

One of the things I told Armon is that three years from now people in this tournament are going to be saying where in the world did this kid come from? And we are so glad he's out of here.

As happy as I was yesterday that Baker and Fred and Egidijus -- big fella -- and D.J. are all gone. And three years from now people are going to be extremely happy that Armon Fletcher is gone as well. I think the ceiling is really high for this young man.

We're not going to go to the NCAA. I don't think we're going to get an RPI low enough to get that. As a matter of fact, I don't think I've ever had a low enough RPI to get in the NCAA, ka-ching. We're not going to get an invite to the NIT, and we don't deserve one. So I'm not one of these guys that will leave here and tell you.

But what I will tell you is this tournament deserves two teams in the NCAA, I think, and I think the team that beat us today has an opportunity. I think Wichita State is already in it, and I do think you'll see another team get into the NIT.

As far as our postseason play, we're going to get a call next week from our state legislature and let us know the number that the budget is going to be cut. If we play in postseason play, we will only do it if we know that we can be on the positive side of the ledger. We are not going to play a tournament in which we have to buy at this time when people are losing their jobs. We will not do that. If we can raise the money privately, then possibly, but this will be a decision that we will make along with our athletic director, our chancellor, and our president. But I repeat, we will not pay to play in a tournament when people are getting ready to lose their jobs. We support everything that our university does. We're going to get a cutback next week, and we'll be team players like everybody else, because that's who we play for is our university. So hopefully that answered your question.

Q. Coach, talk a little bit about the other two teams that are here. Just talk a little bit about UNI, what makes them so tough to beat?
COACH HINSON: I think -- I don't have a problem. You know, I said this yesterday. They asked me what makes Ben Jacobson so special. Ben gets his players to accept their role and do what they do at the very best that they can, and he's always been able to do that. I made this comment yesterday in the banquet that you've got the finest collection of basketball coaches anywhere in the country right here in the Missouri Valley Conference.

I mean, Porter Moser today, what Porter did with that team really speaks volumes for about this league.

The two guys that are getting ready to play in this game, Marty and Greg are phenomenal coaches. Dan Muller was probably done -- and I don't mind telling you, I voted for Dan Coach of the Year, because I thought what he had done, the collection of student-athletes he put on the floor was phenomenal. What Gregg Marshall has done and meant to this league has been incredible.

You talk about Paul at Missouri State with all the injuries you had this year, my gosh, it's like an MASH unit, and he's getting ready to play.

Ray Giacoletti and Brian had the youngest teams this year. You saw what happened with Ray. They almost won the game and had a chance, missed a basket last night to go two in a row. And Brian had daycare. Seriously, he had daycare. I've never seen anything like it. You never come into a tape room and see diapers. There's Pampers, there's tape, the youngest team I've ever seen.

So when I speak of this league and these coaches, I've got a pretty good pulse on this league, and I'm proud of each and every one of these guys and each and every one of these programs.

Thank you guys so much. Thank you for allowing me to be here.

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