|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
MOUNTAIN WEST MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 9, 2016Larry ShyattJosh AdamsJason McManamenAlan HerndonLas Vegas, Nevada Utah State - 88 Wyoming - 70 THE MODERATOR: Coach, if we can start with you and get your thoughts on today's game. HEAD COACH LARRY SHYATT: Well, disappointment comes to mind for these guys. But I can tell you that I told them after the game, I was not at all surprised that it went from 25 to 7 with two open looks. That's sort of been their disposition all year. Compliments to Tim. First of all, I'm so happy he got the job last year. Really well deserved. And I thought that their team played really well. The only line that really sticks out at you is you've got two pretty good 3-point shooting team. One was unconscious in Laramie, and not so unconscious today. Q. They got off to such a fast start. And what happened? Were they just knocking down shots? Were they doing anything different offensively? What happened there especially in that first half? JOSH ADAMS: I think their good three-point shooters got open looks and knocked them down. I don't think we were on edge defensively. And once they got a rhythm going and we had a hand up, they were still knocking them down, they were more in the zone and knocked some shots in. Q. You guys have fought back from a lot of large deficits to make games close, one game down 17 to UNLV comes to mind. But 25, was there any point in your mind where you almost thought, wow, this is bigger than we can handle? JASON McMANAMEN: No, I don't think so. I think we've been in this position before this year, even though it might not have been that big. We knew if we stayed the course and played our game we could come back. And I thought we did a good job fighting back. Like Coach said, we got to seven and just couldn't get any closer. Q. I know that Rector was guarding you quite a bit today. Was that something you guys expected? Did he do anything in particular against you? You had a lot of contested looks. Can you talk about the defense he played against you today? JOSH ADAMS: I think he's an extremely quick kid. He's very talented. A guy that is new this year, I believe. And he did a pretty good job in Laramie when we played them. He did a pretty good job, but some of the shots were falling for me that day. They weren't falling today. I think they took away a lot of my easy looks so I couldn't get in a rhythm. And the tough ones wouldn't go down. I thought he did a good job, and I didn't produce for my team when I needed to. Q. You three have logged a lot of minutes all year. Do you feel as a team without having that extra depth that maybe you ran out of gas once you made that big run? ALAN HERNDON: No, I think we were prepared for this. We had practices to try to make sure we were running a little extra, make sure we had our wind ready. No other team practices at 7,220. We were prepared for that and I think we were ready for it, but we ran out of time and couldn't get over that hump. Q. Obviously you had a tremendous year last year here at the conference tournament. How will you remember your time here, likely your last game? JOSH ADAMS: I'm just happy to go to battle with these guys that are sitting next to me up here, Coach Shyatt, Al Herndon and Jason, the other guys in the locker room. We were down 25 and they had a never say die attitude. I couldn't be more grateful for a group of guys to play with in my final year. Q. As you kind of said when you played them in Laramie you guys really shot lights out, and they got off to a fast start. From your take was the defense there and they just knocked shots over it, how would you assess that? HEAD COACH LARRY SHYATT: I would have said that it was a combination of both. I would never want to degrade the opponent. I thought they played excellent those first eight to ten minutes. We did not play very well defensively. So consequently when they did miss a shot or two, they weren't getting loose balls, they were getting 50/50 balls. I thought that would change at some point. At halftime we told the guys, Let's spend about 10 minutes, let's grind it a little bit, see if we can cut this thing to 10 points with 10 minutes to play. They surprised me. They cut it with about 12 to play to about 7. And it may well have been just too much to fight back. 25 is a large margin, especially against a veteran team like that. Q. Rector guarded Josh quite a bit. Was that a big surprise? Josh did some good things, but he made life pretty tough for him. HEAD COACH LARRY SHYATT: Rector did a good job defensively. I don't think -- you know, Josh slipped, I want to say four times. Three of his turnovers came from slipping on the floor. But I will tell you, I thought Rector changed the game. Because in the last six games he shot less than 20 percent from three. And I thought the game changed because he made shots. That was unexpected, not his athleticism or his defensive ability. His shot making changed the game, I thought. Q. Did you feel like you guys got the shots early on that you wanted, they just weren't falling? HEAD COACH LARRY SHYATT: You know, I didn't really pay much attention to offense early in the game. I was so disappointed, and my wife was sitting across the way, so she could read my lips, so I had to be cool. It really was more a lack of focus on our defense, and at the same time some good shot making by some guys that had not been effective up to that point. Q. Coach, we kind of talk a little bit about Shane, but when you cut it to 7, Jalen Moore hit a couple of big shots. He really kind of kept them in the game. HEAD COACH LARRY SHYATT: He's one of my favorites. And he's always held himself with class and dignity, anytime I've watched tape or been on the floor with him. I would dare say, though, in between those really good shots, you might want to watch that video. We had two wide open 3's to cut that thing to four and five. Jason McManamen wide open. But that's part of the game. And heroes are found in tournaments, as we found out last year. I don't even know if these guys knew Adams' first name. But it happens. And so perhaps it's Rector. Q. With 53 seconds you took Josh out. What did you tell him? HEAD COACH LARRY SHYATT: I don't think it was anything special. He's meant a great deal. He's meant a great deal to our family. Q. I know right after a game it's hard to reflect back, but when you think of this group, what do you think of? And I guess what's next? Is it back to work and recruiting for next year? What's next for you after this now? HEAD COACH LARRY SHYATT: Well, let's go backwards in time just for a second, I don't want to waste these guys' time, but, hell, there's no game. You know, this is a guy who was named MVP here and put us on his shoulders with a group of seniors, six of whom graduated on time last May. So if you're an old coach like me, it's like the beer commercial, it doesn't get a whole lot better; Nance goes in the first round, six guys graduate on time and you run the gauntlet and go to the tournament. Now you've got this guy in June, he's coming back, he's lost six good friends. Your old man hands him the ball and says, By the way, you're going to be a point guard this year, and you have six freshmen and six sophomores. And I've got to tell you, I'll remember the fact that these guys played tonight very similar to like they played all year. And they practiced, not many people talk about practice, spontaneity, early, on time every day. And so I will remember a lot of the good things and I will try to forget with a little wine some of the bad things. Q. You downplayed the effect that it was going to have with having some of those guys suspended. Do you feel it made any sort of an impact today? HEAD COACH LARRY SHYATT: No. Q. As you look, you lose Josh and that's obviously a huge piece. But to return everyone else, just outside looking in early, do you like what you have coming back and to build with and what's the next step or where do you go from here to work next season? HEAD COACH LARRY SHYATT: We talked a little bit last week about continuity, continuity in coaching staff is really important. Continuity with the type of people you want to represent you, really important. I think we've got a good core. I think they found out, you know, you have to harden sometimes. Sometimes to really appreciate the good, you have to harden. And so I think these guys, hopefully they'll remember a little bit of taste in their mouth when they were disappointed seven or eight times this year. So we've got spring break next week. We'll take a deep breath. I've got some smart people around me, I'll take their advice. And then when we get back from spring break we'll definitely need to put some pounds on some interior players. 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
|