NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - RUTGERS VS HOUSTON

March 21, 2021

Steve Pikiell

Lucas Oil Stadium Unity (South)

Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Postgame Media Conference

Houston 63, Rutgers 60

STEVE PIKIELL: Tough day, tough game. Houston was really good. I knew they would be.

But before I start, I just want to send my condolences, Coach Boylan, our beloved radio guy, one of the nicest people I've ever met, traveled with us for the last five years, was the voice of Rutgers basketball, passed away today. He will just be really missed. One of the greatest people that I've been around. A real just special person. I'm really sorry for his family, the loss. He's a loss for everyone. He was a legend at Rutgers. He was just a special person. I know he's in heaven. He's that kind of guy.

Again, want to send my prayers out to his family. Not only was today's loss real tough, but losing Coach Boylan, yeah, was just tough, so...

But congratulations to Houston. I thought we played our hearts out. This team made history. They got through a two-year journey, COVID, never missing a day, never having a pause, all the obstacles they had to fight through. They now become the standard for what we want to be at Rutgers.

Just really tough day when you play that hard, you want something very badly. Again, congratulations to Houston.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You only had one game postponed this season, but with all the new protocols and safety measures, what was this regular season like for you?

STEVE PIKIELL: I mean, we never had a pause, we never had a game canceled. It's a tough year. I can tell you the sacrifices that the players made. All of them, too, had the opportunity to opt out, and none of them did. They wanted to make this year special. They certainly did that. First time in 30 years getting to the tournament. First time in 38 years winning a game.

The sacrifices their families made and they made, truly unbelievable. Thankful to the NCAA that they gave them all their year back because this year was just different from start to finish. Our guys have been together since June. Very difficult to be on a streak the way we were of never having a pause or never having an issue with COVID. Very thankful.

But it was very difficult. The sacrifices, not seeing their family and friends, everything else, that they made to have a special season, very thankful for their sacrifices.

Q. Can you just explain kind of how it turned in the last 4 minutes or so?

STEVE PIKIELL: Yeah, well, I mean, they made some plays. We had our opportunities I felt. We knew the backboards were a huge, huge thing in the game. I thought in the first half we did a great job of that.

They just came up a couple plays -- we just came up a couple plays short. That's all it takes. The margin of winning and losing in this tournament is a box-out here, free throw box-out. It comes down to some little things. They did those and we didn't.

The backboards were a huge key in the second half. They got to the free-throw line and we didn't. First half we got to the free-throw line. Game kind of changed some of those areas.

Q. Can you talk about the last sequence, Ron, the three-pointer. Probably the best shot you can take at that moment.

STEVE PIKIELL: We executed. That's a play that we'd run all year. We haven't had to run it. I thought Ron got a good look. I thought it was going to go in.

We really didn't get the rebounds down the stretch that we needed to, to kind of put the game away. But, yeah, that was a play that we've run many times in practice over the last couple years. I thought he got a good look at it, but it just didn't go for us.

Q. Geo has been brilliant in the situations late in the game tonight. How hard was it to see him lose the handle on that ball? What did you say to him after the game?

STEVE PIKIELL: I love all my guys. My guys are devastated. They gave it everything this year. Every single one of them. Geo has won us a lot of games during his career. We wouldn't be here without all the efforts of all the players.

We were ready to play tonight, too, against a team that hasn't lost many games, is very good, well-coached. But Geo has won us a lot of games. Hugged him and thanked him. I mean, it's a tough day for us. Had to share the news about Coach, too. Just a tough locker room afterwards.

But I do love all my players. I am very thankful to be coach here. This university is great. They started the standard now for what we want to be as a program, not just on the court, but off the court, academically.

We need this group to be remembered for a long time, again, be the standard for where we want to go every year.

Q. In the last 5 minutes, what do you think, at least offensively did you think you guys slowed down? Were you looking to take clock?

STEVE PIKIELL: No, I mean, they're really good defensively. We got some good looks. It was at the backboards really. Then we fouled too. We got the looks. Geo got to drive to the middle of the basket. We got a couple layups that we didn't finish.

I mean, you had a couple opportunities to get layups that we just didn't convert on, and it becomes a one-possession game. I like what we ran. I like the looks, I felt comfortable with Geo with the ball in his hands. He's won us a lot of games.

But at the end of the day we really talked about a lot of rebound, rebound, rebound. They were 16 offensive rebounds. That helped them a great deal. That helped them get to the free-throw line.

Q. How banged up was Myles? What did you think about the effort he put forth? What was your message to the team after the game?

STEVE PIKIELL: Well, I mean, just tough in the locker room when you have to tell them a guy who has been with us for five years every game, he was just with us in Minnesota, a road game that we won. It's just tough.

The guys gave everything they could to our program this year and more. The sacrifices that they made. You will never understand because you didn't live it every day. I know you guys have written about it and everything. It's a whole different world when you live it every single day and the sacrifices, what they had to do, the different protocols every time we traveled.

I'm just sad for us. I never wanted to put these uniforms away. This group has been awesome. Whenever we get knocked down, this group always got back up. Did an unbelievable job representing our great university.

After the game when they're sad like that, everyone is sad, you just tell them how you feel about them, tell them how appreciated they are by our staff, people that see what they do every single day, thank 'em. Just thank 'em. That's what we did.

Q. You touched on how challenging this year was for the players and you too. I know you wanted to go as far as you could. As a coach, is there a factor of relief that this season is over and behind you?

STEVE PIKIELL: No. I mean, I love this group. I wanted to coach them forever. I told all of them they could all come back, I'd be the happiest coach in America.

But, no, there's no relief.

Q. The Big Ten got nine bids into the NCAA tournament, six teams already going home. What do you make of how the conference has fared through this first weekend?

STEVE PIKIELL: Yeah, I mean, there's really good teams that are still playing. This league is terrific. I think we probably beat each other up during the course of 22, 23, 24 games, whatever teams ended up playing that played the last game of the tournament in the Big Ten championship.

This league is great. It was great all year. We beat each other up. Maybe that factored into this tournament. But we had our chances, too, today. I'm sure some of the other teams. There's great coaches. This league will always continue to be good. We got nine bids, I think we would have had nine last year. Most in the tournament. It's hard to get into this tournament. When you get nine bids, it says a lot about the conference.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for your time today, coach.