GEICO PLAYERS ERA MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP

November 24, 2025

Adrian Autry

Naithan George

William Kyle III

MGM Grand Garden Arena

Syracuse Orange

Postgame Press Conference

Houston 78, Syracuse 74 (OT)

ADRIAN AUTRY: I thought this was a hard-fought game. Obviously both teams going at it. I thought our culture gave us a chance to win this game. We came up short.

No moral victories here, but we've just got to continually work hard, play at a level 5, stay together, and keep pushing through.

I was just proud of the way these guys fought back. We knew this was going to be a fight. We got ourselves off the ropes and we swung back. So we've just got to continually have that mentality moving forward.

I was encouraged with our culture, the things that we talk about, the things that we work on. I was encouraged that these guys came out and fought.

Q. Adrian, you said no moral victories, but your team is down 11, three minutes to play, you make the run, take it to overtime against the No. 3 team in America. What can you take from that that helps your team moving forward?

ADRIAN AUTRY: You know, just what I take and what these guys take is what we pride ourselves on is our culture, our energy, our connection, our toughness, our fight, checking in. That's what we talk about. That's why we work hard.

This is a hardworking program, so I was just proud these guys had a chance to actually see it and experience it, and they know that as we move forward, we'll continually get better.

Q. Red, Houston is a team that's known for its defensive effort and intensity. Was the key for you guys to match that?

ADRIAN AUTRY: You know, it's not even about matching that, it's about what we do. We feel like we're one of the best defensive teams in the country. It wasn't about a comparing game. We just had a game plan to play our game, to do what we need to do, and I thought we executed that.

Q. Adrian, you were missing a guy who averages almost 18 a game, five rebounds a game. What was the preparation like for the last couple of games knowing you weren't going to have him and how you were going to fill the gap, for lack of a better phrase of saying it?

ADRIAN AUTRY: This is a family, and this is a next man up. This is a team that's been put together to be able to pick each other up. This team is built that way. These players believe in each other. We spend a lot of time in that. Our game plan didn't change. We prepared the same way as if he was playing.

Q. What does it say about your team that you went down to the wire without Donnie?

ADRIAN AUTRY: You know, again, this is about the team. It's not about one guy. I just think, again, no moral victories here. I understand Houston is a good team, but I just really believe in my team and what we can do and accomplish. It's no disrespect, but it's just really about us.

Q. Coach, how important do you think it was for Tyler Betsey to step up without Donnie today and just his game overall?

ADRIAN AUTRY: It was good for Tyler. He just came off a little ankle injury, but he's been playing well for us. We just encourage him to continue to be aggressive.

Again, you're just starting to see how good this team is and how talented this team is. But we've just got to continue to work. This one hurts, but we'll get back home and get ready for the next one.

Q. For both players, having known that Donnie was not going to be in the game, what were the conversations like before this game? Coach talked about it being a family. What kind of conversations were you having among yourselves leading scorer?

WILLIAM KYLE III: We talked to Donnie and he let us know. He was real encouraging. We all know it's the next guy up mentality. We've got every guy on the roster can play out here and can compete, so he was real encouraging for us to go out there and fight like we did.

Q. Coach, is this a team that is preparing for Donnie to return at some point? Are you preparing to have him out for an extended period at this point?

ADRIAN AUTRY: No, we're anticipating him to be -- will be a quick pause. We expect him back. I don't have all the details right now, but this is not something that will be season ending or anything like that.

Q. Coach, this is a very specific question. Basically in overtime you guys were down 2 with 34 seconds left, shot clock is like 30. What's the game plan in terms of you're trying to trap but also you don't want to waste too much time but also you've got to foul because otherwise they could milk the clock?

ADRIAN AUTRY: Yeah, in that one we tried to see if we could get something, a steal or something or maybe a trap. We didn't quite get the trap. They did a really good job of spacing us out, making those rotations a little bit longer.

And then we didn't want to get too low. They gave up five 13 or 14 seconds; tried to put some pressure on them, as well.

Q. We missed a few free throws today. Knowing that this game was a you versus you, how can we anticipate going into the next game?

ADRIAN AUTRY: You're going to see our level 5 fight. It doesn't change. That's the consistency part. We're going to get out there. We're going to play together and play with intensity and play together and just keep playing and sharing and energizing each other, rooting for each other.

Q. Nate and William, the pick-and-roll with whoever is on the floor has been one of the parts really working for the offense so far. Talk about your chemistry in the pick-and-roll game and how that's complemented from practice to actual game time?

NAITHAN GEORGE: We've just been getting a lot of reps in practice in the off-season, and even before we actually started everything, we got runs, and me and Will connected a lot before even in practice or anything.

We just build that chemistry from right when we both got on campus.

Q. Naithan and Will, about five minutes left, Houston goes out to about an 11-point lead. What was said between you guys, between the whole team at that point to come back and tie it up?

WILLIAM KYLE III: Just in the huddle keep calm, keep our composure. We talked about this before the game. We were going to fight and we were going to fight as well. Just keeping our composure and just continuing to fight. That was the main message, and we were able to send it to overtime at the end.

Q. Coach, you've got to play again tomorrow. How do you get your team ready to be fresh to go tomorrow?

ADRIAN AUTRY: Get out of here. Get out of here as quick as we can. We have a great recovery team and our medical team is great, so we'll be able to take care of that. These guys don't get tired; they're ready to go. They're excited. We're excited to be here.

Again, I'm very disappointed in our result tonight, but we'll be ready tomorrow.

Q. Nate and Will, when you guys heard Syracuse was interested in you in the portal, are these the kind of games that made you excited?

WILLIAM KYLE III: For sure. I know I came to Syracuse to win. I know all the guys in the locker room came to Syracuse to win and that's what the standard is at Syracuse. Like Coach said, there's no moral victory. We've got some things we've got to work on, and of course we came here to win, yeah.