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NCAA MEN'S 3RD & 4TH ROUND REGIONALS: SAN ANTONIOMarch 22, 2007Billy GillispieJoseph JonesAntanas KavaliauskasAcie Law IVSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS COACH GILLISPIE: It was a tough loss, a really intense game. Both teams played really hard. They did a fantastic job only fouling us four times on the second half. We didn't get enough foul shots. We fouled too much in the second half and gave them too many. Congratulations to Memphis. Q. Acie, can you put into words any emotions as far as your season and career coming to an end tonight? ACIE LAW IV: I'm just disappointed in the way that I performed. It's a tough loss. We fought hard, fell a little short. And Memphis played a great bull game. I didn't give too much thought to my career, just sad, disappointed in myself for how I played tonight. Q. Did you think that lay up with 47 seconds was going in on that kind of home run pass? ACIE LAW IV: I thought I made it. I left it a little short. Little plays like that just cost you the ballgame. You have to convert those plays. And that play came back and hurt us in the end. That play cost us the game. Q. That sequence where, at the end there, they had three or four put backs in a row. What was your perspective on that? It must have been frustrating, not being able to get that rebound. Did you think a foul was warranted, take me through that. ANTANAS KAVALIAUSKAS: Which one are you talking about? Q. The last sequence when they had three or four put backs before the foul, where Anderson hit two free throws? ANTANAS KAVALIAUSKAS: I didn't see there was a foul on that. It was my job to get a rebound and I didn't get it. It cost us the game. Q. Acie, can you talk about the atmosphere with the 30,000? A lot of Aggie fans there. Can you talk about the atmosphere tonight? ACIE LAW IV: It was a great atmosphere. It was a great place to play the Sweet 16 ballgame. I want to thank the fans to show us the support they did. It was a huge turn out for us. It was a great atmosphere to play a college basketball game. We didn't play well enough and credit Memphis for coming out and playing well and go get the win and moving on. Q. Acie, it's been four years and you're a senior, as well, can you talk about where you're leaving the program. And just looking back on the four years, last year getting to the second round, this year, Sweet 16, and where the program can go from here, where you guys are leaving it one this program has made huge strides. ACIE LAW IV: It's come a long way. And we fell short, but I really believe that we came a long way. We had a great season. And I think that the future is very, very bright for this program. It's headed in the right direction. And the sky is the limit for these guys. Q. You guys won the rebounding battle and also got them in foul trouble. What was going on, you and AK had trouble scoring, did they do something different? Was it tougher with the smaller guys on you? JOSEPH JONES: We just -- our teammates were throwing them to us and we didn't finish plays and it cost us the game. Q. Was some of the missed lay ups, how much of that had to do with what they were doing in terms of blocking shots and the athleticism inside? ANTANAS KAVALIAUSKAS: They were great inside, but it's all being tough, and how tough we were inside. And me, I wasn't tough enough. One lay up cost us the game. And that hurts. Q. Acie, can you talk about their dribble penetration, just how effective it was and how tough it was to stop? ACIE LAW IV: It was difficult. They got good players and they do a good job of weaving the ball around and driving through the gaps. They did a good job to continue to attack and get to the free throw line and converting the free throws. They came with a game plan and executed, and had a great ballgame. Congratulations to them. Q. Acie, after it was over you guys huddled at mid court, can you tell us who said what or what happened there? ACIE LAW IV: Just got one last break, it was the last time that we was going to be together lays go them up, just being together out there on the floor and we just came together as a group. We wanted to get one final break. Q. When you have a taller defender on you, how does it make you different on you? What you can do defensively versus a guy your size or smaller? ACIE LAW IV: I have to do a better job of finishing plays. They put a bigger guy on me tonight, and I didn't do a good job of finishing plays. Something I've got to get better at. It's a matter of being tougher and taking it to the basket and being strong enough to finish the play. When we needed it the most I wasn't able to get it done. Q. I asked coach C about this, what did you see on what happened with 3.1 to go and what was explained to you? COACH GILLISPIE: I'm sure they got it right. Someone touched it and it went out-of-bounds. There has to be some time elapsed and I'm sure they got it right. Q. If you could talk a little bit about what the play was designed -- that last play, was that the play that you wanted? Did you want to go somewhere else with the ball? COACH GILLISPIE: We were going to try to throw it to Acie, but he was cutting through there and got hit in the eye. He had to kind of slow down. It was not a foul. But he got hit in the eye. So he kind of had a reaction to that special we were supposed -- he was supposed to continue on, and we were going to try to get it to him on a curl cut, but we wanted for him to continue to move until he got the ball. And let him go try to make the play. But he got hit in the eye and he had to kind of stop. Q. How frustrating was it not being able to get that one rebound in that sequence, put Anderson on the free throw line? COACH GILLISPIE: They got the last four offensive. They missed four shots and got offensive rebounds four times and you pride yourself on defense and you pride yourself on finishing your defensive positions with defensive rebound and we just didn't get it done. So that makes it a little bit more frustrating to lose. Q. Congratulations on a good season. Now your name, as you know, will probably be brought up with some vacancies around the country. How do you handle that with your players? COACH GILLISPIE: I don't worry about that. Q. Not at all? You don't tell them anything, things they need to hear, that kind of thing? COACH GILLISPIE: I'm honest with my players. Q. Did you talk with them after the end of the game about your situation? COACH GILLISPIE: Would you? Goodness, gracious? Q. Can you talk about their dribble penetration and I think you even threw some zone out there. Just how tough it was to stop them? COACH GILLISPIE: It's good. They do a really good job. They have a great plan. They have great players. They really go after it hard. We did a really good job after the half, I thought. They scored 28 points in the second half and we just didn't score enough ourselves. We missed too many free throws, but defensively I really thought we started to help. You're going to have some break downs. But their shooting percentage was low enough for us to win if we converted enough baskets. They're hard to guard man to man. Q. Can you talk about what it's like for you to sit up there and watch all of your players take accountability, saying I could have done more, I could have done this? COACH GILLISPIE: That's why they played tonight. That's why they've been special so long, they're going to continue to be special. Everyone wanted to say I could have done this, I could have done that. And that's why -- you saw three of them. We have a lot of guys on our roster and that's exactly the same kind of attitude and the same kind of character qualities that all of them possess so it makes you very, very, very proud as a coach. Q. Do you feel like your team was aggressive enough tonight going to the hoop? COACH GILLISPIE: Apparently not. We normally shoot a lot more foul shots than that and usually make more lay ups and don't get as many shots blocked. We only forced them to foul four times in the second half, so apparently we weren't. Q. What did you do right to keep them off the offensive glass most of the game, and what broke down that last possession? COACH GILLISPIE: I thought our rotations were great for the most part. I thought our guys really battled hard. Penetration is the hardest thing -- when teams penetrate that's the most difficult time to get defensive rebounds, especially when they have good athletes like they do, because it forces you to rotate. I thought we did a great job for the most part on the offensive rebounds. The last possession, long shots always lead to long rebounds. We were in the inside position on those shots, but we just didn't -- it could have very easily bounced to us. It didn't bounce to us and they went after it, and give those guys credit. We were in the right position. We defended a lot of shots, we just couldn't get the defensive rebound when it came off and sometimes that happens. Q. I know it's tough to reflect on a game like this, could you talk about what Acie Law has been to your program? COACH GILLISPIE: He's been everything for us. He's been a great person, No. 1. And he's going to continue to be that way. He's got a great life ahead of him. He has a great basketball career ahead of him. He's going to be one of the most influential people that we build our program and the way that we think that we can. We're going to look back and say, hey, he was the guy that started it all. He's much more -- I'm more proud of him as a person than I am as a basketball player and that's saying a lot. I'm really proud of him graduating this semester. I'm really proud of him becoming the leader he is, becoming the man that he is. I can't imagine if you were his parent how proud you must be to see being able to raise a child like that and what kind of person he's going to be. And what a great -- he's just going to make such a contribution to society, on the court and off. It's really fantastic to see him like that. Q. The teams you played this year, how do you think Memphis stacked up with some of your others? You played a great game, by the way. COACH GILLISPIE: Thank you. They've got a nice team. We played a lot of really good teams, as well. So you would think that all the teams that are playing right now is going to be really good. They are really good. The Big 12 is a very, very difficult league. No disrespect to them, we played a lot of good people. I'm not saying better. There's a lot of really good teams in college basketball these days. Q. Do you feel that Joseph and an Antanas had the opportunities as the game wore on and just didn't finish? Were you surprised you got teed up that quickly early on? COACH GILLISPIE: I was surprised about that, because I didn't see anything bad. And I was told you can't react to a call. And so that's the first time I've heard that one. As far as getting the ball in the paint. We got the ball where we needed to most of the night. Again, they did a real good job of moving their feet, apparently, and didn't put us on the foul line much and we didn't finish enough plays to win. Q. Can you talk about how much it means to you as a program to see the fans get caught up in the tournament and Lexington last week and here in San Antonio? COACH GILLISPIE: It's fantastic. They've talked about how great the 12th man is, I've heard it before I came here and it's been a major -- they made a major contribution having the play here today. They helped us win a lot of games throughout the year. They were fantastic last week on our first weekend and they were as good as they possibly could be tonight. I'm like Acie, I'm sad we let them down. I would have liked to play one more time. But we don't get that opportunity. But they did their part and we fell a little short in doing ours. Q. Talking to some of your better players, obviously were disappointed in losing tonight. 0-16 in the league a couple of years ago, the Sweet 16 this year. Can you talk about the corner that the program has turned over the past couple of years that you've been head coach? COACH GILLISPIE: We'll see if we've turned any corners. We came here to win. And just like everyone else comes here to win. We came here to win. And I'm not into moral victories, we made some strides, but we came here to win and we didn't get the job done. Time will tell if we're going to be able to develop a top notch program. We're on the right track, but we have not reached any kind of destination. End of FastScripts |
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