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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: DENVERMarch 20, 2008Moses EhambeAndre HardyScott SuttonDENVER, COLORADO THE MODERATOR: Coach, begin with some general thoughts on the game. COACH SUTTON: Well, I'll congratulate Pitt. That's a great, great team we played. I knew they were a very good team. I knew they were playing as well as anybody. They impressed me today. They were better than I expected. We've played some great teams the last two years in the tournament, Memphis being the No. 1 seed two years ago, then Washington State, a 3 seed. I think this is the best team we played. So I give them a lot of credit. If Fields shoots the ball like he did today, they're going to be hard to beat. The game was lost there. I thought we got out to a good start. I thought we made shots. That was important for us to get some confidence early. You know, had a three-point lead. We doubled down on Young. We switched a ball screen. Jarvis had Young. He kicks it back out to Fields. I think he hits his first three. After that point, we just didn't compete the rest of the half. I don't know, I'm disappointed in our guys. We had certain guys that didn't show up today. That's always tough. But I give a lot of credit to Pitt because they made us play poorly. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions now for the student-athletes. Q. Could you talk about what Pitt did defensively to make it difficult for you offensively. MOSES EHAMBE: I think they just pressured us out, man. They denied the ball pretty well. When the ball went inside, they made a wall, made it hard for us to score. Majority of our scoring was around the perimeter. Not enough inside. That's what we take our pride in, is going inside. We played inside out. We really couldn't get it inside, so... ANDRE HARDY: I think what they did was with our guards, especially Robert Jarvis, they hedged the ball out real far. He's usually really good coming off screens and shooting. And he wasn't able to do that today. He's our spark off the bench. When they hedge him, you know, that took some of our scoring right out of the game. Q. During that run, coach said he didn't think you guys competed. What happened during that 18-0 run to you? MOSES EHAMBE: We just lost our toughness, man, lost our focus. When we were going on our run, we were taking time setting the offense up, taking good shots, making good decisions, running back on transition. I mean, it was just that point in time where all that left the door, and it hurt us. Q. There was so much made of Pitt's physical toughness. How much of a factor was that in the game? Were they physically as tough as you thought they might be? MOSES EHAMBE: Yeah, they were, as you could tell. I got this ice thing on my shoulder. They were really tough, man. They were going to the glass tough. They're just a really aggressive team. They played really, really good tonight. ANDRE HARDY: To be honest, I don't think -- I think they're tough, but sort of when the game gets to that point where Pittsburgh, they sort of hit you in your mouth, and you got to sort of, you know, wipe the blood out your mouth, hit them back, and we didn't punch them back at all. Q. Andre, as you look at this moving forward in your career, what do you take from today's game that helps your next season? ANDRE HARDY: Well, starting with when we get back, just making sure all my guys next year, you know, are working hard to get back to this point again and to be ready for this situation again, to build and move forward from this. Q. Moses, as a senior, some of your final thoughts as you look back on your career at Oral Roberts University? MOSES EHAMBE: It's meant everything to me. It's been a great journey. I thank God for blessing me with the opportunity to be able to play with a great coach, Coach Sutton. He's a great man. He's like a father. And these guys, they're just wonderful, man. They helped me, as well. You know, great hard workers like Andre Hardy, always in the gym, wanting to move forward. It's helped me a lot. Oral Roberts University has just taught me a lot in life. You know, so, I'm thankful for all that. Q. Moses, could you talk about the way you started the game, coming out and hitting those two threes? MOSES EHAMBE: It felt really good, man. We were taking our time, letting the game come to us. Just all of a sudden the tables turned. Y'all saw the outcome of it. We felt extremely confident out there. We hit two big three-pointers in a row. We were taking time setting up the offense, D'ing up, which we take pride in. It just turned around. THE MODERATOR: Andre, Moses, thank you. You guys can take off. Questions for Coach Sutton. Q. You have seen Texas and Arkansas, Kansas, whole bunch of people the last couple years. No one's kind of manhandled you like Pitt did. Did that really surprise you, how they were able to do that to you? COACH SUTTON: I thought we would compete better than we did. I knew they were physical. I knew they were tough. I knew Blair and Young were tough, tough matchups for us. You know, again, I thought we got off to a good start. We were up 13-10. We held them to I think 10 points through the first eight minutes of the game. Then we just, for whatever reason, they got on a run, got up four on their 12-minute timeout and from there it just snowballed. You're right, they manhandled us. Seemed like they got every offensive rebound if they missed. We didn't sprint back in transition, which was a huge key, getting back in defensive transition. They got some easy baskets. You know, next thing you know, you're down 15. So I would say physically that's the toughest team we've played. And I think it's one of the best. Memphis two years ago was awfully talented. But that Pitt team, if they play like they did tonight and Fields shoots the ball as well as he did tonight, someone's going to have to play awfully well to beat 'em. Q. Reflect now on this season. How did this team come together and play for you? COACH SUTTON: I'll always be proud of this team. This will always be a special team because of that. Losing Caleb and Tutt, this team can't get back to where we were the previous two years. How they came together, you know, winning 24 games, going 16-2 in our conference, getting the highest seed we've gotten the last three years, this will always be a special year to me. You know, it's always difficult to lose. There will only be one happy team on April 7th. Everybody else will have to go through this. In a few days, we'll all look back and say, Hey, this was a fun ride. I appreciate those guys, how they played this year. Q. Can you talk about Andre's game? Twice now in the post-season, he's risen to the level of the competition. COACH SUTTON: I tell you, he's improved so much. He's worked his tail off the last three to four weeks. I'm telling you, every time I go down too the gym, he's down there shooting. I knew he was one of the few guys that could match their toughness. I was hoping some of the other guys would raise the level of their toughness a little bit. But I knew Andre could compete in this game. He showed it tonight. I'm not sure if anybody was as tough as he was. That's saying a lot, because those guys are very, very tough. But for him to get 15 points, nine rebounds, five offensive rebounds, for a 6'5" forward in his first NCAA tournament game was pretty impressive. Q. You lose four starters for next year's squad. How key was having Hardy come in and be a part of this experience this year? COACH SUTTON: I think it's huge because it gives us another guy that we can really count on. And I think it will give him a ton of confidence going into the spring and summer, next fall, to really continue to try to elevate his game. Everybody knows what Robert can do. We got to get Marcus back playing like he was maybe a few weeks ago. We got some guys sitting out redshirting. Sango is going to play a bigger role next year. But I think it was huge for Andre's confidence and for our confidence in him that he played like he did. The one game in Tulsa, then this afternoon. Q. We talked a lot going into this about taking the next step. Obviously you didn't get a win today. Can you still feel confident about the way this team played and the efforts moving forward? COACH SUTTON: No, this team did more than anybody expected. To get to this point, to get a 13 seed, you know. It's tough to lose like we did today. We certainly didn't play our best game. But you have to give Pitt credit for that. We just have to go back and recruit and get the guys, like Andre said, back in the gym, individual workouts, try to get better, try to get back to this point next year. Maybe we won't have to play a team like Pitt. Maybe we can improve our seed by one or two more. THE MODERATOR: Coach, appreciate it. COACH SUTTON: Thanks, guys. End of FastScripts |
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