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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS: OKLAHOMA CITY


March 18, 2010


Oscar Bellfield

Lon Kruger

Tre'von Willis


OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA

NORTHERN IOWA – 69
UNLV - 66


THE MODERATOR: Being joined in the interview room by UNLV Head Coach Lon Kruger; student-athletes, Oscar Bellfield, and Tre'Von Willis. We'll start with a statement by the Coach and questions for student-athletes.
COACH KRUGER: Really good game. Obviously, we don't like the result. I thought guys on both teams really battled it both fought awfully hard, proud of our guys all year long, proud of them today, down nine there with seven something to go.
They battled to get back night. Oscar makes a big 3 to tie it with a few seconds to go. Again, I thought guys on both teams really fought hard and proud of our guy's effort. Don't feel good about the result again, but congratulations to Coach Jacobson and his club. They played great and hit the big shot there late to pull out the win.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Trey, can you talk about the second half? You had a tough time getting open looks. Was it a struggle for you in the second half?
TRE'VON WILLIS: I mean, it was a tough game, you know, both halves. I had good shots. Most of the misses were in and outs and, you know, I would take those shots, you know, nine out of ten times.

Q. Oscar, what was your view of the last play where he hit the three from about 25 feet?
OSCAR BELLFIELD: I believe we were trapping a point guard and he dished it out to the open man and just had a nice look at it.

Q. Trey, can you talk about the last play with 1.6 seconds left? Was the play designed to be a lob to you at the top of the key?
TRE'VON WILLIS: Well, the play was designed for me to come off the screen, catch and we knew how long we had, 1.6. Pretty good amount of time to, you know, get my feet under me and hit the shot, and I believe I didn't get it off in time. I didn't have my balance, and the clock run out on us.

Q. What do you feel like kind of turned the tide in their favor there in the second half, back and forth game?
TRE'VON WILLIS: I'm not sure about that, but, you know, you got to give them credit. They played a good game, and, you know, we just fell a little short.
THE MODERATOR: Any further questions for the student athletes? One more.

Q. For both players, can you just talk about the season, some of your feelings and kind of look ahead to next year?
OSCAR BELLFIELD: I felt overall the season was, you know, great. We really enjoyed ourselves. I mean, the turnout wasn't how we wanted it. Was a great experience we really experienced and something we can look forward to and hopefully come back next year and do better.
TRE'VON WILLIS: Well, you know, losing the 1st Round is a little disappointing, but overall, we had a good season and, you know, we're definitely going to have our good days ahead of us and definitely get some work in this summer to come back and try to get -- go deeper in the Tournament.

Q. Oscar, could you talk about after you guys had kind of the stretch where you couldn't get anything going, you were able to cut it back from nine and tie it on your shot there at the end. What did you do to cut that deficit?
OSCAR BELLFIELD: Really just dig down deep and really compete. That's what we did. Paid off for awhile, and then just broke down at the end where he just got an open shot and just knocked it down.
THE MODERATOR: Anything else for the student-athletes? Okay, guys, thank you. Questions for Coach Kruger.

Q. You were trying to set Trey up to shoot at the end.
COACH KRUGER: We wanted to get it to him with a little gap at the top and had time for one dribble jumper. They did a good job of pressing up on him. 1.6, not a lot of time, but time to catch and get a dribble. That's what we were looking to do.

Q. Do you feel like your pressure and trapping got the results you wanted pretty much in the second half?
COACH KRUGER: It was good on occasion. I thought -- when they took the nine-point lead, we got a couple steals that got us back in the range. On the night we gave up a couple of easy ones as a result of it. For the most part, I thought the pressure was pretty good, forced some turnovers and created some points off of it. Not quite enough.

Q. Lon, it seemed like early on you were able to get them, for whatever reason, to take shots early in the shot clock and maybe play at your pace, and maybe the second half was played a little bit more at the pace that they're used the a little bit. Would you agree with that?
COACH KRUGER: They did a good job in the second half of getting the ball into the low post and playing from there. I thought that dictated to us a little bit when they couldn't score inside. We fouled them a few times. They did a nice job of moving the ball back out to the perimeter and made some shots from there, but they're a good ball club. Coach Jacobson does a terrific job, and it was a good game. Both teams really fought hard, and they made the shot late.

Q. Talked about the boost Matt Shaw gave you tonight. He had 12 points in the first half.
COACH KRUGER: Matt did. He really knocked down some shots, made big shots, he gives us a big lift. I thought he did a good job of setting the ball screens. Guys did a good job of getting the ball back to him at the right time. He stepped up there and knocked down a few.

Q. What did you say to the players in the locker room after the game when the season ends like that?
COACH KRUGER: At that moment nothing you're going to say is going to make them feel much better. I was really proud of their fight to get back into it today and tie it up late. I was proud of them all year. I thought they really consistently got better as the year unfolded.
They had great, great focus. They did everything that you want them to do. And it's a group, young group, and I'm sure in time they'll look forward to getting back out there and be anxious to get started in preparation for next year.

Q. In the last 30 seconds, for about 25 seconds of that, the pressure up top was very effective in shutting down UNI. Was there a breakdown in the last five seconds, or was the guy just able to weasel free?
COACH KRUGER: They got what, a 25-footer late there. Ali did a nice job of stepping up there and making it. We wanted to pressure it early, thinking they wanted to go for a last shot so they're not going to be real aggressive in attacking. If we can get a deflection early in the possession, obviously, we would have liked that, but they handled that pretty well and ended up making a deep shot.
THE MODERATOR: Last couple of questions, anyone, for Coach Kruger? Okay. Thank you, Coach. One more.
Go ahead.

Q. Did you have any timeouts in the last 30 seconds? I'm looking at the play-by-play. I was watching the game. Did you have any, did you call any, to set up a defense, or were you happy with what you had?
COACH KRUGER: We scored with 37 to go. We had one left at that point. UNI inbounded it, and then we took the timeout when we had 1.6 left underneath.
THE MODERATOR: Everybody okay? Good. Thank you.

End of FastScripts




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