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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: ALBUQUERQUEMarch 17, 2012Festus EzeliJohn JenkinsKevin StallingsJeffery TaylorALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO Wisconsin – 60 THE MODERATOR: Coach, an opening statement, please. COACH STALLINGS: Well, it was a great college game if you didn't care who won. We're very disappointed to have not won. We certainly had some opportunities there at the end, and they made a few more plays than we did and deserved to win. I'm really proud of my team and proud of my seniors, especially. They've given us so much over the course of their careers. It really hurts for them because they've invested so much in our program and done so much that's good and right in college athletics. I'm very, very proud of them and very disappointed that we were not able to win. But we congratulate Wisconsin because they did, and they made a few more plays than we did. Q. John, how would you describe that last look that you had? JOHN JENKINS: It was a pretty good look. I felt like I got a good chance of having it going in, just like a lot of looks I had today. It just didn't drop for me. Q. John, can you talk about that? Because you don't have days where the ball doesn't go in. Also, what were you holding again on the last inbounds pass that was batted down by their center? JOHN JENKINS: Well, people who are going to shoot have off days, and it was one of mine today, unfortunately. I wanted to keep playing. I didn't want to give up on it. The last play, I think the ball got tipped. My back was turned, so I didn't see the end of it. I think the ball got tipped, and that was it. Q. Jeffery, the defense that they put on you, how much of an effect did that have on your shooting woes today, or was it just a matter of the ball not going in for you? JEFFERY TAYLOR: I think it was more a matter of the ball not going in. All of my shots pretty much felt good. They just were a little bit short or a little bit too long. Things like that happen in basketball. The ball isn't always going to bounce your way, but I felt like I got really good looks. Q. Jeffery, was it tough for you to get into a rhythm because of the foul trouble? JEFFERY TAYLOR: Yeah, I mean, when you start off the game like that and you have to kind of play spot minutes, it's tough to get into the rhythm of the game. So, yeah, it was a tough first half. Q. Festus, can you address, Wisconsin got a number of sort of loose ball rebounds there at the end, especially a key one with 16 seconds left. What do you remember on that possession? FESTUS EZELI: I remember the shot clock running down. Taylor took a shot, I think that's who it was. I mean, long shots produce long rebounds. We know that. I don't know, we just didn't come up with the ball. Q. Jeffery, obviously not the way you wanted fog out in The Pit, but can you talk about what the experience was like playing here this week? JEFFERY TAYLOR: It was a bittersweet experience. I was hoping to get the same kind of ending I got last time I was here. It was really nice to be able to come back and play in front of NewMexico fans and friends and family that I haven't gotten an opportunity to play in front of for four years. But this wasn't the outcome that we were looking for. We wanted to come down here and win two games. Unfortunately, they just made a couple more plays than we did down that stretch of the game. Q. How much do you think Festus not starting affected that hole you guys were in? JEFFERY TAYLOR: Not at all. It's up to whoever is on the court to show up and be ready. I mean, we played without Fest starting a bunch this year, and nothing like that has happened. They just made some good plays at the beginning of the game. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Stallings. Q. Coach, obviously the zone at the end of the game gave Wisconsin some trouble, but did that give you guys a problem rebounding there at the end, do you think? COACH STALLINGS: No, I thought we rebounded really well. They just got two long ones there at the end back‑to‑back. I'd really have to see the replay to see why. But they hustled those down and, obviously, that was big in the game. But the zone worked. It helped us get back in the game, and it was certainly bothersome to them in the last several minutes of the game. Unfortunately we just didn't come up with those two balls. We got a really good look at the basket. We were at the foul line to tie the game up. We just had some things that didn't play out the way we wanted them to. But the zone was our best chance to win the game, for sure. Q. The last play you drew up, that inbound that Berggren blocked out. Can you take us through what you hoped to get out of it? COACH STALLINGS: We had three different options. We had three different things going. I actually‑‑ the last one might have, which was the one we thought we'd get to, we thought they would see the first two. I think Jenkins was going to be open there on the left side of the court, which is really what we were playing for. Unfortunately, the ball got tipped. He's a big, long guy. That's a tough pass to throw with not much space back there. Q. What did you think of John's look for that potential three? COACH STALLINGS: He was wide open. He's a great shooter, period. He's a really great shooter going left, and he was going left and he was wide open. They were afraid to switch because we had gotten them on the roll a couple times, so they didn't show out. It might have been the best look he had the whole game. So we ran the play, ran it to perfection. Got it right where we wanted him, and he's made so many that have caused us to win games, and unfortunately, that one just didn't go in. Q. Coach, I don't want to cost you any money, but you were upset after that missed shot by John, and it wasn't about the missed shot; is that correct? COACH STALLINGS: Yeah, that's correct. Q. Coach, Evans got off to a really hot start, and you really buckled down on defense after that. What changes did you make to take him out of the game after? COACH STALLINGS: We just tried to deny him the ball. We doubled him a couple times. One time he threw it to us, so we just tried to vary our looks at him and put some different people on him and things like that. I mean, he couldn't keep going the way he was going the whole day or he would have had a hundred points, so he had to slow down at some point. Q. Kevin, you mentioned that Jenkins had maybe as good a look as he had all day on that last one. You went 5 for 19 from three in the game. Did "W" do as good a job this season limiting your looks from behind the arc? COACH STALLINGS: If you look at them, statistically, they're very good at defending the three. We knew that going in. You try to get good looks against them, we got some, some we didn't. We took some contested ones. That last one wasn't contested. But we ran a play that had worked for us throughout the game, and it gave us the exact. If had you just asked me what I was hoping to get in the play, what you saw was exactly what I was hoping for. When you give that kid a wide open look, he makes most of them. Today he didn't make it, which, that's okay. If we could go out there and do it again, I'd like to see that look again, and I'd give it to him again. Q. Coach, what recourse do you have after a game is over to talk about a call that you don't think was called correctly? COACH STALLINGS: That call didn't cost us the game. The guy that got fouled had just missed before that anyway. So who is to say he would have made the free throws? That didn't cost us the game. Wisconsin cost us the game. They played better than we did, and they made plays at the end, hustled down a couple balls that were loose that were maybe 50‑50 balls that we might have gotten. There was no call that cost us the game. It was just was what it was, but that didn't cost us the game. Them playing better than we did is what cost us the game. Q. What was the play call there on that last play? COACH STALLINGS: Our play? Q. Yeah. COACH STALLINGS: You want to know the name of it? Q. What was the setup? COACH STALLINGS: It was just a side‑ball screen, and our five‑man setting a ball screen for John, and John going left. We screened the five-man into the ball screen to create some separation with his defender. They had been showing out on it all game long, but we had started getting the roll guy on our ball. So we got a dunk. So they were afraid to give up the lay‑up. That's why John ended up wide open. We got the guy screened, John jabbed him, came off, and I think he took two dribbles. It was real clean. He was real clear. Like I said, we'd run the same play again if we had it to do over again. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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