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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 15, 2013Melvin EjimFred HoibergGeorges NiangKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI KANSAS – 88 THE MODERATOR: We're ready to begin with Iowa State and Coach Fred Hoiberg, student‑athletes Melvin Ejim and Georges Niang. Coach, your thoughts on tonight's game. COACH HOIBERG: I thought we came out with great energy getting an 8‑point lead early. And I thought we got a little stagnant with the ball. You can't do that against Kansas. They're too long to make those stops inside. You gotta try to get some pace in it and move the ball to the second side of the floor. We didn't do a good enough job with that. We put ourselves in a position to be playing very meaningful games at this time. Our backs were against the wall last week. We felt we needed to get three more wins. And I give our guys a lot of credit for responding and going and get a big win against Oklahoma State, get a great win on the road against West Virginia, and then a huge win yesterday against Oklahoma. So I'm proud of our guys for the finish we had. It's unfortunate we didn't win or get a chance to play for the championship right now. But overall the last week and a half I'm happy where we are. And we'll regroup, get back after Selection Sunday and put a game plan together for our opponent on Monday. But we're excited to be moving on and playing meaningful games at this time of year. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Georges, Perry Ellis had the game of his life tonight. What was he doing that was such a difference maker tonight? GEORGES NIANG: I think he did a great job of finishing dump‑downs. I think sometimes we got caught out of position, and I think he had two open drop‑down dunks. And he built off that. He hit a couple of jump shots. The kid played a good game, and we weren't expecting that, and sometimes you just gotta take that and regroup and move on. Q. Melvin and Georges, can you talk a little bit about how physical Kansas seemed in the second half? There were stretches where they seemed to win everything in the shadow of the basket. How tough was it this matchup to deal with them in the paint? MELVIN EJIM: They're a big, strong team. They're able to use their size to their advantage to that. And they were able to get to the loose balls, loose rebounds, and that was a big part of why we lost. They outrebounded us on the glass, and they really got a lot of those 50/50 balls. We just weren't able to get those stops. We needed to get those rebounds and get those loose balls. GEORGES NIANG: They did a great job of getting it in the post and drawing some fouls early. And in the second half, they were making some tough shots in the lane and we couldn't seem to stop them at some point. Q. Melvin, talk about the emotion your team had coming in tonight's contest against KU. MELVIN EJIM: Coming off an emotional win from yesterday and then this game where Kansas had beat us twice and we really wanted to win this game, we came out really good. Our emotion level was high, and we were riding that a little bit. Then it kind of died off and the game took over and we weren't able to get those critical stops we needed. But I think everyone was excited for this game, and we came out and we gave them the first punch. We did well. But towards the end of the game in the second half we just weren't able to do those key things that a team needs to do to win a game like this. Q. How much did the game change when Self picked up that technical foul? Seemed like they put it up another couple of notches after that. How did the game change after he got the technical foul? GEORGES NIANG: Being out there, I don't know if I really noticed it that Bill Self got the technical, that that changed anything. They just started scoring, making shots. We tried to go down there too fast and make some tough plays, and they got a couple of turnovers. And turnovers hurt us, and they got some offensive rebounds that also hurt us. MELVIN EJIM: I don't think that his technical really affected anything. Towards the end of the game his technical, it wasn't a game changer. Might have motivated his team to play a little bit better, but for us on the court, we were just playing a game. And like Georges said, they were able to go out there and make plays, and they were getting stops. We weren't hitting a lot of shots, and they were able to take advantage of that. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach. Q. Fred, looked like there was a moment in the huddle where maybe you tossed a chair a little bit. Were you trying to light a little bit of a fire during a timeout there, is that what happened? And, if so, is that what you were trying to do? COACH HOIBERG: I don't know that I tossed it. I just picked it up and put it back down. Yeah, I was. I was trying to get us going a little bit. And they outrebounded us by 10. And we really felt we had to win the rebound battle if we were going to have a chance to win this game. It's what kept us in it the first couple times. We had low turnovers and we got quality possessions really each and every time down the floor the first time we played Kansas. We had 14 turnovers and only ten assists. And that shows when we have low assist numbers we just don't have that thing moving around and flying around the perimeter like we normally do. The last one we had like this was Oklahoma. I think we had nine turnovers. I'm sorry, nine assists. And then after that we were up around 20. And that's when we're at our best, is when we get that thing really moving. And just too many turnovers and not a good enough job on the glass. Q. Tonight Perry Ellis had a big game, Elijah Johnson the last time. When you guys kind of game plan coming into today, what were the things you were focusing on and how did you feel overall you ended up doing looking back on the game now? COACH HOIBERG: The game plan was stuff we talked about all the time with our keys, is to take care of the basketball and control the glass. We talked about that every game as being the keys to us achieving the win. And we didn't do a good job of that. Again, 14 turnovers, only ten assists, get outrebounded by 10, and that's not good enough against a great team like Kansas. Q. How much do you think these last two games will help your team moving on to what should be an NCAA Tournament berth? COACH HOIBERG: I think the Oklahoma game, the fact that we found a way to respond and battle through adversity and get a tough win when I thought we had to have it. It showed a lot of heart and character out of our team. I was proud of our guys to get that one. Today we got off to a great start and hit a wall and had a tough time, especially in the second half. They scored 15 out of 18 possessions, and again they shoot 69percent in the second half. You just can't allow that and still have a chance to beat a great team like this. I think we hit 8 out of 9 at one point, but we just couldn't find a way to get enough stops to get over the hump. Q. When it comes to rebounding, was it their size or positioning or effort? What gave them the advantage? COACH HOIBERG: I thought size. I thought they got the loose balls tonight. And that's disappointing. We got them all in the second half against Oklahoma. To outrebound that team by 13 in the second half showed how hard we were playing. They just‑‑ the ball would bounce off us and they'd get it, go right up, layup, or 3‑point play. You've got to have good, physical, strong cutouts against a team with that type of length, because if you just try to jump with them, they'll go over your back and get it and get second‑chance opportunities. I'll have to go back and look at the tape on it. Obviously you learn more when you watch it the second time. But they just seem to get the 50/50 balls. Q. Can you talk about Perry Ellis's game tonight? COACH HOIBERG: He was great. I think Young got hurt a little bit, and Perry Ellis stepped in there and obviously gave us a lot of trouble. Got deep position on us, and, again, just got too good a position. We helped up on Withey a couple of times from areas on the floor we weren't supposed to, and dropped it in to him for a dunk. He got his confidence going. Hit a couple of jump shots. We were going to live with those, with him and Traylor and Young shooting them, but that got him going, got his confidence up. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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