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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: ST. LOUISMarch 21, 2014Glenn CoseyTarius JohnsonJeff NeubauerST. LOUIS, MISSOURI Kansas – 80 THE MODERATOR: Eastern Kentucky University is with us. Glenn Cosey, Tarius Johnson represent the student body of the Colonels. Coach Neubauer is also here, and we ask him to start off with a statement on the game. COACH NEUBAUER: We knew that Kansas was a great rebounding team and we absolutely had to steal it before they could rebound it. In the first half we did that really well. We had eight steals in the first half and that's what allowed us to get out of transition, what allowed us to limit their rebounding. The second half we didn't have any steals. And so they really did a great job of attacking the offensive glass. Glenn Cosey did a great job getting us started in this game. That's what we needed. We needed a start like he gave us. Tarius kept coming in the second half. And I just told our team in the locker room after the game I am incredibly proud to be their coach and they have done a phenomenal job this season. The way they will be remembered is as champions. Q. Glenn, can you talk about this playing in St. Louis. It's really not that far from your campus, fairly easy trip for your fans to come over here. GLENN COSEY: It's a great experience to come down here and play in front of these fans. That's about it. COACH NEUBAUER: I thought the section of EKU fans did a tremendous job. They were very vocal, they were on it from the beginning and they stayed with it. Obviously our team gave them a lot of reasons to stay with it, but it was a great group up there and we were very thankful to have the opportunity to play in front of those fans. Q. Coach, how much did Walden's foul trouble really affect you guys both on the offense and defense? COACH NEUBAUER: Corey is a very important part of our team, both ends. He is obviously the defensive player in our league and he's been playing incredibly well offensively. With that being said, that's not an excuse. Kansas really played great. I thought Isaac McGlone came in and did real well in the minutes he got in Corey's stead. If one or two things had gone differently, Corey doesn't get in the foul trouble. He had zero fouls and Eric Stutz was at the free‑throw line the first half and I had Isaac waiting to come in for Corey, and Eric missed the second one. And Eric is a great free throw shooter. And sure enough, they came down and picked up Corey's first foul. So my point is, if one or two things go differently, he's not in that sort of foul trouble. But obviously he did not play enough minutes for us tonight for us to win. Q. Did they make an adjustment at the half? It seems like Black came out a different player as far as the rebounding and then the scoring. And then when you guys put the pressure on, about the 5‑minute mark in the second half, deflecting balls. Did you still feel like you had juice in the tank to pull this out? THE MODERATOR: Tarius first and back to coach. TARIUS JOHNSON: Yeah, yeah. It felt like we had it. They out‑rebounded us a lot more in the second half than the first. Like Coach said, we got less steals and that's what we needed. They did a great job on the boards. And they were the better team. COACH NEUBAUER: So they may have made adjustments and Black did play great, but the difference was that we didn't steal the ball in the second half and they got more shots up. In the first half they didn't miss any shots for him to rebound, and in the second half they were very aggressive rebounding. I certainly did think we had plenty in the tank with 5 minutes left and I thought our 1‑3‑1 did create some problems and that's where we deflected the passes. Q. This is for the players and for Jeff as well. Can you talk a little bit about what you did with Wiggins? It looks to the untrained eye that he was a little passive early, but obviously you had something to do with that. Were you surprised he didn't get into the game until late in the first half? GLENN COSEY: Our game plan was to deny him the ball coming in, make him go backdoor, try to keep the ball away from him. I think they did a good job of drawing the lob play to get him open and get him going. COACH NEUBAUER: Glenn said it exactly right. You know, the first‑‑the best way to guard him is don't let him touch it and we did that very well, especially early in the game. And then they figured out and got more comfortable against our defense and did not turn it over in the last 25 minutes of the game. Q. Glenn, after your very hot start, did they adjust how they were playing you? And secondly, Jeff, what did they do differently? Was it just a personnel change there in the second half that allowed Kansas not to turn the ball over like they did? GLENN COSEY: Second half I think they made a good adjustment when they put Selden, put more length on me and ball screens. They tried to deny me sometimes, but that was about it. COACH NEUBAUER: What was it, I am sorry? Q. Was it Frankamp, his insertion? COACH NEUBAUER: Okay, I see. Part of it was maybe them becoming a little more comfortable. And against our defense the second and third time that people play us they're better against it. This is obviously Kansas's first time playing against us, so we were able to create the turnovers we want and need. Also, perhaps I played guys a lot of minutes. Maybe we weren't as energized and didn't deny as hard as we did in the first 15 minutes of the game. Q. Glenn, how much did Kansas' length, particularly around the basket, affect you guys? Usually you can either make threes or get cuts to the basket even when you guys were getting to the basket. It seemed they had shot blockers everywhere. GLENN COSEY: Yeah, their length really did bother us because we couldn't go up like we usually do. And we should have got in there and kicked it out. Especially myself, I should have got in and kicked it out more. Q. This can be either for Tarius and/or Glenn. Holding a lead up until the fourth quarter of the game late in the second half just how either disappointing, or if not disappointing, how much confidence does it hold for you guys against a team like Kansas moving forward? TARIUS JOHNSON: Honestly, we try to keep the lead, you know, like we have been doing in the past. We try to keep the lead, that's one of our motives. And they got up on us and it was very discouraging. It is now, it is our fault because we play so hard and fought for each other, so it is very discouraging for us. But like I said, they were the better team tonight and they won. Q. This is for the two players. When people look back on this season in EKU basketball, how do you want to be remembered? What do you want your legacy to be? GLENN COSEY: I want to be remembered as a champion, because that's what I am. It has been a fun two years here, setting records here, winning a lot of games. I was hoping tonight we would get to 50 wins, but overall I think it has been a great two years here. TARIUS JOHNSON: I would hope we would be remembered as a group with resilience and fight. You know, we stuck together all through the tough losses we had. And like Glenn said, we won quite a bit the two years we have been here. I feel we should be remembered as champions and always fighting. Q. Before your game started, Duke had lost to Mercer. Did you guys talk about that in the dressing room? And when you get ahead of Kansas the second half, do you take some hope from that? GLENN COSEY: I did see that game earlier and it gave me a lot of confidence coming into this game because anything is possible. And I feel like it was the year to upset that we could have pulled this one off. But unfortunately we couldn't. THE MODERATOR: Is there anything else for the student‑athletes of Eastern Kentucky at this point? Okay, gentlemen, we'll dismiss you. Thank you very much for your time. We're going to stay here with Coach Neubauer a little bit longer. Q. Bringing out the 1‑3‑1 late, is that something you had thought about previously?  Or was it a case of let's try this and see if it works? COACH NEUBAUER: Kansas played Florida early in the season and Kansas was winning the game in the first half and Florida went 1‑3‑1 and Kansas really struggled with it then. So we thought that it could be effective. My assistants actually suggested it in the first half. We played it on one side out of the time‑out in the first half, but we should have played more of it because it did give us a chance to deflect. It's amazing we didn't get any steals out of it in the second half, but it did do what it was supposed to do. Q. Is it I guess somewhat tough to deal with all of the sizes, to think that Kansas is still without a 7‑footer? COACH NEUBAUER: This is what I felt, it is a good question. You look at the stat sheet and Embiid has 72 blocks. And you think, hey, he is not playing, so the basket is no longer protected. But what I noticed throughout the Big 12 Tournament is that they still had all these athletes flying in there blocking shots. So what's different now is Embiid is not in there to block, but it just gives other great long athletes opportunities to block shots. So it is not‑‑their defense is still very similar without him, but other people are doing the blocking. Q. Coach, just to follow up on that a little bit, there's a lot of people this time of year making predictions, but you right now know more about Kansas than anybody in terms of the tournament. If they are able to add Embiid, what might their prospects be? COACH NEUBAUER: You know, obviously they are the third best team in the country according to the R.P.I. and that's even with them playing several games without Embiid. So that shows you how consistent they have been throughout a 30‑plus game season. You know, I do think that he does help their defense, so I am not saying that their defense now is exactly the same as it was two weeks ago when he played. I am just saying there are a lot of athletes in there blocking shots. So to answer your question, if he does come back and play very athletically as a basket protector, then he will help their team and they have a chance to be great here over the next few weeks. Q. Jeff, what do you think not only getting to the tournament, but pushing a team like Kansas can do for your program? COACH NEUBAUER: Well, it is a great step. Meaning, you heard these guys talk about 49 wins. Last year they won 25 games and set a school record for wins. EKU had never won 25 games. And this year they follow it up and win 24 more and make it to the NCAA Tournament. So making it to the NCAA Tournament is a totally different animal than just winning 25 games. And so I'm really proud of our team for pushing Kansas. We certainly came in here to win the game. But our guys did play hard as heck. Q. Do you think there's something to be said for what your team has accomplished, given all the talk about transfers in college basketball and bringing people from different backgrounds together and their second school? Does what you've accomplished show what can be done given the environment we're in? COACH NEUBAUER: It's a good question. I think that a lot of our‑‑we have a lot of junior college transfers. Orlando Williams is a four‑year transfer. That is one of the good things about college basketball, it does bring people from all different backgrounds, different cultures together. And this team has been as tight as any team I've ever coached. There are no cliques on our team. It really‑‑it's 15 guys all together. There's absolutely no one who's separate and. I think that is something pretty special about our team, maybe about our University, and about college basketball in general. THE MODERATOR: Anything else for the head coach of Eastern Kentucky? All right, thank you. Congratulations. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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