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NCAA MEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: MEMPHISMarch 27, 2014Archie MillerKendall PollardJordan SibertMEMPHIS, TENNESSEE Dayton – 82 THE MODERATOR: At this time, we'll get started for post‑game press conference for Dayton. Head coach Archie Miller and student‑athletes Kendall Pollard and Jordan Sibert. We'll begin with an opening statement for CoachMiller, and then we'll take questions for Coach and the student‑athletes. COACH MILLER: Obviously, a great week for us to prepare. Stanford presented a lot of the challenges that we thought that they had. Their size was something that was a little bit overwhelming to us I thought early. Then as the game progressed, it continued to kind of keep us at bay. I give our guys a lot of credit. We had, I think, 11 guys score in the game, and from top to bottom, they just kept coming and coming and coming. The way they shared the ball, the way they moved the ball, I thought we pressured the ball, at times it gave us a chance. It was a true team effort. That's what they've been about all year, so it's nice to see on the biggest stage, us be ourselves. Q. For Kendall, you guys have had a lot of people step up and make a contribution at some point this year. What went into making you feel like tonight might be your night? KENDALL POLLARD: Coach just put faith in me, put me out there for a good amount of minutes, and I just tried to capitalize and just do my best out there. Q. Jordan, I know a win's a win, but what was it like not to have to get a defensive stop at the end of the game and kind of take a breath and say, That was a little bit easier? JORDAN SIBERT: It was definitely a relief. It's kind of nerve‑racking when you have to get that stop and you have to make a game‑winning shot to get the win. My teammates did a great job of applying pressure. Credit to Stanford. They did a great job, making it tough for us all day. At the end of the game, my teammates did a great job of executing offensively and defensively, and we were able to stretch our lead. Q. Jordan, did you guys feel like you guys could pretty much get to the paint whenever you needed to? JORDAN SIBERT: Yeah, we did for most of the game. It was kind of tough, though, with their length. They were definitely a long team. Ball pressure was definitely high on their part. But I felt like, whenever we had a chance to get it in, we did a good job of getting it in, and we did a good job of finishing around the basket and making everybody else better. Q. Archie, how did you sort of come to trust Kendall in what was your biggest game of the year? COACH MILLER: This guy's a big‑time winner. Four state championships, played at Simeon, played with I don't know how many Division I players and the pressure that they were under, he's not afraid of anything. He's been that way most of the year. I give him some credit, though, I thought maybe in the last month of the season, rather than sticking to, Hey, I'll come to practice every day. If Coach puts me in, I'll be all right. I thought he kicked it into another gear. His practices have been aggressive. He's had a very good bounce about him in terms of confidence, trying to make plays, and not just tonight, he's helped us in a lot of games. In particular right now, I really feel like we can trust him. I feel like we can trust him. He's earned that with the way he's prepared. He's come a long way like a lot of our guys have. The other two freshmen were on the floor with him at the same time in the first half when we had really good bounce about us. Those guys are really great kids, winners. They've really blended. It's been a sacrifice for everybody. This guy didn't check into a couple games and maybe played one minute in a couple games in January and February. He's at his best now, and I think that's just a tribute to not only him, but everybody on our team to kind of stay with it. And their camaraderie, their togetherness has kind of led us to be sitting here tonight. Q. Archie, sometimes you get to the postseason and coaches shrink their rotation. You haven't done that. What is it about these guys that you have the confidence to keep playing that many guys? COACH MILLER: I think you have to have a feel that at some of our best moments of the season, we stuck with everybody. At times when the games are bigger and the moments are bigger, you sort of get with the guys that have been there the longest. But at the end of the day, this team isn't built that way. Fatigue sets in. We're not as tough, and we don't have that ability to sort of spurt and break away. I think like tonight, I think the bench was 34‑2, and we talked about that a lot going into the game. I think like tonight maybe was Kendall's good game, and I thought Scooch did well. I thought Kyle was really important. But I can go back three or four weeks ago at St.Louis, and that was just a pressure cooker of a game, and all three of them were out there at the same time. I look at Vee Stanford, his moments at the Ohio State game. A lot of guys, Devon Scott was terrific tonight for us, and he hasn't played much. But they're that way every day in practice, so you've got to give him that chance. You've got to just stick with him. If one guy's not working out well, go with the next guy. If he is doing well, keep him in there. It's worked out well for us. I don't think that every team is that way. This is a special group that's been able on the fly not playing and playing. They've been the same all the time. They don't get up or down if they don't get in the game. They just come ready. Q. Coach, how big was the crowd for you guys tonight? Saw a lot of Dayton Red out there. How big was that for you to feed off of? COACH MILLER: It was a home game. I mean, it was a home game. I think I said this at the press conference the other day. I don't know how we'll play, but our fans will be the loudest, and they will stand out. What I didn't know was how many were going to be here. They've been that way all the time. I keep telling everybody, no one understands it. This is the greatest stage for them to shine. It's the best fan base that a basketball community can be. There's other great schools, big schools, but you're talking about a private institution of about 7,000, 9,000 students that are filling up FedEx Forum for these guys. And I think that's what makes this place really special. Q. Jordan, do you guys feed off the fact that with the seed you have, people on the outside kind of look at you and figure that you can't do it? JORDAN SIBERT: Absolutely. That's definitely something that we've been talking about all year. People have been doubting us and not giving us a lot of credit. But I know these guys. I know what Coach wants. We all want to win. At the end of the day, we all want to be winners and be considered winners. We fight every day in practice. We compete every day. No matter what, we just want to go out there and show people that we can compete with anybody and handle anybody. We've just been doing that, and we just want to keep it going. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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