American Quotes
Redshirt Sophomore Guard Jordan Price
On if he thought they were going to win in overtime:
“With the momentum moving our way I thought we had a great chance of winning the game in overtime but obviously it didn’t happen.”
On if he had ever hit a shot like that:
“In my younger days I have. I practice it every day in practice so I was pretty confident in shooting it.”
On American’s outside shooting:
“Our game plan was to not let them shoot threes. I think they made five in the first half and a couple in the second half. That was our game plan to not let them shoot threes. We came out a bit sluggish and let them get on a roll shooting open threes. That’s what got us in a hole real quick.”
On going with the big lineup in the second half:
“In practice we practice that a lot with three bigs. We didn’t want them catching and shooting threes. Behind the screen they were shooting them. With a big lineup we could switch everything, that’s why they didn’t have as many threes in the second half.”
On falling behind early:
“Its real stressful trying to comeback every game. We need to come out and start better, execute better.”
Senior Forward Jerrell Wright
On going with a big lineup:
“It’s all about the defensive edge. With the three bigs out there we went on a bit of a run. We thought that it was the way to go to play three bigs.”
On the slow start:
“They were hitting tough shots. We went over their offense for three days. We just came out flat. They came out and hit us right in the mouth. If we had come out with a better defensive edge it might have been different. Because we came out flat we had to fight back and that took a toll on us.”
Head Coach Dr. John Giannini
Opening Statement:
“I think any coach will say that there are times when their team plays poorly. Sometimes it has to do with the opponent, sometimes you just don’t have your best day. But today was the first time that we played poorly because we weren’t ready to play. I know why and we weren’t ready to play and it cost us the game. Of course it cost us a game because we were playing a good team. You can’t not be ready to play against a team like American especially when they are shooting the ball the way they are. I think we will learn from that because we have spectacular kids on this team. Not good kids, great kids. I love them to death. I told them after the game that I wouldn’t trade them for anyone, I mean that. Our chemistry is great, but we weren’t ready to play today.”
On what they changed down 20 in the second half:
“At that point we switched everything and it really was much more effective for us. It was like a night and day type of switch.”
On going big in the second half:
“Again we weren’t ready to play and you can count on Rohan Brown to play hard. We went big and switched everything which makes the defense easier in terms of covering their big guy. It worked and gave us a chance to win. Give them credit for winning in overtime.”
On Jordan Price:
“He is a very talented guy. We are a much better team because he is here. We have great chemistry because he is here. He can get better too. Like the rest of us, we all had defensive breakdowns. We clearly with 23 turnovers had a bad passing game. Our whole team including Jordan can improve especially in those areas.”
On how he felt after the buzzer beater:
“It felt great. For how hard we played to get back into it, it felt great. That’s why they deserve all the credit in the world. They are a veteran team and are going to have a terrific year and that’s why we scheduled them.”
