Wofford Terriers
Coach Mike Young
Opening statement
“I’m so very proud of our team. To do it again is special. Our fourth in six years and with as fun a group as I’ve ever had in 29 years of coaching. They’re team guys and selfless guys who represent the college and Spartanburg with unbelievable class. To be able to come in here with that net and represent our school in the NCAA tournament again is beyond comprehension. I’m beyond excited about it.”
On what winning back-to-back tournaments says about the guys on his team
“It speaks volumes. If you haven’t done this as some of us have done it, you take it for granted. Wofford was picked to win it. Wofford was 16-2 in the regular season. You hit the reset button when you come up here. It takes one bad night or, heaven forbid, an injury, which occurred with Kris Acox. He’s a really good basketball player. For this bunch, to have a target on their back and take on all comers, shows they are high-character people. You don’t do it with selfish, self-absorbed guys. You do it with guys who are about one thing, and that’s winning. These guys are about winning. They want to know what they have to do to win. Our timeouts are comical at times. You hear things about body language, staying together, and you hear guys coaching one another. Skinner sometimes drowns me out, and that’s okay. I’ll take that from a guy like him. It’s great fun. Unbelievable fun.”
On the SoCon tournament and the city of Asheville
“To Commissioner (John) Iamarino and this city, what the city of Asheville and corporate sponsors do for the experience of our players is remarkable. I am so impressed and so appreciative. What a wonderful time it is to come to this city each year. I think it’s important to make that point.”
Senior forward Lee Skinner
On why it’s so important to him to be a leader on this team
“The team, coach Young, the coaches, they all mean a lot to me. For me, as an individual, I can’t even put in to words how much I love this team. I’d do anything for them. If anyone is going to take a hit to the chin or have to come up big, I want to go first. I’ve been that way since I stepped in the locker room and put on a jersey to play for coach Young. I’m just really proud of our team and coaches. I’m excited for the next week or two. We’ve still got some work to do.”
Sophomore guard Eric Garcia
On what winning two in a row means to him
“It’s crazy. I’m only a sophomore, so I don’t know what it’s like to lose. As long as coach is happy. We say, ‘Happy coach, happy life.’ I just wanted to win it for Lee (Skinner), Karl (Cochran) and John (Swinton) and send the seniors out the right way.”
On advancing to the NCAA tournament
“It’s different from last year. We knew we would be a lower seed, a 15-seed. But this year we could get a higher seed. Any game we go into, we are confident and think we can win.”
Furman Paladins
Coach Niko Medved
Opening statement
“I couldn’t ask for one more ounce of effort from these guys here in this tournament. It was unbelievable. They played their hearts out. It was an unbelievable game. It was as good of a game as I have been a part of in basketball. Everybody stepped up. Kris Acox broke his foot four minutes into the game. We played Geoff Beans at center and we never backed down an inch. I told these guys I couldn’t be prouder of a group. They showed so much here, and I hate it for them to lose. I love the way that they play and the way that they fought back. It was a great effort tonight.”
On what this weekend means to the Furman program
“It’s hard to process right now. Everything happened so fast. For me, all I thought about today was winning this game. I believed we were going to win all these games. That was my focus. The ball was tipped and I just thought that it was another game that we have to win. Obviously, we are emotional now that it sinks in. What an unbelievable environment today. I really want to thank our fans and everyone who came out and cheered. It’s hard to say what it means. Clearly, it’s a springboard. These kids have got belief and they believe that they could win. They can be a good team, and they are a really good team. If a bounce or two goes our way, they could be champions today, but unfortunately that’s not the way it goes.”
On how they focused on the game and avoided distractions
“We try to always stay simple. I told the guys today, I can pick out any of the players and they could draw up the game plan. They know the keys on offense and the keys on defense. We tried to make it about that and what we have to do to be successful. At some point, the official has the ball, and when he releases it, it’s a basketball game. That’s what it is. The team that executes the best and does the things that it takes is the one that’s going to win. That’s what we tried to focus on.”
Freshman forward Geoff Beans
On how they focused on the game and avoided distractions
“From the start of the tournament, everyone may have been surprised, but everyone in our locker room expected this. We wanted to take it one game at a time and survive and advance. We expected all these games to be wins for us. We didn’t focus on the outside stuff. We stayed focused on the task at hand. We just fell short.”
Junior guard Stephen Croone
On how they focused on the game and avoided distractions
“All year, coach has been preaching to us about trusting the process. Our regular season didn’t go as planned. We won eight regular-season games. Coach said to keep trusting, and one day it was going to turn for us. That happened at the beginning of the tournament. That gave us confidence going into every game. We expected to win every game. I’m just sad we fell short tonight.”
On how the team will use the loss moving forward
“We’re going to remember this feeling. Every workout, every time we’re in weights, every practice, team dinner, whatever it is, we are going to remember this feeling and use it as motivation for next year.”