Postgame press conference: UAB 85, Temple 69
Temple head coach Adam Fisher brought his entire team with him to the postgame press conference following the Owls’ 85-69 loss to UAB in Sunday’s American Athletic Conference tournament championship game.
The program’s first-year head coach and junior point guard Hysier Miller, who was named to the all-tournament team, answered questions from reporters, and you can read a transcription of the press conference here.
Fisher’s opening statement:
“First, want to give congratulations. Coach Andy Kennedy and UAB. Great, great week they had, and they're a heck of a team. Wish them all the best in the NCAA Tournament. He's a great coach. They’ve got a ton of great players. So again, congratulations to them.
“Really just proud of this group. We talk all the time about being Team 128, and everything we do, as you can see behind us, we do it together. We win together, we lose together, but together is the key word. So the first half, I thought they jumped us. (Alejandro) Vasquez was great. He hit some tough shots. We were trying to keep the ball out his hand, and he just kept making plays. But again, I'm proud of how we responded in the second half and did some really good stuff. So while this one really hurts, it's got to fuel us. We've got to have the expectation that in this program, you play meaningful games in March.”
Fisher on whether or not UAB is a bad matchup for Temple:
“No, I think they're really skilled. I think they've shot the ball extremely well against us. I think that might be 20 threes in two games. I think they put the ball on the floor and they have bigs and they go to the glass really hard, so you can't take everything away. But again, give them credit. I think they did some really good things offensively and defensively. They switch up defenses a lot, and that can take you out of a rhythm. But I thought we did a much better job in the second half.”
Fisher on playing a lot of zone defense and what he was trying to accomplish defensively:
“Six games in eight days, right? (The Owls went) 5-1, six games in eight days, and I thought the zone was really good for us. We just wanted to try to take them out of a rhythm. Again, they made shots in the first half. The second half, we tried to mix it up a little bit, too. But again, great credit to them. They made shots.”
Fisher on Temple’s 14 turnovers against UAB after the Owls committed 14 combined in the previous two games and what the team tried to do in the second half to limit that:
“They have great length, one through five. They're extremely active, they're in passing lanes, they swipe going for steals. So I think when you have that, you're gonna have a little bit more turnovers. I thought we did a better job in the second half of cleaning some of that up. I think we reduced it by a couple. But again, it's a credit to their activity, their length and they mix up defenses.”
Fisher on how he would summarize the last 10 days on a human level:
“It's been an incredible run with these guys. We left on Saturday morning (March 10), and we've been together since Sunday. And that's what I remember. I’ll remember being at the hotel with these guys and you're eating together. And Zion (Stanford), for whatever reason, sits at the coaches table at every meal. Haven't still figured that out yet. But it's being on the bus, it's seeing their enjoyment, and the greatest joy I had as a coach was watching them enjoy this week and the energy, the passion. I think they really represented our university great, and that, I'm grateful for. So I'm more excited about their happiness during this run."
Miller on what the team as a whole means to him:
“This group is really special. I mean, we all were kind of coming from different places. We’ve got a couple guys who have already been here for some time. We’ve got some transfers coming in, a new coach, and we knew that the only way we'll be able to make a run in March was to come together. But early in the season, we kind of didn’t click right away. Then we just had to keep grinding, keep coming in. Long days, long losing streaks, and just sticking with it. And then eventually, we finally found our rhythm and were able to win some games and that's what I think make this group so special. Nobody really cares about who does it, as long as it gets done. A lot of us have pretty good games and we all bring different stuff to the table.”
Fisher when asked if he feels he rejuvenated the Temple basketball program:
“They did it. These guys did it. When you have a great administration like we do, you have a great university, and you have great players and great coaches … when you're all on the same page and you're all aligned the right way, that's what it is. And again, I'm proud of these guys for the effort. They could have crumbled throughout, even today, but they kept going.”
Miller when asked how the team has been able to “block out all the noise of the last 10 days,” referring to the watchdog group U.S. Integrity flagging Temple’s March 7 game against UAB for unusual gambling activity and the coverage and attention that came with it:
“I mean, just hooping. Everybody just getting up and playing together, just trying to find ways to win. So, it really is no noise. It's just us, one game at a time, just trying to get the next win. Like today. We were just in another one-game tournament. We just came up short, but we’ve just been hooping.”
Miller on looking ahead to next season and if this recent run is a starting point for the program with several key players eligible to return:
“I think this was real special for what we want to do in the future because, you know, you can carry that momentum into a great spring, into a great summer, to do big things.”
Miller when he was asked if he packed for 10 days going back to the regular-season finale at UTSA and if he had to wear anything twice on the trip:
“Coach said it before we even left, multiple days before we left. Pack for seven days, pack until Sunday, and that’s been our goal since we left. So I'm sure everybody packed until Sunday and we made it possible to wear all our clothes."
Miller when asked if he ever felt tired at any moment playing five games in five days:
“I'm sure we all were tired at some points, but it’s mental at the end of the day. We all just tired to come out and play for each other. I mean, if I'm tired and focusing on my body, then imagine what the next guy feels. So we were just trying to push through that and just move forward.”
Fisher on having to immediately think about retaining and managing Temple’s roster with the NCAA’s transfer portal set to open Monday:
“It's just the new norm in all of college athletics. We’ll get back, we'll do individual meetings with guys and show them what we expected, our plan for guys. And then it starts on Monday, you’ll see names go in and out. And I think right now my focus is on these guys, just making sure that they're good. We get back to campus, they get back to class, and that's our focus right now.”
Fisher when asked what the difference was between the way Temple played in the conference tournament and the way the Owls played down the stretch in the regular season:
“(ESPN analyst and former Penn State and UCLA guard) Jon Crispin said this to me when we played at FAU (during the regular season), and it's winning is a skill. And we were so close, so close, so close that when we got that first one at home versus UTSA, I think it gave us the belief to, ‘Hey, keep doing what we're doing. It's working.’ And then that's contagious. So I think it was these guys’ ability to stay focused, stay together, believe in what we were trying to do, and not (say), ‘Hey, this isn't working.’ I thought it brought us more together. And then our goal has always been to get better. And again, I think we did get better. I think we probably took one or two steps during the last two months that didn't go how I would have liked, but if you keep getting better and keep bringing the same energy and you have the same approach, you're gonna do great things.”
Fisher when asked if Temple would accept a bid to the NIT: (Editor’s note: The NIT does not take teams with sub-.500 records.)
‘I think any chance you get an opportunity to play is awesome, and I love this group. Again, we control what we can control. I don't know anything about that stuff, but I love being around these guys. That, I know.”
Fisher on why he decided to bring the entire team with him to the dais at the postgame press conference:
“Because everybody on this stage contributed -- every single person, whether they got in the game or didn't, whether it's the scout team, whatever it is. Everything we do is as a group, and I think some guys don't get recognition they deserve sometimes. And, you know, it was a spur of the moment thing. We were in the locker room and we basically just said, ‘Hey, we're all going. We're all going together.’ And I think that shows this team, shows their character, and this is what it is at Temple. You come together, good times, bad times, whatever it might be, you come together and that's part of being Temple tough.”