March 18, 2009

Recap |  Final Stats

Penn State vs. George Mason • First Round NIT • Quotes

Penn State Coach Ed DeChellis

Q: What's the update on Jamelle?
A: I don't know yet. He had it in a sling. The last time he did it, we didn't know until the next morning. It's the whole stinger thing. Once the stinging goes away, then you have to get the feeling and strength back. We will see what happens.

Q: What are your thoughts overall of the game?
A: I thought it was a pretty good game. I thought it was a good basketball game. Both teams were excited to be here and play. There was a great energy in the building. It was a fun, great basketball game. Both teams scored. Both teams didn't guard great, but they had fun playing and it feels good to be on the winning side. It's our first postseason win since 2001, so there is a lot of good stuff.

Q: What is it about Talor's personality that makes him want the ball in those situations and be able to succeed?
A: He's a winner. The kid loves to win and hates to lose. He's competitive. We fool around in practice, and sometimes I stack it so he can't win, and he just hates it, just to upset him a little bit and humble him. But he is a kid that would play if we said let's play for one minute and win it all, he would be fine with that. He just loves to play, and he wants the ball in his hands. Even though he makes a mistake or turns it over, it isn't a lack of confidence, and he will shoot it and try to score.

Q: What is it about him that he can make such a bad play, and six seconds later, make an amazing play?
A: I think he has the ability to let it go, not to dwell on things and let it roll off his back. That is a great trait to have when you are a player, especially in his position. If you are a quarterback and you throw a couple of interceptions, and all the sudden now, you don't want to make a tough play or you don't want to throw, it's going to be a long night for you. But this young guy has the ability to let it roll. You make a mistake, let it go, and let's move on to the next play. That is something that we have talked about a lot. Let's move on to the next play, let's not worry about the last one.

Q: What is it about you that makes you the ice guy and want to take that shot?
A: First of all, coach wanted the ball in my hands at the end of the game. I turned it over the play before, and the same thing happened at the Illinois game, and I told my teammates I was going to make it up to them. Jeff has a little thing he says to me with four minutes left, and I just ran as fast as I could. I was surprised they didn't foul, and I just shot it and it went in. Thank God. They were up by three the whole time. I thought they were just going to foul me, but they didn't, and I was fortunate enough to hit the shot.

Q: Do you get more confident the more game-winning shots you make?
A: I don't know, it's just fun. In practice, I always joke around with coach, he will tell you. When we do our last second things, I always try to shoot it. I like to call myself Mr. Big Shot. It's more of a joke, but during the games, coach wants me to have the ball in my hands to make a play, and fortunately enough, in my career here, I've been able to make them.

Q: It never looked like you guys were not enjoying yourself out there.
A: Exactly. One day in your life, you won't be able to play. Coach always mentions that. SO when you are out there, you may as well enjoy it. Whether it is the NIT or the NCAA Tournament. A few days ago, we were upset we didn't make it. But we are in the NIT, and our goal is to win that. We are just fortunate enough to still be playing. There are teams that aren't playing right now, and I bet they wish they were.

Jeff Brooks

Q: What do you say to Taylor with the last four minutes left?
A: I always say "showtime" right before crunch time with four or five minutes left in the game, and he knows right then and there to snap it into "big shot mode." He always pulls some crazy play just like he did today.

Q: With Jamelle out, you stepped up and made 13 points. How do you think you have improved throughout the season?
A: Honestly, the same thing keep harping on about myself is that I come into a game with. To be honest, I was kind of disappointed with my whole performance this season. I just see today as another opportunity to show that I can play here and things like that. I just came in with the mindset to be confident and a team player and contribute to the win. With Jamelle down, I just knew that I had to step up even more with how much he brings to the table as well.

George Mason Coach Jim Larranaga

Q : What was your game-plan going against Battle and Pringle?
A : Those two have a solid scoring average and we were trying to hold them well under that. According to the stats Battle had twenty-four and Pringle had only six. So we did what we had planned on doing. But with the overtime it wasn't quite enough.

Q : Their bench hadn't been scoring a lot of points did you expect that?
A : Absolutely not, in fact we told our guys not to get discouraged and that is not their normal routine and that hopefully in the second half they will miss a few of those shots and give us a chance to get control of the game. I think that is exactly what happened. When Jamelle went out with the injury early in the game our defense was able to help a little bit more on the guards and contest the threes a little more.

Q : Battle had a shot in their last game here against Illinois when a player can make those shots in the clutch what does that tell you about a player?
A : You know he's only a sophomore and confidence grows with success. If you make game winning shots, big threes, and driving lay-ups with the clock winding down and the pressure on you, your confidence continues to grow throughout your career. That helps a coach make decisions, you know they are going to be able to go to him down the stretch.