I’m guessing that the pain the Fairfield Stags must be feeling after losing Monday’s MAAC tournament Championship game to Siena hasn’t – and won’t – go away for a long, long time.
Here’s what Stags coach Ed Cooley said in his post-game press conference:
(opening statement)
“First, we have to congratulate the champions. They earned it. I thought Fran did a really good job. I thought his kids played well and they made some timely baskets, some timely rebounds and congratulations to Siena, I hope they go on to represent the MAAC well in the NCAA tournament, it just wasn’t our time.
As far as the … you all saw it, we had some costly turnovers after we controlled the whole first half. We had three or four or five straight turnovers that led to run outs. That was the game. I thought we got on our heels, I thought they fed off the crowd, we had some younger guys on the floor, which had some timely mistakes and they capitalized on them. But let me tell you this … I can’t tell you how proud I am of my two seniors (Mike Evanovich, Anthony Johnson) hat are standing at this podium with us today. We’re missing one senior (Jimmy O’Sullivan) and he’s in the locker room and I feel worse for them than anything. These two guys helped get us to this day. They helped to establish us as a program. Michael has already graduated, Anthony will graduate in a couple of months and without these two guys we wouldn’t be sitting here and our program wouldn’t be where it is today. So, as much as we lost, I feel bad for them. But we will … we will be in this game again. It just wasn’t our time tonight.”
(Was fatigue a factor toward the end and in OT?)
“We weren’t tired, baby. We weren’t tired at all. Today’s not a day to be tired. Not at all. You’ve got to credit a team that created some plays, they got some turnovers and that was the game. There was a three or four minute stretch that changed the whole game. They’ve got long guys on top of the press. I don’t think Siena’s the fastest with their feet but they’re very, very long when you look at (Edwin) Ubiles’ length and Clarence Jackson’s length and (Alex) Franklin’s length, (Ryan) Rossiter’s length. I don’t know how many deflections they had but it was more their length than it was their team speed.
(Playing in front of 10,000 hostile fans)
“It was a great experience for our younger players. The atmosphere was great and I’m looking forward to being at the Arena at Harbor Yard next year.
(In favor of expanding the NCAA tournament?)
I’ve always been a proponent. I don’t know when the expansion went from 48 to 65, I think with the growing numbers of Division I schools, I would like to see the expansion because it gives more student athletes the opportunity to share exactly what’s Siena’s sharing so they can have their one shining moment. I think it would be great for the game.”
(Looking forward to playing the MAAC tournament in Bridgeport next year?)
(laughs) “Hear that in there? There’d better be a sold out building at the Arena at Harbor Yard. We’ll be back in that game.”
(Did team get a little rattled?)
I never thought we were going to lose the game, if that’s what you’re asking. Did they get rattled? A little. I thought the energy in the building changed the pace of the game in that three or four minute stretch, I think we turned the ball over like, three straight possessions. They feed off that, but not at any point did I think we were going to lose that game. Not one.
(Possibility of playing in the postseason?)
“That’s up to whoever the bracketologists are for the minor league tournaments, if that’s what you want to call them because I came here to get our program into the big tournament. And I think I let my players down today. But I would love an opportunity to play in a post season if someone would be gracious enough to have us. I think it’s great for our younger men to experience post-season play, which they’ve done in this tournament. I’d love to play … whoever wants us, I think we’ll play well and represent the conference in a first-class manner.”
(The program has grown a lot over these last four years. Talk about experience of playing in the championship game)
Mike Evanovich
“It showed a lot of progress. We struggled the first couple of years but we never gave up. We always felt we had the talent every year to get us to this point. It was … I don’t want to say we were happy to be here because that wasn’t the case, we played our tails off …
(Cooley: “We belonged in this damn game, today boys.”)
… We gave it away. We let Ubiles and Franklin shoot 20 for 38, we can’t let people do that. We gave them the game. They did well, they made the plays they needed to make, but we should have kept control.”
Anthony Johnson
“Playing in the game was great. Just to have an opportunity to play in the championship game is always great. That’s what you dream for. If we’d come away with the win, that would have been even better. Its was great to finally be here, I mean, you can’t really go back and change anything but it’s great for our younger guys and it’s great going from 3-15 to playing in the championship game but every year we felt like we were supposed to be here, do it’s not anything new.”
Looking back at the game …
Sophomore center Ryan Olander vanished just when the Stags needed him the most. In the first half, Olander was aggressive, working around the basket. He scored eight points, grabbed three rebounds and had two blocks. In the second half and OT, he had two rebounds and a block. No points! Inconsistency has been Olander’s middle name for two years now. With Peanut and Evanovich leaving, it’s time to claim the low blocks as his own personal space and start kicking some serious tail in there.
Colin Nickerson showed that his upside is huge. The freshman guard shot 5-of-12 from the floor, 10 points and six rebounds in 38 minutes. The kid found his confidence late in the regular season and he’s got to bottle that for the next three years.
What can you say? Shimeek Johnson …3 minutes played. No points. No rebounds. Jamal Turner …8 minutes played, No points, one rebound. If I was Cooley I would remind these two of their (ahem) “lack of involvement” every time I saw them from now until the first game of next season. You can’t just not show up to the biggest game of the year.
Sean Crawford continued to play in pain (bunions) and suffered through a poor shooting night, going just 2-11. It happens. He needs to focus on better ball-handling and defense. The kid’s got guts and you’ve got to love that.
Lyndon Jordan (5 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists) gave Cooley 18 minutes on a bum ankle. He also needs to get better defensively but like, Crawford, he’s got guts.
Needham played all 45 minutes and despite what Cooley said (“we weren’t tired”) I think he was a little at the end. After a first half that saw him go 5 of 7 from the floor, Siena’s defense got into his face and Needham went just 2 for 11 in the second half and he made three turnovers. A freshman playing against juniors and seniors should have been a major mismatch but Needham more than held his own. He almost lifted the Stags to victory.
The next three years from his guy? All I can say is … look out!
And for Anthony Johnson (14 points, 13 rebounds) and Mike Evanovich (7 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists), you just hope there’s another game — be it in the NIT, the CIT or the CBI — for them to play in.
