MERRIMACK COACH JOE GALLO
OPENING STATEMENT: “Yeah, just a disappointing first — whatever it was, 6-8 minutes. That’s obviously a very good team, a well-coached team. You can’t spot a team like that 18 to 20 points. I thought their physicality on the defensive end — I told our guys (that) I don’t know outside of Florida and Michigan State if we’ll see a defense as physical and sound as those guys were. (It was) a good experience to play a team like that, especially in game one.
I just thought they came out and swung a little harder in those first minutes. Once we settled in, (we got) plenty of good stuff on film. I think our kind of defensive identity — you could see it late in the first and the whole second half. You knew it was going to be a rock fight. Both teams are kind of low-possession teams with the way we defend, so being down 18-20 is — I mean, we’ve done it to teams before. It’s like you’re down 30, because there are just not enough possessions to get back in the game.”
ON PARTICIPATING IN THIS GAME/EVENT: “It’s cool for me. This is now year seven in Division I . I was the head coach back when we were Division II and taking vans to games. For as big as these guys have gotten — Rob and Jeff with The Field of 68 — for them to invite us to be a part of it is a big step for the program. There are a lot of kind of sick people probably up at 6am watching this game. They’ve (Field of 68) been great to us and given us great publicity.
“We need a game like that. We play all zone, so the first time we see some really good man-to-man defense is in games, so it takes a little bit (to adjust). Then, you go against — I read an article that (said) for five straight years, they’re the number one defense in the Sun Belt. That’s what you’re up against for the first time. Once we settled in, I thought we did a good job.”
APP STATE COACH DUSTIN KERNS
ON MERRIMACK’S ZONE AND THE EARLY START TIME: “I give Coach Gallo and his staff — I mean, they’re innovative. It’s different. We obviously don’t have film, so we ordered his clinic tapes and ordered his book. We watched years of film going back, because it is different. I say this with the utmost respect — if we didn’t have seven or eight days to really prep for it, I don’t know how that game would have gone.
“I also credit our coaching staff in just how we approached the game. I thought that there was no playbook for this. There’s no manual for how to approach a 6am game, and I think we probably all approached it a little differently, as far as when we ate the night before, how we practiced, when we did film, and when we woke up. We didn’t need a pregame meal. We just had snacks and stuff, because we wanted them to sleep a little longer. I don’t know if that was right (or wrong). I just think there was a lot of time to prep and think about it. We called nutritionists and sleep specialists about what the best things — obviously, I’m not that smart (with) figuring that stuff out. I thought we approached it well.
“We practiced at 6am the last three days. I thought that helped. We spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday just trying different stuff against the zone. We took Thursday off, and we tried to just go with our plan for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and just lock it in. I thought that (with) as hard as they are to play against in their zone, their man offense is very good. There’s (guard AJ) Lesburt and (forward Elijah) Wilborn, who we were familiar with from James Madison. (Guard Denver) Anglin, (guard Jeremiah) Anderson — they’ve got good players, but the way they put them in spots with the exit screens or things like that, they’re difficult to guard.”
ON THE ROTATION/GAME FLOW: “I think we got off to such a good start that I was planning on playing more players. Those games are difficult. I just kind of stayed with a lot of those guys, and the way the pace of the game is with the zone, we were able to do that. Our guys were not running around a bunch, but this was a unique game. I think our rotations and substitution patterns will be different moving forward. We just kind of had to figure out how to win the game once we got off to a really good start.”
ON TED NEAL AND OTHERS SEEING THE COURT WELL FROM THE SOFT SPOT IN THE ZONE: “We put him (Neal) in the middle. We put some guards in the middle. We tried different (things) and giving them different looks. This was Ted’s first real college basketball game. He played well. I thought that he locked in really well on Anglin and (forward Todd) Brogna. That was important for us.
“I thought (forward) Chad Moodie played well. I thought (center) Rrezon (Elezaj) gave us some good minutes. (Forward) Da’Mori Lytch gave us some good minutes there at the end. We had multiple guys to throw in that little soft spot (in the zone). They’re so good at seeing the next play, and so when you take one hesitation and you think that guy is open, they’re so good and that’s where they get deflections and get their steals.
“I would say that we were most concerned with just valuing the ball. At the end of the day, I told them I didn’t care about what the shot looked like and just to get a shot on the rim. They don’t have a solution for offensive rebounding and I think we had 16 of those. If you turn the ball over, they’re going to find a way to beat you. I didn’t expect the game to go that way. I really didn’t. Once you get in a grind-it-out game with them, they work you offensively, and we got off to a great start. Credit our guys. I told them before the game that in a 6am game, the energy plays are sprinting the floor, the energy plays are rebounding, the energy plays are getting a 50-50 ball, the energy plays are deflections. Those are the energy plays that we could control, and we had to have those. We’re going to turn the ball over. We’re going to miss some shots. They’re going to make some shots. Just move on to the next play.”
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