McNeese First Round Postgame Press Conference - 2024 NCAA Tournament

Opening Statement okay we are joined on the day R MCN head coach will Wade along with senior guard shahad Wells and Junior forward Christian shumate and we will open it with a quick statement from coach Wade yeah just I mean give Gonzaga a lot of credit they played really really well uh their length had a lot to do with us we missed a lot of layups at the rim and uh they did a good job baiting our post trap and skipping it out for open threes early and you know it's deflating we were missing layups and they were hitting open threes and that's uh you know it's deflating for a team but they they were you know you could tell they were a team that's been here before they're a team that's been in these moments and we're still a program that's that's building and and and trying to trying to play well in these moments but you know I'm not going to let one bad night RAR a lot a lot of really really good nights I told our guys that after the game I mean 30 and four is incredible I'm trying you know we we're going to keep perspective on this and and we ran into a buz saw they're they're tremendous program tremendous team and you know we see where we where we need to try to um where we need to try to get to now but uh uh give them credit and and um you know I'm proud of all of our guys uh been an unbelievable season and just sorry we couldn't keep it going a little bit while longer thank you coach and now we'll open up for questions for our student athletes please Matthew Travis KPLC for both of you guys been starting with you H just talk about what the season was like and looking back what you'll remember cuz obviously it won't be tonight but just Postgame Interview looking back on the season what kind of sixs out uh this season means a lot to me um just being along with these guys man this this team is something special uh when coach Wade brought us he told us it was going to be something special and just looking back at it like he said we can't take away what we did um things didn't go our way tonight but we did incredible things for not for ourselves but the City of Lake Charles in MCN and the Southland Conference so it's a good thing um yeah kind uh kind of really the same thing um you know you can't really take away from what we did to like I was a part of the last year's team and the year before that so um what we did is first turning the program around and giving people something to be excited for and you know everything that we did you know um winning 30 games like it was a lot of accomplishments as ACC compliments that we had this year and um you can't really take away from that and that's what we'll look back for for look back to and you know just being around this team and we didn't kind of became a family being around our brothers every day and going through tough times and just embracing each other you know embracing the community um it's been it's been a rod and we just proud to be here um Shah coach talked about that it was deflating to see them get off to such a quick start how was it for you guys and how hard was it to keep up with them once they started hitting shots um I would say they were ready for what we had um our post traps like you said the the open threes um it was hard for us to come back with us missing layups and shooting threes that we couldn't make well that we didn't make so um feel like we dug ourselves in a hole at the beginning uh we tried to dig ourselves out but um we all seen the outcome but proud of this team and we've come so far but sad to say it comes to an end today but I'm proud of us right here Christian just talk about the impact shahad has had on this team and what he's meant to you personally as well um I mean personally he's just he's been a brother to me since we got here you know um like I said we all embraced each other but me and him we kind of became Brothers you know and we had to do some things together figure out some things together to to kind of bring the the team along and we had a lot of long talks and you know we just had to figure things out and once we figured things out between me and him and how we were going to lead we uh we uh relate that on to the team and you know got him along with us and but I mean he's just been so such a big part of the team you know uh scoring defending his his vocalness you know he's a huge part of his team and you know he was everything to us Christa Bell the Poke press you said in Wednesday's press conference that you wanted to make the community proud of you and the fans I talked to and everybody in the stands was proud all night long what do you have to say to them after after the game well I just want to say thank you you know um I love our fans I love the community um I wish we could keep on going but but uh still I just want to thank them uh everything they've done for us up until this point is just one big family in the town and we all love each other we love y'all they love us um it's I mean it's an amazing feeling knowing that you got that many people back in you you know we had like a real MC section out there and um it's just an unbelievable feeling and there's no amount of words that I could say to show the appreciate app ation that I have and I know that the team has for everyone and um so yeah thank you and we love you guys sh would you like to answer that as well uh we just say thank you to everybody that supported us this year man um it's been a long journey it's been a special Journey um we changed the culture there we changed a lot of things there and if it wasn't for the people of Lake Charles we wouldn't be in this position that we're in so we just want to say thank you with all our hearts and go folks Shah just talk about the impact coach Wade has had on your career obviously using your last eligibility with him he's had a big impact on my on my career not just my career My Life um we talk things outside of basketball but basketball standpoint he just taught me a lot he um just a different reads he shows me everything uh he shows me he's a winning coach um things in that matter and they just taught me a lot okay we'll check the zoom really quick if any participants on the zoom would like to ask any questions of our student athletes please use the raised hand button now we'll get you on okay any other questions for our student athletes here in the room okay we will excuse our student athletes thank you gentlemen ex and congratulations on your season and now we'll open the questions for Coach Wade Interview Coach Wade right here coach you're clearly getting a little emotional this team has meant a lot to you just talk about this season overall and kind of what Christian and shahad have meant to you as well yeah I mean I cried in the locker room afterwards I'm not the most emotional guy but I mean all of them man so I mean they they chose us when we didn't have a whole lot going for us and so they've turned around a basketball program they've turned around a school they've turned around a community and so I'm sorry we're not going to be able to keep it going but uh they've been just incredible all of them all of them have been uh just phenomenal and very very appreciative of everybody follow go ahead um yeah obviously you had to double down because of their size difference um what did you think when they hit the six out of seven to start it what could you was there anything you could do at that point I mean look I mean if you're going to pull an upset we got to make a bunch of Threes And you got to hope they miss a bunch of Threes And the exact opposite happened we missed a bunch of Threes they made a bunch of Threes so I mean you know look I mean it's pick your poison um how work worried if we didn't double the post we were going to get in foul trouble all night and we just didn't have enough big bodies I mean they're three mans bigger than our Center so we just had limited options and you know we were going to try to let them bomb us away from three and credit to them they did they did a they did a phenomenal phenomenal job that said what was kind of the message at halftime to Rally rally him up I we just talked about look we've been in the situation at Corpus you know we've been in the situation at South Eastern obviously we weren't playing Corpus or Southeastern uh but uh um you know we we just tried to chip away at it a little bit and then you know we got off you know first couple plays of the first half or second half we missed the layup at The Rim we missed another lay up in transition just back Breakers where we could have tried to chop it down a little bit and we could never get uh never get our feet underneath us to to chop it down and and look their length and athleticism had a lot to do with with with with us missing and you know we've got to we got to go back and and get to work we see what it is now and we're going to land tomorrow afternoon in Lake Charles and tomorrow afternoon when we land at Lake Charles like the staff and I are going to be working we're going to try to keep as many of these guys as we can keep and want to stay and we're going to go add some we got to look a little different you know if we want to get to this stage again we got to look different and I kind of knew that coming in but we got to we got to we got to go get some we got to go get some we got to go get some dudes and uh that Portal's open open and we're going to be ready to roll other question oh right here um yeah you said that um one of the things you did do you think you were ahead of schedule this year going 30 and four or because um this was unexpected for the most part to see it this far yeah I mean look I think today our lack of experience in the tournament showed I was extremely pleased with how we played in the conference tournament I was worried going into the conference tournament about how we would play on that stage with guys who haven't been in th those bigger games outside of H really um and so I was thrilled with how we played now having the thing at home probably helped quite a bit with how we played um but when you come to these environments it's it's it's different it's different and we did not you know Gonzaga looked like a team that's been to the second weekend eight straight times and 25 straight tournaments and we looked like a team that hadn't come that's coming for the first time in 22 years I mean that's just what it that's just what it looked like and you can try to explain it and try to do all that all you want it's just until you experience it and that's the that's the part for us I mean you know it's hard as hell to get here when you're from a one- bid league so we've got to get back to work and the first step is to you know go acquire some Talent that's going to help us get back here because we do have to replace H and and some other very good players so we got to go you know acquire some Talent talent's the price of admission to get to this thing and then and then we've got to you know we got to we got to we got to you know bow up and and get better I mean you're you know they exploited some of the stuff that you know quite frankly in some of the games in our league we can be sloppy on some of the switches we can be sloppy on some things and it it still works because we got better athletes than some of them but when you get to this stage you've got to be really really tight and and um and we weren't tonight but a lot of that's a credit to Gonzaga right here coach for you personally what was it like being back on the stage obviously you weren't able to two years ago so just what was this experience like it's great just cuz it was with our guys um it was awesome to see how excited they were to see how fired up uh fired up they were for it but um you know it's fun anytime you can go to the tournament man it's a it's a good year and um I wish we' have played a little bit better today but this doesn't I mean we're 30 and freaking four man I mean I mean we'd all signed up for that so I mean I'm not going to let any of this take away from just the incredible year we had the incredible time we had with the guys I've never had more fun with a team in my life uh they're a blast and um you know just wasn't our night tonight we got to get back and make sure we get back here and try to make it our our night this time next year okay time for two more questions we'll start right here coach I I know that you're perfectionist and uh and that uh said you're already thinking about getting off the plane tomorrow and going getting recruiting but tonight before you go to bed are you going to tell yourself you did a good job I don't know about that but uh look we we we got here and that's that was step one and um you know now we've got to prepare for step two and and move forward to next year and um you know we still look I got to help H and he got in Port Smiths we got to help him move forward with the NBA we got some stuff out there with Felder and Cullum on their years of Eligibility and whether they can come back or not we got to get that solved like there's just a lot of there's a my mind I got a laundry list of things I got to go through and and we're going to we're going to get it right and um you know we're going to put our team and our program in the best best position to get back here and have a chance to win right back in the corner coach Chris comani with the athletic things move fast in this world how do you anticipate approaching conversations or opportunities should other schools show interest in you in the coming weeks plan on being back at MCN next year how's that short site to the point thank you coach thank you congratulations on your season guys yeah I'm going to give them all to if you'd like