Q&A with Rashon Burno

Burno: “We had to go to it early, just to keep them off-balance; also, a couple of guys had some fouls. We had to rest Remy, so we just wanted to sprinkle it in. Once you play zone, they miss one, you get a little bit more. Okay, miss two, and it actually, by them missing shots, gave coach the confidence to play it a little bit longer.”

It seemed like you were really dedicated to getting the ball inside early, Zylan mid-post, Romello, what did you think about how that kind of just worked?

Burno: “It worked really well because it accumulated fouls on them. Any time we can get to the foul line, they’ve got to take the ball out. So, it kept them out of transition, and then against a team like St. John’s, who’s so guard-oriented, you have to throw it inside, whether it’s a slip, post-up, or offensive rebound. So, we really put an emphasis on, the ball has to hit the paint, whether it’s dribble penetration or throwing it inside to Romello.”

What does it feel like to have to play Buffalo, just given relationships, how well you guys know each other?

Burno: “For Bobby, it’s more for him than me. I knew Nate (Oats), he’s a great guy, great coach, great program, but for coach Hurley it’s going to be a little emotional, because, not taking anything from Nate, but he hired Nate, he actually got the thing going, and I know he’s very proud of what coach is doing over there. It’ll be a lot of noise about it, but at the end of the day, they’re both professionals, they’re both competitors, so we’re going to want to line up and knock each other’s head off.”

The offensive struggles in the second half, what do you attribute those to?

Burno: “Remy didn’t play a lot in the second half. Remy, he’s not 100 percent, but he battled. Just, at the end of the day, we’ve got to do better. We’re going to watch film, certain things we’ve got to clean up, certain things that we can execute better down the stretch, but, seven-point lead with four to go, that was eerily similar to what Syracuse did. So, certain things we’ve got to make adjustments, but overall, these guys, they stuck together. Even when they made their push, Taeshon got a layup, Romello got a dunk, and then we stabilized it with free throws. But we’ve got to make some adjustments.”

You’ve won a lot of tournament games in the past, what does it feel like just to get this one here?

Burno: “Huge. It’s big because when was the last time we won a tournament game? It’s the first of our era here. If we want to continue to grow, we’ve got to win these games. And so, we’re accomplishing a lot in year four of taking over this program. I’m proud of the guys, I’m proud of coach Hurley, proud of what we’ve built, and then obviously, this is the tip of the iceberg.”

Last year, this team really backed into the NCAA Tournament, this year, you won six out of eight coming into tonight, would it be fair to say you guys are peaking exactly at the right time?

Burno: “Yeah, and the roster was different. This is built for a tournament run, because we have size, athleticism and, you know, Lu who’s a physical guard, last year we had Tra, Shannon, and Kodi, they were more finesse players. We’ve got physical guys, we can play Zylan at different positions, Kimani at different positions, Lake is playing well, Romello’s playing well, so, this team is built to win a weekend or two in the tournament. We’re excited for the program. This is just a part of the process.”

Jeff Griffith contributed to this article