Tourney Talk: HoopsHD interviews Iona FR SG EJ Crawford

Last Monday Iona beat Siena in the MAAC title game to earn an automatic bid to this week’s NCAA tournament. The Gaels lost to Iowa State in the 2016 NCAA tourney and get another big-time matchup this March as they will face #3-seed Oregon on Friday afternoon in a Midwest Region matchup in Sacramento. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with FR SG EJ Crawford about the dynasty that he is helping to extend in New Rochelle.

You grew up in Connecticut: what made you choose Iona? During my visit they made me feel like I was at home. I liked the campus and their playing style.

You play for Coach Tim Cluess: what makes him such a good coach, and what it the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? I like that he is a players’ coach: he lets us play and does not force anything. He has taught me to play defense: I am still working on it but am getting there.

You are 1 of only 2 freshmen on the roster: how have you been able to bond with all the older guys? It was pretty easy because I have been around older people all of my life.

Your 1st game of the year was against your most difficult opponent of the year: is Florida State they the tallest team that you have ever faced, and what makes them so good? Yes: by far! They have 6’10”/6’11″/7′ guys everywhere, which we do not see a lot of in the MAAC. They are so versatile with a lot of guys who can do a lot of different things.

You finished the season as a unanimous pick to the All-MAAC Rookie Team: how have you been able to make such a smooth transition from high school to college? My teammates know that I am a scorer so they just keep giving me the ball in the right spots and I have been able to hit some shots.

After losing 4 of your final 7 regular season games (including home games against Rider/Siena) you won 3 games in 3 days in Albany (including wins over Rider/Siena) to clinch the MAAC title: what is the key to winning games in March? We came together as a unit: we knew that we just had to play our best basketball and that is what we did.

In the title game you scored 12 PTS including the game-winning layup with 28 seconds left in a 1-PT OT win over Siena: what was the reaction like when you got back to campus? It was crazy on campus: there were fans/students who were really happy that we won and are going back to the NCAA tourney.

Your school has now played in 5 straight MAAC tourney title games (winning 3 of them) and will be making its 4th NCAA Tourney apeparance since 2012: is it fair to call your program a “dynasty”? I think so: when a program has that much success it is only right to call them that.

Your team made the tourney last year before losing to Iowa State: what have your teammates shared with you about the lessons they learned? They told me that the feeling of losing is not a good 1. Iowa State is a good team and our team made some mistakes toward the end of the game, but they learned from it.

How do you feel about getting a #14-seed, and what do you know about Oregon? It feels good because we could have been a #16-seed. Oregon is athletic and has some good players but we will go out there, compete, and have fun.

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