NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - CREIGHTON VS KANSAS

March 19, 2022

Greg McDermott

Keyshawn Feazell

Ryan Hawkins

Alex O'Connell

Arthur Kaluma

Trey Alexander

Dickies Arena

Creighton Bluejays

Media Conference

Kansas - 79, Creighton - 72

THE MODERATOR: Welcome the Creighton Bluejays. Head Coach Greg McDermott sitting next to me, followed by Mr. Feazell, Mr. O'Connell, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Kaluma and Mr. Hawkins.

We'll start with an opening statement from Coach McDermott, then take questions in the room and from Zoom.

Coach McDermott.

GREG MCDERMOTT: Just really proud of our team. As I told them in the locker room, there's a part of me that would like to cry. But that's for selfish reasons, because I'm not quite ready for this to be over.

But I'm also really glad it took place. It has been an incredible journey with this group. And I think today embodied what they've been about all season long.

We've had more adversity than any team I've ever coached. And when I say adversity, and we talked about this yesterday with the team, it's not life-and-death stuff, it's not that kind of adversity. But teammates getting hurt, and next guy having to be ready to step up. And it's just happened time after time after time after time. And today was another example.

Keyshawn was ready when his number was called. Rati has been ready when his number's called. And they fought one of the best programs in college basketball tooth and nail for 40 minutes. And we got the ball inside of two minutes with a chance to take the lead. And I think that's all you can ask for. And then you hope you can execute a little bit and maybe they hopefully won't.

But we lost to a championship program today, but we certainly have nothing to be ashamed of. I'm really, really proud of this basketball team and what they've accomplished this season.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach or the student-athletes? We'll start in the front on the far right side, please.

Q. For Greg, Kansas' different lineups, they can go big and small a lot of different ways. How difficult are they to face with those different lineups?

GREG MCDERMOTT: Well, he tried to avoid it as long as he could. And I had a feeling that it was coming at some point. And, you know, we were able to take advantage with our small lineup. You know, pulling McCormack away from the basket and Arthur was really functioning at a high level, both off the dribble and from the three-point line against that matchup.

And I thought their small lineup made a game changing run in the middle of that. And that's when we decided to go back with Keyshawn, because he has the ability to keep guys in front because he's quick enough. Yet, you know, we can throw it down in the block, which we did a few times and he made some really nice plays.

It was a bit of a chess match in that regard. The only difference is he had, you know, nine or 10 guys down there to choose from and we had seven.

Q. For Hawk. After everything you guys have been through these last couple weeks, what were the emotions like in the locker room?

RYAN HAWKINS: I mean, emotional. It's a lot of our last guys. But I think the future is bright for this group and I think they realize it.

You know, you look at all the bodies we lost. You lose Shereef, you lose John Christofilis, then you lose Nembhard and Kalkbrenner, you lose four guys, most of which played big minutes for you.

Just to be resilient enough to come back and keep getting up every time you get knocked down. It's just a silly little game, but I think it teaches you a lot about life in that regard. I think this group has got a lot of fire in them. I couldn't be prouder of how we finished this season out.

Q. Arthur, I know it's still probably processing. But moving forward, is performances like this in the postseason, the way you guys were undermanned, something to build on heading into next season knowing what you have coming back?

ARTHUR KALUMA: I mean, yeah, the goal is to always like continue to get better and improve every single game I step out. It was clicking today. Unfortunately, we didn't get a win. But I couldn't be more proud of my guys and what we did out there.

Q. Yeah, Trey, I wondered what did you think of Remy Martin out there for them?

TREY ALEXANDER: I think he's a pretty good player. Obviously, it was his night. We kind of had it set up as a personnel game to where we could kind of help off of him a little bit. I mean, when you have a good player like that and he gets going, then you know -- when you see any player in college, when you see the ball fall a couple times and you get in your rhythm, it's kind of hard to stop you.

So, I mean, that's kind of what happened tonight. But I feel like our game plan is what kept us in the game. And a part of that was trying to keep Agbaji and Braun getting going, and have them other guys beat us. And I feel like that's what put us in a position to win, was to keep those guys from scoring.

Q. And Greg, Bill talked about you putting Hawkins on -- their point guard, putting in the lane. Can you just speak through what you were thinking with that?

GREG MCDERMOTT: Well, we didn't -- we had to come up with something. Obviously, asking Keyshawn to guard McCormack for 40 minutes and stay out of foul trouble, you know, most teams in the Big 12 have a couple guys they can throw at a guy like McCormack. And I thought he was really effective against us when we played us in Lawrence, and that was fresh in my mind still. So we wanted to kind of pick somebody that we felt we could help off of.

And, you know, I'm not a huge analytics guys, but we chose Harris and tried to plug up the lane and make some of those driving lanes and passing lanes a little more difficult.

I had decided before the game that we were going to stick with it temporarily when Martin came in. Obviously, a mistake on my part, in hindsight, to Trey's point.

But, you know, because of our -- because of the shortness of our bench, you know, we couldn't have them have quick possessions where they just come and go, click, click, click, and do whatever they want. Then it becomes a track meet. And, you know, the team with more players at their disposal was probably going to win a track meet.

So that's why we did it. We tried to plug some things up, do something unconventional when you're playing a team as good as Kansas and you're shorthanded and you have no time to prepare without a guy you thought was going to be there, you have to take some desperate measures sometimes. And that's what we chose to do, and our guys really executed the plan extremely well.

Q. Greg, real quick on Remy. I wondered: He's been hurt so much this year, there's not a lot of tape on him. How hard is it especially with a quick turnaround to scout a guy like that and kind of know what he is at Kansas?

GREG MCDERMOTT: Yeah, we played him while he was at Arizona State. And we were actually -- I was just talking to my coaching staff in the locker room, you know, his growth and improvement from the guy that was at Arizona State to the guy that's playing now is night and day.

Like, his engagement defensively compared to how he defended at Arizona State and the unselfish nature of the way he's playing is totally different than the guy we played against when he was at Arizona State.

Obviously, Coach Self and his staff have done a great job of getting him to understand how he can best help this team. And if you look at the stat sheet, there's one thing that jumps out at you today and, you know, he was a big difference in this game.

Q. Also for Alex: Your coach has talked about having the ball inside a minute or whatever it was late, a chance to go ahead, make a winning play and the pass to you gets behind you a little bit and you see Ochai go down and dunk it. Just talk about the thought process there while you're watching him run free the other way and how close that was to you guys making that play.

ALEX O'CONNELL: I mean, it was unfortunate. You know, the -- Trey's made incredible plays all season. These guys have stepped up. And, you know, just the pass was behind me. It was what it was. And, you know, he got an open look and that kind of was what it was. Now until the next play, that's kind of been our mentality all year. So when that happened, it was just, What's next? What are we're going to run next?

Q. AO and Keyshawn, what does it mean for you guys to end it, as Mac said, you know, putting up a good fight against one of the best programs in the country?

KEYSHAWN FEAZELL: You know, I mean, I felt like we had put up a good fight. You know, battling through adversity all year with these guys and stepping up and making plays today was you fun and good, but, you know -- like, I don't know. I'm emotional right now. I'm sorry.

But I just want to -- you know, shout out to these guys, shout out to just Creighton in whole. Like, I'm a different person now. You know, since coming here -- like, coming in, I felt, like, I was doing this, doing that.

But just being around these guys, you know, I've changed, become a different person. And I just wanted to thank them. But yeah.

ALEX O'CONNELL: Yeah, you know, kind of to Key's point, it's kind of emotional right now. It still hasn't been fully processed. It doesn't feel quite real yet.

You know, just the fight we've put up all year, all the adversity that we've handled, and, you know, for all these guys to step up and contribute to this team, what we've done all year has just meant the world to me.

And the pride that I feel wearing this uniform is totally unmatched. And I hope that can continue down the line for these young guys. I mean, I was playing today for the name on this uniform. You know, it wasn't about me, it wasn't about anybody in the stands. You know, it was about us and it was about Creighton.

And, you know, I'm so proud of these guys. And like I said, the pride that I feel playing for this program and being a part of the Creighton family is unmatched. And I will never forget it.

THE MODERATOR: Time for a couple more.

Q. Hey, Alex. Sorry, going back to that play with about a minute left with the pass behind you. Like, if you catch that cleanly, do you think you're taking a three there? And just with how you guys were shooting threes in this game, do you feel like -- or just how confident were you that that might go down?

ALEX O'CONNELL: I mean, yeah, if I catch it cleanly, I'm going to shoot it. That was our goal, that was our game plan. You know, take the open looks. They pressure a lot, so we were taking the open shots.

So if I caught it cleanly, it was going to go up or I was either going to swing it one more to Hawk to get another -- a better look. So that's kind of what was going through on my head.

Q. Mac, are you encouraged about the future of this team? And how much will experiences like this help some of the younger guys moving forward?

GREG MCDERMOTT: Well, if they can't learn from Keyshawn and Alex and Hawk, because they've all played significant leadership roles in their own way, and I think have had a tremendous impact on the growth of our young guys, and they might not even know that yet, but they will someday.

You know, we live in a world of excuses. You know, this is why I got a bad test grade, it's somebody else's fault, this is why I was late.

We had a lot of opportunities to have excuses this year as to why the season wasn't going to continue to progress the way that it was. Because Shereef got hurt, or R2 got hurt, or John got hurt, or Ryan got hurt. And we didn't do it.

And in this day and age, that's pretty impressive. They had an out. And they chose, you know what, we're going to fight a little harder together and we're going to become a little bit more together, and we'll listen to see if Coach has got some other crazy plan that he thinks might work for us to try to win this next one.

And they have been so much fun to coach. And I speak for myself. And my coaching staff has done a tremendous job this year, my support staff has been awesome.

But to a man, we have really enjoyed this group. And part of it is you watch guys grow and change. And watching Keyshawn's approach to the role that I asked him to play.

Watching Alex from, you know, a guy that was one year ago really disappointed about not playing as much as he would have liked in Indianapolis, to turning into a guy that doesn't care about himself anymore, he's all about the team. And Hawk never having a bad day. And being so selfless and such an energy giver.

But all those examples have rubbed off on Art, and Trey, R2, and Mason, and John, and all the young -- Rati, Mo, all the young guys in our program. And we're going to forever be indebted to them.

And as I told them in the locker room, there will be a time later in life, I'm not sure I'll still be around, but Art or Trey or one of those other freshmen are going to use something that they learned from these three guys as an example when they're trying to raise their own children.

Because these three have been a model as to what this particular team needed. You know, we didn't have anybody in the middle. We had young guys and we had these three old guys and nothing in the middle. So that put a lot of pressure on those three to do things right.

And we weren't always perfect. And we probably weren't where we needed to be in November, December all the time. But when we figured it out, boy, did we figure it out.

And the train has been rolling forward at a hefty pace since then. And it's the buy-in by the young guys, and it was a leadership of the three older guys sitting up here with me.

THE MODERATOR: Men, thank you for being here.

GREG MCDERMOTT: Thank you.