BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 12, 2026

Greg McDermott

Josh Dix

Madison Square Garden

Creighton Bluejays

Postgame Media Conference

Seton Hall - 72, Creighton - 61

THE MODERATOR: Whenever you're ready.

GREG McDERMOTT: Yeah, you know, obviously they're physical, they're hard-nosed defensively. Shaheen does a terrific job with his team. He always has. Some of the numbers on the stat sheet, you know, if you would have told me Budd was going to be 6-15 and A.J. was going to be 2-9, Simpkins 2-8, I would have guessed we would have had a great chance to win the game. But Jacob Dar was certainly the difference in that second half. Then we just had some really out-of-body shooting nights, Fedor 1-9, Austin 2-11. Those guys have been making shots for us all year long.

So credit to Seton Hall. I love the way we started the second half. I thought we grabbed the momentum in the game. We didn't have much of that the first half. Unfortunately, we just couldn't finish the job.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You talked about locking down some of Seton Hall's more premier players and then getting surprised with some of the contributions they did get. How hard is that to make in-game adjustments when the guys you don't expect to beat you are beating you?

GREG McDERMOTT: Yeah, you know, we had a plan for Fisher and Rivera, and we stuck with the same plan with Dar. His number, I think he was 2-15 from the three-point line coming in. So it wasn't like he's had an impact very much, at least in that part of the game. But to his credit, he threw in a couple of 'em and made a couple hustle plays on the glass as well. So I thought for the most part we followed our plan. We made it tough on Hines when he caught it in there. He and Payne had hurt us more than they did this afternoon in the other two games. But this time of year oftentimes somebody steps up you don't expect, and you hope that guy's on your team, but today he was on the other team.

Q. Obviously you lost Jackson McAndrew kind of early on, and then Josh stepped into a huge role. Can you talk a little bit about what he's meant for you guys this year.

GREG McDERMOTT: Oh, where do I start? He's an incredible young man. And I've coached a long time, 37 years, and you have, you coach a lot of different players, and they impact their teammates in different ways. I'm not sure I've had a player that's impacted their teammates as much as Josh did this year. Just with his ability to keep showing up, and he kept a positive attitude, kept trying to work to get better. And he was always about everybody else, when it really should have been all about him and what was going on with his family. So I've got so much respect for him. It's a blessing that I had the opportunity to coach him. I feel bad we didn't get him to the NCAA tournament, because that's what our plan was when we put this team together. But he's played his best basketball the last three weeks to a month, and I think he's shown the player that he really is. Obviously he went through a lot prior to that.

Q. After so many strong seasons, to suffer a season where things don't exactly go to plan, have you already thought of ways where next year can mark an improvement?

GREG McDERMOTT: I mean, it's too early to start thinking about next year. But I still think we have an opportunity to play some more basketball in one of the tournaments. But, you know, we had some adversity this year with some injuries, with Owen's injury, with Jackson's injury. We continued to fight, and they really stuck together the entire year. Sometimes when you bring in five transfers and three or four freshmen and you try to put 'em together with the guys you have returning, and things don't go well, oftentimes those teams fracture from within. To these guys' credit, that has not happened in our locker room. It's exactly the opposite. I think, with every bit of adversity, they got a little bit closer, and they supported each other at an incredible level. So I think we'll get to play a little bit more. But, yeah, I think back to the Elite 8 team, and I'm not sure any of our starters missed a game that year. So it's just, when things go well, you have a way that the ball kind of bounces your way and you stay pretty healthy and you avoid an illness on game day. And then you have years like this year where, you know, what's going to happen next.

Q. What does it say for a player like Clark to come from a Mid Major program and run an offense like does he in the Big East?

GREG McDERMOTT: Yeah, I mean, he's so shifty. He just, he makes enough shots -- at least he does against us, it seems like. But his pace in transition, his pace in the quarter court, his mid-range. He's got really good at the mid-range. Then defensively he's a pest. So, you know, he's made the transition exceptionally well from the league that he's playing in and now a top-4 finish in the Big East.

Q. So you said you still might continue playing. So if you are in the Crown or in the NIT, how do you keep your guys motivated to keep playing?

GREG McDERMOTT: Yeah, like I said, I think our locker room's tight knit. I think they enjoy spending time with each other. And the reality is, you get to play college basketball once. Somebody tells you you get to play a few more games, then you play a few more games. So I will, we'll deal with that when the time comes, and the invitation, whether it comes or not, not sure. But if they're going to give us a chance to play, we'll keep playing.