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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: GREENSBOROMarch 16, 2012Kenny FreaseTu HollowayChris MackDezmine WellsGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA Xavier – 67 THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement from coach and then take questions for the student‑athletes. COACH MACK: Well, it's what the NCAA tournament's about. An exciting finish, a game where Notre Dame really tried to take the air out of the ball, but to our kids' credit we were able to stay with it mentally more than physically because that's what we needed to do. And I thought that our perseverance through that time ‑‑ we were down 10, and it just seemed like seconds were going off the clock every time they had the ball. But we made some adjustments on ball screens, thought our kids played pretty hard during that time. And Notre Dame's a really, really good team. Got a lot of respect for them. They were running a clinic there for a while on the offensive end. But down the stretch we made some huge plays, and Tu's shot off the glass driving down the lane to give us the lead was big. And he's been doing that his whole career. I'm proud of our kids. We have gone through a lot, and we continue to fight another day. THE MODERATOR: Take questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Tu, something like 25, 30 seconds left and you're down one. You go and don't even hesitate not really in the lane but down the line. What's going through your head then and when your shot's in the air? TU HOLLOWAY: My team has faith in me. Coach Mack called my number and at that point, we were down. I just wanted to make a play for my team. It was my time to step up and be a man. Q. Tu, how much has your experience in big games and willing Xavier to win and not only doing that but in playing in NCAA tournament games helped you on this stage tonight? TU HOLLOWAY: After awhile it becomes just another big game. So I would say that it helped me out a lot being a senior in college playing over, I believe, 100‑something basketball games. So we know ‑‑ I know what I had to do at that time and I was just ready for the opportunity. Luckily the shot went in. Q. When you guys were down by 10, what was coach's message to you or what did you guys say to each other to pull yourself out of that? KENNY FREASE: We knew that we just had to really work hard on the defensive end. They were really taking up a lot of the shot clock and we had to be able to guard what they were doing at the end of the shot clock there and that was the game. He was able to make shots at the end of the game, like he said. And everybody really did. Rob made a couple big plays at the end. Offensively we really answered the bell at the end, but defense was the real reason we won the game, because we were able to stop them from running that pick and roll that was really killing us and then our guards really did a really good job from the post when they would switch on to Cooley. And they deserve a lot of credit for that. Q. Were you guys able to see the end of the first game and did you have any impressions right off from that? DEZMINE WELLS: No, because this is the NCAA tournament, so anybody could lose on any given night. And that's the beauty of being in the NCAA tournament. You don't have to be the best team in the tournament; you just have to be the better team that night. And Lehigh was tonight. So we look forward to playing against them. And Duke is a great team, so it was no shots at them, it's just a really good team and Lehigh got the win. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thanks, guys. Take questions for coach. Q. Could you talk more about what Kenny said about what your goal was against their burn offense? COACH MACK: Well, you go back and forth as you watch tape preparing for the game and you want to really pressure them. But then you look at their assist‑turnover ratio and it seems like you're wasting energy. We decided to at least going into the game, to really try to pump our kids up, that you don't have to defend for the first 24 seconds of the shot clock. Just have to defend in the last 11, which is easier said than done because they're a very high IQ team. They spread the floor with guys that can shoot and they roll the bull down the middle of the lane. And it's it puts you in a pickle. We didn't solve that riddle in the first half. And in the second half even though it was tough, tough to swallow in the timeout that we were going to switch with 12 seconds or less on the shot clock, because you have Cooley rolling in the post against a guy like Tu or Dee or Mark who are just small guys. We just felt like at least we would have a body on somebody when they tried to spread us out. And I thought it was very effective and we pressured the ball, and I thought it stagnated them a little bit. But they still made some big plays. Heck, Jerian Grant with some of those threes at the end, I mean, you know just came down to a couple plays here and there and our kids made some and so did they, and we're just fortunate to come out on the winning end. Q. You obviously scouted the burn pretty well. Was there anything Notre Dame did that did catch you off guard or you were surprised by the effective necessary of? COACH MACK: I think their size in the back court, that was really effective. I don't want to say it's something we haven't seen before, but when Jerian Grant's six foot five and he's coming off that ball screen, it's like our guards aren't even there. It's what magic did back in the day. Just sees over the defense and throws it to who is open. Our guards have been able to really hound guards using ball screens this year and not necessarily let them pick us apart but he's got such good size, so does Atkins. Their assist‑turnover ratio, like I talked about, is excellent. So it's a tough matchup. But I think the main message to our guys was just stay with it. Mentally don't break. Don't let the fact that they're playing sort of like an old man's rec game get you down and we were able to keep our mentality. Q. Did you happen to pack your home jerseys? And what are your thoughts on facing Lehigh? COACH MACK: I don't pack the jerseys, so it's not my responsibility. We have a great managerial crew and so we don't take anything for granted. We packed both sets of uniforms and it will be a chance for both teams to advance to the Sweet 16, which is why you come here in the first place. So like Dez said before, you just have to be better on that particular night and we're going to have to be better on Sunday if we want to advance. Q. Can you talk about how Andre's feeling after he got hurt and came out in the second half? COACH MACK: He's a little woozy. I don't necessarily have an official prognosis, but doc looked at me and said he'll be fine, but he just wanted to hold him out, felt like it wasn't the right thing to do to put him back in the game. Andre's a big part of our team, especially on the defensive end. But it was good to see Jeff step up. I think he'll be fine but I can't be certain. Q. Tu has carried you guys in so many games. Was there a point tonight where you just felt like he's a senior and this is the tournament and he just flipped on the switch and went? COACH MACK: Well, Tu's ‑‑ he's made such big plays throughout the course of his career, you know, you followed him and he's ‑‑ the moment's never too big for him. We were very fortunate, he tried to split a ball screen late in the game and it became a loose ball and fortunately Kenny picked it up and we were able to call a timeout. But that's who he is, he's extremely courageous. He's never one to let somebody else take over. He doesn't do it selfishly. He just has a huge belief in himself. And his teammates do, as well as does his head coach. Q. Kenny scored all of his points in the first half, did they make adjustments on him in the second half? COACH MACK: He didn't play as much in the second half. Part of that was if we were going to switch ball screens, that was going to be a really tough challenge for Kenny to be able to keep Jerian Grant or Eric Atkins in front of him, that's ‑‑ he did a pretty decent job the couple times he got isolated, but they still knocked a couple shots over him. So we didn't play him as much. When we really started to get stops, Kenny wasn't on the floor and there's certain games where certain guys ‑‑ it's just ‑‑ it just isn't as advantageous for our team for them to be out there and Kenny's a very team oriented guy. He doesn't take any offense to it and we wanted to do whatever we could to win the game. We thought it best that we have a little bit quicker lineup out on the floor. Q. I was curious about that the lane violation at the end and I know ‑‑ not to take away from y'all's win obviously, but it just seems like a weird call. It's happened twice in this tournament and I was wondering if you have a feeling one way or the other about how that works into the spirit of the game in terms of it being a close game in the NCAA tournament? COACH MACK: Well, I could say there was some weird calls in the last minute or so that went against both teams. And that doesn't mean they were the wrong call. You're awfully biased when you're on one side of the floor, but I didn't necessarily see it, but we had a great officiating crew tonight and they called the call the way it's written in the rule book. And I'm not here to decipher the spirit of the game or that. They made some calls that went against us tonight and they made some calls that went against Notre Dame. I thought our kids persevered and did a good job to earn the victory. THE MODERATOR: Okay. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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