Marquette 89, Xavier 87
THE MODERATOR: Coach, whenever you're ready.
SHAKA SMART: That was a high-level game. Xavier fought their tails off. They really did a good job in the first half having us on our heels. I actually thought we played better offensively than the deficit indicated in the first half. We just missed a lot of layups, but our guys never stopped believing.
We showed great fight, even when we got down as much as 14. Xavier didn't give up. They kept battling. At the end there, it got dicey. The guys did a good job of executing late-game inbounds execution, getting the ball in. They had a bunch of fouls to give, which is just a strange scenario, but our guys were tough with it.
We made enough free-throws to win the game.
Q. Kam, you've hit a lot of big shots in this building and played a lot of games here. How did that help you take over in the second half?
KAM JONES: That's something we've been talking about, specifically the seniors and juniors, sophomores. They've been in this building before, and we've won big-time games here before, made big-time plays. Coach is just trying to instill the confidence in us to go after it and play with everything we got for 40 minutes, and we'll see what happens.
Q. Coach, you've played this team three times. We know three times playing a team can be tough. What specifically in the game, adjustments you had to make to make this thing happen?
SHAKA SMART: Every game has been a two-point game, so. You are talking about two teams that have been somewhat evenly matched. In both games -- or all three games, one team has gotten a big lead, and then the other team has come back. We weren't able to quite eclipse their lead at home when they had a 19-point lead. At their place we were up big, and they came all the way back and took the lead.
Then today I thought the biggest key stretch of the game was the game was going up and down, and our guys were hanging in there getting enough stops and then putting the ball in the baskets. We were able to cut that lead down.
Then just showed really good character down the stretch.
In terms of adjustments, I thought our aggressiveness on the offensive end, particularly the second half the way we attacked their switching actions, the way Kam got downhill and the way Jop attacked, Chase Ross was aggressive, was big for us and that was able to get them on their heels. When a team is switching everything, they just want to keep you in front of them, but we did a good job getting in the paint and then creating some open opportunities.
Q. You just spoke about the adjustments you made in game. What did you see early on? They seemed like they just came out of the paint, like you said, switching everything. In terms of the mentality to be aggressive but still pace yourself, what was the balancing act? You didn't have any turnovers in addition to what you did offensively, so what did you see for yourself and then take it in strides moving forward?
KAM JONES: Like he just said, it's the third time everybody has played each other in this tournament. Everybody kind of knows everybody's base and what they do and how everybody guards. It's just about doing what you do offensively and making the right reads, trusting my teammates to be in the right spots, which they are 99.99% of the time.
You know, that's all it is. Jop, I know Jop ready to shoot at all times, so it's important. It's imperative that I know where he is every second that he's on the floor and I have the ball. Yeah, it's a lot of fun.
Q. Jop, what did you guys find in the second half that allowed you guys just to start hitting shots that weren't falling in the first half?
DAVID JOPLIN: Just toughness. Called each other out. We knew we had to make them miss, especially being in the deficit. We knew we could do it the whole time, so we just trusted each other and went after it.
Q. For Shaka, you guys down 14 in the second half. This point of the season, this kind of stage against a team that needs to get eliminated to get into the tournament. What about this group did you know was there that really manifested itself in the second half to pull this out?
SHAKA SMART: One of our biggest advantages is the continuity that we have and how much these guys truly rely on each other and have relied on each other. Last night we watched clips from our last six games in this building in this tournament, and we won five out of those six games, but none of them were easy. A lot of them were a lot like today where we had to erase a deficit, come back, and hold on late in the game.
So I think that's really valuable experience, but most importantly, it's valuable experience together so it's not like guys have done that in a vacuum. These two have done it together with Stevie, with Ben Gold, with Chase. The guys showed incredible character today. You get down 14. Shots aren't falling, it's easy to feel like, well, it's not our day. Ryan Conwell is having a heck of an individual scoring day, but we kept fighting. Made a couple of adjustments at the very end, and obviously got just enough stops.
Q. Following up on that, Coach, third time is a charm. For tomorrow when you play St. John's, is there anything that you learned today in this game that will help you tomorrow?
SHAKA SMART: Well, we just played them, obviously, less than a week ago at our place. That also was a high, high level game. It lasted 45 minutes.
There are a lot of things we take from that game that we want to do better. I thought that game actually helped us today be better down the stretch making free-throws specifically, but St. John's has a heck of a team. They won the league for our reason. I believe that they set a record or tied UConn's record for the most regular season wins in Big East history, so they got a heck of a team.
They're rolling. They're playing at a high level. We'll watch the tape from last Saturday, and we'll look at things that are controllable on our end that we can do better. I'm sure they'll do the same.
Q. For the players. Just to follow up on that St. John's question, what do you think, kind of, the biggest challenge is St. John's presents, and obviously they're playing on their home court. They're 10-0 here this year. Does the crowd and the atmosphere factor into it at all for you guys, or are you kind of tuning that out?
KAM JONES: When we play, it's about the guys that wear this across their chest. As far as what they present, very athletic team, very physical team. They have a lot of long, tall players. They're older, too. It's pretty hard to deal with at this level, but you know, it is what it is, and we're going to go after it for 40 minutes.
Q. Shaka, what do you like about those football-style inbounds plays that you run at the end of games?
SHAKA SMART: Well, they're typically pretty good for getting guys open because you have the defender in front of you, so you can cut and then come back. Dailyn Swain was on Kam. He's a heck of an athlete and got great length, so there was one where they made us call timeout because we weren't able to get open. I thought on the other ones our guys did a great job breaking to the ball. Stevie made a second effort on the one before he got fouled. That was huge for us.
You break to get open, and if you were to not, you cant's stand. You have to make another effort, and he did that. Stevie Mitchell, as good as these two were -- and you don't want to quantify because they're all great -- but Stevie Mitchell won this game for us. His spirit and energy. D. Wade said it a couple of weeks ago when he was on campus, you know, he is special, but we lost on our Senior Day. It's so enjoyable to watch these three guys, these two and Stevie, come into this environment.
I told the guys before Senior Day. I said, you know, for the good teams it's not Senior Day, it's Senior Month. They approached today like that.
Q. You guys played an instant classic five days ago against St. John's. What are the benefits, what are the drawbacks from playing the same team in such a small period of time?
SHAKA SMART: I mean, we can over-analyze it or do a psychology class just on playing someone with a quick turnaround. The reality is for us -- I'm sure they would probably say their own version of this -- it's about being the best us for 40 minutes, and it's about, again, watching that tape and learning what are the things we can do better.
When you play great teams, they present challenges, but as I tell these guys, we present challenges, too. St. John's has got a terrific coach, terrific roster. You know, Luis was Player of the Year for a reason. I think Kadary Richmond could have easily been Player of the Year, as well. He was first time. Then there are other guys that are playing at a high level, too. Great. Those are the type of teams you get to play against when you earn these opportunities in March, and the guys that are sitting next to me, plus the other guys in our locker room, when we're connected and when we're truly focused on the present moment, it gives us a really good chance regardless of who the opponent is.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports