Creighton 85, DePaul 81 2OT
THE MODERATOR: Coach Greg McDermott, Fedor Zugic, and Ryan Kalkbrenner for Creighton.
GREG McDERMOTT: Before I start, I want to congratulate you, John, on an unbelievable career. You have treated us like one of the Big East from the time that this team from all the way out in the Midwest joined the league. Your professionalism and work ethic and the way that you have represented our league is really unmatched. It's not going to be the same without you.
So thank you for your contributions to this great conference.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
GREG McDERMOTT: Ton of credit to DePaul. Coach Holtmann has done an unbelievable job of instilling his culture in a short period of time with a bunch of guys that weren't on the team last year. That's very difficult to do. Especially when the wins weren't necessarily stacking up early in the conference season, to finish the way that they finished and to play as well as they have here in New York, I mean, let's be honest, we were really fortunate to win that game.
They outplayed us for virtually all the game, and a lot of credit goes to them. I had some guys step up. Obviously, Ryan was huge down the stretch. Ty Davis went into a difficult situation and ran the team and made his free-throws, and then Fedor gave us a huge, huge lift off the bench.
We weren't at our best, but certainly DePaul had a lot to do with that.
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Mac, I'm sure you've asked yourself this question multiple times over the last ten minutes, but down 17 early in the second half, down 11 with two minutes to play. How did you guys pull that one out?
GREG McDERMOTT: You know, you've been around me long enough, probably. We don't really panic in our program. I thought the first half -- and I told the team this after the game and at halftime -- I thought we let our offense dictate our defense, hanging our head because we were missing some shots that were relatively open.
But we stayed true to who we are. We kept believing, kept fighting. We went to the full-court pressure. That changed, at least sped the game up a little bit, which we needed to have happen when we were down that big, but guys kept fighting, they kept believing. Kalk hits two big threes to get us back in the game. Steven didn't have a great night by Steven's standards, but he had a huge shot to tie the game.
Q. Ryan, you were really aggressive down the stretch in the second half. Then you played both overtime with four fouls. Still stayed aggressive. What was your mindset even though you kind of were on thin ice there from a foul perspective?
RYAN KALKBRENNER: I think I've been around long enough to kind of know how to play aggressive without fouling. So, I mean, especially when Stevo went out, I knew I had to play aggressive and kind of lead the team. I couldn't do that tentative just because I had four fouls.
Yeah, I don't think I let it change my mindset much. Just had to go out there and play.
Q. Mac, Ty Davis coming in and not playing for virtually 40 minutes, how impressive was he down the stretch with the free-throws and also getting to the rim for the one drive?
GREG McDERMOTT: After the one foul I thought defensively he had a great stunt on D'Amico on a three out of the corner that really upset the rhythm of that shot at a critical time. So we preach all the time for guys to be ready. You never know when your number is going to be called. Ty has embraced that, obviously.
I joke, you know, he would never make a free-throw when I'd go to watch him play in high school and AAU. He would miss free-throws all the time. I think he missed a couple in the state championship game. I was hoping he wasn't thinking about that because I probably was a little bit, but he's worked really hard at everything. He's about all the right stuff. He was ready when we called his number.
Q. It looked like you threw out a few different coverages with Kalkbrenner, Coach, out there. What was the thought process there, and what does it give you to have a center that gives you that kind of versatility on defense?
GREG McDERMOTT: Yeah, I mean, he's made me a pretty good coach the last five years. I think one of the things -- we talked about a lot of things at the end of last season when he went through the -- when he was contemplating the draft. One of them was to be able to guard in space on switches, which is something the NBA looks for.
He's gotten so much better at that. To the point where guys kind of quit trying to challenge him. A huge block on the three-point shot late in the game where he was able to help and get back and make a play.
He gives us the flexibility to do a lot of different things. We can put him in drop. We can be aggressive once in a while. You know, when Traynor got hurt, then that forced him into the small line-up some, which pulled him away from the basket. Fortunately, he can move his feet and do a job when he needs to.
Q. This question is for Ryan. Sometimes comebacks happen really fast with a 15-0 run or a 20-0 run. This was like a slow drip where you guys kind of crawled back into it over the course of the second half. What are the conversations like with the players and in the huddle when the comeback isn't happening all at once and you just have to slowly, slowly, slowly chip your way back into the game?
RYAN KALKBRENNER: I mean, it sounds cliche, but just stay with it. We've got a lot of experience on this team. We know, like you said, sometimes it happens fast. Sometimes you have to keep chipping away. Like Mac said, a lot of times in the last few weeks, what makes this team really, really good is our togetherness and unity. You don't have comebacks like that without being together and sticking with each other and not giving up on each other or trying to play hero ball because you don't trust your teammates or whatnot.
Just staying with each other and chipping away at it.
Q. Ryan Kalkbrenner, you get to be back here for Friday night in the Big East Tournament in your last Big East Tournament. What's the significance of that?
RYAN KALKBRENNER: I mean, like I've been saying ever since I decided to come back for another year, I haven't gotten the Big East Championship yet, so to come back for another day and get another shot at staying another day and getting a shot at the championship is huge.
I really, really, really want this championship, and I'm going to play my butt off to get it. Yeah, it means a lot to be able to come back another day.
Q. Fedor, this has been a really weird year for you. I don't know if there's been many college basketball players who can have the arc that you've had, but what it's mean to you to have this as kind of an icing on the cake moment towards the end of a season of a year where you didn't even know if you were going to play?
FEDOR ZUGIC: It means a lot. As you said, it's icing on the cake, and I'm just glad I got to experience March for the first time in my life, because my dad called me before the game because, you know, in Europe it's 3:00 in the morning. He said, should I stay up and watch the game? I'm, like, I don't know. You can, but... then he texted me after the game. He said, I'm so glad I stayed up (laughing).
You know, it's a lot of fun being out there with my guys and being free and playing my game, and while I'm doing that, I'm helping them out in games like this. I'm just proud of everybody on this team and how we fought and how we got this win, and we just have to keep rolling.
Q. Mac, you got 24 points off of turnovers on them. You only led this game for seven minutes. My question is, how proud are you of your team the way they pressed in that second half to get you back in this game so that you could be in the semifinals tomorrow?
GREG McDERMOTT: I'm incredibly proud of them. That's not what we do, anybody that watches us play. We practice it enough that if we need it, you hope it's going to work. It's certainly not how our team is built, but we executed it pretty well.
And, like I said, we changed the tempo of the game. They did such a great job of controlling the possessions, and I don't know how many shots they hit as the shot clock was expiring, and that can be really deflating to a team.
We kept on playing. Down 11 and we get lucky they missed a free-throw, but Fedor hits back-to-back threes that give us a chance. Kalk hits a layup, and then Steven hadn't had a great night, but hits a huge one at a critical time. I've been around Steven long enough to know that he thinks the next one is going in. Usually I do too.
Really proud of this group. As Ryan said, this has been one of the more rewarding seasons of my career because of how connected this group is. Our strength is in our unity and their belief in one another.
There's no egos on this team. I'm not getting calls about guys getting not enough shots, not enough minutes. That hasn't happened one time this season. It's been a great ride. I'm very proud and happy that we get to stay in New York another day and see if we can't get to Saturday.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports