San Diego State - 71, Creighton - 53
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Greg McDermott and Jackson McAndrew.
GREG MCDERMOTT: I think San Diego State is a good basketball team. We've played them a lot, seems like the last four or five years. Have tremendous respect for them. And the names and the numbers -- the names change, but the way they play is pretty consistent. They don't necessarily beat themselves and there's a toughness about them.
I thought for a decent portion of the game we matched that. We had a stretch in the second half, I think they scored eight possessions in a row.
Defensively we were out of sorts and allowed them to create that separation that was too much for us to overcome with what we had going today.
Q. On that point, do you think they got you guys out of rotation defensively or what did your guys (indiscernible).
GREG MCDERMOTT: Some of both. We made some mistakes a few times going under some screens when we weren't supposed to. When we got a little bit aggressive, our rotations weren't where they needed to be.
And, again, maybe sounds like a little bit of a broken record, but we built this team on shooting and we're not shooting it very well now at all.
Q. Have you been able to put your finger on why? Are you guys getting the looks --
GREG MCDERMOTT: They're getting some pretty good looks. I never say until I watch the film. There were some pretty open shots. And today -- we've been a great free throw team all season -- and today we couldn't do that either.
Q. Ashworth, we saw him warming up?
GREG MCDERMOTT: Probably better than I thought, especially based on what I saw on Saturday and Sunday. He's doing everything right to try to get himself back.
But as I told him last night, he's got to listen to his body on this one. We're not going to push this thing. We've got to make sure we make a long-term decision that's in his best interest.
Q. How hard is it to prepare for a team that has only played two Division I games and they basically have a whole new roster?
GREG MCDERMOTT: We had some film on them. Dutch, what they do is what they do. It's always been San Diego State basketball. It's how they play.
We knew what we were going to see. Obviously there are a few new wrinkles with eight days in between games. And then obviously we played Friday and lost our point guard. Coming into the game they were in better shape than we were.
Q. Jackson, first start today. What was today like for you?
JACKSON MCANDREW: It was definitely exciting. And definitely the fact that they're trusting me to go out there and start me. Just going out there playing the same I have been, trying to work as hard as I can to do the right things, make sure I'm locked in defensively, offensively.
It was honestly no different, just being out there right away and obviously playing more. But I know what I've got to do out there. It was exciting, for sure.
Q. From a player's perspective, can you tell why shots aren't falling for you guys? Do you feel like you're getting open looks and they're just not falling?
JACKSON MCANDREW: I feel like we're getting great looks off of our motion, off of our sets that we do. But, I mean, there's really no excuse. We were just missing open ones. It's just something we've got to get in the gym and continue to get reps up and just make shots.
Q. (Indiscernible) the offense (indiscernible)?
GREG MCDERMOTT: It was a mixture of Ty bringing it and Pop bringing it. And Shane played a little bit as well. But Steven's played a lot of minutes for us, so outside of a couple of practices we haven't had a lot of reps with that.
I thought they did a good job. I thought Ty moved the basketball. I thought he made some really nice passes. And sometimes assists are really -- I think it's the worst stat in basketball because if you make the right play you get somebody an open shot; and they miss it, you get no credit for that. So that's something that we evaluate. And I think Ty created a lot of opportunities for his teammates today.
Q. I think they've won I think four of the last five against you. Some have been close, but is there something about this match-up that's tough for you guys, something that maybe defensively --
GREG MCDERMOTT: We won an overtime game and lost in a last-second shot. So we've had competitive games until today. But Dutch is a good coach and they've got a great program.
Q. Do you have an overall takeaway that you (indiscernible) in after this one heading into tomorrow?
GREG MCDERMOTT: You have to have a short memory because we play a really good team tomorrow. We had some guys lodge some pretty big minutes, so we've got to try to get off our feet and get some rest.
We've built this program on unselfishness. Sometimes selfishness will creep in when things are tough and adversity strikes. It's really important that we don't enter a finger-pointing phase when we go through a tough time here. We stick together. We try to help each other, try to look in the mirror and figure out what we can do better to try to correct it and then move on from there and get ready for the next one.
Q. Jackson, what are you hoping to get out of tomorrow?
JACKSON MCANDREW: A win. I just want to see obviously us win, being connected, especially on the defensive end. And I think when we do that I think shots will go down. I just want to see us go out there and play hard and stay connected and get a win.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports