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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 11, 2012Jerian GrantQ.  If you could, some overview and impressions of Xavier and this match‑up you have against them. JERIAN GRANT: Well, I know they have two really good guards, and I know me and Eric are definitely going to have to play our A game to compete with them. I know that's going to be a match‑up a lot of people look at, and I know inside they have the big kid. So those are three match‑ups right there that I know a lot of people are looking at. Q. The guards are obviously high on everyone's list. You guys have gone against plenty of duos like them. Do they remind you of anybody and how excited do you get going against guys that are that experienced? JERIAN GRANT: It's really exciting to play against two guards that are really good. Throughout the Big East season you always get a two‑guard match‑up where the two guards are highly talked about and are really good. Me and Eric have been through this before, so we're ready to bring our A game, and we're going to be ready to play. Q. Not to get too sappy here, but I know a younger player going through the year and he's just trying to keep his head above water, but did you give any thought to wanting to get to the NCAA Tournament for a guy like Scott who's been through a lot? Did that ever come into your mind? JERIAN GRANT: I mean, of course you want to go to the NCAA Tournament. It's something we've thought about all season, and it was one of our goals, of course. But our goal really wasn't just to get there. Our main goal is to win games in the tournament and be able to go far in. Just as a team, yeah, for Scott we wanted to do it, too, but just as a team we wanted to do it. Overall we just wanted to get to the tournament and be able to win games. Q. The attention that Jack is getting in the last half of the season, does that open things up for you? Are you going into games thinking, we've got to look for that right away and maybe I've got to take more shots if things aren't real open for Jack? JERIAN GRANT: Yeah, for sure. I talk to Jack before every game, tell him that we're going to go inside to him. He's always excited because when we go inside to him, it opens things up for the guards, me, Eric, Pat and Scott getting open shots, and then when we get open shots then it opens things back up for him to go in and score, and he's always excited about that. He's always telling us to score so it can open things up for him. Q. Coach Brey mentioned that a lot of defenses are playing Jack differently recently, kind of after his run of success. Have you seen that, too, as the season progressed? You were kind of the unknown early, and now obviously you've got to be one of the focal points of scouting reports. JERIAN GRANT: Yeah, for sure. The open looks I was getting early in the season aren't as open anymore, so I've had to work for my shots. As Jack has come along in the season, it's helped me to be able to get open looks. And on screen‑and‑rolls, now guys are collapsing on him more, so it gives Eric, Scott and Pat open looks in the corners for threes. I've just been able to adjust my game as the defenses adjust to me. Q. You and Eric are a pretty good guard match‑up. Talk about the challenge you face. JERIAN GRANT: We're just always up for the challenge. Not a lot of people talk about us that much, so we feel like in order to earn respect and earn people to talk about you, you have to play well, and whenever it's a big match‑up, we talk about playing well so people can come into this game and know our name and we can get a win and people can start talking about Notre Dame and the two guards they have. Q. What do you think Jack can do better offensively? Are there other things you can do to help make shots? JERIAN GRANT: Yeah, getting to the free‑throw line for me. I'm shooting a good percentage from the free‑throw line, and it's just getting there, over contact and spinning through, not just battling for jump shots all the time and coming off screens and using the pick‑and‑roll. I can get to the basket, I just have to learn how to finish better. Q. Coach Brey talked about adding the pull‑up for you. Is it difficult for you to be selfish at times when you have to do a little bit more on offense? JERIAN GRANT: It is for sure. We have great shooters on the perimeter, so when I see those guys open, I want to hit them right away. But sometimes when they're not knocking down shots, I have to be able to shoot shots myself, and the 15‑footer is open a lot of the times. Over 15‑footers sometimes is a lot better than an open three‑pointer, even for our shooters when they're not hitting. Q. Do you have confidence you can make that shot? JERIAN GRANT: Yeah, for sure. Actually coming into my career, I think that's been my main shot, and I've worked on my three‑point shot here, but my go‑to is definitely that one. Q. Why does Eric never get tired? JERIAN GRANT: He just knows that he has to be out there for us. He's our guy. He's our only point guard. He knows he's our ball handler, and without him on the court he knows we're going to struggle. He fights through the tiredness because he knows that we need him on the court. Q. Were you able to pick up some experience last year about distractions? JERIAN GRANT: Yeah, just knowing that you're going to have to be ready to play against any team. Last year we got a tough match‑up with Florida State, but you just have to be ready for those type of match‑ups. Q. How many games do you figure that you and Eric have sat down and watched? JERIAN GRANT: It's really too many to count. We're always together. We're always watching college basketball. Even today we were going through the channels, and I know there were a lot of big games on, but me and him actually, we watched the St. Bonaventure‑Xavier game. Today we really pretty much watched the whole game to see what St.Bonaventure did to win the game. We actually concentrated on a couple of good receptions. Q. Did you have an intuition? JERIAN GRANT: Not really. Q. What's it like when you're in the room together? JERIAN GRANT: He's always talking. He's always energized. He doesn't really have an off button really. He's always wanting to talk and make jokes. I guess it's just his personality. Q. Does it get to a point where you say turn off the light and go to sleep? JERIAN GRANT: Yeah, I do. Every now and then I have to go, all right, Eric, calm down, it's time to go to sleep, or calm down, I'm just trying to chill right now. It's kind of funny. Q. An early night for him to go to sleep would be, what, 1:00, 2:00? JERIAN GRANT: Yeah, for sure. He's up talking on the phone or on his computer. Eric, I don't know how he does it, and he wakes up in the morning at 8:00 to go get shots up. It's weird. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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