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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2015Joshua SmithD'Vauntes Smith-RiveraJohn Thompson IIINEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK Georgetown - 60 Q. John, you've seen D'Vauntes come up big time and time again, but to have 12 of the final 15 points in that stretch, what can you say about that performance? COACH THOMPSON III: We needed it. They cameand jumped out‑‑ when they jumped out to their lead, we had to make plays. They're one of these teams‑‑ this league, I said it all year, most of the coaches have said it all year: Someone has to be Number 1. Someone has to be No.10. But there's not much difference. Maybe Nova is a little different, but everyone else, there's not much difference. Forget looking at numbers. You have to play, and you have to play well to win every night. They came out, and they played with a sense of purpose, and their execution‑‑ I thought Creighton's execution was at a high level today. So we got to the point where we needed someone to step up. You've heard me say all year, when we need baskets, everyone knows who we're going to‑‑ one of these two, and it's usually him. So he answered today. Q. What was Creighton doing defensively that bothered you a little bit? Shot just 38 percent today. COACH THOMPSON III: They do a good job. They were focused. They were extremely aggressive with how they played, and it was effective. It was effective. Then you get to thinking about that, and we get a few shots that we normally make that we didn't take, and then it's tight. But it was caused by their communication and their aggressiveness. Q. Coach, a sense of relief, or does this kind of tight game give you reason for optimism or anything like that moving ahead? COACH THOMPSON III: Can it be both? Q.  Sure. COACH THOMPSON III: To get the first win is a sense of relief, but we are optimistic going forward. So now we have to watch this game and go and play a very good team, whichever one wins tomorrow. Q. This is for Josh: Your patience and your poise tonight in the box because they really wanted to beat you up in the lane. Talk about that. COACH THOMPSON III: They wanted to what? Q. They wanted to be kind of physical with him tonight. COACH THOMPSON III: What did you say the first time? Q. Beat him up. JOSHUA SMITH: I was trying to be patient. I had three turnovers. That was on me. Going into the game, we knew they were going to double‑team, and I was just trying to find my teammates. Q. D'Vauntes, that three‑pointer you hit with about five minutes to play, what was your thought process on that when you hit him with the hesitation move? Were you always going to shoot it? Or did you think you might take it to the floor? What was your thought process? D'VAUNTES SMITH‑RIVERA: At that point, they were on the run. I really just wanted to make a play, and the guys were looking for me to make something happen. At that point, that's what I wanted to do. Q. D'Vauntes, can you talk about you beating these guys by a combined 42 points in the previous two, were you surprised what you saw out of them today? What did they do differently? D'VAUNTES SMITH‑RIVERA: Not at all. They played a lot faster today. Their transition was really well, and they were really physical. I knew today, we beat them two times physically, so third time‑‑ it's hard to beat anybody three times in a year. We knew they were going to come out tough. They definitely earned somewhat of a respect. Q. D'Vauntes, Milliken had 17 points, had the four‑point play, hadn't missed a shot the first 20‑something minutes. I don't think he scored, though, after that. What was the key for you guys ultimately to figure out how to slow them down? D'VAUNTES SMITH‑RIVERA: Just communicating, talking on defense. I know we lost him a few times, but he got a few good looks at the basket. He's a good player. He's going to make shots. We let him get off early, and I know that's what he continued to do. Q. Coach, talk to us about your decision to go zone late.  Your guys really executed in an outstanding manner, your call to switch to zone. They really had trouble getting looks when you went zone. COACH THOMPSON III: They were getting too many easy looks against our man‑to‑man, and they were putting us in difficult situations. So usually, I guess conventional wisdom says, when you can play against a team who shoots like they do, you don't go zone, but we did today, and it worked. It was to our benefit. Q. D'Vauntes, Coach mentioned a sense of relief getting the first win with the way things have gone in previous postseasons. Do you feel the same way, especially when you guys are down six early? D'VAUNTES SMITH‑RIVERA: For sure0. Last year we went down the first game to DePaul. We watched yesterday, and we didn't know who we were going to play. At that point, that game kind of played over and over again in our head. Creighton ended up winning, and we knew it would be tough against them, also. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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