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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT


March 12, 2015


Dee Davis

Chris Mack

Matt Stainbrook


NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

Xavier - 67
Butler - 61

COACH MACK:  It seems like every time we play Butler here over the last five or six years, they're just gritty games.  We didn't get off to a really good start either the first or second half.  I thought our team responded with the resiliency that at times maybe we haven't had, but certainly we've had over the last month of the season.
I've told these guys that everybody's been talking about the Butler‑Georgetown matchup in the semifinals, and that was a little disrespectful because they have to play us first.  Then you can deal with the semifinal matchup.
Our guys are competitors.  We felt like, if we played at our best, that we would advance.  That's exactly what we did.  These guys played really tough.
We've got a quick turnaround to play one of the best teams in the country in Georgetown, and it will be a challenge.

Q.  Coach, with about 2:30 left, Trevon made that three‑pointer that tied up the game.  What was the difference for you guys from that point and into overtime on to be able to get the win?
COACH MACK:  Honestly, there's so many big plays on both ends of the floor for both teams.  It's hard to pinpoint one.  That one certainly gave our team a lot of confidence.
We just kept chipping away, chipping away, but we could never tie it up.  We were always down one, down two.  At that point, we felt like it was a new game, obviously.
From there, like I said before, players made some big time plays both at the end of regulation and overtime.

Q.  Chris, Jalen's playing with foul trouble yet stayed so aggressive in overtime.  What do you make of the way he finished up this game as well?
COACH MACK:  We played the way we know he's capable of.  Jalen is one of the toughest matchups in the conference when he's playing with a lot of confidence.  He's strong.  He's very confident himself.  He's an excellent finisher.
I thought our guards did a tremendous job of feeding both Matt and Jalen down the stretch in the post where I thought we had an advantage.

Q.  Chris, what was the advantage of starting J.P. both halves?
COACH MACK:  Not necessarily an advantage, but we just‑‑ that's who we started.  Sorry for the vague answer.

Q.  Matt, can you just talk about coming into this rubber match game.  You know them very, very well.  So did they throw anything different at you tonight that you didn't see the first two games?
MATT STAINBROOK:  Not necessarily.  We tried to maybe change up our defense a little bit.  I think we had me on Kam Woods a little bit more and sort of put Tre and other guys on Chrabascz.
Other than that, we scouted them really well.  We knew their stuff.  We just wanted to make sure we didn't get out‑toughed.

Q.  Coach, looking at tomorrow, what do you see in Georgetown that really stands out to you that you've seen over the year?  You guys have already beat them twice this season.
COACH MACK:  Those matchups have nothing to do with tomorrow night.  I see an excellent team.  I see a team that's very athletic, really big around the basket.  A little different than Butler in the sense they've got great size in the frontcourt.  They match our size extremely well.
They have a potent scorer, one of the best in the conference in D'Vauntes Smith‑Rivera, we know very well.  Their freshmen have become sophomores.
Coach Thompson does an incredible job with their style of play.  They make you guard for the entire shot clock.  We have to be at our best to win tomorrow night.

Q.  Dee, can you talk me through that sequence to start overtime where you made that layup and then were fouled.  How big was that for you guys heading into the overtime period?
DEE DAVIS:  Well, I think we were taking the ball out, and Coach told me we had 11 seconds left, and we need to get a shot up.  When I couldn't get the ball to Matt in the post, I took advantage of the matchup I had with Kellen Dunham  and went to the cup.  I was trying to make a play for my team and I think it gave us a lot of energy.

Q.  Talk about your ability to come back.  You got behind early, got the lead at halftime, fell behind in the middle, and then bounced back again.
MATT STAINBROOK:  I think our team is resilient.  We didn't get too high with the highs and low with the lows.  They're going to make our runs, and we're going to make our runs.  I think we did a good job of every media time‑out, hey, we're still in this one.  We've got to keep fighting and pushing.  Nothing is going to take us out except for ourselves.  I think our team was really resilient.

Q.  Matt, at the end of regulation it looked like you were vocal in the huddle.  Were you asking for a play there?  What was the plan when you got pulled?
MATT STAINBROOK:  I got denied the play.
COACH MACK:  This guy is drawing up plays on the clipboard.
MATT STAINBROOK:  I've got a go‑to play.
COACH MACK:  That we didn't go to.
MATT STAINBROOK:  Just wait.  When we need it and when it happens, I'm taking credit for it.  That's all I know.
COACH MACK:  Honestly, that last play, Dee made a really good read and threw it to Matt.  Hindsight 20/20, I should have flipped Alex Barlow's man to the other side of the floor because that dude gets his hands on every basketball.  He has the best set of hands in the country, it seems like.  Did a really good job of being able to rake the ball and get a jump ball.  But these guys did a great job of being resilient, like Matt said, in overtime.

Q.  Roosevelt Jones scored less points than in any other game.  Did you guys do anything differently?
COACH MACK:  I think our guys paid great attention to detail.  He's always trying to the corner.  He circles up on penetration, and if you lose vision on him, now he has an angle to the basket.  Our team presents maybe size he doesn't necessarily see in practice.  We just want him to score over, whether it's his matchup or the size inside.  I thought we did that flawlessly tonight.  That's one of the reasons he didn't necessarily hurt us with his point total.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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