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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2015Alex BarlowKellen DunhamChris HoltmannNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK Xavier - 67 COACH HOLTMANN: Listen, I think that we've got to give Xavier credit. I think they played physical, as we expected they would, and I thought it was a physical, hard play game by both teams. We were hoping to be able to get to the free‑throw line, be a little bit more efficient than what we were. That and our inability to take care of the ball at the level that we've done for the most of the season, I think, really affected us. But I thought both teams played really hard and played really physical. Give Xavier credit. I thought they made enough plays down the stretch, particularly getting to the foul line in overtime really hurt us. Q. It seems like Butler at time is contagious. In other words, great talent, some of the play calls, defense unbelievable. The contagiousness is that, if you hit free throws‑‑ if you don't, like 10‑2 are up, 10‑7, 12‑7, Roosevelt Jones hits the free throws at that stage. I don't know what the percentage was at the end. 45 percent or something from the free‑throw line. I'm not looking at the stats. COACH HOLTMANN: From the free‑throw line? Looks like it was 52 percent. Q. But the thing is because of Kellen hitting some shots. But the thing is‑‑ and Alex as well. Alex started so strong with the three‑pointers that really opened things up, and it looked like we were going to put Xavier on their backs. Coach, what happens as far as the contagiousness as we move forward towards the tournament, towards March Madness? COACH HOLTMANN: I'm not certain what you mean about the contagiousness, but I will tell you that, I think, free‑throw shooting in general can be a confidence thing, and I think it's about getting the right guys to the free‑throw line‑‑ we would have loved to get Kellen there a little bit more. We came off a game where we shot 20‑for‑20. It was good to see Drew make a few, but for us we wanted to get there a little more than we did. Obviously, we've got to do a better job of knocking them down. When we've lost a couple of close games this season, a couple times it's been because of free‑throw shooting. Q. Coach, what's it like to prepare for a team when you have so much familiarity, as you do with Xavier? Did anything surprise you tonight about anything they did? COACH HOLTMANN: No. I'm sure they would say the same. It's bone on bone. It's a really physical‑‑ most teams, we know their calls. They know our calls. We kind of know where they're going with the ball, and likewise. So it makes for a very physical, grinder of a game. We anticipated that, and, again, I think that overtime was key with them able to get a couple and ones and get to the free‑throw line more. But it's really‑‑ I think any time you play a team that has a lot of familiarity with each other, it's bone on bone. It comes down to can you make free throws? Can you take care of the ball a little bit better? Xavier did a better job than us tonight. Q. Is this particularly disappointing given how much you led during the game, both halves? COACH HOLTMANN: No, not necessarily. That's the nature of college basketball. There's games of runs. Both of our games at Hinkle was a game of runs with them as well. I don't think you ever look at it and say, hey, you're up nine or ten‑‑ teams are too good to be able to kind of put it away, so we anticipated it was probably going to come down to the last five minutes. We certainly would have liked to have more quality possessions when we had the lead than what we did. Again, you have to give them some credit for making some plays. Q. Coach, you had two runs of scoring droughts in the second half that really seemed to hurt you. Was that just your team missing shots and not making it or just Xavier stepping up defense? COACH HOLTMANN: I'd have to go back and look at it. Was it lineups we had in there or did we‑‑ I think we did a better job than we did in Game 2 of getting a higher quality of look. Alex did a good job stepping up and shot a high volume tonight, but we anticipated that he'd be open. Our team has had some droughts throughout this year offensively, but really our mainstay has been our defense, and it let us down a little bit tonight. Q. Alex, you had a career high point total for you tonight. What was going so right? On top of that, you were making hustle play after hustle play. How do you think that kind of got the team in the game there? ALEX BARLOW: My teammates did a great job finding me. I kind of got in a rhythm in the first half a bit. Obviously, I'd like to make a few more shots; 5‑of‑14 is not a great percentage. So I'll just work on that for the next game and make sure I knock them in. Q. Coach, after a long Big East season, it seemed like a grind just from watching it, are you looking forward to getting out in the Tournament and looking forward to competition? COACH HOLTMANN: I think most teams would tell you that, that they're looking forward to playing somebody different in the Tournament because it gets to be such a grind. We've had a tremendous, tremendous Big East season, to finish 12‑6 and tied for second is a real credit to this group. We obviously would have liked to stay here a little bit longer, but I know our guys are excited about next week. They were excited about this week. I know they'll be excited about next week. I'm sure they'll be excited to someone outside of Big East on the ledger, but I know we're going to get a really, really good team. Q. You mentioned, when two teams are familiar with each other, it's bone on bone. Could you talk a little bit about the rivalry between you guys. COACH HOLTMANN: People have said it's a rivalry. Obviously, the location makes it unique. It's pretty close. We certainly recruit against each other. I think there's a longstanding history of games between Butler and Xavier. It's always an intense, physical game, and we anticipated that. I know our guys were excited to play this game, particularly after what happened at the Cintas Center, and we wish we pulled it out. Q. Chris, you look at this group, and just the roll that they've been through, and now the grand scheme of things, you're going to be an NCAA Tournament team. What makes you think that, if you click, what's the key to clicking? And what makes you think this team could do something here in the NCAA Tournament? COACH HOLTMANN: I think we've shown throughout the year that we can play really good basketball. These guys have shown it time and time again. They're so impressive in their approach, their detailed approach. Listen, they know we've got to clean up a few things. Take care of the ball better. It's really got to be about that. We've got to focus on things we need to do and take from this game. Not going to put too much into it, but there's some things we need to clean up and do better. Hopefully, that will prepare us for a really good team on Thursday or Friday. So, again, these guys have earned the right throughout the year playing really good basketball to enjoy next week. Q. Coach, talk about really good basketball and earning the right. Obviously, that comes with hustle plays. Just talk about the hustle on this team. How much does that mean to Barlow coming up with big steals at the end of the game? How much does that kind of influence the team? COACH HOLTMANN: Well, he's terrific. Both these guys are terrific at that. Listen, I think we know, if that's not us, we can be pretty average, and also we can be pedestrian at times if we do not play with a real edge to how we play. That has to be us. So if it's not us, then we won't‑‑ we certainly won't be who we are. I think, when we've been good, we'll be able to make enough of those plays, and I thought we played really hard tonight. Q. Kellen, you scored about as many points tonight as you did in the first two games combined. Were you getting better looks tonight? Kind of what was working well for you? KELLEN DUNHAM: A few times I was able to get my foul calls and get to the free‑throw line. It's nice to see a few go in. I got the and‑one early, and just to see a basket go in for me is good. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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