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March 26, 2015
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
ARIZONA - 68
XAVIER - 60
THE MODERATOR: Coach, an opening statement about the game.
COACH MACK: We lost to a great team. A team that has a very good chance to win a National Championship. I told our team in the days leading up to playing Arizona that regardless of the outcome, regardless of the score, the only thing I wanted is for people from California all the way to Florida to watch our game, and at the end of the game say that we were the tougher team. And I told our guys in the locker room, I don't know if they said that, but I also know that they wouldn't say that Arizona was the tougher team. Our guys competed their tails off. We gave one of the best teams in the country everything they wanted and more. And we couldn't make a couple plays down the stretch. We felt like the game was going to hinge on the glass. They got a couple second and third chance opportunities when we were in zone that we just couldn't keep them off the glass. You know, the final thing that I would say, that has nothing to do with the game, is the relationships you build with your players is a special one. And I told these guy two guys next to me that the mark of really good seniors and seniors that lead you are when their seasons and their careers are over, you want to keep coaching them another year, and that's not always the case. I told both of these guys I'd love to have them another year, but it's not to be. And I'm really proud of how they represented our team. How they led our team from the moment of our home loss against Creighton until now, I couldn't have asked for anything more.
Q. Matt, you seemed to lose control of your emotions there early in the game. What happened there and how were you able to compose yourself for the rest of the game?
MATT STAINBROOK: I just wanted to win. I don't know. Sometimes emotion gets the best of you when you're competing hard and you want to win, but you've got to bounce back and play hard.
Q. Dee, your 1-3-1 zone defense really seemed to give them trouble for most of the game. Could you talk about that and what you were able to do to keep them on their heels?
DEE DAVIS: We did a great job. It's been working well for us all year. We knew their shooting ability from outside, they had a couple of people that could really shoot the ball. So we tried to not let the ball get to the corners and close out to those shooters. What we had to do out of the zone is rebound. We did a good job for the most part in the game, but they started getting second chance shots, and I think that's what hurt us in the end.
Q. The last couple of possessions, I mean, you guys kind of dictated much of the second half. But the last two or three possessions, tell me what happened on those?
DEE DAVIS: We missed shots. Simple as that. We've just got to make plays and we didn't do that. I mean, they did. They hit free throws. We had some silly fouls that favored them, so I just think that we didn't close the game out the way we wanted to. But we played hard. I couldn't ask for anything more from my team.
Q. Did they do anything different defensively the second part of the second half? Or was it just missing shots or do you think they changed the way they were defending you?
MATT STAINBROOK: I don't think they really changed anything. We just missed some shots, like Dee said, and it hurts when you do that because a lot of it comes down to senior leadership and stuff like that. I think me and Dee tried to be closers and tried to lead our team, and sometimes it just doesn't go the way you want it.
Q. It's only your second year in the Big East. You were the last team standing here. You hung tough with obviously a very good team. How much pride do you guys take in what you did as seniors in two years in this new conference for you?
MATT STAINBROOK: I take a lot of pride. When it comes down to it, I want people to remember me as a person that played hard, played to win, played tough. I hope I leave a legacy that my parents, my friends, family are proud of. I think we've got some guys on the team who are returning next year and they're in very capable hands, and I'd say watch out for Xavier.
DEE DAVIS: I very much agree. Obviously you want to be known as a player that plays with heart and leaves it all on the floor, and I think that's what we did for the last few games of our career. I'm proud. I don't have any regrets.
Q. Matt or Dee, what was the locker room like afterwards? Obviously, very upset about the loss, but did anyone have any words of wisdom for you guys after the fact?
DEE DAVIS: I mean, it was emotional. Of course, we all wanted to win and make it to the Elite Eight. We know very few teams, only two teams have made it to the Elite Eight in Xavier's history. It was more so the encouragement. We've had a good run as seniors. It was more so to the young guys telling them they've got to work hard to get back to where we're at right now. It's not easy. We did a lot of hard work, played a lot of hard teams, very tough teams, competitive, but we stuck through it and made it here. So it was more so encouragement and just shaking hands and telling them how proud we were, and how much fun we had playing with them.
Q. Matt, you seemed to have your way early inside, and then it changed in the last 11 minutes. Was it different bodies on you?
MATT STAINBROOK: Yeah, I think they changed up who was guarding me. I know a lot of times they went bigger, and they sent some smaller guys, Ashley was guarding me and Hollis-Jefferson a couple times. I don't want to get a charge. I don't want to get player control. I knew I had to be careful with the moves I make and the things I do. It's disappointing because I knew I got where I wanted to and didn't finish up. So that's not going to help you, so...
DEE DAVIS: I think you did a great job, honestly. Matt's done a lot for this team. It was fun playing with him. He kept us under control in a lot of situations, and he always usually makes the right play. So maybe sometimes shots don't fall, but you can't blame him for taking those shots at all.
Q. Coach, how did you think your 1-3-1 defense really affected the tempo and the way that things were going for Arizona early?
COACH MACK: I thought it was very effective. We worry about being able to rebound out of the zone. I think we got up four points at one time in the second half and T.J. shot a little pull-up shot on the right side on the lane, missed it, and I thought that was, again -- I don't know. I just live and die every play, so maybe it wasn't as big of a play as I thought. But he got his own rebound and put it back in. You know, those are backbreakers, because with our zone and the way our guys played it this year we really dictated where you're going to go with the ball. We tried to funnel it into our bigs, and our guys did a great job. We drew it up in the sand halfway through the year because we thought our foot speed was really slow with our bigs, and we won a lot of games with that defense. But a great team adjust. They were driving it more than we've seen. In the first half they were a little bit hesitant. They missed a few shots. They held on to the ball a little bit longer. In the second half, they rebounded it and they also drove it a little bit more than we were used to. But we felt like we needed to play it as much as we could to win the game.
Q. Just a small detail, but the game started with a three-point shot by Matt. Were you surprised by that?
COACH MACK: Nope.
Q. Did he see an opportunity?
COACH MACK: I told him to shoot it. Sean, because his bigs are really big, I don't want to get too technical, but they veer ball screens. Their bigs stay way off. So we thought I just wanted to rattle Sean a little bit, have Dee drive it, get Tarczewski deep in the lane and throw out. I just wanted him to turn to his bench and say, You believe this center's shooting threes? And I told Matt, If you made one, I want you to shoot a second one. Honestly, we got a couple rolls. We tried to take advantage of how they play ball screen defense. Their size really hurts teams. So we got a couple dunks by Jalen, our ball screen offense was good, and they started jumping. We wanted to get their big guys out on the floor a little bit more. But they're so big, they're so athletic, eventually we didn't have a whole lot of answers on the offensive end like we're used to.
Q. I kind of asked your guys, two years into the Big East and you're the last team standing here. You obviously carried the flag for the conference. What do you feel about the direction of your program right now?
COACH MACK: I think we have eight freshmen and sophomores. We have two high-character kids that are leaving our program that I'm going to miss every day here for the next however many days until our season starts, and do everything I can for them beyond Xavier. But we're in good hands. We have eight freshmen and sophomores. We have two kids that red-shirted. We're going to be okay. We have to play a little differently because we're not going to have Big Stain in the middle. But that's okay.
Q. What were Trevon's struggles tonight? It seems in the last two games he's had a tough time finding his stride?
COACH MACK: Probably battling a few mental demons. He's really hard on himself. It's a long season for freshmen. It is a long season for freshmen. They have a freshman who is not going to -- I don't know this for sure, but probably not going to be a sophomore next year. But Tre's going to be in our program for a little while, and he's going to make huge strides over the off-season. But we went on a foreign trip, and part of what you gain on the front end I was really hesitant because I think sometimes you can lose some stuff on the back end. Season becomes two seasons for our freshmen. But they did a great job. Even the ones that didn't play a whole lot. They came every day to practice with great energy, eagerness. So I think that the season got a little long for Tre. But he's going to be a special player. I mean, he led us in scoring this year as a freshman. Nobody's more disappointed in how he played tonight than Tre. He's bawling his eyes out in the locker room.
Q. Were you able to talk to Sean at all after the game or just briefly what was your exchange?
COACH MACK: I just told him to win it all. Just said, You've got a great team, but he already knew that so that was it. I'm sure I'll see him and talk to him here in the future.
Q. Chris, you outscored them 34-18 in the paint. Were those just empty numbers now or what did they mean?
COACH MACK: That's where we really thought we could win the game. We felt like they were going to struggle to guard Jalen and Matt. You know, somebody asked if they started to change defense a little bit. I'd say they tried to trap the post a little bit down the stretch. We had to call a timeout and we did get a basket or at least Jalen got fouled on the rim. At the time they post trapped. Makes you think a little bit. They did a great job of sometimes deflecting our entry passes into the post. They did a great job crowding and being two places at once when the ball went in. But our strength is being inside out. We're an inside-out team. And our bigs have been able to score on anybody we've played all year, and we felt like they could do that tonight. We had some shots that rimmed in and out around the basket, gosh, I'd love to have back. If we had shot better than 3 for 17 maybe we'd still be standing and I'd be the second guy up here on the podium.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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