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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2016Cole HuffGreg McDermottJames MillikenNew York, New York Creighton - 73, Seton Hall - 81 GREG McDERMOTT: Congratulations to Seton Hall on a very well-played game. We probably expected Whitehead to perform at the level he performed tonight. He's played as well as anybody in the country right now. But Carrington was the difference. I thought we did a good job on Delgado. We made Rodriguez's catches tough in the post, which has been a big part of what they've done recently. And you know, we had our backs against the wall a couple of times in the first half. We came out the second half and really got back in the game and then went down 10 again. And our guys kept chipping away and kept fighting. I couldn't be more proud of my team. We made some mistakes late. Had a turnover on an out-of-bounds play which is a big play on a missed blockout on a free-throw. Those are the little things that add up in the end. That's not what I want these guys to take away from this season. Our seniors Geoff Groselle and James Milliken, a year ago at this time, we were playing meaningful games on February 20th. We're playing games that have NCAA Tournament implications. We were on the bubble at that time. That thought was a million miles away a year ago in February. So the fact that James and Geoff have led us back to the point of relevance is a credit to their leadership. I hope that's what they'll take away from this experience. I hope we get an opportunity to play some more. I think we're NIT worthy. I think a lot of people probably saw that tonight. Disappointed that we lost, but very proud of my team and very proud of where we've come from a year ago. Q. Cole, can you talk a little bit about your performance and just did you know you were on tonight from the start? COLE HUFF: I had a couple of open looks that the first two games I didn't perform up to the best of my abilities. I think I had a lot of shots they weren't expecting. My teammates and coaches did a great job of drawing up plays and getting me open. I converted some. Q. To all players, I know this hurts. Going back to last year where your only shot was to win this tournament. Versus regardless what happens this weekend, is there any consolation in that, going back when you think about a year ago that this was your only shot? JAMES MILLIKEN: I feel like our main goal was to get to the NCAA Tournament, and it was to win this tournament. So like Coach said, being from the bottom as the pre-season predictions, I feel like we weren't satisfied with being fourth or fifth. We wanted to win the whole thing. So just a matter of we just wanted to win the whole thing. That's how I feel. COLE HUFF: Definitely some positives we can take out of this. Like James said, pre-season not really being predicted to finish towards the top, and we didn't have a lot of expectations. During the middle of the season, in conference play we were really clicking. We didn't finish so strong, but there's definitely some things we can learn from this and take next year. At the same time, like you said, it hurts. Nobody wants to go home this early. This is what we play for. Q. Coach, did their three-point shooting surprise you at all? They've been shooting it well down the stretch, but they're still a dribble-drive team. GREG McDERMOTT: Carrington's willingness to shoot the three probably surprised me. As you mentioned, he's wanted to get down with the drive and Rodriguez has wanted to do that. Gordon hit a back-breaker. Obviously we're okay with that shot. From a guy that missed two free-throws pretty badly, he hits a huge three at a critical time. He's their senior. You can tell that he's added some things to that team from a year ago. I think his maturity. When you're bring in a fifth-year senior that only has one year to play, their expectations are through the roof. For him to come off the bench and provide a steadying influence to that team is really a credit to him. And also a credit to Kevin and the job he's done putting that team together this year. Q. For the players, is it that much more disappointing to lose a game after coming all the way back and have a chance to take the lead with 30 seconds to go? COLE HUFF: Yeah. At the end of the day a loss is a loss. It hurts to know that we were so close. Just a couple of things we could have done differently. You look back on the game, stuff is going to stick in your head until the next time we play. It's a credit to them, too. They played really well. They made some big-time plays. We just got to get back to the drawing board this offseason and figure some things out and be ready for next year. Q. The lineup with Malik at the 2, I don't have the plus-minus numbers in front of me, that was an effective lineup. What was your thinking putting Malik and Milliken together -- GREG McDERMOTT: It was good. Zeke tweaked his shoulder early in the second half. I don't know if you saw it. He got hit. He was going to have to be effective, not really have anything happen. So we used that lineup some at Xavier and there was some success there. I thought Malik's length and athletic ability to get his hands on some basketballs on the defensive end. Had two or three steals, if I'm not mistaken. It's not a position he's played a lot this year. He was really kind of forced into that. I thought he did a great job. He takes a little pressure off Maurice with his ball-handling ability and gives us another guy along with James and Maurice that can attack the basket. Q. Cole, is there any personal satisfaction in having a game like this on this stage considering this is what you came to Creighton for? COLE HUFF: I guess if I look back on this years from now when I'm done playing I'll say it was pretty cool. I mean, I wanted to get to the NCAA Tournament and play some meaningful basketball. It hurts. THE MODERATOR: Creighton, thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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