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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: RALEIGHMarch 17, 2016Chris HoltmannKellen DunhamTyler WidemanRaleigh, North Carolina Butler - 71, Texas Tech - 61 THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll go ahead and begin the Butler press conference. Coach Holtmann if you could please give us an opening statement CHRIS HOLTMANN: Yeah. Listen, proud of our guys. I think we played a very good team today in Texas Tech, and, you know, as I've told you guys yesterday, I've got so much respect for Coach Smith and the job that he does. And watching them on film, just was really impressed. I knew it was going to be a grinding, physical game, and it was that. It was a great atmosphere thanks to our Butler fans. They were terrific. Everybody who traveled. We fortunately we made a little bit of a run there in the mid part of the second half with Kelan's two transition threes that gave us a little bit of breathing room. Proud of your guys and it's a good effort and we're excited about moving on. THE MODERATOR: And this time we're opening the questions for the student-athletes. Q. This is for Kelan: You were scoreless first half and hit the two threes. What went right for you with that sequence with the threes? KELAN MARTIN: Letting the game come to me. I know I didn't score the first half or beginning of the second half. Coach was telling me when he was subbing me out, just let the game come to me and make plays and help out defensively rebounding. Q. Tyler, you're usually outsized there in the post, but I think you were 6-of-6 shooting today. What was going well for you today and what was the biggest challenge you had facing Texas Tech's bigs? TYLER WIDEMAN: Just letting the game come to me. My teammates did a good job of finding me when the Texas Tech bigs stepped up or something like that. But my teammates did a good job finding me. I was just in the right place at the right time. I'd say the biggest thing for me against the bigs was just guarding them on defense. They were pretty big down there. So it was a pretty tough challenge. Q. That was a pretty good 8-9 matchup. Looked like it was going overtime until Kelan got hot. How is that going to help you moving forward being in a game like that? KELLEN DUNHAM: I think it shows a testament to our character and our maturity that we're able to weather the storm and prevail. The example is Kelan doesn't score the first half but comes out and continues to be aggressive, and we trust he can score the ball for us. Q. Also for Kelan, this was your fifth NCAA Tournament game. You really didn't have a high shooting percentage in any of the previous four. Were you mindful of that? You looked like you were in rhythm today. I just wondered if you felt any sense of relief that you shot so accurately today in your last NCAA Tournament? KELLEN DUNHAM: I'm mindful that I want to hit every shot. I expect to hit every shot. That's just the way that I think shooters, good shooters, have that mentality. I lot of times and a lot of times my teammates were able to set me up and set great screens. Shows how unselfish we are as a basketball team. Q. Always in tournaments like this there's a quick turnaround. How much do you know about the next two teams playing, Virginia and Hampton? And how much will you watch the next game between now and then scout forward to Saturday's game? TYLER WIDEMAN: I don't know much about the two teams personally, but I know our coaching staff will do a great job scouting both teams and just be prepared for whoever wins. Q. Maybe for Tyler, the defense has been kind of the season-long issue for the Bulldogs today, but you got a lot of stops, a lot in succession today. What was Butler doing well today on defense? And I don't think I detected any zone possessions. It looked like you stayed in man. TYLER WIDEMAN: Just sticking to our principles. Our coach is drilling into us in practice, just playing the Butler defense, just trying to be the toughest team out there. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for the student-athletes? All right. Gentlemen, congratulations. You are excused. Thank you very much. At this time, we'll open up the floor for Coach Holtmann. Q. Weird things happen in the Tournament; good scorers go quiet at bad times. Were you nervous about Kelan's start and where he was before he hit those two big threes? CHRIS HOLTMANN: No, I wasn't. He's wired to score. The biggest thing for him was he needed to let it happen, and he was going to have some openings and you know what, if they covered him well and he didn't have openings, that was going to create some things for his teammates, and he needed to be okay with that. He rolls out of the bed ready to score the ball. We want him to continue to impact the game in other ways. That was really our challenge to him in a pretty direct way at halftime and he responded, and that stretch in the second half was important. Q. Kind of along those lines you guys made the most of the turnovers that you forced today. How significant was it with the transition threes and even down the stretch even further than that? CHRIS HOLTMANN: Probably the difference in the game, really, I thought defensively, we were good at times, and not as good at other times. We did have some activity which created some turnovers, and there were probably a couple of unforced ones, too, that we capitalized on, but we did have some activity which created some turnovers, which was good. But the flipside of that is we don't typically have 14 turnovers. We need to take a little better care of the ball. Q. Yeah, just looking ahead, how tough is this turnaround, particularly that it could be a one seed that plays with a very unique style, with only one day to prepare for? CHRIS HOLTMANN: In these kind of settings you're already in advance preparing for the teams you could potentially play. I think everybody's doing that. Our staff has been hard at work late into last night in preparation for both teams would could play, so that's typical. Listen, when you're in the 8-9 game, I think everybody knows what's coming next if you win. So our guys, we'll prepare them as well as we can. We'll really try to be as simple and basic as we can, and we know that we could potentially play either team, and we'll be ready for it. The players will sleep well tonight. Coaches will not. Q. Coach, Butler can score so much so quickly. Is there any kind of point of emphasis to tell the team like, if we get two or three successive stops, that might be enough? I mean, obviously, that's been like a season-long mission for you to try to get the defense to improve. CHRIS HOLTMANN: Yeah. Q. Seems like if you can have a defensive spurt that can sometimes turn your games? CHRIS HOLTMANN: I just think they have to believe that right now. Listen, the teams we've beaten, when we have played really well, we've been able to put successive three, four, five stops together in a run that's been the pivotal point in the game. And they have to believe that. And it's been a challenge at times. But our guys, I think embrace that today. They had a really good focus about them the entire week in preparation for this team. We knew it was going to be a grinder and potentially a lower-scoring game because of how Texas Tech can grind you. So I was pleased. We certainly did talk to them at time-outs about trying to just outgrind them here these last, couple minutes and our guys did that down the stretch. Q. You've got guys that have played in the Tournament before. How much is tournament experience a factor when you're in a game that's 48-all midway through the second half? CHRIS HOLTMANN: You know, I think it's probably a factor to some degree. How much of it, I don't know. I think maybe a little bit too much is made of that. Because everybody who's probably in this tournament has played close games throughout the year. Granted, it's the world's best tournament on a bigger stage. But we really just preach staying in the moment as much as possible and trying to win the next possession. I think our guys showed good poise, good poise. We didn't have great poise in a couple stretches in the first half but we did for the rest of the game and that's important. Q. Andrew Chrabascz is one of the local kids to us. Could you tell us what he means to your program the last couple years? CHRIS HOLTMANN: Very important. He's been an important part of it with his ability to get lose balls, be physical and tough. He can be a match-up issue at the 5 because of how he can shoot it and drive it. And defensively, I thought he worked against their bigs today pretty effectively. So, he's very important for our team; there's no question about it. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for Coach? All right, Coach, congratulations. Thank you very much. CHRIS HOLTMANN: Thanks, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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