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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 9, 2017Chris MackMalcolm BernardTrevon BluiettNew York, New York Xavier - 62, Butler - 57 COACH MACK: Beat a really good team. Our guys are very aware of the togetherness, the toughness and the resiliency that Butler has played with all year. But at the same time, coming into the game we felt like for the 80 minutes that we played in our two regular season games, 72 of those minutes, I don't think you could tell who the better team was. And we let turnovers plague us in game 2 at our place a couple of weeks ago. And I switched up how we defend the dribble handoffs and brush screens and all that stuff from game 1 to game 2 and it helped our team. Tonight I think our team did both things. We handled their dribble penetration for the most part, and other than that stretch in the second half, we did a good job in the last four, five minutes taking care of the ball and getting good shots, getting to the foul line. Q. Chris, are you able to verbalize what a relief this one is? COACH MACK: I don't look at it as relief. We have competitive guys. And they understand what's at stake. I don't know how you can't, 2017, everywhere we go guys have their phones up to their noses. So I'm sure they're Snapchatting, but at the same time they're probably checking Twitter and seeing the bottom line on ESPN and Fox Sports 1, Stewart Mandel. We're aware of all that stuff. The bigger issue is making sure we play our best against really good teams. And Butler is a really good team, good program, and they've had a special year. And wish them well in the NCAA Tournament. Q. Coach, you mentioned yesterday that you were uncertain as to where this team stands in regards to the NCAA Tournament. Does that change after tonight's win? COACH MACK: No, I mean I still don't know where we stand. Again, I only care about the Big East Tournament right now. And I talked a lot at the press conference that we had before we left here for New York about how I felt about my team and our resumé, if you will. But I'm here to talk about the Big East Tournament and a game that was well-played tonight, two teams that battled tooth and nail. I mean, the game could have gone either way down to the wire. Our guys made some big time plays, and Malcolm probably had his best game of his career, next to me. And Trevon has done it all year. That's why we put the ball in his hands. Let's talking about the Big East Tournament. And it's special to be playing Friday night, tomorrow. Q. Trevon, bring us through that play where you hit the big shot there late in the second half? TREVON BLUIETT: Coach wanted me to get the ball around the elbow and just kind of make a playoff that, drive and kick or throw high-low to the big or just drive to the basket. When I turned around and saw the basket I felt like I had an advantage trying to get to the rim. So I tried to use my body a little bit. And the main thing was just to stay poised and just got a shot off. Q. This is for all you guys. First half against DePaul you guys really looked a little lethargic, and now you're at this point now. What did you guys have to do to get from point A to point B now, for anyone who wants to answer? COACH MACK: I want these guys to answer the majority of questions, but I would say I disagree with you that we were lethargic. I thought if anything we pressed. Defensively we played pretty well. I thought our guys were pressing. We couldn't make a shot. And that's -- we're no different. A lot of teams that come in the Garden with the bright lights and miss a lot of shots. But our team settled in. Q. First half, guys were close. What were some of the adjustments you made mentally and physically? TREVON BLUIETT: Well, mentally, he just told us to stay in the game. The other two games that we played against them it's been the same way. So we couldn't let that get to us. We knew that it was a game of runs. And we were still in it from the get-go. I think from the on-the-floor standpoint, I just think that we kind of lacked getting those rebounds that we talked about leading up to this game, and he just told us that it's something we have to improve on. We were getting open shots. We just didn't make them count and take advantage of them. But overall just keep playing the way we're playing and just stick to it, and eventually everything's going to fall through. Q. Coach, can you talk about the decision to send Baldwin to the line to take the free throws for Savage, what went into it and why you picked him? COACH MACK: I think at one point I picked all four guys. Fortunately I didn't say anything to the referee. Number one, Travis is a senior. I mean, he's been down this road before. He was 4-for-4. I don't think he touched the rim. I eliminated him. And you had Kelan Martin, big-time gamer. He's made big shot after big shot. He already had been to the line a minute or so before. He made the second one. So I felt like he would sort of get a rhythm. Then I looked at Fowler and Baldwin. Both of them are great free throw shooters. I just think Nate, he's very stoic. I don't think the moment is going to get to him. Every time I watch him shoot a free throw, it's like a machine, ball hits the net the same way. I picked the best free throw shooter on their team. Fortunately he missed one. But any of those guys could have missed one or made one; we just got lucky. Q. Malcolm and Tre, I think you scored about 100 points in the paint this week going back to Saturday. You're going into Friday now. Are you surprised that that area of the floor has been as open as it has been up to like this standpoint still? MALCOLM BERNARD: I think Coach emphasizes a lot on getting paint touches and getting to the box. I mean, we all know that we can shoot the ball well. We've put up a lot of shots, probably more than most teams, and so like our big emphasis is getting to the box. So that's what we try to do every single time is get to the box. That's a huge emphasis for us. Q. Coach, how did you stop, your defense completely switched it up, not only from games you played against earlier in the year. But at the same time, last night, you were going with a zone almost the entire game, putting pressure up on top they weren't swinging kept doing it never got the ball down low. Today you basically went man-to-man -- you did switch it up a little bit in the first half, but went right back to man-to-man. It was very effective. Looking at two statistics. One, 21 percent Butler shot from 3-point range when they've got shooters. What did you do on top? How they miss that much? Obviously get a lot of credit for your defense. COACH MACK: Number one, DePaul isn't near the shooting team that Butler is. For us I think being able to switch a lot of their dribble hand-offs, it creates a little bit of mismatches at times. You're going to have certain guys maybe on their point guard, certain guys on Travis who is going to roll you in the post. But we felt overall if we switched for the most part there's going to be a man on a man everywhere on the floor. And again I think our guys have great respect for the type of shooting team that Butler is and being able to contain the basketball is the most important thing defensively. If you do that, it doesn't require a second defender to help and I think our guys did that. We tried to mix it up because I think our team's been pretty effective playing zone. But we couldn't do what we did against DePaul, in my opinion, and feel like we could be successful. Q. Malcolm, after playing at Florida A&M, you're on the verge of playing in the NCAA Tournament. Can you talk about your emotions, how this might cap your career? MALCOLM BERNARD: Honestly, it's unexplainable. Q. One happy cat right there, I'll tell you that. MALCOLM BERNARD: It's really unexplainable. That's the reason why I came here, and to see it actually happening, I mean, knowing that it was going to happen already but to actually see it, it's truly an amazing feeling. And I don't think I'm going to feel anything better than this. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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