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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2017Greg McDermottJustin PattonMarcus FosterNew York, New York Creighton - 75, Xavier - 72 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Creighton, Marcus Foster, Justin Patton and Coach McDermott. COACH MCDERMOTT: That was quite a game. Xavier obviously really jumped on us early, and we spent a good portion of the evening trying to dig ourselves out of that hole. Defensively, the second half, while we weren't great, our fight on the backboards was better. They had ten second-chance points at halftime. We had two. Second half we got five; they got four. Something we talked about in the locker room at halftime, that that had to change, that we had to hit them before they hit us on the glass. And our efficiency offensively, we talked at halftime about when we penetrate against some of their switches, we have to penetrate to make a play for a teammate, not make a play for ourselves. That changed the second half from the first half. Marcus gets six assists, Khyri gets eight. Those are the two guys that are putting on it the floor to make plays for our team and they made great plays for their teammates. Terrific win for us. We've been in this league four years. This will be the second trip to the championship game, which is a credit to the people in the locker room, staff and the players. We've been through a lot the last five or six weeks, and for us to be sitting on the stage getting ready to play tomorrow night is a credit to the character of the people I have in that locker room. Q. What does it mean as a team and as a locker room to advance to a game against Villanova tomorrow night? MARCUS FOSTER: It means a lot to us. We've been putting in work since last spring, since the season was over, so I feel like we deserve it. Our guys in the locker room, great guys, great teammates to be around and we work so hard together. So it showed tonight on the court by how we kept fighting and getting back into the game even when they kept on giving us their best shot. Q. Coach, you just mentioned how you handled their defensive switches. Was that why you resulted in such great efficiency from 3 in the second half and overall in the game? COACH MCDERMOTT: We were able to collapse the defense versus some of the switches with their bigs. And Justin slipped out of some early, got a few baskets at the rim, and all of a sudden your defense mindset changes because you're giving up an easy two, and they're late getting to some shooters. Then we executed an out-of-bounds play that we just put in this morning that we saw from last time we played them that we thought we could get a corner 3. And Khyri did a great job dribbling up the floor and Marcus hit that corner 3 which was a huge play, and obviously Marcus made a big-time play at the end of the game. Q. Marcus, we've talked a lot about the journey to certain points throughout the year, based on this being your first year at Creighton. What does it mean to you today to even in that moment give up a game-tying 3 and walk down the court and with all the confidence in the world try to put your team into the title game? MARCUS FOSTER: Means a lot to me, especially growing up always wanting to play in Madison Square Garden and having this moment. It's just an amazing feeling to have. And me and Justin redshirting last year and not seeing much time on the court, it means a lot, shows how all the hard work and effort we're putting in is paying off. Q. You knew Marcus was talented. But everything you've gotten this year, obviously being a great scorer, before Maurice went down, and expanding his game since Maurice was hurt, has he surprised you with how well he's handled everything? COACH MCDERMOTT: What he and Khyri have done is really difficult to do. They had to really change their stripes in terms of their responsibilities with the team right in the middle of the season. And if you -- Marcus, I would guess, has close to twice as many assists in the last 13 or 14 games than he had in the first 19, because our team, if we were going to be successful moving forward, our team -- it was going to be required that he does that. So he's added a lot to his game in the time he's been here. His ball handling has improved. His defense I'd like to say could get a little better, but it's come a long ways as well. But he's always had the confidence in himself, in situations like that. I remember obviously we recruited him out of high school. I watched him freshman year against Oklahoma. MARCUS FOSTER: Sophomore. COACH MCDERMOTT: Sophomore against Oklahoma both games he hits a game-winning 3 at the end. He's got confidence. He works on that shot. Obviously gets it off quick. And now that he has the ability to attack the rim, it makes guarding that 3-point shot all the more difficult. Q. When Maurice was down I read you talked to Marcus about having to change his game. Do you remember exactly what he said to you? COACH MCDERMOTT: The biggest thing he had to change was we needed his voice. Maurice's voice was a dominant voice with our team; he was our leader. And somebody had to take that and last night we don't win the game, Marcus is in foul trouble, but if you watch his actions on the bench and watch how engaged he was during that game and timeouts when he was sitting there with foul trouble, it's a sign of maturity as a player. But Marcus embraced what we've asked him to do. And his assist numbers, they speak for themselves. He's not only scoring the basketball for us but he's making plays for other people. Q. Justin, Tyrique had quite a game in Omaha the last time you played Xavier, was that matchup weighing on you tonight, was it personal in any way, and what does it mean to come out and have the game you did particularly in the interior tonight? JUSTIN PATTON: He's a really good player. I try not to make things personal when I play basketball. He just happened to be the opponent tonight in front of me. And with all my other big men I play with, they did a good job of wearing him down. And like Coach said, we wanted move the ball. And he got tired and they all got tired. That made it better for us and that's why we got the tip-ins and the extra points and the slip-ins. Q. Marcus, can you just go through the sequence that led to your game-winning shot? MARCUS FOSTER: Yeah, Trevon Bluiett made a great move. I thought he was going all the way to the goal but he stepped back to the 3 and made a good shot. Pulling it down I stood by Coach Mack just to hear what he was thinking if they were going to call a timeout or what he said just let's play. And by then I got into my routine of how I usually play and just took a big shot for my team. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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