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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 11, 2017Richard PitinoNate MasonDupree McBrayerWashington, D.C. Michigan - 84, Minnesota - 77 THE MODERATOR: We'll ask Coach Pitino to make an opening statement. COACH PITINO: We battled. To be down 16, to come back, proud of the effort. To have Nate and Dupree not get a sub, Amir only gets one minute out of the game, was obviously very, very challenging. It was difficult off a one-day prep. You feel so bad for Akeem and his injury. But from a team standpoint, it's very challenging. You have less than a 24-hour turnaround, to get guys kind of in the right spot. Some time off will help. We'll be able to acclimate some other guys, be able to go to the bench a little bit more. Our guys showed terrific heart, terrific toughness. We just couldn't get stops at the beginning. We just didn't set the tone from a defensive standpoint. They were really shooting it well. Tough one. But we'll go home, and we'll get some rest tonight. We'll get excited about the fact we're in the NCAA tournament. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Nate and Dupree. Q. Talk about the defensive mistakes in the first half. Obviously turnovers hurt you on offense. NATE MASON: Mainly, like we said, the turnovers really hurt us. We really couldn't get back in transition like we needed to. First half, we started off very slow, not talking. On the defensive end, they took advantage of it. DUPREE McBRAYER: Same thing. They jumped out on us early. We was a little sluggish. We thought it would be handed to us. That's it. We got to come out with more intensity. Q. Dupree, this is your first start in a couple months, obviously with Akeem going down. You played all 40 minutes. How exhausted are you? How do you keep going forward next week? DUPREE McBRAYER: Well, just be prepared for anything that comes our way. Coach is going to do his best to get us all in a position to do our best. That's just it. Q. Talk about the fact that you guys will be playing in the NCAA tournament. What kind of mindset, focus do you have to have, no matter the opponent, to be able to make a run? NATE MASON: I never been in the tournament, so I really don't know. I know we can't start off like we did today against any team. We got to be locked in from the jump ball, be able to play defense on the defensive end. DUPREE McBRAYER: You're going to get everybody's best shot. Anybody can beat anybody. We have to come out with the mindset that we're one of the better teams. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. We'll continue with questions for Coach Pitino. Q. Derrick Walton, obviously amazing game. He scored 19 of his team's 37 the second half. As a coach, defensively, are you trying to throw the kitchen sink? How do you deal with guy who is scoring and scoring? COACH PITINO: Try to do a couple different things. Switch some ball screens. Getting up aggressively. Hedging hard on ball screens. I thought he hit some tough shots. He's a really good player. To my mind, he's one of the most underappreciated point guards in the country. Doesn't surprise me when he plays well. I thought he was terrific. Q. There's been a fair amount of criticism on the tournament being on the East Coast. What were some of the positives from your perspective? Next year at the Garden, with the family history, the week early schedule, what are your thoughts on that? COACH PITINO: I loved it. I thought it was great. I don't think it's something you need to do every year, but if you're doing it 10% of the time, I think it's a nice change of pace for everybody. One thing I'll never question is what Commissioner Delany is doing. He's done an unbelievable job of building this conference, its brand. He feels it's necessary, when adding Maryland and Rutgers, that we live in their region as well. The Garden is a special place as well. Getting our guys to D.C. is a terrific opportunity. I'm not going to question a lot of what Commissioner Delany does. He knows what he's doing. Q. Early on, how much of the defensive issues you guys were having had to do with adjusting without Akeem? COACH PITINO: It wasn't a whole lot to do with the guards. The bigs were not getting their hands up. We tell them, after one of the media timeouts, you have two deflections, that's a problem. Over the next four minutes, we got seven. Our hands weren't active enough. They make you pay. That's what they do. They have terrific offensive personnel. Q. In the first half with Lynch out, you went smaller. Talk about Curry. The first game, he had to replace Murphy in there. Tough matchup for him on Bridges. This time he fouled out. What do you need to see from him and the front court in the NCAA tournament? COACH PITINO: Eric could have scored a lot more points. He missed a couple chippies. He could have been close to a double-double. We go smaller against Michigan because of all of the five shooters. It becomes a tough cover for Reggie and BK. That's been successful in the past. Our front court is extremely important. Whoever it is that we play, we got to show great toughness. We rebounded the ball terrifically. We got to be doing a better job of throwing the ball out to three-point shooters, especially Reggie on the last one. That was tough to come back with Akeem going down. Regrouping is the best for us right now. We'll be excited to go home and then get excited about Selection Sunday. Q. What do you feel you learned from the last couple games that can benefit you going forward? COACH PITINO: Well, we're a totally different team now with Akeem out. Akeem was a starting two. Whenever Nate needed a sub, we put Dupree at the one, assigned Akeem to the two. Totally different team. I'm extremely disappointed with Akeem that he has to go through that. But we're going to have to start teaching some guys some different positions. That was a huge blow. He was a starter, playing a lot of minutes. Q. I know the Big Ten throughout the season had a lot of heat on it. Going into the tournament, what do you feel like your team deserves as far as a seed? COACH PITINO: That's not my decision. If it was, I'd say we deserve a 1 seed. But it's not, so... I don't know. I'm just excited that we're in it. I'm fired up. As disappointing as it is for Akeem to go down, to see a guy that's so important to us, for his career to end, it was emotional for everybody. Then to come back, guys had to play a lot of minutes. I want these guys, when they get on the plane, to flush all that. Close the book on the Big Ten tournament, get excited about the NCAA tournament. Wherever they put us, whoever we play, we're going to be really, really excited. We'll be proud of what we accomplished this year and be excited about moving forward. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. Good luck next week. COACH PITINO: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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