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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: HARTFORDMarch 21, 2019Steve WojciechowskiMarkus HowardSam HauserHartford, Connecticut Murray State - 83, Marquette - 64 STEVE WOJCIECHOWSKI: First off, my hat's off to Murray State. They're a great team. They have an incredible player in Ja Morant, but they are far from a one-man band. They are an outstanding team who played an outstanding game today. And, you know, I'm disappointed for my team, especially the seniors, but there's a lot of lessons that we can learn from this year. And some of them -- most of them are really good. We have to build off those things and the things we didn't like, we have to work to be better yet. I'm sure we'll do those both. Q. Coach, someone said you've got an All-American shooting guard next to you that had to play point this year. I know your point guard missed the whole year, you got them coming in. Did this catch up with you a little today you had an all American there but he had to play point all year. STEVE WOJCIECHOWSKI: Markus is a great guard, and he's had an incredible year for us. You know, we win and lose together. When we win, it doesn't go at the feet of one person's feet. When we lose, it doesn't go at one person's feet. He had an incredible year. He's a great guard and wouldn't trade him. Q. Markus and Sam, if you can both answer this. Murray State said their plan was to run you off the three-point line and make you guys play one-on-one. Why do you think they were so successful in doing that? SAM HAUSER: They're very athletic, a very good defensive team. Pretty scrappy. They did a great job of doing their game plan. MARKUS HOWARD: I would say the same. Q. Markus, you know, things kind of spiralled at the beginning of the second half for you guys. What do you think went wrong in those opening minutes? MARKUS HOWARD: I think they got a lot of momentum on offense. They had some big plays that they made, and it kind of gave them some juice and stuff like that. Once they get on runs like that, they're a hard team to stop. So, I just think, yeah, they got on a little bit of a run and we weren't able to respond. Q. Coach, what kind of adjustments were you trying to make against Ja Morant? Were you starting out trying to pack the paint a little bit? What were you trying to do to slow them down? STEVE WOJCIECHOWSKI: Well, they're a team, based on the numbers and our study, they are terrific in transition and they score well over half their points in the paint. And we were trying to take those things away. You know, Ja Morant makes a lot of plans look bad. I mean, I've been in this for a while. He's as good as any guard that I've coached against, or played against, and I've coached against and played against some outstanding ones. You know, obviously we studied Murray State a lot once we found out we were going to play them. I have not had a chance because we were into our own stuff during the regular season and Big East Tournament, but the highlights you do see of them showcases athleticism, and certainly that's showcase-worthy. The best thing about that kid is his decision-making. I mean, you're talking about an elite, elite decision-maker, who's got elite athleticism. And, you know, when you're talking about a point guard, you should always start with decision-making. And he made great, great decisions, and he makes everyone around him better. And they're good. They'd be good without him, but with him, they're pretty unique. I have a ton of respect for him. He's a big-time, big-time player. I mean, the triple-doubles, 16 assists in an NCAA Tournament. It's crazy. You can't speed him up. You can run two people at him, you can switch, try to get the ball out of his hands. There's nothing that we found that could speed him up or shake his decision-making. Q. They were 8 of 11 from three in the first half. A few of these don't fall. Are you looking at a different game at halftime? STEVE WOJCIECHOWSKI: Well, yes, probably. You know, again, obviously, we have respect for them as shooters, but that's not what they've hung their hat on. They've hung their hat on transition and points in the paint. But those kids stepped up and that's what you need to do in NCAA Tournament game. You have to have guys step up. Q. If you look at the end of the season and you guys lose 6 of 7, what do you point to what went wrong for you guys? STEVE WOJCIECHOWSKI: I don't know if we can point to any one thing, but certainly we didn't play as well at the end of the season as we did for most of it. We've got to really exam that and figure out why. And I don't think when we figure out why, it's going to be one thing. I think it's going to be a combination of things. As when you hit a tough patch, usually it's not one thing, it's a combination of things. So, we'll have to study that and figure out what happened. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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