NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - GEORGETOWN VS COLORADO

March 20, 2021

Donald Carey

Georgetown Hoyas

Hinkle Fieldhouse

Postgame Media Conference

Colorado 96, Georgetown 73

Q. Talk about your team's defensive pressures from the perimeter. They were pretty much able to get every pick-and-pop and every skip to the corner that they wanted, particularly in the first half.

DONALD CAREY: Yeah, we didn't defend the three well. Our goal was to make them play inside-out, but we just didn't get to the three-point line. And credit to them, they shot I think 63 percent from the three-point line, but we didn't execute on the defensive end guarding the three-point line.

Q. Obviously a tough loss today, but when you look back at the season, what do you have to say about this Hoya team and the way this season played out?

DONALD CAREY: You know, just considering COVID, everything was tough. There was a lot of ups and downs, pauses, but every team went through that. I think it was a good year overall. We found ourselves towards the end of the year, Big East Tournament, but it's just a good group of guys in that locker room. We came to practice every day. We toughed out those hard times throughout the whole year.

So I'm just proud of those guys how we fought through and how we played in the Big East Tournament, but today unfortunately we just came up short.

Q. When you transferred back to George -- back home to the Georgetown area, how much does it mean to you winning a Big East title, getting Georgetown kind of back on the map?

DONALD CAREY: It means everything. The first conversation I had with Coach Pat, I told him my main concern was just winning. I wanted to come here to help contribute to winning. That was the biggest goal. That's the main thing. I'm a winner. Everywhere I go, I just want to win. That means everything to be able to win a Big East Tournament my first year here, and that's going to be the goal for next year and then continuing to play in the NCAA Tournament, as well.

Q. What kind of challenge did McKinley Wright pose for you guys, just scoring and assisting? I think he had 13 today, seemed to be moving the ball really well.

DONALD CAREY: I mean, he's just a good player. We knew that they kind of played through him. So he was kind of the focal point of our defense, just to stop him, get it back in front of the ball on the pick-and-rolls. But he just did an excellent job, hitting shots when they were there and then finding his guys on the offensive end.

Q. My question to you is was there a player on your team or your opponents that really surprised you today?

DONALD CAREY: I wouldn't say a specific player. I would just say the one thing that surprised me was how well the opponent shot the ball. Like I mentioned earlier, they went 63 percent from the three-point line. I think that was a shocker to all of us. But credit to them for shooting the ball well, but on our end we just didn't defend as we should have defended the three-point line.

Q. This is a final situation, the finality of it all, are you prepared just to say goodbye to so many of your teammates or a number of your teammates because this is the end of the road for many of your guys?

DONALD CAREY: I don't want to say I'm prepared to say goodbye, but every game that we play, starting with the Big East Tournament, I just embraced the whole moment as if it was my last because nothing was guaranteed; you lose and you go home. So every game, every practice, every shootaround, I just kind of let it all sink in and just enjoyed that time that I had because I never knew when it would be my last time.

I'm not ready to say goodbye to them guys, but I still embraced the moment when it came.