NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - UCSB VS CREIGHTON

March 20, 2021

Greg McDermott

Lucas Oil Stadium - Unity Court (South)

Creighton Bluejays

Postgame Media Conference

Creighton 63, UC Santa Barbara 62

THE MODERATOR: We will begin with an opening statement from Coach Greg McDermott.

GREG McDERMOTT: Well, just really proud of our team. It certainly wasn't an easy game. Santa Barbara is really talented. They were ready to play from the jump, and I thought they got us back on our heels early. And when we finally kind of caught our second wind, I thought we played better, at least the rest of the half.

They had us down, we had them down, and it was back and forth. Two good teams going at it, and I don't think either team probably shot the ball as well as they're accustomed to, but I think the two defenses had a lot to do with that.

You know, Christian stepped up in a big time, and he's really worked on his free-throw shooting over the course of the season, and like I told him in the locker room, I hope when you're working on those free throws, you put yourself in the position you were in this afternoon with a big game on the line, and he stepped up there and knocked them both down. We got a little lucky they missed a lay-up down at the other end and it takes a little bit of luck sometimes to advance in this tournament.

Q. It seemed like you guys were struggling to find any kind of a boost early in that first half. How much of a catalyst was Christian's just effort on both ends of the floor to kind of give you guys a spark?

GREG McDERMOTT: I thought Christian's second run especially, when he came out, got a little bit break and went in at the 12-minute time-out, I thought he really elevated his game and as a result got us back in the game on both ends, both on the backboards, his ball screen coverage was elite today, and that he got some big baskets for us, as well.

We went with a little bit shorter bench. I think most teams do this time of year. So those guys were out there a lot, but Christian was terrific. To play as much as he played and having to exert the amount of energy he did defensively, to get the dunk late and two big free throws as fatigued as he was was a credit to the work he's put in and the great condition that he's in.

Q. When Santa Barbara goes on that 11-2 run to take the lead and you're reaching the home stretch of the game, you've talked about your team's mentality and the importance of it. What did you see in your team's mentality to punch back?

GREG McDERMOTT: Well, we didn't. We don't ever quit. I think the possession that really kind of sums up our team is the -- I think they got two offensive rebounds on the same possession, maybe the fourth -- one of the last three or four possessions of the game. We played pretty good defense for 25 seconds. They missed a shot, we had to reset the defense. We were on defense for about a minute. And they stayed with it, they stayed with it, and we ended up digging that thing out of there and then going down and Marcus hits the pull-up on the other end to give us a lead.

You know, that speaks to who we are. This team, they've fought all year. Obviously defensively we've made great strides this season and we needed it today because Cal Santa Barbara is a terrific team. So offense was hard to come by, so we were going to have to defend if we expected to win this game.

Q. Christian mentioned he's put in a lot of time at the free-throw line in practice and you did, too. Can you take us inside the walls there? How much is a lot? How often do you see him working on that? How do you work on that? It's such a mental part of the game.

GREG McDERMOTT: Yeah, you know, we put him in situations in practice, at least when we had normal practice before we went into this bubble three weeks ago or whatever it was, where he'd have to make it at the end of practice for us to end practice or not have any conditioning or something like that. So he's been in some situations like that. But he spends a lot of time on his own in the gym getting work in.

It's been a little bit more difficult because your practice times are assigned here, but when he's had the opportunities to go to the gym for extra shooting, he's gotten there and he's made sure that free throws is a part of that routine, because you just never know. You never know when you're going to be in a situation like that, especially a one-and-one where you've got to have that first one to give ourselves a chance.

Really, really proud of him for the work he's put in, and it takes a lot of moxie, I don't care how good or bad a free-throw shooter you are, to step up in that situation, and I don't think he hit the rim on either one. It's really a credit to his preparation and the fact that he's stayed with himself.

Q. I know you're probably a little tired of talking about what a weird three weeks it's been, but it has been a really weird three weeks for your team, even going back to getting blown out in the Big East championship game. To win a game with this kind of resilience, does it say something about your team?

GREG McDERMOTT: You know, we won a game very similar to this in the semis of the Big East Tournament against a very good UConn team, and it was a game much like today where every possession mattered. As you mentioned, we've been through a lot, and the reason we've been through a lot is on me. I've had to work to repair some of those relationships and the people that I hurt, some inside the program, some outside the program, and that process is just -- it's just beginning. I mean, it's certainly not even close to over. This is really just the start for me of trying to become a better version of myself moving forward.

I appreciate the fact that our guys had it in their hearts to forgive me and allow us to move on together. But there's still a lot of work to do, and I recognize that. I'm going to continue to work as hard as I can for them.

Q. I'm just going to go way back in the way-back machine here, but I remember those summers after that 2018-2019 season when this group was really young, you and the staff and everybody were really stressing to the guys about the little things and those one-possession games that had cost you that year so many times that you felt like could be shored up. The games you've won this season, the game against UConn in the Big East semis, the game today, all of that, was that the origin for all of that and just getting the guys to understand the value of each possession, games like this?

GREG McDERMOTT: I think the older you get, as you kind of navigate your way through a college career, the more you understand the value of each possession. And how what your contribution means to that possession. Sometimes it's an offensive possession where you don't touch the ball. But proper spacing is important -- proper screening is important, proper pass is important. Defensively you may not be guarding the ball or the guy that's being screened, but you have a responsibility and you have a job to do, and this team as they've gotten older understands that more. That was evident today because we had some very good defensive possessions against a really good offensive team.

Q. To that point, how much did Mitch Ballock embody that possession-to-possession mentality approach throughout this game?

GREG McDERMOTT: You know, what's great about Mitch is he made several great plays at the rim in help situations, got his hands on some basketballs in the paint and knocked them loose, got a couple big rebounds. He didn't shoot it great, but he found other ways to impact the game. Yet when I decided to make the move to take him out those last minute or minute and a half to go with Shareef for defense, he doesn't even give me a look. He totally trusts in our decisions and the reasons behind the decisions. That's hard for me to do, to take a guy out that I trust as much as I trust Mitch.

But Mitch just wants to win, and that's all he's wanted since he's walked on this campus. Long after he's gone from here and when he's still playing, that's all that's going to matter to him. I want us to be successful, and us could be a family, us could be a business, us could be him involved in a coaching staff coaching a team. The guy is selfless and he doesn't care about himself. He just wants the people around him to be successful and the organization that he's part of to be successful. He's a big reason why we're standing here today.

Q. This kind of ended up to be a little inconsequential because you won, but you've done such a good job with your rotations and your hedging in terms of that ball screen against McLaughlin, but their last three possessions they did find the big man Sow and I wonder what you saw there, was it a breakdown, was it a tweak that they made to get the ball in quickly?

GREG McDERMOTT: No, I think we got a little scared of giving something up in the corner, and we probably didn't pull to that roll man the way we needed to. I've got to watch it on film before I rush to any conclusions. But I thought our help was a little late. I thought the guy in the ball and I thought Christian did what they were supposed to do. We just didn't cover them up the way we needed to cover them up. In that situation you don't want to be the guy that gives up an open shot. But back to what I was talking about before, you have a responsibility and you have to do your job and if they quick it out to a guy that is not a great shooter and he hits it to beat you, then you have to live with that, but you don't want to give up those lay-ups.

Like I said, we were lucky, and we had a great fan that passed away six or seven weeks ago that Christian was her favorite player. Betty Walker was her name, and I think she slapped that lay-up out of the rim, and I'm pretty sure she steered Christian's two free throws into the basket, as well, from heaven today.

Q. You kind of assured us earlier in the week that Denzel was closer to getting his mojo back than maybe the statistics had outlined. I wondered was it deliberate on your part to get him touches on that first possession of the first half and second half to get him going, kind of get him some positive momentum from the assignments he was going to have to do defensively today?

GREG McDERMOTT: Well, we liked some of the match-ups with him in the post, so that's why we started -- we had one possession in the first half where we got him down there and he scored, and we felt we could start the second half that way and get a basket to put us up six or get him to the free-throw line. But the three he hit to start was more just in the flow of our offense. They were tagging out of that corner. That happened to be him that was in that spot wide on that one, and Marcus made the right play, if I'm not mistaken, and delivered the ball, and he hit an open shot.

A lot of guys contributed. Marcus gets eight assists and 17 points, and Christian gets a double-double, and Mitch gets seven rebounds, and right on down the line. We had a lot of contributions from a lot of guys. But 18 assists and eight turnovers against a team as good defensively as they are is really a credit to our guys.