NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - OHIO VS CREIGHTON

March 22, 2021

Jeff Boals

Hinkle Fieldhouse

Ohio Bobcats

Postgame Media Conference

Creighton - 72, Ohio - 58

THE MODERATOR: We have Ohio head coach Jeff Boals. We'll start with an opening statement.

JEFF BOALS: Number one, congratulations to Creighton. Very, very good team, well coached, and I hope they continue this journey. Really, really proud of our guys. I thought they battled, competed. This is a special group on and off the floor. The way they represented Ohio University, the way they represent their families, our basketball program is just a high character group of guys.

You hate to see something like this end the way it ended, but that does not take away from anything that they've done. I told them afterwards as an alumnus, as a former player, thank you, and that I loved them. This team will be bonded for life. It hurts right now, but it's going to be a great memory someday.

Q. Jeff, obviously, your offense did not have the kind of night it wanted to, season low in points, you guys never found a groove from three. Was it more what they did, what you guys didn't do? Could you explain the struggles on the offensive end?

JEFF BOALS: I think it was a little bit of both. We wanted to get up and down. Transition has been a big key for us all year long, and we weren't able to get some easy looks in transition. They're a physical, defensive team. A lot better after playing them than watching them on tape I thought.

They were trapping the ball screen. We did some things in the second half to combat that. We got some really good looks in the first half, but they just didn't fall. When you dig yourself that big a hole against a really good offensive team, you spend so much energy getting back into it. I think we cut it to 10. Shooting free throws, could have cut it to eight. I think it was nine at one point. And just came up short.

Q. First off, congrats on a great season. It seemed like in the second half the team never felt like it was out of it, always kept trying to come back, but at what point did the clock start to have an effect on what you wanted the offense to be able to do?

JEFF BOALS: I think the way they guard us, they switched a lot. They trapped those ball screens. They were very physical, pushing us off the block. A lot of those shots, we miss in the first half. Lunden McDay hit some big ones in the second half. Like I said, they're a lot better defensive team after I played them than I thought coming in.

But give them a lot of credit. We just came up short today. We didn't have it. A lot of it was them, and some of it was us.

Q. First off, congratulations on a great season, Coach. Thinking back to when you guys had the COVID issue and now here you are playing in the second round of March Madness, what does that say about the resilience of this group, and how even against all odds, they still found a way to come here?

JEFF BOALS: That's what I told them. I could not have been prouder of the way they handled everything, the way they responded. That shows the character of these guys. You go all the way back to the day that the tournament got cancelled last year, and through the summer, and the sacrifice that these student-athletes on a daily basis did, we had the pause, they responded the right way that way. We got regular season games cancelled at the very end, and for them to go win the MAC Tournament like they did, with a mindset and a focus, and go three straight games and play the way they played, and then come in and win a game against the defending national champs, the ACC champs, and came up a little short against a really good Creighton team.

Like you said, the resiliency of this group, I love them, 1 through 15, just an awesome, awesome ride that they brought me on.

Q. Most of the last seven minutes was you guys trying to keep up with the Bluejays on that 14-2 run in the last seven minutes of the first half, and then first bit of that second half was you guys fighting to keep in the game. What kind of -- what was the -- when you guys were those time-outs, what was the main focus of that huddle? What were you telling them to do? What did you want them to focus on?

JEFF BOALS: When you play a team like that where they really push the ball, and they've got great guards. I think they've got three seniors, couple juniors, thousand point scorers, multiple guys, multiple guys that can make threes, we missed shots, and they turned those into transition points. We turned the ball over, they turned those into transition points.

In the second half, we competed, battled, fought back into it. I thought our press was effective, but when you do that, you expend a lot of energy, and I think we were down ten. J.P. shot that ball with about 4:07 left. He hits that three. You're down seven with four minutes to go, and it's a different ball game. But we came up short.

Q. Jeff, looking ahead, this is only your second year as the head of your program, and I know you guys want to get back to this point. So what do you hope your guys learned through this experience this year, especially Jason Preston?

JEFF BOALS: Yeah, I think number one, they can compete with anybody. I think the mindset right now is we just lost a game, but a whole body of work -- you know, this is a special group, like I said. They're fun to be around. They came every single day. They're great on the court. They're great off the court. They're great students. They represent Ohio University in the right way. This is who we want in our program.

To taste the success and win the MAC Tournament and come in the NCAA Tournament where no one's played in either one, to do what they did, this will be the memory of a lifetime. They'll know that they can do it again, but it's a lot of hard work. Winning is hard, and it's not just showing up to practice, it's a lot of different things. A special group.

Q. You mentioned Creighton's defense was physical and that caused some problems. Did they do anything particularly on Jason Preston and all that that made it difficult for him?

JEFF BOALS: They trapped all the ball screens, which trying to get the ball off his hands, and we had a couple of things that we wanted to do against that, but we were so extended. The ball screens were happening at 28 feet as opposed to 20, 21 feet. We made a couple of adjustments in the second half. I thought we were better off of them, but give them a lot of credit.

I mean, Jason Preston has gotten us this far. He's a special player. One of the best players that ever played at Ohio University. I know he didn't play very well tonight, but he's the reason we're here.

Q. Coach, it's come up a couple times, and you've mentioned it about their physicality. What can you do in game when all of a sudden you see that that's really taken its toll? I would guess -- and they had the one time-out after they got the couple alley-oops, a couple shots above the rim and whatever. How do you try to get your team to recalibrate, so to speak, and say, hey, this isn't the game we expected, but this is what we got? How do you kind of get back into that?

JEFF BOALS: A lot of it's how the game's called. I thought the three officials did a very good job, but you've got to adjust to it. If they're playing physical, you've got to be a little tougher with your cuts. You've got to be tougher with your screens. You can't let them knock you off balance in the post. I thought they were physical on offense too. They kept on backing us down, drives, post-ups. You just have to adjust to it and figure out how they're guarding you.

Q. Just wanted to follow up on just what you mentioned, just about the physical nature of the game tonight. You played other teams, particularly Illinois and Virginia as well, and I'm just wondering if that's sort of the difference between the Power 6 conferences and the so-called mid-majors? Is there anything that -- I mean, is that something that -- I'm just wondering if that's what you see.

JEFF BOALS: Yeah, I don't think so. There's a lot of teams in our league that are physical teams, and I think -- if you look at their team, they're a really good team. They've got three seniors, two juniors, thousand point scorers, they played a lot of games together. They're big, strong, their wings, their 3 and their 4 and their 5, very athletic. They pose a lot of problems.

You might have bigger, athletic guys, but we've seen physical teams throughout the course of the year.

Q. You talked a little bit earlier about Jason Preston and the impact he's had on this program, but being his coach for the last two years, what do you feel like the impact that you left on him is and vice versa?

JEFF BOALS: I've been in 26 years of coaching, and I've never seen a story like his. To see where he's come in a five-year time frame, the adversity he's overcome, and to show the character he's shown, the perseverance he's shown, the leadership he's shown -- he's a great teammate, great student, very appreciative and thankful. He teaches me a lot of lessons.

I'm just a small part of what he's done and what he's going to do. Biggest thing is I'm thankful I was able to coach him for a couple years. Like I said, he's going to have a decision to make here. We'll take some time off, regroup, see where he's at mentally and talk out, communicate, and see what happens with him.