NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - CREIGHTON VS SAN DIEGO ST.

March 17, 2022

Greg McDermott

Trey Alexander

Arthur Kaluma

Ryan Hawkins

Dickies Arena

Creighton Bluejays

Media Conference

Creighton - 72, San Diego State - 69

THE MODERATOR: We welcome the student-athletes and Head Coach Greg McDermott from the Creighton Bluejays. We'll start with an opening statement from Coach McDermott, then move to questions for him and our student-athletes.

If there are questions on Zoom, please raise your hand there and we'll get to you after we've exhausted questions here in Fort Worth.

Coach McDermott?

GREG MCDERMOTT: It's incredible. The mental fortitude of this group is like nothing I've ever experienced. There's a toughness and togetherness about them that allows what happened tonight to happen.

We were dead in the water the first half, down 14, 15, whatever it was, against a team that's really hard to come back on. I have tremendous respect for Coach Dutch and the job that he's done, the job that Coach Fisher did for him.

It's a program all of us would like to emulate because they're all about success and they're about doing it the right way with toughness and discipline. And that's makes this win even more gratifying because of who we beat. And we had to came back against a team that's very hard to come back against.

Our full court press regulation was really good. We stepped up and made our free-throws for the most part.

And then, you know, we had a devastating loss with Kalkbrenner going down. So this is a little bittersweet, I think, for all four of us at the table because of what he's meant to this team this year and has meant to the run that we went on starting in early February to get us here.

He's been a key component of that. And, you know, it's unlikely that we're going to have him on Saturday.

So couldn't be more proud of this group. It's been an unbelievable ride that I've had the pleasure of being part of watching these guys grow and learn, and do it together.

And we've talked about process all year long because we were so young. And as I told them in the locker room, our first three games of the season, we were down nine to Pinebluff at halftime, we were down two to Kennesaw State, we were down 12 to Southern Illinois Edwardsville.

We found a way to win all those games. But from where we've come on November 10th, to where we sit on St. Patrick's Day is a transformation that I'm not sure I've ever been part of. And it has been one heck of a ride to be a part of, and an awful lot of fun.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you.

Questions for Coach McDermott, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Kaluma, or Mr. Hawkins. Let's start in the back on right-hand side.

Q. Trey you picked up your fourth foul with about 16 minutes left in the second half, didn't come back in until about seven minutes. What was kind of going through your head in that time that you spent on the bench and how did you take what you were thinking and apply it at the end of that game?

TREY ALEXANDER: So I mean, basically, I was trying to keep everybody into the game. I know that Rati stepped up. I know that we had a couple other guys step up.

But, mainly, I just wanted to make sure that I was encouraging people on the bench, not trying to get my head down, make sure that everybody is staying into the game and making sure that everybody knew that we could win a game that was very winnable, and go on a run that I felt was bound to happen throughout the game because I don't think we were on very many runs until the end of the half. But just trying to keep myself engaged and my teammates engaged and just trying to stay in the game.

THE MODERATOR: On the left-hand side.

Q. Mac, what can you say about what Trey showed you down the stretch today?

GREG MCDERMOTT: I could say that I've seen it before. You know, anybody that was in Hartford, Connecticut in early February saw it at the end of that game in a very similar circumstance against a great defensive team that applies a lot of pressure. And he just found ways to make plays.

And it's especially hard tonight when your rhythm is upset so much by foul trouble. And, you know, we had hoped -- I was trying to get him to the ten-minute mark, if it got out of hand, the eight-minute mark, and then we were able to get him to seven and then he played the rest of the time.

But he's -- he's been put into a very difficult role at mid-season and what we're asking him to do, and what teams are trying to do to take him out of what we want to do. And he's handled not like a freshman. He's handled it like a veteran.

And he's a pretty incredible young man. He gets it. He understands the game. You can tell he's a coach's son. Very high basketball IQ. And as you see, the expression doesn't ever change, and that's a sign of being mature beyond your years.

Q. Hawk, was there a point in the second half where you decided that it wasn't going to happen today, this wasn't going to be your last game here at Creighton for the team?

RYAN HAWKINS: I feel like we decided that well before the game. We weren't ready to go home as a team. I'm not ready to be done playing yet. I still love it. I still love these guys. And, you know, obviously, as a spectator, I'm sure you want that game to be easier on your heart. But those are his games that you remember the most.

And I'm just very fortunate that I get to play with this group. I'm very thankful that our freshmen don't play like freshmen anymore. The maturity that this group shows for being such a young group is really cool to see. I think that was on display for the last six minutes of that game.

Q. Greg, you said Ryan's unlikely to play Saturday. Do you have any idea right now what the extent of the injury is?

GREG MCDERMOTT: We won't know until we do further testing. But it was a knee injury. So it doesn't appear to look great but, you know, we'll wait and see what the tests show.

Q. After Kal goes down, you guys were still down, a couple minutes to go, what do you say to the group to keep them motivated?

GREG MCDERMOTT: Well, again, I was with Ryan on the floor, so these guys were talking to my staff. And just like at St. John's when Ryan Nembhard went down with a season ending injury. By the time I got back to the huddle, my staff and this group had themselves ready to go and they were refocused. And they did it again tonight.

When I went over there, they knew exactly what they needed to do. They understood the role and Keyshawn understood the role that he needed to play in Ryan's absence. And, you know, we fought and clawed and grabbed and held and did everything we could and, you know, found a way to come out of there with a win.

So, you know, once again, my coaching staff has done an unbelievable job all year. To have Al Huss and Ryan Miller and Jalen Courtney-Williams and the rest of my support staff, they've just done an unbelievable job preparing these guys starting back in late June.

And in a situation like that, when the head coach is where I needed to be with a player that was hurt and was struggling, they got the team focused and ready to go.

Q. Arthur, have you had a second to kind of just process what just happened, the way you guys came back? And, you know, it's called survive and advance. Has it set in what you guys were able to accomplish?

ARTHUR KALUMA: I mean, yeah, I love my guys. I love this team. I love how we come together in tough times and how we're able to work through a lot of things, a lot of the adversity. And, like, we don't splinter off. Like, we're always connected and you can see it on our faces, you could see in our style, you could see it in our eyes when we hoop. Just on to the next play.

THE MODERATOR: We have a question from -- we'll get back to the room in a moment. We'll get to Matt Demarinas on the Zoom. Matt, go ahead.

Q. Mac, Keyshawn, you know, he checks -- and takes him all the way and blocks that shot.

(Audio cutting out.)

TREY ALEXANDER: I mean, there's so much to say about Keyshawn, I don't really have time. You know, Ryan Kalkbrenner played 12 minutes a game last year and had a hard time with conditioning. And I think our hope was that he could be a guy that could get to 20 to 22, 23 minutes a game. And we recruited Keyshawn with the expectation that he would be playing 15 to 20 minutes a game. Not knowing that Ryan Kalkbrenner was going to make this monumental leap in his conditioning, in his game and play like a -- you know, he's played like an All-American the last six or seven weeks.

So I didn't really lie to him in the recruiting process, but what I thought was going to happen didn't happen. And it would be easy for Keyshawn to be bitter because of that. It would be easy for him to try to pull guys down in a negative way because what his expectations was, has not matched up to reality. And he's done exactly the opposite.

He's embraced his role. He's helped these young guys grow as a mentor to them. And he's enjoyed every second of this ride. And, you know, sometimes when you -- I've always believed that good things happen to good people. And Keyshawn's acted the right way all season long.

And when you do that, I think nights like tonight just have a tendency to happen, where he makes a big defensive play to ice the game, makes a big free-throw to make it three points. And, you know, obviously, he's going to play a huge role on Saturday, and he's ready for it.

THE MODERATOR: In the back on left side.

Q. Greg, two questions for you. First, were you purposely fouling Arop and Bradley in overtime? It looked like you were.

GREG MCDERMOTT: We did on the first foul, yes. We did not purposely -- Alex O'Connell is not here, but we did not purposely foul him. That was not supposed to take place, especially his fifth foul. But we just decided to roll the dice on the other one.

We had three guys out there with four fouls. And we just played kind of the analytics game. And I'm not a huge analytic guy, but I felt like that one was worth a risk.

Q. You left your guys in, didn't go to your bench. You know, is that just trusting them, that they're not going to pick up a fifth? I mean, that was a lot of time.

GREG MCDERMOTT: Part of it is we don't have any bench. You know, we got -- I don't know how many guys are hurt with a season-ending injury. There's a bunch of them.

And, you know, some of the guys that -- Modestas Kancleris is the only scholarship player that didn't play tonight. That's the only guy. Everybody else that we had available scholarship-wise played. So we're down to seven on for Saturday night.

So, No. 1, I trust him. No. 2, I didn't have a whole lot of choice in the matter.

THE MODERATOR: One more in the room here and then we'll go back to the Zoom.

Q. Trey, how do you, in the late moments of those games, keep yourself from letting the pressure overcome you?

TREY ALEXANDER: I think it has a lot to do with, first off, Mac trusting in me and then also my teammates. I feel like my teammates have, throughout the season, trusted in me with the ball in my hands and that I make good decisions.

And, I mean, from then on, I just had to make the right decision. I feel like after that it's just kind of what you do every day after practice, before practice, whatever you want to say, the extra work that you put in, I feel like it just takes over in the late moments. And it's not really you thinking about it, it just happens.

THE MODERATOR: We'll go back to Matt on the Zoom for one more question.

Q. Yeah, for any of the players: Can you divulge anything that you guys were talking about while Mac was checking on Kalkbrenner just in terms of what you guys said to get yourselves ready for the stretch run?

TREY ALEXANDER: First off, we kind of got ourselves together. I feel like Hawk was the first to initiate it. But, obviously, having somebody go down like that, it's pretty hard on the team. Especially a guy that has been such a big presence on and off the court.

If you guys don't know Ryan Kalkbrenner, he's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. One of the best teammates I've ever had in my basketball career.

But we just brung ourselves together and we were just saying that we were going to be able to win this game for him and we were going to play for him.

Because we've had a lot of situations where we had to face adversity. And we were telling ourselves, It's not new to us, we have another chance to face adversity and make a big statement throughout the whole bracket play and everything.

And March, it's just so fun to play with these guys and be able to play for the guy next to you. It's just been a blast this whole season in being able to play for these people.

THE MODERATOR: Arthur, anything you want to add to that?

ARTHUR KALUMA: Yeah, to build off what Trey said, Ryan Kalkbrenner is a great teammate. I feel like unfortunately -- fortunately, but unfortunately we played some of our best basketball after someone goes down. But we stuck together and we pulled it out.

THE MODERATOR: Okay. Ryan?

RYAN HAWKINS: The biggest thing was making sure we were all comfortable with what we were going to do. That's what I was trying to talk to these guys about, just made sure we had everything, like, no miscommunications on defense.

Because our ball screen coverage had to change a little bit. So we were making sure we were all matched up. Just the little stuff like that, instead of sitting there staying at him.

They both said, but you cannot explain how good of a teammate Ryan Kalkbrenner is. So for that to happen, our hearts go out to him. But we had to make sure that we fished that game out for him.

And so, that was the biggest thing, just getting everybody together, talking about what we were comfortable offensively. And then making sure defensively we had everything buttoned up.

THE MODERATOR: All right, guys. Thank you very much. We'll see you back here tomorrow, and then again for the round of 32.