NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL SEMIFINAL - PROVIDENCE VS KANSAS

March 25, 2022

Ed Cooley

Ed Croswell

Al Durham

United Center

Providence Friars

Sweet 16 Postgame Media Conference

Kansas - 66, Providence - 61

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Providence.

COACH COOLEY: First I want to congratulate Kansas. Very talented team, well-coached team. Very physical team. It was a great game. I thought our men competed at an elite level. It was a great college basketball game. It's tough. This is the most connected group I've ever been around. This was a special, special, special group.

I thought we played our hardest right to the end. I thought we responded. And I couldn't be more proud. I hurt for our seniors. I'm very sad for my seniors. But at the same time, I have an enormous amount of gratitude for the year that we've had. We can't let this one loss define the special season that this special group had.

As we're here in the Windy City, we're in Chicago, the thing I think about, I'll never forget, somewhere around 1991, '92, I listened to Oprah Winfrey, one of my biggest inspirations ever. And she sat there giving her background. And she says when you have an opportunity to be great, don't be afraid to fail.

She's my hero. Absolute. These guys have surpassed that. They're my heroes for the job that they did this year. Not just for Providence College but for the Big East. As sad as I am, thank you, Oprah, for inspiring us to be great.

Q. You're down single digits and Dave gave you a spark, a personal 7-0 run. How did that give you a boost and got the crowd going, and got you going in the second half?

COACH COOLEY: Ed has gotten better throughout the year, when you look at his transformation, when you look at his commitment and his ability to compete. You know we knew we were going to need him. I told him at halftime be ready because you're going to do something special in this half.

And I thought he responded. He's done that in enormous amount of big games this year. And I'm very, very proud of how he responded. He's the reason why the game got where it was.

Q. Ed, you guys came roaring back. Also Nate gets his fourth foul. McCormack hadn't done anything at that point. Was that a turning point with Nate sitting and McCormack kind of getting loose?

COACH COOLEY: No, actually no. I don't think it was a turning point. I think it was just a good college basketball game. Both McCormack and this dude right here played great. I don't think it was a turning point. There's going to be plays that happen in the game. There's a lot of turning points in a game at this level, of this magnitude. There are a lot of game-changing things that were tuned in for us. I don't think that was the turning point of the game at all.

Q. Al and Coach, what was Kansas doing on the defensive end in the first half that made it difficult for you guys on offense there?

AL DURHAM: They amped it up. They had a lot of ball pressure, they were switching and trying to make it hard on us to run our stuff. It took us a little minute, a little bit to get adjusted to how they were defending, they were just trying to take us out of our stuff, really.

COACH COOLEY: To follow up on that, I thought our players had to get -- they had to adjust with the physicality on and off the ball. We're accustomed to playing against that level of defense when we play a team like Villanova because they switch on and off the ball. I thought we made the right adjustment. We definitely made the right adjustment to get the game where we needed it to be.

Q. What did you see maybe watching in the first half where you thought you could be come in and make an impact?

ED CROSWELL: I thought they were crashing the glass pretty hard offensively. They were a lot more physical than us in the first half. Our energy, we just had to bring a little bit more energy. I thought we guarded them pretty well in the first half. But other than that I thought we changed things in up the second half to get ourselves back in the game.

Q. Al, after spending four years at Indiana and not making the tournament, what was the difference between this Providence team?

AL DURHAM: Man, this was a special group. I feel like this one can't be duplicated. But we were well-connected. We all loved each other. We all came together with one goal and that was to leave our mark. And this was one of the best groups I've ever been around.

I'm indebted to Coach Cooley and Friartown and to all my teammates for welcoming me with open arms. I can't even describe how grateful I am for all things that they did for me and turning my college career around a little bit.

Q. Coach, the second half, when you play like you did in the first half offensively and the ball's not going in, I just wonder mentally what your team showed you in the second half to be able to come out and rally like they did?

COACH COOLEY: I thought our team all year played with a resolve and resilience that was second to none in America. These kids have -- men, men battled through a lot of adversity. I always tell them it's a long game that goes fast. But there's time. There's time.

And I like the adjustments the staff made at halftime. I thought we made all the adjustments. And sometimes, again, you've got to get lucky. You need a call here. You need a basket here. You need a bounce here.

But these guys all year, all year, have responded. This may be the first time in my career we've never lost back-to-back games. That's something to be proud of. Something to be proud of winning 14 Big East games. Something to be proud of winning 27 games since 1972, '73. Something to be proud of that winning the first-ever regular Big East championship.

I'm not going to let our men's heads be down. This was one hell of a season. We got beat by a great team, a really, really good team. Nothing to be ashamed of. I'm sad. I'm heartbroken. But I'm not going to let this one loss define the type of season we had.

Q. Al, after having a bit of a struggle in the first half, what was your mindset going into that second half, where you went on that tear?

AL DURHAM: Coach told us in the locker room to be confident, come out with all confidence you have and you'll make plays. That's what we did. We came out confident, knowing that we were going to fight back. We were going to take some punches, but we were going to fight back. Punch back. Just my coaches and teammates telling me to be confident and just continue to play my game and play our game. And I think that was just what you've seen in the second half.

Q. Al, you've played on a lot of teams at a very high level, obviously, at Indiana and now at Providence, what maybe separated this team from any of the others that you've been on in terms of mentality and in terms of the focus you guys had night in, night out?

AL DURHAM: We all came together as one. I thought we came together. We gelled and we left our egos at the front door. I feel like we checked our egos from the beginning, and we had the smoothest ride I've ever been a part of. I feel like this group was one accord. And that's from the top to the bottom. And I feel like that was a testament to Coach Cooley and his coaching staff. And that's just something that Providence stands on, I think.

Q. Ed, right there they had the lob play to Ochai. What did you see on that, and just were you surprised at all? Like a lot of times that late in the game you're not seeing a lob play.

COACH COOLEY: We scout as well as anybody in America. Again, they made a great basketball play. That's something that's what they do. You're not going to stop everything they do. I mean, they get a lob out of the corner just about every game they played. We had it well-scouted. And they executed something coming out of a timeout. So you've got to give them credit.

That guy's in the hall of fame for a reason. Right? Agbaji is a top 5 player in America for a reason. You're not going to stop everything they do. Just give them credit for just recognizing the back cut out the corner. It just was a play they made.