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

March 19, 2023

Greg McDermott

Ryan Nembhard

Trey Alexander

Francisco Bello

Arthur Kaluma

Ball Arena

Creighton Bluejays

Media Conference

Creighton 85, Baylor 76

GREG McDERMOTT: I'm taking the Charles Barclay approach to cleaning my clothes for the next time I wear them.

So proud of this team. It's been quite a journey with this group, from the start of the season with expectations, a great start, and then a really, really tough stretch.

The toughest stretch I've ever had with a high-level team.

For that same team to endure a six-game losing streak, with all the noise that there was on the outside, to stay together and to stay oriented and continue to work for each other and not point a finger at each other, to be in the Sweet 16, it's a pretty remarkable story. And I've been blessed to be part of this journey.

Nine years ago, we lost to Baylor with a really special group, and tonight we beat Baylor with a really special group.

Q. From the beginning of the season, the media put expectations on this team. People inside the program noted this team could make a deep run, and here you are knocking off Baylor. I know it's not the Final Four, but is this the team you maybe envisioned in the preseason?

GREG McDERMOTT: Yeah, this is the team I've been coaching all along, but you have ebbs and flows to every season, and some are more drastic than others depending on the severity of the adversity you're dealing with at that time.

You know, I've got three sophomores sitting up here. They're playing their -- at the time we were going through the six-game losing streak, they're playing in like their 37th, 38th college game. It's not like they were seasoned veterans and understood how to get through this, but they really grew through it.

The leadership of Bello and Ryan and Baylor and guys -- like Shereef, older guys, really helped steer us through that. And these guys never backed down from those expectations. What are we supposed to say? No, we don't think we have a chance to make a deep run? Of course they're going to say we have a chance. They believe in each other and they've invested a lot of time, energy, and effort into making themselves the players they are today.

Q. 30-point game from Kalkbrenner last game, Nembhard has tonight. We talked about the parity of this team all season, but what is it like seeing in real time these guys step into these moments?

GREG McDERMOTT: It's always been -- with this team, it's a different guy on every night. I think back to the St. John's game, we were dead, and Art hits three huge threes to bring us to the win.

Trey has had big games, Baylor has had big games. Francisco was huge tonight, big difference maker in this game, his three threes and his defense and doing what he was doing.

It's been a different person every night, a different guy every night. And our guys' unselfishness to understand if somebody has got it going, let's figure out a way to get him the basketball and get out of his way. We beat a really good basketball team tonight and we beat a really good team on Friday, and we're going to play another one next week.

Q. Ryan, you've probably been asked a version of this question a million times, but you were on the other end of this emotion last year and you couldn't even do anything about it. Now that you're on this side of it, how can you describe going from that place to this place?

RYAN NEMBHARD: It's a feeling you can't describe. I was obviously out last year and it was tough for me to watch, but I'm super excited to get back out with my guys this year. Our goal this year was to get back to a game like this, and we're super happy we could pull out the win.

Q. Ryan, from us watching you, it looked like you couldn't miss today. Can you kind of explain to people out here who will never have that experience what it feels like when most shots just look like they're going to go in or feel like it?

RYAN NEMBHARD: Yeah, it's a great feeling. That's what you want as a basketball player. You put in the work, you stay consistent with your work, and that's the feeling you want. The rim felt a little bit bigger tonight, so luckily I made some shots, and we're looking forward to the Sweet 16.

Q. Coach, there's not a lot of advantages to being as old as I am, but I think 10 years ago, the last season of the original Big East was the last time three teams from the Big East made the Sweet 16. I know you're most --

GREG McDERMOTT: I didn't see any other scores. Who won and who lost?

Q. Marquette won and Xavier won. Marquette lost.

GREG McDERMOTT: We take great pride. We've had a text string since the started of the NCAA Tournament with the five of us that have been in. And Ed was the first one to chime in this morning to wish all of us luck today even though he got beat on Friday.

You know, I remember the first meeting 10 years ago, this first spring meeting, and Jay Wright's leadership was incredible about this league is -- if the new version of this league is going to work, we as coaches have to stick together. We can't shoot daggers at each other. We have to have each other's back. The decisions that we make, even though they may not be in the best interest of each individual school, if they're the best interest of the league, we collectively have to support it.

Jay's leadership is the reason that the league is where it is today, along with -- Stu Jackson is at the back of the room and Val Ackerman and their staff has done an unbelievable job. But Jay was the one that got the rest of us coaches to buy in. And then Ed and I are now the old guys in the league, so we've tried to do that with the newcomers as they've come in.

We're very proud to be in the Big East, and there's a brotherhood there with our coaches. Obviously I'm thrilled that we're going to have three of them play next weekend.

Q. Of course you talk about religion yesterday in basketball, you mentioned your Irish Catholic mom. What influence has she had on you, and is she still around?

GREG McDERMOTT: Yeah, my parents are 89 years old, Earl and Mary are back home watching this tonight. You become who you become because of how you grew up, and the expectations that were placed upon you when you were a child, what was right, what was wrong.

I was fortunate to grow up with two parents that were always about treating people the right way and putting your head down, going to work and seeing what happens. I'm blessed to have them as my parents. I'm blessed to still have them alive and in my life. And then I've got four brothers who have supported me every step of the way.

I am who I am because of Earl and Mary McDermott, and I'm proud to say I'm their son.

Q. For any of the players, you looked down your stats, raw stats, advanced stats, R2 might not be at the top of most of them, but how would you define his value to what you guys do?

TREY ALEXANDER: I mean, to have a point guard like R2, he gets our offense going. I feel like he's at the heart of the flow of the offense, and I feel like him as a player kind of gets us going as a team.

I feel like anytime you look down the court and see him just speeding past anybody or you see him finding the open guy or talking you through the offense, he's just a winner. And I feel like that's what any point guard -- anybody wants their point guard to be is a winner. For him to have a big night like this, everybody knew that he was going to have a big night sooner or later, but at the end of the day, he just wants to win.

ARTHUR KALUMA: Building off what you said, R2 does a great job controlling the pace of our game and the reads he makes is pro level reads. And it's always good to have a guy like him on the team who's not only just a point guard, but he's a leader and we look up to him, even though he's shorter than all of us.

FRANCISCO FARABELLO: Yeah, he's one of the leaders of our team. There is no doubt about that. What I really like about him is that he wants the team to be better, not just certain individuals or him by himself. He wants the best for the team. And yeah, incredible player, even better person. I'm glad he's our point guard.

GREG McDERMOTT: Yeah, I remember the first time I saw him play in Vegas in a side gym sitting there with Coach Huss. We were watching somebody else, and I said who's that little guy from Canada? And he said well, his brother is at Florida. He's probably going to go to Florida. And we kind of dismissed it and then Andrew ended up leaving Florida.

But I fell in love with him the first time I watched him play. His expression never changes. He has the type of demeanor that you want the rest of the team to look to because he's never going to be rattled. He's never going to get too high when things are going well, and he's never going to get too low if he's struggling.

To me that's one of the characteristics that has to be with a great point guard, and he has it. He doesn't need to score to impact the game. Tonight he scored.

Q. Two nights ago we were talking about Terquavion Smith and now you've just got to throw your hands up at him. We come to this one talking about three guards you had to handle. Cryer goes for 30 but you limit the other two guys. How does this defensive effort differ from what you expected coming into the game?

GREG McDERMOTT: It was incredible. We talked to the team the last two days about limiting the number of three-point shots that they get and making sure that the ones that they do get aren't great looks. I thought if we could make as many threes as Baylor, we had a chance to win the game. Obviously our shooters really showed out tonight.

But for them to only attempt 22 speaks to the job that Trey and Shereef and Bello and Baylor and R2 did, just being there on the catch. They made some two-point shots. We were willing to live with that. We didn't think they could make enough of those to beat us over 40 minutes. Fortunately we were right.

Q. You mentioned at the end of your opening statement, 2014 group was special, this group is special. What is it about this team that sets them apart from some of the other ones you've had?

GREG McDERMOTT: I've had some good ones. Probably what sets this group apart is what they had to deal with in December. The other teams that have been ranked in the top 10, there's probably four of them, they had a few blips in the radar. But oftentimes their adversity came at the end of the season when we lost Maurice Watson to ACL and we lost Martin Krampelj late one season.

But they share that bond that they care about Creighton, and they've bought into how we're going to play.

Coaches have a vision of what they want the culture to be. The players are the ones that make the culture with the decisions they make on a daily basis and the way they treat each other and the way they treat other people. And I'm blessed with a great group of guys that understand how to treat people the right way.

When that happens, things are fun even when they're tough. We never gave up on each other for one second during that stretch, and that part of this team is something that's always going to stick with me. To see guys come out of -- Francisco tonight, he struggled to shoot the ball for his standards really all season long. And he and I have continued to talk about there will be a time when you make some big ones for us. He stuck with his teammates, his teammates have stuck with him, and he hits big baskets tonight.

So probably their ability to -- when the outside world thinks the house is on fire, you've got to huddle up inside and figure out a way to put that fire out, and these guys did that.

Q. Free throws were a problem kind of late last year during that run. What does it mean for your guys to go 22 for 22 from the line?

GREG McDERMOTT: They've all worked at it. We spend some time after practice shooting free throws, but there's no secret sauce that you have. You recruit good shooters to start with and then have them work on situations where they're a little bit tired, a little bit fatigued and there's a little bit of pressure on them, and they all stepped up. Obviously those free throws were huge tonight.

Q. Outside of basketball, how did the trip to Denver go? Did you guys hit any snags or was everything smooth?

GREG McDERMOTT: You know, the hospitality was wonderful here. The people at the arena and the hotel, they treated us great. We found a few good restaurants, which was good. Obviously it was a great experience for us, and we're looking forward to getting on that plane and getting home and then heading to Louisville sometime the middle of the week. But Denver has been an awesome host.

Q. Ryan, your teammates even up here on the dais saluted you with love for being a leader despite being small, and Baylor has some pretty good guards, including one that looks like he's going to be a lottery pick. Do you care who you're going against, and what kind of attitude do you take to the floor?

RYAN NEMBHARD: Honestly, no, we definitely don't care who we're going against. We respect everybody. We give everybody the respect they're due, but at the end of the day, we think we're just as good as anybody in the country. We come into every game thinking that mentality, and yeah.