PLAYERS ERA POWER COLLEGE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

November 27, 2024

Greg McDermott

Steven Ashworth

MGM Grand Garden Arena

Creighton Bluejays

Postgame Press Conference

Texas A&M - 77, Creighton - 73

GREG MCDERMOTT: It was a really good game against two good teams, a very physical game. I thought our inability to keep them off the foul line the first half, I thought we could have had some separation had we not fouled.

Now, having said that, they're hard to guard without fouling. I mean, they're so physical in what they do. We knew offensive rebounds were going to be a big part of the game. We were able to hang in there the first half but not the second half. They really flipped the script on us the second half from an offensive rebounding standpoint.

Q. How did you feel out there after the injury?

STEVEN ASHWORTH: It felt good. There was obviously some things that I felt like I couldn't quite do, but coming off an ankle sprain as severe as I've had, just grateful to God for all the prayers and grateful to Bluejay nation. It's cool to be part of a university that has a lot of faith. I have a strong faith, and I definitely know without God and obviously all the help with all the trainers and the amount of work we've been working on I wouldn't be able to play today. I was just glad to be back out there with my teammates.

Q. What do you see on that, when you get the 5-second call on the inbound, what did you see on that play?

GREG MCDERMOTT: They did a good job -- without looking at the film I can't say for sure. There was a lot of physicality there on stopping some of our cuts. But they blew it up. And unfortunately we didn't have a timeout left. But until I watch it on film, I don't know.

Q. You mentioned offensive rebounds there. What do you think changed in the second half especially through the final 10 minutes that let them clean up that area?

GREG MCDERMOTT: There were a few times where Kalk rotated to help and didn't get the block. And then we got caught with a bad match-up on the backside. And then there were a few times we didn't do what we were supposed to do with the physicality.

I've got some freshmen out there against some pretty physical guys that have played a lot of college basketball and we lost that match-up a few times.

But I like the fact we didn't quit. We played through it and we had some golden opportunities throughout the game. And for the most part we executed some stuff late until that side out-of-bounds play.

Q. Didn't get the win, but what did you see from Jackson and what do you think his ceiling could be?

GREG MCDERMOTT: Yeah, I think his ceiling is ridiculously high. He hasn't even scratched the surface yet. And he goes and gets 14 rebounds yesterday against San Diego State. And today, whatever -- what was he, 1-for-7, and then hits back-to-back 3s at a critical point in the game.

That's just a young man who trusts his work, that's put in the amount of repetition that you have to be to be a great shooter.

And his teammates, Jamiya made a great extra pass to him on that extra possession to give us the one-point lead. And unfortunately we weren't able to get a stop when we needed to. We led the game for 35 minutes. We just couldn't finish the darn thing.

Q. You guys obviously played two freshmen quite a bit today. Stevens kind of played on half an ankle. How do you close out in those situations when you guys have led? And what's the key to finishing?

GREG MCDERMOTT: You can't it's not nine out of nine it has be 10 out of 10 where everybody is connected, is hooked up and everybody understands what their responsibilities are. And it's one thing to understand; it's another thing that you have to execute them when the lights are the brightest.

We were definitely a better team today than we were yesterday. We had some guys log some pretty big minutes. And obviously he's not fully healthy, but I thought he gave a really gutsy effort.

Q. Steven, you obviously watched yesterday from the bench. What did you see how much of the offense changed today when you were in there? And I think you kind of touched on it a little bit ago but how did it feel to be back in a game after missing yesterday?

STEVEN ASHWORTH: Obviously our offense is different with the different rotations we can throw in. I think a big element I'm bringing to the floor is just the spacing and the gravity when I'm coming off screens or ball screens or off ball screens, I feel like there's some awareness there that also then opens up things for other guys.

Being my second year on the offense, understanding the pace and tempo we want to play with, and I think yesterday we were a little slow with our tempo at times and I felt like I was able to bring some of that back today. But I was just really grateful to be able to be back and my teammates have been encouraging me all week and coach encouraging me, was talking to me throughout the game how it all felt. Jeremy and Ben were doing a great job monitoring that as well. It was good.

Q. I know you said yesterday you didn't want them to start pointing fingers just because you guys lost back-to-back games, is that the same thing you tell them now after three straight?

GREG MCDERMOTT: Same thing I've told my teams for 36 years, teams who point fingers lose. And we're not going to do that.