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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2006Barry CollierJason DourisseauMarcus WalkerJamel WhiteDALLAS, TEXAS COACH BARRY COLLIER: I thought our team played really tough-minded and was a hard-fought game and I thought it just kind of came down to some key plays. But those key plays were sprinkled throughout the game really. We looked at so much in the last minute of these games, but there was effort throughout. I thought our defense was different but it was good. And on the night, I am just so proud of this team because they want to keep playing. Q. How does it feel to be the first Nebraska team to be in the Semifinals since 1998? JASON DOURISSEAU: It feels great. I mean, we worked so hard for it and we have been through a lot of adversity this year with our local media and everything. It just feels great to get to this point, but we're not satisfied yet. That's one thing we're going to talk about tonight, we have got another one tomorrow. We're going to get ready to play. Q. Talk about the two freshman scoring the final 13 points of the game? JASON DOURISSEAU: That was huge. They grew up today. Marcus Walker and Jamel, they have been playing good all year. This was a big game, on a big stage, and they both stepped up huge when we needed them to. Q. What do you remember from the first two meetings with Kansas this year? JASON DOURISSEAU: First one was a nightmare. The second one, you know, we -- I think the game was closer than the score indicated, but they made a lot of key plays at key times in the game and they forced a lot of turnovers, so they are a good team. They are young, but they are extremely talented and we have another challenge ahead of us tomorrow. Q. Talk about coming in here losing some games and finding this, did you see this coming at all? You guys have been struggling down the stretch. What was it that kind of turned things around for you the last couple of days? Did you see this at all during the losing streak? MARCUS WALKER: Yes, throughout the season we have been having a lot of ups and downs. A lot of situations occurred in Lincoln. With coming into this game, winning yesterday's game, gave us a lot of confidence. And with us being able to beat them at Lincoln, gave us that extra confidence coming into this game. So I think everybody surrounding us in this circle knew we could win just capitalizing on our mistakes and ran our offense right and make sure we do what the little things that makes us win, like hustling, diving on balls and getting rebounds. Q. Oklahoma has made of living out of winning 1-point games this year. But you guys beat them earlier by one point. Did that game give you confidence going into tonight? JASON DOURISSEAU: No doubt. We watched film from that game today at our meal and we know what it takes to beat a team like that. You got to play tough, you got to battle them on the glass. You got to battle them, possession, for possession, especially on defense. Like I said, these two guys to my right, they stepped up and they made play after play today. Our entire team, if you look up and down our roster, we have guys stepping up, like Coach said, throughout the game. It was truly a team effort today. Q. Can you talk about Michael Neal, the job you guys did on him, no shots in the first half. COACH BARRY COLLIER: I thought that our guys' effort in this game on Neal was a real key because we felt as their leading scorer in the Big 12 games this season, that he was a difference maker and we wanted to try to limit the number of shots that he got and certainly pressure the ones that he did. For him to have zero shots in the first half wasn't necessarily a requirement, but it sure was a plus. In our -- in their defense or standing up for them, I thought that they made good decisions not to force it down over to him and make him shoot it or that type of thing and they had some other guys knocking down 3s. I think three different guys scored 3-pointers in the first half. So we had to pay for a little bit for the defense. But our problem in the first half was our offense in that that was a sure lot better in the second. Q. You got a lot of defenses in your repertoire. Was it a little different scheme? Did you guys just draw this one up for this game? COACH BARRY COLLIER: Not really. It's one of the things we have used. Probably use it again at some point so I don't really want to talk a whole lot about it. But we played different defenses tonight. That wasn't the only defense as well. Q. Talk about what this meant to you tonight, your coaches had a little group hug there with about 4 seconds left, you could tell what it meant to them. Talk about KU and the struggles you had with them this year, what it's going to take this time? COACH BARRY COLLIER: Well, I think that we're really excited at our team -- our team played hard throughout the game and made plays throughout the game. Aleks really struggled early but he was a big help as the game went on. We had so many other players got in this game and helped us, just the two freshman had been gaining great experience this year and -- through necessity, but also because of ability, they have been in ball games. As far as Kansas is concerned, Jason said -- I think he said the first game was a nightmare, second game was at least a bad dream. They have had their way with us and they have been a very good team. Had them all over my ballot for post-season honors, and it is a tough, tough matchup. But it's a 40-minute game and it is a new game so we'll certainly be here tomorrow.
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