BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 10, 2004

Mike Brey

Colin Falls

Chris Thomas

COACH MIKE BREY: Well, when we were up 16, I never thought it was going to be easy, but that was a great college basketball game in tournament play. I'm very proud of our group. I think it's a little bit of like a symbol of how our year has gone. We absorbed a big punch and still found a way to get out of here with a win. West Virginia just played fearlessly down the stretch. But, again, that's been our group. We've been pretty resilient the last six weeks.

COACH MIKE BREY: Well, Chris just controlled the tempo. I thought the whole game he did a great job. When he got in foul trouble a little bit it knocked our rhythm out. West Virginia zone, to play against that for 35 minutes is different. No one in the league plays that kind of zone. As much as you practice, prepare for it, get mentally ready, eventually it gets you back on your heels, and we did get back on our heels a little bit. We're absolutely confident with this guy (pointing to Colin Falls). I mean, he's done a great job as a freshman. He's made big shots for us. He made two big shots here Saturday to kind of break the game open, so I knew he was comfortable. I told him to get his feet set because he's probably going to have a few tomorrow night, too.

COACH MIKE BREY: Yeah, we just wanted to get another shooter in the game. We've done that, a little more of an offensive team against a zone. We had another shooter in the game and have him flat on the baseline so Chris and Chris can handle the ball up top. He was kind of hiding over there. Did a great job moving the zone a little bit, not panicking, and finding him.

COLIN FALLS: Well, we just swung the ball around a couple times. We were patient, didn't force anything. Then Chris Quinn got great penetration. He found me.

COLIN FALLS: I mean, I know that either Chris or Chris is gonna drive and make a play. If they help off of me to help to get to them (sic), I have to be open, I just got to get my feet set and let it fly.

COLIN FALLS: No, it wasn't. A guy was running at me. There was a little bit of contact. It was probably a good no-call.

COLIN FALLS: Yeah. He ran through my leg.

COACH MIKE BREY: He's the best guy on our team at drawing a foul on a three-point shot. He's got a knack for getting a leg out for a guy who's closing out. I told him, "You were trying to get four out of that." He did that in high school. He's done that in practice a lot, not in a game yet.

COACH MIKE BREY: We're excited to get a chance to play them again. I think we played them pretty well both times. Certainly, we won in South Bend. The game in Hartford, we got it to four a couple times in the second half. They played really well. I think we lost by 11. So, you know, we know them well, obviously. We didn't play them until late in the year, too. So it's kind of fresh on our minds. We know it's a great challenge. They're a heck of a team. Great athletes. The big guy's gonna play, don't you believe anything . The big fella's playing. Don't believe that (laughter).

COACH MIKE BREY: Now we're even because Torin Francis is laying in a hospital bed back in Notre Dame. Now it's even. We'll be ready to play. We fully expect him to play. We're going to prepare like he will play. We played against him twice. He played in South Bend. We had good success there. He's going to have to guard a big guy a long way from the bucket for a long time tomorrow night.

CHRIS THOMAS: No, I can't. I can't remember the last time I was sitting on the bench, period. I mean, I'm a 40-minute guy. I mean, I was kind of upset, but the way the calls were going, I just wasn't having good luck guarding my man. It's kind of different, but at the same time, I had to be there for support and cheer on my team.

COACH MIKE BREY: This group, we started absorbing punches in December, you know. If you look at our schedule, losing three in a row, Timmermans and Jones not even dressing for the Central Michigan game. He was questionable for that game. Was a game-time decision. We lost that one, we lose to Indiana. Come into league play, as I told our group, we probably -- we've been read our last rites at least three or four times this season and we continually stay alive. My feeling is with 17 wins, with the schedule we've played and the criteria that the committee looks at, we will be strongly discussed over the weekend - just take my word for it. Don't listen to those guys on TV.

CHRIS THOMAS: Now he's going to say this is his favorite place to play, just like us. We really felt confident, especially coming off St. John's game where we shot the ball very well. We do game situations all the time in practice. He's one of the guys that will step up there and knock down a shot just as good as anybody else on our team. We have four shooters on the floor. We just relied on our penetration. He's always ready to shoot. Him and Chris Quinn are like brothers. They're always looking for each other, knowing where everybody's at on the floor.

COACH MIKE BREY: Absolutely, yeah. I think if you were to beat Connecticut, I don't think there's much discussion. I think right now it's a flip of the coin, in my mind. I don't think we have total control of our destiny right now. Some other things have to happen. Tomorrow night would be almost total control, I believe.

COACH MIKE BREY: Very long. Because everything they shot the last 10 minutes, I had a perfect angle and every one of them looked like it was going in. I thought Jones did a great job in that possession where he didn't let them get by, he tried to get by. Then he really challenged that shot. Not that we didn't challenge some of Beilein's shots, because those were really out there. But that was a tough one to wait and see, because every one of them went in down the stretch. I thought they played fearlessly.

COACH MIKE BREY: Because Joe Carr didn't go the length of the court. I didn't think of that one. I was confident in our defense that we had the lead, you know. I thought, again, the momentum really swung when he hit that, and our huddle was pretty darn confident coming out to play the last 11 seconds. We did have a pretty good feel for what they do offensively and the pattern. We took away some things where I think they stalled a little bit, trying to get into a rhythm. Then Herber - it was Herber who shot it, right - he had to try to create something. That's the matchup you want, somebody trying to create on Torrian Jones. He's the guy that we would want defended.

COLIN FALLS: Well, as a freshman, it's tough because you have your ups and downs. There's been times where I haven't shot the ball well or played well defensively. He's been real confident with me and told me to keep fighting through it. I mean, earlier this season, I missed a game-tying shot against Indiana. That night he called me and said, "Don't worry about it," in a message. He has full confidence in me to shoot the ball.