BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 10, 2004

Al Skinner

Craig Smith

COACH AL SKINNER: Well, right now it's a little bit of a characteristic of this team. We're still young. We're still freshmen and sophomores. I think there's times that we get excited and our enthusiasm starts to overcome, and so we make plays because we think it's there. Then, all of a sudden, the play doesn't occur. We run through these lapses like that. I think when we need to do something and we really normally execute extremely well. When we try to improvise, a lot of times we don't come away with the success we're looking for.

COACH AL SKINNER: Well, that's just a matter of some mental toughness that our guys have had. There's no question throughout the season we've been able to make our free throws coming down the stretch. Guys want the ball. I don't know, it is something that's important to us, and something that we talk about: Free throws wins basketball games. I think our guys understand that. I really don't know what the difference is for them; I just know the results that we get.

COACH AL SKINNER: The thing is, is that today, I thought Georgetown did a good job of fronting and backing. I think they made it very difficult for him. He was able to maintain his composure. Because he was a factor, even though he didn't get as many touches as he would like or I would like, still it created some offensive opportunities for some other people. But that's who we are. So sometimes you serve as a decoy, and sometimes you're the focal. Considering what -- the success he had against Georgetown the first time, I'm not at all surprised the way they defended him this time. I would have done the same thing. But, again, this is something that he has to expect. But it's important for us to make sure that we're executing and moving the ball so that he does get some touches and he does get some opportunities because we cannot allow someone to negate that option for us. Now, we can use them as a decoy, and we do do that. But we cannot allow them to negate it. We have to use it when we need to. I think as a team, I think we kind of understand that.

COACH AL SKINNER: Well, right now, for us, I mean, we all know it's pretty much one game at a time. I think in the back of our minds, the credit to the women, they did a nice job down in Hartford. That is probably one of the few times it serves as a motivation for us. We know it can be done. But, again, we have to really -- we really got to focus in on the very next game. We cannot afford to expand our thought process beyond that. Because if we do, we're going to come up short. Syracuse beat us pretty good last time they played us. Controlled the game, beat us pretty good. So we have to make sure that we're prepared to take on that challenge.

COACH AL SKINNER: I don't know. We'll find out tomorrow afternoon.

COACH AL SKINNER: (Laughing). You have to ask the players that. I coached my A game. I don't know if it looked like that, but I coached it. You have to ask the players if they held anything back. I don't necessarily think so. I think you're going to come up short if you do that. I mean, Georgetown, regardless of what their record is, physically, they're as gifted as any team in the league. I thought they defended really well. I thought our execution was important for us. We didn't play as well as we could have, but it was not an easy game.

CRAIG SMITH: No, I don't think we held anything back. They were really aggressive on the defensive end, and we just tried to run our stuff. It was a couple turnovers here and there, but we didn't hold anything back.

CRAIG SMITH: Yeah, I can speak for myself, I was very motivated. I felt that since they stuck it out, I think we can do the same thing. Just like Coach said, we just have to take it one game at a time.

CRAIG SMITH: I love playing on this floor. It's the world's most famous arena, who wouldn't want to get a chance to play on this floor? I just love it here.

COACH AL SKINNER: That's saying a lot from a kid that's from Los Angeles.

COACH AL SKINNER: Well, there's no question, the last time we played them when we made -- particularly in the second half, when we made the comeback, we got excited and we overextended our defense and they took advantage of it. I mean, they did a real good job of executing, took advantage of it, and bang, bang, bang, that was the ball game. I think if nothing else, I think we're a little better ballclub. But I think we understand now that the game is 40 minutes. That night, we just played in spurts.

CRAIG SMITH: Yeah, I just keep telling myself to keep my composure. Obviously, in the first half, they know the ball's gonna come in to me. Obviously, I just try to play the decoy. Hopefully, more than likely, it opens up in the second half.