BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2004

Jared Dudley

Al Skinner

Craig Smith

AL SKINNER: (Laughing). Well, we're an odd bunch, so that probably has something to do with it. But it was important -- again, any time you have front-court players like we have, between Jared, Craig, Uka and Nate, you're always going to have to show some patience on the offensive end. Any time you're looking to deliver the ball to your front court, you've got to be patient. That was important for us. We showed some patience. In the second half, it started to pay off for us.

AL SKINNER: For us, it was a tremendous -- it's probably the biggest key in the game for us, because we're, as you can see from the stat sheet, we're not the best three-point shooting team. You have to make up for some of that lack of scoring. As it shows on the sheet, they're going to score some three-pointers, so you have to make up for it somewhere. That means you have to get some extra two-pointers in order to make up for the three-pointers. For us, that means coming, getting it on the backboards. Let's face it, when Craig has got the ball, they put a lot of people around him. That leaves some lane and some opportunities for some other people to get rebounds and to put the ball back in the basket.

CRAIG SMITH: No, I wasn't. I wasn't at all (smiling).

CRAIG SMITH: Yeah, we just tried to just get it inside. From there, see what was going on from there. Obviously, we got it to Jared on the baseline a lot. He made some good passes and also got to the basket.

AL SKINNER: All I know is that we were clearly focusing on attacking the zone, whether it was through dribble penetration, through passing. We wanted to attack the interior of the zone. Because, again, I mean, if nothing else, I think we kind of know who we are, we know what our strengths are, we know what our weaknesses are. It was important, at least against this team, that we attack the interior. So we were pretty stubborn about that.

AL SKINNER: You know me, I don't even think like that. We're just going out to play. And the thing that I ask them to do is kind of at least try to put out on the floor the things that we're trying to teach. I think one of the best examples of that was, I think, Uka's defense at the end on Warrick. I mean, I think Warrick is an outstanding player; obviously, he is. There's something that we wanted to do with him. Uka finally did it on the last couple of possessions. I thought it was great defense. That's where I really try to get guys to exercise our defensive plan. We finally kind of got it going in the second half.

CRAIG SMITH: Rebounds. Got to get the ball. We knew it was going to be, obviously, a long shot, so it was obviously going to be a long rebound. We just wanted to secure it.

CRAIG SMITH: You know, they were going to Warrick all game. I mean, it didn't really matter. I mean, I didn't realize that he wasn't going to be a factor like that. Obviously, I thought when he had the ball, that McNamara was gonna end up somewhere. I thought he was going to end up in the three. It just didn't happen.

AL SKINNER: Also, you have to remember that Uka's guarding him, he's got four fouls. I probably would have went at him, too, with the understanding that he may not play as aggressively to defend. So, I mean, I can understand a mismatch. I thought he played well up until that point. Up there, at their place, he played extremely well against us. I think we've pretty much understood that they were going to go to Warrick. I wasn't at all surprised at that.

AL SKINNER: I don't know if they were underestimating how hard. It's just that now you're trying to test whether he can guard him. If he doesn't think he can guard him, he's going to go at him. That's just the challenge of that particular play, or those two plays that he had. He got a couple fouls on him making the same move, it's just that Uka played him a little bit better the last two possessions.

AL SKINNER: No, I don't think we played him any more physical than we played anybody else. He may be thin, but he's not weak. He's long. Once he gets the ball over his head, can't nobody get to it. Made a couple of real tough shots in the first half. I thought we played great defense, and he just pulled over the top. That's what I try to tell guys. I say, "You got to understand, once he gets the ball over his head, no one's gonna block that, no one's gonna defend it. We have to play defense before he gets it."

AL SKINNER: First of all, we handled the ball a little bit better on the offensive end. I thought they got some breakout baskets and some second shots in the first half. Those are the things that we wanted to take away. Our defensive strategy didn't change, it's just that I think guys finally believed it and executed it. The difference in the first half for us and the second half, no transition baskets or few transition baskets in the second half, and definitely no second shots.

AL SKINNER: I don't know, you know. They're a great team. We're starting to get prepared for them. They're an outstanding team. Hopefully, we'll play well tomorrow night.

JARED DUDLEY: Yeah, well, they're big. I'm gonna make contact, you know. I knew I could get free throws. Last time I played them I shot I think double-digit free throws. I know McNeil likes to jump a lot, pump fakes. Force him to try and stay down 'cause he's in foul trouble, yes. I know they're gonna block shots, but that's our game, going inside, so I kept with it.

CRAIG SMITH: Knowing personnel, obviously, we watch a lot of film. We knew who's gonna block shots, who's a rebounder. So you just try to stick to it and keep it in mind in the game.

JARED DUDLEY: It was real important. That's our game right there, people especially that play zone. Hit the short corner, have Craig drop, have the opposite point guard flatten out. I think early on we got a lot of easy buckets that we missed early on. That's why they went up by nine. In the second half we converted them, that's why we got the big W.

AL SKINNER: We'll find out tomorrow. They give us 40 minutes to kind of figure that one out. It's important for us to get a good night's rest and then we'll go at it and see what happens.

CRAIG SMITH: You know, we just wanted to believe. We wanted to believe in each other. We were just talking about in the huddles, we just wanted to (lock) down and get some stops. This was our game. We believed, and we got it done.

AL SKINNER: There's no question that Jermaine came off the bench and gave us a great look, gave us a great lift. Also, ball movement was important for us. He attacked the zone, which was important for us. But, you know, again, he contributed what he could, as everyone did. I mean, it was important that guys gave us good play. We talked yesterday of guys coming off the bench had to give us good play. Jermaine was the one to give us good play today. But he made some good plays on offense, made some good bounce passes on interior, attacked the basket, was aggressive. I mean, we needed that lift, and he gave it to us.