BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 12, 2004

Jamie Dixon

Carl Krauser

Mark McCarroll

COACH JAMIE DIXON: I thought it was, obviously, a very tough game, a physical game, a game kind of like we expected against a very good Boston College team who is playing very good basketball right now. I think our guys really stepped up in the second half, made guys -- really stepped it up on the defensive end. In the first half, I thought we played a great job in the first half as well. Toughed it out, made some big plays on the defensive end. I thought our patience in the second half was a big key in getting better shots in the second half. But our guys stepped it up, as they seem to always do.

COACH JAMIE DIXON: I mean, we didn't really talk about that, that's just something that happens. I think our guys just made the plays. Nothing really you could talk about, that we got out in the passing lanes a few times, got good ball pressure. I think that made it a little bit tougher for them to run their offense. Then we were out in the passing lane. So we had a number of guys in passing lanes get some steals, and that led to transition baskets.

COACH JAMIE DIXON: I think they're a very good team. We expected it. They play very good defense. They change defenses well. They're well-coached. I think we just had the patience and believed in what we were doing and believed in each other and found the right spots against the zone and executed and made some very good passes.

COACH JAMIE DIXON: I should have mentioned that first off. Toree was obviously huge for us with the points and finishes around the basket. He did a very good job. We made two good passes to him, then he had a good tip-in. I thought he obviously was a big, key factor. Again, it's great to see him, he's been working so hard. He's been great for us all year.

COACH JAMIE DIXON: Jaron is a guy who never really seems to show a lot of pain, and so when he did that, you knew it was going to be pretty tough. It's going to be hard to say right now at this point. But he felt -- it seemed like it wasn't bothering him as the game progressed, but that's when you figure in his heart.. That overcomes some things. How about these guys, Mark and Carl (smiling).

COACH JAMIE DIXON: I don't know. Has anybody done it before?

COACH JAMIE DIXON: They did it. I guess it's pretty tough. I wasn't really thinking about that going in. I mean, it's quite an accomplishment, obviously. All we've been thinking about is getting the one game, winning one, then winning the next one. Now we're going to start preparing for the next. I'll let the other guys figure out our accomplishment and total up the things. These guys don't worry about that stuff; they worry about the next game.

COACH JAMIE DIXON: I think it's confidence. I think it's believing in one another and knowing what we, you know -- I think also a big part of it is how we practice. I mean, we play the same way in practice that we play in games. We play up to four in games, we play up to seven. Every game, it's a fight till the end. I think, that prepares you for these games.

CARL KRAUSER: Yeah, I didn't want to let my teammates down. I knew I was missing, so I tried to do other things, like finding Mark on ball screens, try to get Chevy and those guys the ball down low.

CARL KRAUSER: Yeah, I been working on my pull-up. I wanted to make a big shot. I know we needed a bucket and I just wanted to come down and make that shot.

COACH JAMIE DIXON: Yeah, I think it was pretty similar. Nothing, you know, not unexpected. In our minds, we knew it was going to be a physical game, a lot of banging inside; there's big bodies out there, they have big bodies, we have big bodies, they have tough kids, we have tough kids. We seem to make big shots. Obviously, they played very well, but we made some big shots. Mark, obviously hitting the three, that was a huge shot there, good pass by Carl. Our guys, we did a good defensive job from a number of our big guys on trying to contain Smith and Agbai.

CARL KRAUSER: Yeah, definitely feels special to come back here at home and get a win. Just my performance, I just wanted to come out there and play well and just make sure my team had a victory. We wanted to get back to the championship game. We was taking every game one game at a time and playing hard, playing together, and that enabled us to come out here and win this game down here.

MARK MCCARROLL: It was pretty tough defending him. They kept giving him the ball every play. A person has a lot of shots, sometimes they're going to drop, even the tough shots. Me hitting the three, I was working on my shot pretty hard today at shoot around and eventually they dropped.

MARK MCCARROLL: No, I wasn't aware. Just was looking at the defender, I seen him coming at me. I just shot.

CARL KRAUSER: I think they're going to do very well. BC is a very tough physical team. Very relentless on the boards. They don't take losing very well. I think they're gonna do well and represent the BIG EAST in a well-respected manner. They're going to go out there and win some games in the tournament.

CARL KRAUSER: What was going through my mind was just find an open man next time. I just wanted to find an open man. I think I made a bad decision, I think somebody else was open, but I guess I was pretty angry that I didn't do what I wanted to do, which was make the basket. So that was what was going through my mind.

CARL KRAUSER: A team like UCONN is very hard to beat. They have a great transition team, and they're very well coached by Coach Calhoun. You just basically got to shut down their transition defense and rebound the ball well and execute your plays. I think we're gonna do well against a team like UCONN because we have great preparation by Coach.