BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 10, 2005

John Beilein

Mike Gansey

Kevin Pittsnogle

COACH JOHN BEILEIN: I'm looking here to see if we scored a basket in the second half besides or -- or seem to make a foul shot in the second half. Longest 20 minutes of some of our lives right here. It's very difficult, if you've ever coached before, when you're up big a half against a very good team. Just very difficult. You want the game to get shorter. I think what bothered us the most is that we were bothered. We are, I hope, we have a reputation of valuing the ball and making great decisions. We imploded there for I don't know how long it was, it seemed like a year. I think that that was so upsetting to us that it multiplied. Thank goodness Kevin hits the big three and then we did some other things well. But we're going to take it. We're going to take it and move on to the semis.

COACH JOHN BEILEIN: Well, usually those things have pretty good effects on teams. When I went up, when I went to pregame meal today and we do a walk-through in our lobby there, our room, I was going through what he was doing. We had four men out on the floor, and I didn't even notice that he had left the meal right in the middle of it to use the men's room. Just think it's maybe one-time thing. He never returned. We sent the trainers to see him and then he disclosed to us he had been sick since 1 a.m. We gave him fluids. He had an IV when he came here. I asked him. We needed him in there. He is one of our best passers and we needed him in there. He just didn't feel he could help the team. I'm glad that he made that decision now. But it wasn't until -- I still thought maybe he'd be on the -- I had to go up, because he just couldn't get on the bus. I went up, and he was in the bathroom at that time. So I don't want to disclose too many of the facts, but at the same time, I mean, he was hurting. He was hurting. He's a tough kid, too, so it's very surprising. It must have been a heck of an intestinal virus or something.

COACH JOHN BEILEIN: You know, just asked me that on ESPN. Once again, compliment that committee because that committee is so thorough with this thing. They will choose the right teams. Obviously, I'm biased, but they will choose the right teams. There's no doubt in our minds we're one of the right teams. But there are a lot of intelligent men making that decision.

COACH JOHN BEILEIN: Well, we don't turn around and, you know, 22 hours like we did today. So we're going to go have a nice Italian meal here in the big city. We're going to go back, drink a lot of fluids and rest, maybe meet tonight. But actually, the fact that we don't play till 7 tomorrow, we got a longer rest than we had today so I think we'll go through our normal pregame routine. I'm battling, right now, with whether I want to come over here and walk through anything. If the lobby will suffice, we'll do it. It depends a little bit on who we may play.

COACH JOHN BEILEIN: We don't know if it's the meal. Everyone else had similar entrees, no one else was sick. So we don't know why he was sick.

COACH JOHN BEILEIN: I just looked at the 14 points and said, "I can't believe that." I haven't been wishing this to happen, because I don't want to wish on any of our stars, but every day we said, "We have to give Frank a chance." But when do we give him a chance? Do you take out Gansey? Do you take out Sally? Do you take out Herber? Do you take out Patrick? He needed an injury to have some type of credibility, and he certainly gave us a great first half, and then made some good plays in the beginning of the second half. He shot his first foul shots of his life in college after two years.

KEVIN PITTSNOGLE: I think our offense is suited for us to be in closer games. We're not used to be in blowouts, stuff like that. Took some backwards steps when we got ahead. I think we tried to play not to lose instead of playing to win. That was the main thing.

COACH JOHN BEILEIN: I think if Frank hadn't played well in the half. Last night he couldn't shoot the broad side of a barn. Shooting at the Garden for the first time is big for some people. Kevin does remember most of the four plays. He doesn't know all of them. We could have gone big or gone with BJ as our next option. Also we could have gone two-three zone with the two big guys in there. That was the plan. But when Frank played so well in that first half, the answer was there. Then down the stretch, we went with all the veterans down the stretch.

KEVIN PITTSNOGLE: It's a great feeling to come in here, play against a good team, prove that we're a good team. We had some troubles like we said yesterday, kept us up. We're having a lot of fun. We knew coming into today Ty was going to be sick. He's one of the three shooters we had, we just tried to win it for him.

KEVIN PITTSNOGLE: First couple games we played we didn't play well. I knew if we played well, we'd have a chance. Tonight we hit our shots when we had to and made our plays when we had to and it worked out for the best.

MIKE GANSEY: You know, it's just for the fans out there. They kind of -- I didn't really kind of like it that much. Boston College has meant so much to the BIG EAST this year. They had that terrific start, undefeated. They're going to do great in the ACC. That's just whatever the fans wanted to say. I have really no comment for that (smiling).