BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2005

Jim Boeheim

Josh Pace

Hakim Warrick

COACH JIM BOEHEIM: This was just a really physical, tough defensive game. Two teams, I thought our defense was the best it's been all year in the first half, and most of the second half. The end, the game just got crazy. So I don't know what you can call that. But they had to fight their way back in, that was the best way to do it. You know, we were pretty good with the ball. We didn't turn it over much. And, you know, made our free throws - enough of them anyway - to win. Our defense was tremendous tonight. We really did a great job defensively. We did a great job on the boards. You know, Hak was great. He really has played tremendous basketball down here these two games. But it was, you know, our first Connecticut game, we were up eight and we just didn't finish it. We feel that we can play with them, or play with anybody; they're as good as anybody. But I'm real proud of the way we competed on defense and, you know, how tough-minded we were tonight, particularly Josh and Hakim. I thought Darryl Watkins had a tremendous first half for us and was a real presence in the middle. But Connecticut is going to keep coming after you, and they did that. That's to their credit. But we hung on at the end.

COACH JIM BOEHEIM: Well, you know, yeah, it seemed for a long time there we got to the finals every year. I think we took it for granted. It has been a while, but it's nice to be there. You know, I just want to come out of New York every year trying to, you know -- playing well. Some years we've lost down here but we've played well, and, you know, I can live with that.

HAKIM WARRICK: My teammates really did a good job just hitting the offensive glass. Gave me some easy looks, and they left me open. I hit a couple shots and that got me going. I think that got the whole team going.

COACH JIM BOEHEIM: Yeah, we wanted to use the clock. I thought we really did a good job even though we didn't score quite enough. You know, we had a couple really good opportunities in there where we got them spread and got good shots. We wanted to use the clock, we wanted to just use as much as we could. We had enough of a lead unless, you know, we did something really bad, you know. We got Hak back in there, and he did hit that first shot, which gave us a little more cushion. But, you know, they came after us hard, and we had just enough to hold on.

COACH JIM BOEHEIM: It's not too much that, it's more that Hak has become comfortable playing away from the basket. So really, I think, we're not using -- what I meant with two big guys really is two center post-type players. Having a center and two big forwards, two big combinations. Hak is playing well away from the basket now. He gives it an opportunity, when guys like Boone are going to play him, he can get outside, and get guys like him in foul trouble. That adds something to our offense and gives him more freedom. We've rebounded better since we went to that lineup. Terrence didn't have a good game tonight. I thought he had some really good opportunities tonight that he didn't capitalize on, but, you know, hopefully, he's getting better and he'll be able to get better doing that.

JOSH PACE: I just think we came out aggressive on the defensive end. If you look at the other two games, we were very aggressive on defense, but I think tonight, you know, we put together two 20-minute halves, I think. I mean the first game, like Coach said, we was up eight points and we kind of had a letdown. The second game we came out, it was tied, we had a good first half, we came out in the second half and they jumped on us. I think like we been saying, we have to put it all together, have good two 20-minute halves of defense and that's what we did tonight.

JOSH PACE: I think we always knew that we were one of the top teams in the league. I think, I mean, just looking at all our games, other than the last UCONN game that we lost, we had control of the game for the most parts, even the Oklahoma State game. It was just a matter of keeping that going throughout the 40 minutes. I think we put together a good 40 minutes and, you know, took -- we were saying it earlier, towards the end of the year, you're winning most of your games and then at the end you kind of lose it at the end, you're not getting blown out. I think it's something else other than questioning how good our team is. So, you know, tonight we put it together.

HAKIM WARRICK: Yeah, I agree. I think we showed that we can play with anybody in the country, and we can play against -- play with the elite teams. We just didn't show that we can beat them. I think tonight we showed that we can beat them, and it's a competitive team, and especially on a big stage like this, just less than two weeks from them blowing us out, to come back and respond like this, I think it says a lot about this team.

COACH JIM BOEHEIM: We were just a little more aggressive, we trapped a little harder. You know, it's the same defense but it's all the activity, it's like everything else, it's how hard the players play. You know, we corrected a couple little tiny mistakes that we made. But we were just more aggressive and we rebounded better. We didn't give them the second-chance opportunities. Then in the second half, down the end there, we stopped rebounding and they got back on the boards and really showed what can hurt us. But, you know, we should have been able to get a couple rebounds at the end but, you know, we wanted to keep our best ball-handling team in, because we had the lead. We're going to give them some baskets, but we want to keep our best free throw shooters and ball-handlers in. They're going to come back. But we were rebounding better and we were just more aggressive on defense in the first half, that's all.

HAKIM WARRICK: We love it. We know coming in, the BIG EAST is a really physical conference. We knew coming in, I guess, the rap is out that you can go and play physical with us, but we're not going to back down from anybody, and we definitely didn't do it tonight. When we're hitting outside shots the way we did tonight, it's tough for them to be as physical with us. It showed tonight.

COACH JIM BOEHEIM: I think all that matters in the tournament is that when you get in the tournament, you play well. That's all that matters. I've seen teams win 10 straight games, lose their first game of the tournament. It's really something people just talk about. I don't find it to hold true. We've lost our last game here, and won the national championship. Gone to the final game twice. It's just how you play in the tournament. It's not -- I just don't believe in that. I mean, the teams that, you know, go win their last 10 games and win the tournament, it's because they're really good, it's not because they got hot.

COACH JIM BOEHEIM: You haven't got it right in your life, come on, please. What a leap of faith that is (smiling).

COACH JIM BOEHEIM: Well, I wish I did know that. I've had that sense a few games, and we got outrebounded by 30, you know (laughing). I don't get it. I don't have it. I don't know. But there's no question from the beginning we went on the boards better, you know. We got some rebounds and, you know, we got them doubling, we got them, you know -- we caught them doubling Hak, that gives us a chance on the boards where we should get an advantage. People are going to gamble and double on Gerry and Hak. We have to take advantage of that. If it's not getting somebody a shot, it's getting guys the ability to go right to the board and be in position. That's what our other guys got to do, and I think we could do better because we're really getting a two-on-one situation a lot on the boards. Usually, it's Josh's man, leaving the trap, rotating down to help, so Josh then has an opportunity to get to the boards. When he's going from the guide spot, he's got a little advantage there.

JOSH PACE: Definitely. This is probably the only thing we haven't won. I think when I came here, Coach had his 600 win, he got his 700. We got a championship. This is where we want to be, we want to be in this position to try to win a BIG EAST Championship and, you know, go into the tournament on a good note.

COACH JIM BOEHEIM: We're playing our third straight game, we don't play as many guys as some people, so it's tough, you know. But I feel that, you know, watching West Virginia play, they play as well or better than anybody over the last part of the season since Pittsnogle has started to step up. He's playing great. He's playing as well as any big guy I've seen in a long time in this league. Inside and out, they have guys coming in, who haven't played, young, shooting the ball, they're just all really playing well. I think Villanova came into this tournament, if you want to use this word, as a hot team, winning nine out of ten games or something. You know, West Virginia just, you know, took it to them. Boston College, No. 1 team, No. 1 seed in our league, and it's not just that they beat them, but they had them 25 down. West Virginia is playing great, John's done a great job getting them back rallied and they're a very, very difficult team to play especially the way Pittsnogle is shooting the ball from the perimeter. It's a difficult match-up. He can beat you from the outside. They're just playing great basketball, it's a great game, great challenge for us. We're glad to be there and we'll see what happens tomorrow night.