BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 3, 1999

Tommy Amaker

Duane Jordan

Ty Shine

COACH AMAKER: Just a team effort. Fought back through adversity and injuries. I'm just proud of our team for hanging tough and fighting through and winning a game today against a tough Notre Dame team that beat us twice. And it is difficult for us to match up against them, especially against their front line of Murphy and Hickey. Just tremendous. I'm really proud of these two guys, for Duane, of what he was able to do offensively, but also the battles: He's undersize, and he's shown he can hang tough with the big guys. I thought our freshman pointguard was outstanding in his first Big East tournament. He missed a few free throws and -- ran out made some big shots.

TOMMY AMAKER: I think what we tried to do was really to pressure the ball. I think they are in a game comfort zone they have good shooters in Graves and Wyche. We try to at least force them out a little bit further on the floor; make them put the ball out on the floor with the help of side defense. I thought our perimeter defense was pretty good. We got some easy baskets. We struggled to score a couple of times against their zone. We got some easy baskets which we were able to get a nice lead at different points in the game, but they fought back, and they had a really good game out of it.

COACH AMAKER: Well, I thought the difference was Duane Jordan, being a senior with some experience, he's our strongest player and the toughest kid on the inside. I thought he did a magnificent job battling their big guys -- trying to front. Sometimes we got caught behind their big guys, and they are so good at scoring, they can turn over and make shots and score. And I thought Duane and Reggie Garrett did a nice job of trying to front and keeping them off the block.

TOMMY AMAKER: We did the scouting report last night, and that's when we give our starting assignments. Shah is still struggling and getting over his illness, and we went with Ty. He's done a nice job the last six or seven games, and I'm pleased with his development and you can see that he's worthy of that. Shah was terrific when he came in to give him some spells. I thought he had a nice drive at -- I don't know what point it was in the game, but I'm really proud of Ty.

DUANE JORDAN: The guys on our team, we was playing the defense that we were capable of playing. With good defense, that gives us good offense. Ty was looking for me, and I was fortunate today shots were full Troy Murphy and Phil Hickey are some great inside players and I just went on the offense and made them work as much on defense.

DUANE JORDAN: Well, I have to take a special approach. I had to take the attitude -- we needed to get this win real bad. I didn't want the fate to decide -- we want control over own destiny and that is the -- we had to play the defense that we've been capable of playing.

TY SHINE: Well, Connecticut is a great team. They are ranked number one, best in the nation, and we are just playing our type of basketball and trying to slow the pace down, and we've just got to get over that hump. And we played them tough at their place and in here. It's just a matter of us getting over the hump and hopefully getting a matter of a win tomorrow.

TOMMY AMAKER: It's always huge. I've always thought even coming into this year, one of the key players for us, I think we know about the Kaukenases and the Saunders and the Holloways. I think the two key guys for this team were Duane Jordan and Chuck Moore. I mentioned that preseason and all the way through. Chuck gives us the ability to go to our bench and get points. We're not that gifted offensively, but he's a pretty good shooter and a gifted shooter when he gets his feet set and gets open, and he's done that for us all year. And he's made big shots in limited minutes at times. He's a streaky shooter. He's won a lot of games for us, and I thought he was a key player in this game this afternoon.

TOMMY AMAKER: Everyone is talking we played them tough. We lost to them twice. Playing tough and coming close doesn't matter. I look for the Connecticut team to -- I think they are playing better right now than they were at the time we had a chance to play them both times, and I think they are going to be a much better team against us. This is the Big East tournament. This is the showcase for our league, and they are the best in our league. They have shown that in the last few years that they are the class of the league, and I expect they are going to come in here with something to prove, as they have done the last couple of games in the season. They are sharp and ready to go, and we're going to have an unbelievable battle just to stay on the court with them.

TY SHINE: I was excited -- just wanted to come in and try to lead the team as much as possible.

TOMMY AMAKER: We wanted to try and make use of our inside players, and particularly Duane. I thought it wasn't so much using the inside of our post players, but we got easy baskets. We were able to get out in transition; so we weren't setting up as much in the first half against their halfcourt zone or halfcourt man. We were able to get the ball down the floor and get some easy shots and I thought that got our confidence going and Ty opened our game -- I think he had 5 of our first 7 points, and that really helped our team make some shots early.

Q. Can you talk about Connecticut matchup: Size, speed, all elements of the game?

TOMMY AMAKER: E, all of the above. If they are not ranked 2, 1, I don't know what they are ranked, but they could be the No. 1 team in the country depending on who you ask. Their record speaks for itself: Their tradition, history, they have co-player of the year and conference on their team. They have a great basketball team. They have all the pieces. They hit a skid and weren't playing as well and it seemed like everybody got up in arms about it, but they are still winning and I think now they have settled in and got healthy and I anticipate them being a force to deal with till the end of the season.

TOMMY AMAKER: I thought Reggie was tremendous. He's been tremendous for us in the last couple of games. He had 11 rebounds in our game against West Virginia, and he's done a great job in place of Manga, and I thought he helped us this afternoon. Taking the ball out of bounds and playing defense and just being an active player and fitting in.