BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 5, 1998

Kevin Bannon

Geoff Billet

Richard Hamilton

Rob Hodgson

COACH BANNON: Well, you know, it is just one of those things with conference tournaments, and I am glad that it is us. Our guys really have been good the last couple of days as far as working and listening and giving themselves at least a chance here. Tonight was another good example. We didn't play great. We really didn't. We didn't shoot well. We didn't shoot fouls well. But we hung in there. And I think -- I thought they played very, very well. I thought they played terrific defense. They were very active. It wasn't looking good most of the night for us, but we did enough to hang around. And you never know what happens when you hang around. You know, that -- I think the turning point for us personally was there was a stretch there in the middle of the second half when we decided to rebound, defensive rebound a little bit and took our defense a little bit up a notch. That really got our confidence going. Questions.

COACH BANNON: The last play, we were really -- you know, they played so many halfcourt defenses that we tried to put something in that would be effective -- whatever they chose, we just tried to do a little ball screen and get our guys to play a little emotion. Obviously we didn't have a lot of time to do it. But our guys really did a good job with it. One thing we really wanted to make sure was that we didn't play soft. That we got in the lane and we tried to get to the rim. I thought Geoff did a great job. I think he was the surprised guy in the world when he did make the penetration that he didn't get the attention. I think they backed off him. And Geoff did a terrific job getting his balance. But that is really the main thing. We wanted to make sure we got something going to the rim, and I thought our guys did a real good job with that.

COACH BANNON: A little bit. I thought nothing good happened off the high screen. And, you know, right there it was pretty much time to do something aggressive. That is where I think all our guys did a good job of moving and putting Geoff in a position to do what he did. The spacing really enabled him to do that. Hey, it is one of those things. I mean, it didn't matter what defense they were playing, Geoff made a tough shot and made a good, aggressive play, and you can live with that, win or lose.

COACH BANNON: No. Anything inside the three-point line is not designed for Geoff Billet. We don't do that. No, really, actually it was in the sense that we wanted -- if Earl didn't get something aggressive off of that screen, we were looking for Geoff to come back. And he made a good, aggressive play because he is our best foul shooter.

COACH BANNON: I don't know. I think you are right. We -- we normally shoot the ball a heck of a lot better, normally shoot free-throws a heck of a lot better. I think we were tired a bit tonight. I haven't conceded that all year. You can ask these guys. I don't know how it happened. I think these guys have gotten tougher as the year's gone on. They ask a little bit more themselves. It is not always coming from me or the other coaches. I think they demand it of each other. If you do that, and you are resilient, and you are tough, you gut things out. Sometimes you put yourself in a position like we put ourself in. I think they were very tough tonight. I thought they played a very good game. It was one of those things that it maybe was going to come down to that.

COACH BANNON: Eric asked me kind of a bizarre question on the way going out to the line. He asked who are we going to foul? I said why would you ask me -- it was like assumption that he wasn't going to make it. We are not going to foul anybody, make the damn shots. It was great.

COACH BANNON: Well, the main thing I want to see from our guys, it is no different than what I said here yesterday, was that when you put yourself -- you play yourself into this position, you go for it. And, you know, there is nobody in the Rutgers' uniform is going to concede anything. We want to go out and compete. I know they are the cream of the crop and I have a tremendous amount of respect for Connecticut. But, you know, we are going to go to war for 40 minutes with them and see what happens. And I think I have got a lot of convincing to do maybe for the next 24 hours because these guys haven't been in this position a lot.

GEOFF BILLET: Well, when I got the ball at the top of the key, I looked up at the clock. I saw like 2 point something, and I knew I had to make a move. So penetrated right. And when I beat the first guy, there was really no help there. And so I just I was able to pull up and I got a real good look, and obviously I was kind of surprised at how clear the area was. And it was a little 12-foot runner. I was able to hit it.

GEOFF BILLET: When I put it up, it felt good. Because I had -- it was a good shot. I tried to get it up high in case, you know, it is tough to make it get it right in the rim on that angle, so I was trying to get it up high hoping it would role around the rim a little and go in. Luckily it just went right in. It was a great feeling.

GEOFF BILLET: This was our post-season. We felt this was it for us. We were under in -- 5 under, and if we lost one game our season was going to be over. So this was our NIT. This was our NCAA. When we came here, we had nothing to lose, and I think that is how we have been playing. We have been playing well and we have been playing without fear.

RICHARD HAMILTON: Just, you know, their defense, we knew was going to be changing and aggressive. There were certain things we wanted to try and do that we had gone over as our game plan. One was getting into the middle lane. They play a matchup zone, and also a 2-3 zone. But a lot of times if we keep someone there, they would just match up. So we wanted to have, like, our most, just like Eric or Geoff Greer, myself, just different guys, you know, out of motion or out of different set. Just kind of getting into the middle. I wound up being open there a few times and that was the most, just kind of moving around.

ROB HODGSON: That was great. You kind of just wait. Well, I mean the play developed and we didn't get one thing and we swung it to Geoff. Geoff is going, clock is running down. In the back of your mind you are going "9, 8, 7, 6, 5," you got to keep the time in your head because you can't look at the clock. I couldn't see Geoff. He had penetrated. There was someone in front of me. I saw the ball kind of loft up and "3, 2, 1," and, you know, the ball is just in the air. I had a great view of it going in. That was real nice. It is just a great feeling, ball goes through the net. I mean, it is just a great feeling.

COACH BANNON: I think Sandy's energy picked us all up. He got in the game and does things. That is probably the top of the list of what he can do for us is just give his activity, give his athleticism, and activity. I think he did a tremendous job on Long and he did a great job on the defensive glass and he got us some transition that we weren't getting. So, I think you are right. I think Sam's energy really picked our team up and gave us a dose of life where it was getting away from us pretty fast.