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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 8, 2007Mike CookJamie DixonAaron GrayNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK JAMIE DIXON: Well, I thought we got a lot of great efforts from a number of guys, and I think our balance scoring speaks to that. It was a great win against a very good team and I'm very proud of how our guys played throughout. I was not at all surprised. We had a very good week of practice and we were definitely looking forward to this game and guys handled it and now we'll get ready for tomorrow night. Q. Because they had played last night, did you want to push them a little bit and play more up-tempo? JAMIE DIXON: We always want to. We are always looking ahead and we seemed to get some steals, some turnovers that got us going in transition, but I think we made good decisions in that area. But again you don't want to do that just to do that. You have to make good decisions. You have to take the right opportunity and I think with our seven turnovers, it obviously reflects that we did a very good job making decisions throughout the game in transition as well as in the halfcourt. So again, I thought our guys battled all the way through. Q. Mike, they beat you twice during the regular season, close margins, how did those defeats serve you tonight? MIKE COOK: It motivated us. All week like Coach said we had great practices. In the back of our minds we knew we would have a chance to play them in the first round of the tournament and we just wanted to come out and prove that we are still the best team in the BIG EAST. A lot of people were down on us but we knew if we could get over this mar game we could build our confidence. Q. (Inaudible -- about shots in the second half. ) JAMIE DIXON: I don't know if it was anything I did, these guys guarded pretty well. We really did a good job containing against penetration over the last two games and now to this game, and even as the game went on. I think that was the main thing, containing his penetration. He's such a good player, he's so explosive, it's not an easy job and he pretty much can create a shot on his own at any time. It takes -- it's a team effort keeping him in front. Q. Talk about your first BIG EAST tournament experience, you transferred from BCU, talk about the excitement and the big victory tonight? MIKE COOK: It was great. I remember just growing up and watching the tournament, watching Brandon play, and it was just a great feeling. I was kind of nervous in the first half, not really being aggressive. Once I got comfortable, I wanted to come here and just show everybody what I can do on the big stage and just be more aggressive in the second half and just put on a good show in front of a big crowd, one of the biggest stages in the world. Q. For Aaron, the two defeats during the regular season you had 16 and 18, but those contributions didn't quite get you guys over the top. In what ways were your 22 points tonight a contribution that was able to get you over the top? AARON GRAY: You know, I don't really know. I just go out there and try to play as hard as I can. You know, I think I had some big baskets tonight, you know, sometimes to stretch the lead out a little farther, sometimes to stop a run that Marquette had. But my teammates did a great job of getting me the ball in position where I could score and I was able to finish. A lot of credit has to go to my teammates. Q. Could you talk about how your foul shooting seemed to click on there right before the half? Did you think that was going to be a big issue? JAMIE DIXON: As far as us shooting the ball, I thought we shot well from the free throw until maybe the end. It's something we've talked about and worked on. It's something that's held us back in a couple of games. You know, that happens to everybody, but you just hope you're hitting your stride at the right time and hopefully we are now. But Aaron is shooting the ball better from the free throw line and I think a lot of our guys are, I think Levon is, as well as Antonio. Those are important points. Q. You fell behind in the two losses; how important was it tonight to stay ahead? JAMIE DIXON: You know, I think actually it wasn't so much that we fell behind, but we had substantial margins we had to come back from and both of them we did come back but it was just too big of a hole. The previous two games, we talked about getting into a new season once we get to the BIG EAST tournament games. We've played 31 games, I don't know how much those shifts in those two games are going to have an impact on this game. It's great to talk about and those games will be compared, but we played 31 games and learned a lot in those 31 games rather than those two games and I think we handled that and showed that to fight. Q. Talk about Louisville? JAMIE DIXON: It's a new season in our mind, that's how we look at it, we go one at a time in the BIG EAST tournament. Everybody talks about winning it but we talk about winning the first game and now we did that tonight and now we can talk about playing Friday and playing that second game and being the best prepared that we can be. We have not given much thought to them as of right now but these guys will be well informed and well prepared for Louisville by 9 o'clock tomorrow night. Q. Aaron, what happened in that first Louisville game, they kind of landed the first punch and got a big lead. AARON GRAY: We just kind of lost our composure. We got down a little bit and then, you know, it seemed like every possession, we were trying to, you know, get the whole lead back. You know, we learned a lot from it. You know, it was one of our only five losses or six losses, and, you know, it's just going to add to our experience. It's going to add to us knowing what we need to do down the stretch. You know, there's going to be times now when, you know, it's possible for you to be down 14, you know, 20, 25 points as you've seen already in the BIG EAST tournament. It's still possible to come back. I think it's going to help us out and also it's going to bring a little fire to our team, you know, them coming in and, you know, be doing some more than the score actually showed. It's going to add to a little bit of motivation for tomorrow night. Q. That combination, was that problematic for you? AARON GRAY: I'm just going to be more worried about staying out of foul trouble. If I can do that and stay on the floor, I think I'll be able to give my team a lift at certain points. You know, as the whole season has gone on, you want to put two or three guys on me, I'm more than confident in the guards I have and the forwards that I have in Levon and Sam. It's going to be kind of pick your poison. If you want to take me away, we have other threats. As our scoring shows, we're a well-balanced team, not just a one-man show. Q. I know you said that you will be prepared for tomorrow night, but do you have any thoughts on the matchup? JAMIE DIXON: Obviously a very good team and I know our guys are looking forward to the opportunity to play tomorrow night. We'll prepare for the zone. We spent a lot of time the last three days preparing for the zone, working on it. We figured we would face it at some point, so I thought we handled it very well tonight. That was big for us. Biggest difference probably was how we attacked the zone today and that will come in handy tomorrow as well, because Louisville does play two, three zone, so I think that will be an important part of it. Q. Aaron may be not so good at patting himself on the back; how significant were his 22 and 10 tonight? MIKE COOK: Very significant. He's an amazing presence down there. He has a great job of finishing, he does a great job of drawing fouls. It wasn't like a pointless 22 and 10. He made some big shots and big free throws and got some key rebounds for us. Same things we're doing all season. We're not really surprised by him. He's put up numbers like this before and it's another great game for him, he's a great player and he had a great game. Q. Mike, you said you were not maybe real comfortable at the start of the game; how much did the matchup with Fitzgerald cause that and how do you think you did on that? MIKE COOK: I'm going to say it was the defense. It was just, you know, a big environment for me on a big stage and I came out kind of nervous a little bit. But you know, Coach kept me in the game, let me get myself into the game and let me get into the flow and it really helped me out a lot and I was able to get a bucket. The second half I wanted to come out and get rebounds, get steals and if the shot was there, just take it. Q. Did you feel that you fed off the energy of the crowd? It seemed almost like a home game. AARON GRAY: Definitely. They were announcing the starting lineups and Marquette had a little cheer and our cheer was definitely louder. We were over on the bench saying, all right, Pittsburgh just won round one. It was definitely huge, we got a lot of fan support. We traveled real well. I know I had a ton of people coming up from home to see my last BIG EAST tournament. It's huge for me, all of the support that I'm getting and all of the support the University of Pittsburgh is getting. Q. You've all been to the championship game of this tournament; is this the toughness that you teach? JAMIE DIXON: We have tough kids. I mean, that's part of it. Maybe it's how we prepare for it and how we think and how we really look at the one game at a time and don't focus on the whole tournament. You know, I don't know, I wish if -- but we've been pretty good, so that's probably had something to do with it over the years. But again, we're completely focused on Marquette or St. John's and now we're going to completely focus on Louisville, and I think that's how we look at it. It's about that next game and maybe that's why we've had such success here. I know it's not easy, I know it's unprecedented what we've done, five out of the last six years. We've just got to get this win tomorrow, we have a very tough opponent and we're looking forward to the challenge. End of FastScripts |
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