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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2008Bobby GonzalezBrian LaingJamar NutterNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK COACH GONZALEZ: You know, it's tough. We don't believe in moral victories. Obviously, we came here to win a game. But at the same time you have to be realistic. We played a hell of a team. Marquette is just a terrific team. I'm proud of our kids. We gave everything we had. We played them even all the way to maybe the 6:00 minute mark. If Eugene Harvey's lay-up goes in, we take the lead. I thought that was a huge momentum and it just rolled out. Our game plan was terrific. We went in transition, played the zone. We got beat on the backboard by 19. Three of our big guys fouled out. We just couldn't get to the ball quick enough. We did not shoot the ball well. We were 4 for 20 from three. And they held our second-leading scorer in the Big East Conference, he was at 19. He was 15 below his average, and lot of credit has to go to Marquette. We just couldn't get over the hump. We played them even and even outplayed them within parts of the game. When it got down to five minutes you could see the difference in the depth. They had Maurice Acker come off the bench and stick a huge trey. We just didn't have enough bodies. In some ways it was good the game ended because I wanted to give Brian a standing ovation with a minute to go, and we had nobody else to put in. I'm proud of our kids. I thought we did two things tonight: We bounced back from the way we ended the season, and hopefully we showed the NIT Committee we're a quality team and we maybe deserve a good look. Q. How tough was it for you to get any kind of good looks out there? BRIAN LAING: They played very aggressive on defense and did a lot of switching and just made it hard for me to get any open looks. Q. After the last game, you sounded very discouraged about your chance of getting into the NIT. Do you feel like this performance will get you in there? COACH GONZALEZ: Here's what I think: I think our league is so special, and 7 or 8 teams can get into the NCAA Tournament. Let's say they take 8 teams and Syracuse goes to the NIT, the only team left with a winning record over .500 in the Big East Conference left is us at 17-15, and we beat Providence and Cincinnati who are behind us. We beat Virginia, we beat Louisville. You know, we battled Marquette. We got here to the Garden. We were picked 13th. We weren't supposed to be here. We represent the metropolitan area, which I think is important. And Eugene Harvey put on a pretty special performance. I know everybody's been sort of down on him, kind of killing the kid. And he came back and was a big-time point guard tonight. So I thought we rose from the ashes. I thought that made a statement about this team. I'm no expert, but we did go to two NCAA's and two NIT's in Manhattan. I believe if we can get to the NIT our second year, it would be a huge compliment. I think these two seniors deserve to play again. So whoever is out there making the decision, I hope they give us a chance. Q. It looked like at the end the line kind of exchanged words, maybe something was exchanged. Was anything going there? JAMAR NUTTER: No, I mean, I guess like the other two games that Marquette -- that wasn't a foul to hurt him (Dominic James). And the game at home, I might have took a shot at them. But I didn't mean it in that way; I was just trying to get myself open. But, no, at the end of the game, he didn't want to shake my hand. So I just kept walking, and I just said it's fine with me. Q. Coach, despite the fact that your big guys fouled out, they've shown many times throughout the season some signs that in a couple of years they're going to be really good. COACH GONZALEZ: They showed great promise tonight. They used 15 fouls they were physical. I thought Augustin Okosun had his best game of the year. I thought Mike Davis got shot out of a cannon. John Garcia was struggling, he gave us what he had. We threw Brandon Walters in there. The freshman hadn't played for four or five games. I thought everybody gave from the bottom of their heart. The Garden rose a couple of times. They were fighting for the underdog, and we were right there. We were down one. We just needed something big to happen. We went 4 for 20 from three. For us to beat a great team like Marquette, we needed some threes. We just needed some magic. But our big people really stepped up tonight and showed us some stuff. So I was proud of them. Q. You mentioned that if you make the NIT, it would be a nice step for your program. Talk about where your program is two years in. COACH GONZALEZ: Last year we got picked 15th and we ended up 13th. This year we got pick 13th and ended up 11th. So we feel you've got to crawl before you can walk. It's progress. 14 wins last year, 17 this year. Last year we didn't win a road game, this year we won three of them. We got to 17 wins, it's not easy. We're one of ten teams to have 17 wins or more. We put Brian Laing in the First Team All League for the second year in a row. So I feel like we're heading in the right direction. We had three sellouts at the end of the year. We need a few more players, to be honest, to compete with the upper echelon of the league. A couple guys out there are potential pros. We need a few more, one or two great players and we're not far away. Q. Have you spoken to the commissioner? Is there anything going on between you and he? Do you expect anything? COACH GONZALEZ: About what? Q. About his comments on Tuesday night, last night? COACH GONZALEZ: I don't know anything about it. Q. So you haven't spoken to him about the end of the game on Sunday? COACH GONZALEZ: No. We played Marquette tonight. Regular season is over. We came here to be in the Big East Tournament, so I'm not sure what you're referring to. Q. You're not aware that he at the news conference to announce the awards admonished you on Friday? COACH GONZALEZ: No, no, not aware of it. I have no comment. I'm proud of our kids and how we played against Marquette tonight. I'm not concerned about anything else. I thought we carried ourselves with class this year and battled hard. Had a good year. End of FastScripts |
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