|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2008Mike BreyLuke HarangodyKyle McAlarneyNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK COACH BREY: They got on a roll making some jumpshots in the second half. And I think with them you try to give up something, and you know their speed, they're getting into the lane. Could you try to take that away, play a little zone. But when they made jumpshots like that, a bunch in a row, it kind of broke our back a little bit. McNeal was fabulous. He's been fabulous these two nights in New York. So it's disappointing for us. I thought offensively we played well enough to win the game, but we could never get them under control on the defensive end of the floor. Lot of speed coming at you. Q. Luke, how disappointing was it to pick up those two quick fouls in the first half? Do you feel that limited you the rest of the night? LUKE HARANGODY: Yeah, kind of got me out of my rhythm. I have to watch myself better than that. Kind of keep myself in the game. In a situation like that where I did have to sit out the rest of the first half and not be on the floor with my teammates. Q. Coach, what are the key points you're picking up for next week? COACH BREY: Well, you know what I told them, we're excited we get to play next week, to be one of 65 teams. This team hasn't lost two in a row all season. That's how good a year they've had. So I reminded them of that. There are some things we can work on before we go into the NCAA Tournament. I'll be honest with you, I really like the fact that we're not playing any Big East games next week. I've had enough. It's been great. I love the league. We need some fresh faces, and I'll bet you the other coaches in this tournament are going to say the same thing on Sunday. We need to get some rest. But Sunday night will be an exciting night, and it's great that we get to play. They've earned that. Q. Kyle, how much was the second half there just about their toughness getting into you? KYLE McALARNEY: Well, you know, they're a great team. Hats off to them. In the second half they went on a few runs and we didn't answer. We, offensively, we missed a few shots and I think that got to us and hurt us on the defensive end. Loose balls, defensive rebounds, they really got after us. For a stretch there, they were a little tougher than us. Q. Mike, I think they shot 63% in the second half, I believe they had 57 points. How much of that is them, and how much of a concern is that for you defensively? COACH BREY: Probably a little bit of both, but I think you've got to give them a lot of credit. This is a team that certainly was picked, I think, in the Top 10 in the preseason. They're very talented. With them you've got to try to give up something. We're not quick enough to take away both, the perimeter and the inside. We kind of packed it in a little bit in some different zones and they made jumpshots. That's probably as good as it gets. You've got to hope a couple of those come off and they got confident in it. They got to some loose balls with their speed; that really hurt us. The game we won in South Bend, we were amazingly efficient offensively. That kind of held them off. Tonight we weren't bad, but it wasn't good enough. Q. Was there a point where it just got frustrating out there when they're making shot after shot and you guys cut it to four, then back to ten, cut it to three, and it's back to eight. KYLE McALARNEY: Yeah, it is frustrating. You know, at that point it kind of feels like they're throwing in everything. It's almost like, what are we going to do? Our scouting report is we need to give up that jumpshot and take away the paint, protect our paint and they start throwing those in. Like I said it before, hats off to them. Give them a lot of credit. They're a great team. Eventually they were going to hit those shots. Q. How have you seen Jerel McNeal grown offensively over the year? COACH BREY: He's really the key for them. I'm so impressed with him. We talked about really being aware of him. Trying to have Tory (Jackson) on him to play man-to-man to take him away. It's easier said than done because he gets so much in transition when you're broken a little bit. Different guys are matched up. He gets to the backboard. No one in the league's playing better than him here. He's a very confident guy. And we have felt he's the key to the team. We did a little bit better job on him in South Bend, that's why we got one win. But the other two times we couldn't really control him and we lost the games. Q. You get to play next week, obviously the NCAA Tournament is on the horizon, so what is the level of disappointment with coming in here, with expectations to play on the weekend? LUKE HARANGODY: You know, well, we definitely had expectations to come in here, as you said, and have a successful tournament. I think now we just have to look forward, like Coach said to Sunday. And we get to play next week. A lot of teams don't get to do that. I think we kind of have to put this in the past. But still we'll look at some things we did wrong tonight and just see what we've got next on Sunday. Q. Coach, this is the 111th game between these two teams in history. How big is this rivalry especially now that both teams are premier teams in this conference? COACH BREY: And the first time ever in the Big East Tournament, so it kind of takes the rivalry to a new level. I got educated to the Marquetate rivalry real quick. When I got the job eight years ago they asked me, when are we putting Marquette back on the schedule? Of course they weren't in the Big East then, and we put them back on the schedule. Now that it's a league game, it just ratchets up the intensity. I can't believe the atmosphere was any better than when we were in Milwaukee that afternoon. They were ready for us. Also it was the day the Packers were playing, so we got a lot of bad karma that day. And our fans were very ready for them to come to South Bend. So it's a healthy rivalry. It's a good rivalry, I think it's two very good programs in this league. Q. Luke, you said before that you didn't feel like you found a rhythm. Was there any point that you felt like one stretch where you could score eight in a row? Was that the only time you felt comfortable tonight? LUKE HARANGODY: After this game I felt like I really couldn't get into the rhythm tonight. It had a lot to do with them scouting and playing a great defense against me and knowing what I do best. You know, got to give them -- hats off to them for that. But tonight just wasn't one of my nights and I just couldn't get in a great rhythm. And I've just got to move on. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|