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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: WASHINGTON, D.C.March 22, 2008Joe AlexanderDa'Sean ButlerBob HugginsJoe MazzullaAlex RuoffCam ThoroughmanWASHINGTON, D.C. Q. Can you talk about how you guys withstood the first run in the first half where you guys got in foul trouble and they were up 14-4. JOE MAZZULLA: We knew Duke was a great team and we knew they were going to make great runs. We wanted to sustain their runs and answer back. Going into halftime we were only down five, and we knew we could play a lot better than we did. We wanted to play our style of basketball the second half. Q. Can you talk about the contribution that Cam gave to you guys there in the second half getting some rebounds and points? ALEX RUOFF: I think it speaks for itself. You can tell he's a blue collar player. He doesn't mind getting in there and mixing it up. He had huge rebounds for us tonight which helped us. I think it speaks for itself. Q. Alex's big 3 early in the second and then you came back with four. Talk about Alex's shot and what it did for you offensively. JOE ALEXANDER: Well, that shot in particular was part of a run that helped give us a lot of momentum and a lot of confidence. But Alex's shooting all night was pretty much on point. He was really giving Duke a tough time. It made it easier for the rest of us to get in the lanes and get layups. Q. Did you have any idea that you'd be coming in and contributing to such a big victory? CAM THOROUGHMAN: No, not really. I really wanted to get the chance to go in. I'm just always ready. Q. I know you were making a concerted effort to rebound the ball. Can you address how you hit the boards today. Da'SEAN BUTLER: We noticed that Duke was, I can't say bad rebounding, but they gave a lot of offensive rebounds. And we kind of took advantage of it and Coach kind of talked to us about it yesterday and he said it's easy to offensive rebound against them. If we get there we should get the ball and score. All we have to do is take care of the ball and get the rebounds and score. Joe and Cam had really good minutes and Alexander was there all night. We just did it very well as a team, that's all I can say. JOE ALEXANDER: If you want to understand how we are out-rebounding people, just look at Joe Mazzulla and Cam Thoroughman, as examples, both undersized, both getting a lot of rebounds. The way we rebound is by outworking people. Q. I don't know if you had a chance to follow the tournament, just curious of playing in the conference, did that help the team get ready for this time of year? JOE ALEXANDER: Playing in the Big East tournament makes every tournament seem like nothing to you, really. Playing in the Big East every day gets you tougher and you play the best competition in the country. There's really nothing that you're afraid of and nothing that you're not ready to face. And everybody saw that tonight as we played an ACC school, and not only held our own but went well beyond that. Q. For any of you guys, did getting in foul trouble early affect the way you guys played the game throughout both halves? ALEX RUOFF: I don't think our offense takes a step back. I know Darris got two quick fouls. When Joe comes in, even though he's a sophomore, he plays like an upperclassman. And towards the end of the first half most of us had two fouls and we were trying to play smart. Q. Can you talk about the difference in your attack when you guys went to the three guards in the second half. JOE MAZZULLA: We're a very dynamic team. I know they were keying on Alex, because he was a great shooter, so the lanes were open for penetration as well as kickouts. So when you have three guys in the game it gives us a different attack. Q. Were you making any extra effort to be more aggressive, you took more shots in the first -- was it something you worked on? JOE ALEXANDER: It was just kind of the mindset I was in. In a big game you always want to step up and be aggressive, and that's what I wanted to do. I didn't think I was taking bad shots, but it was a huge game and I wanted to win, I wanted to step up and be more aggressive than usual. Q. The way Duke plays stylistically, did you feel in some ways you were playing your old selves, a perimeter- oriented team, likes to shoot the three, more of an outside in team? ALEX RUOFF: We matched up well. We started off the game with Wellington, and had good match-ups. We wanted to get to -- I think our attack, if it differs in any way, we like to go inside first with Joe's presence inside. Q. Playing in the Big East you guys have obviously played a lot of quality opponents. Where does this Duke team rank in the quality of opponents you played this year? JOE ALEXANDER: Duke's a great team, but I think they fit in well in the Big East, but they definitely wouldn't dominate the Big East. We had a lot of great teams, I think the top six or seven teams are definitely right on par with Duke in the Big East. And the rest of them are right up there, too. Q. The shot that you hit, the three-pointer as the shot clock was expiring, what did that do for you, for your confidence and for your teammates' confidence? ALEX RUOFF: It was just an answer to a prayer. I knew the clock was going down. Joe lost his dribble. That's all it was was just an answer to a prayer. It just happened to be my first three, but I'm very thankful it went in. Q. Could you address the success of the Big East in the tournament. Also there was a moment where you hugged Mike, what did you say to each other? COACH HUGGINS: I don't remember what we said. The Big East is a great league. When you've got schools with the tradition that schools have and schools with the players that there are in the Big East, it's a great, great league. I think it probably does help you prepare for NCAA Tournament, and NCAA Tournament runs. Q. Coach, did you have any sense before the game that Joe Mazzulla was going to have the impact he did, and was capable of having the kind of impact he did? COACH HUGGINS: I knew they were -- I think Duke does as good a job of putting pressure on the ball as anybody does. They try to take you out of what you want to run. Joe's our best guy at just straight lining, driving the ball to the goal. So I didn't know he would play as well as he played, but I thought that he had a chance to relieve some of the pressure and drive it at the basket just because of his style of play. Q. You've had a lot of big wins, but coming back to your alma mater, taking them to the Sweet 16 and beating Duke, I wonder where this ranks among your victories? COACH HUGGINS: I don't know. I'm really happy for our guys. Two weeks ago Cam Thoroughman really thought about having surgery. And I said to him, If you can go, man, we need you. And that's the kind of guys that they have. I'm happy for them. I'm happy for Darris and happy for Jamie. Jamie texted me last night and said, Coach, he said, it's a better match-up if I don't start. How many teams have guys like that? Here's a senior guy who said basically, Coach, I just know it's a bad match-up for me. And he started every game of the year. So I'm happy for them. I'm really, really happy for them. Certainly I'm happy for the University and you know more than most people how much this means to our state. Q. What was the difference in the first half and the second half in keeping Duke out of the lane and cutting the penetration down a little bit? COACH HUGGINS: We changed some things defensively. We didn't do a very good job keeping them out of the lane either half. That's what they do to everybody. That's why they're so good. But we made some subtle changes, but really, not that much. I think it was just a matter of we maybe did a little bit better job of trying to guard the ball than what we did the first half. Q. You held them to five and 22 from the three-point range. Talk about containing them. COACH HUGGINS: Larry Harrison and our scout -- and four of their five losses they held under eight 3's, and we thought that was key. One loss they had 15. We thought it was the key how many 3's they get off. The thing they do so great, and Mike has done such a great job over the years and they do make 3's, and they get to the foul line more than their opposition does. When you make the 3's and you get people spread, then their drivers can drive the ball at the basket. You have to pick your boys, and we really wanted to do a better job not letting them score from behind the three. Q. Coach, watching the Belmont game the other night did you get the sense that if you wanted a back-door player at some point in the game it might be there for you because of what Belmont was able to do against them? COACH HUGGINS: It's what they are able to do. It's not backcutting them, it's handling the ball pressure. They have great ball pressure. They have better ball pressure, probably than anybody in the country. We just tried to stress having ball toughness. But honestly, I think it helps because that's what we do in practice every day. So we kind of face it probably a little bit more than what some other people do. Darris Nichols is used to having Joe Mazzulla up in his grill in practice. That's why they're so good. That's why Mike's probably the best modern-day coach that we have is they do a great job. Q. Really a great story, you talked about it a little bit. Can you expand on the Cam Thoroughman thing? He'd only played 14 ballgames for you, he had foul trouble, talk about your decision to utilize him and the major minutes he gave you. COACH HUGGINS: I was out of options. It's not very smart, I was just out of options. Cam's knee has popped out two or three times. He's going to have to have surgery to get it fixed. But we felt like there may be a time when we could use him because he is physical and he's aggressive and he does, for being such a short guy that can't jump, he does rebound the ball pretty well. We had Da'Sean and Wellington on the bench with four fouls. We were already small, we were already playing three guards. We thought Cam -- Cam's smart. He really, really understands how to play. I think that's his greatest asset, is he really has good basketball knowledge. You can tell him things, you can make adjustments with him because he really does understand how to play. End of FastScripts |
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