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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2009Rashad BishopMick CroninDeonta VaughnNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK DePaul - 67 COACH MICK CRONIN: First of all, I want to congratulate DePaul and their players. They played with tremendous effort in the face of a very, very tough season and it's a credit to Coach Wainwright that he's been able to hold these guys together and continue to compete through some very, very tough times. That being said, we continue to struggle on offense and it's a very, very tough game to play. When you can't score with the basketball you're not going to win very many games. We don't make layups, we don't make free throws and we're not making 3-point shots. The second half, our defense fell apart on us but we put too much pressure on our defense. We had some crucial turnovers and gave DePaul some layups. It's kind of been the same story for us here lately. Critical second half, turnovers or layups and we don't finish around the basket. We don't make shots and when we get fouled we don't make free throws. That part of the game is not real complicated, defense, rebounding and offense. We didn't do a great job of any of the three. Again, I would say to our local guys, we lost the game in the first half. Should have been up at least ten in the first half. Come out, miss two uncontested layups from two guards after we steal the basketball. Eighty percent free throw shooter goes 0-for-3 from the foul line, 0-for-2 in the first half. Missed numerous wide open shots, shots in close. Just gave DePaul a chance to hang in there and a chance to win and when you do that, teams find energy, they play harder, the basket shrinks on our end. JOHN PAQUETTE: Questions, please. Q. Do you think it's just been the lack of shooting ability these last five, six games? You've lost six out of seven. COACH MICK CRONIN: I told our team when we were -- we won 7 of 9 we were shooting the ball well, over 40 percent from the 3-point line. I told our guys it's a dangerous way to live. If you look at Big East games, you look at games, look at the teams in our league, the other night they (Lousiville) scored 62 points in a victory. The game becomes more physical around the basket so you got to be able to finish with strength if you go inside. You know, Yancy (Gates) struggled with that. He's a young guy, we're relying upon a 19-year-old guy. He's 6 for his last 27 in our last two games. We've obviously got to work with him and he's got to get stronger finishing the ball around the rim. Those are crucial baskets that we've got to have when you go inside. So, it's not all shooters is I guess that I'm telling you. We're not finishing inside. We missed two layups to start the game from our guards. That's got nothing do with the perimeter shot. You cannot rely on 3-point shooting. Our problem is finishing in the paint, giving away numerous fast break opportunities, either miss a layup or turn the ball over, don't even get a shot or we get fouled when we should get it. Our passing is not what it needs to be. That hurts us at times. But I don't know if there's an area we're playing well at offensively. I wouldn't point to perimeter shooting. I think it's interior shooting, free throws and passing is not what it needs to be, either. It's just -- it leads to a snowball effect. Q. The way you finished the season after you were 17-8, how much of a bitter taste does this leave? COACH MICK CRONIN: I told the guys two things. Number one, we don't have -- if anybody watched the game, we're pressing, scrambling all over the floor. It's not like guys aren't trying but we have to realize why we were successful and why you're unsuccessful. As teams play harder against us, I think what we found out was when you earn a team's respect, when -- there's was a point we were an NCAA tournament team and the way Louisville came in and played against us, the way teams prepared for us after we earned everybody's respect, I don't think we've handled that really well. We haven't -- I think our league is a much more physical league at the end of the year. Our big guys have really struggled with that and I think -- I know we've struggled with -- to maintain the intensity level that got us the wins we got. We don't have overwhelming talent yet. Obviously, you hope to get there but that is not the case with us. We're in the second phase of a massive rebuilding project and the first year of that phase. We do not have overwhelming talent. We need to win with defense, hustle, scrap out wins and fight as hard as we can. You got to be able to win, grind it out, tough games and here lately we haven't been able to win those type of games. There's too much pressure being put on our defense because of our offensive struggles. We're too young out there. Anything else for me? I'll let these guys -- are you done with me? JOHN PAQUETTE: Rashad Bishop, Deonta Vaughan, Yancy Gates. Q. Yancy, why do you think you struggled so much around the basket lately? Are you getting bumped a lot or what's going on? YANCY GATES: It's a lot more -- Q. Would you speak up on the microphone? YANCY GATES: It's just a lot more physical under the basket. You see more double teams toward the end of the year. It just becomes harder to score as the season goes on. Q. Rashad, the way you guys have finished the season, has it left a bitter taste in your mouth or what does it say about where the program is? RASHAD BISHOP: It's just -- it's a bad feeling having a 17-8 record and finishing 18-14, it's kind of frustrating. I think you can see it in our play a little bit. We're just not as confident as we were when we were 17-8. I think it just got a lot to do with confidence. In the off-season we just need to work hard and get better and come back next year. Q. Do you think you're going to get to play in the post-season somewhere? RASHAD BISHOP: Hopefully. Q. Deonta, you took 21 shots today which I think some people wanted you to shoot more. Do you think you had to shoot today because nobody could score? Did you start looking to shoot more after awhile? DEONTA VAUGHN: I don't think -- I just came out, we got to play defense to win and Rashad kept screaming over and over like I was passing up some shots he thought I should shoot and things like that. So, you know, my teammates started telling me to shoot and I was looking to be aggressive but, at the same time, give my teammates to do other things than shooting the ball. I know I'm capable of shooting the ball at anytime, getting players open. I'm trying to get everybody else in a fluid game, in a crucial moment of the game, me being the veteran here and things like that. I just figured I started passing up some shots and started shooting some shots I normally take or I took last year. Q. Does it make it worse you lost to a team that hasn't one a game in the Big East all year? DEONTA VAUGHN: Yeah. Coach came in, told us this team is going to get a win, they don't want to be the first team in history to ever go a season without winning a Big East game and they wanted it. We didn't do things in the first half and in the second half we had a nice lead. We just didn't defend like we're supposed to. I think we did get a little too relaxed out there on the court. We didn't take control of the game when we were up by 8 and we were up by 10. They came back and made a run. Q. What did it look like when they came back on you in the second half and got close to you? DEONTA VAUGHN: We didn't do the things we were doing earlier on when we was winning to get there. We started playing the harder teams and it got tough. We had a game plan. We just didn't keep our poise. We didn't execute everything. We did start shooting a little bit more 3s but we got uncomfortable where our shots were falling. We were doing everything and everybody got too comfortable with that and relaxed. I feel we didn't do the things we needed to do as far as getting into the NCAA tournament. We knew we were capable of getting in there. JOHN PAQUETTE: Anything else? Cincinnati, thank you. End of FastScripts |
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