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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: GREENSBOROMarch 19, 2009Trent JohnsonTasmin MitchellBo SpencerMarcus ThorntonGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA LSU Tigers – 75 COACH JOHNSON: We played well in spurts. We have a lot of respect for the Butler basketball team. We knew they were a possession by possession team. We hit a wall there where shots didn't go down for us. For the most part, I thought we did what we did all day long. We found a way to win the game and found a way to make some plays down the stretch. Q. Just wondered if you could talk about that spill you had kind of late in the game. The collision under the basket, and how were you in the immediate aftermath of that and just coming back from it? MARCUS THORNTON: Yeah, I had got an offensive rebound on the way back up. When I fell, a couple people fell on my leg. I knew it was a big game to be in this is Marcus Thornton. I had to suck it up to be back out there, and that's what I did. Q. Could you talk about how your defense was the difference in this game down the stretch. Chris got the block the other way, and you get easy baskets. It was back and forth offensively. But defensively you kind of took the game over? TASMIN MITCHELL: Coach always emphasized defense. He said defense wins championships, offense wins games. And you know, this is a championship season. And this whole tournament, you know, the defense is going to come out key in every game. So that was a big play. Chris made it in, and the defense did come into play. Q. When they took the 1-point lead in the second half, did you sort of make a decision about your game to be more aggressive to start looking if are your shot a little more after that point? MARCUS THORNTON: Not that, I just took what they gave me. We have a play call, you know, we've been running the whole year and nobody can stop it. So I just took whatever they gave me. If they were on me, Tas was over me, and my teammates were over me. I just tried to get them in spots where I knew they could score, and the ball went down for us today. Q. Can you talk about how everyone played their role today? Marcus scored because he needed to. Tasmin was the second scorer. But you Chipped in with offense as did Chris Johnson who provided the defense. Talk about the team where everyone played their role effectively today? BO SPENCER: Yeah, we all, the whole year we've been discussing that everyone has to know their roles. Marcus, we know he's one of our main scorers, and so is Tasmin. So we tried to get them the ball as often to go to work and score the ball. I chip in my little points every now and then. And Chris stepped up big, and Garret also stepped up. And everyone is learning their roles. We know who our main scorers are, we try to give them the ball. Other three we try to chip in as much as we can. Everyone played their role, and we came out with the big win. Q. Just looking at the steals and the blocks, 11 steels, 8 blocks, 19 combined compared to 4 for Butler. Could you just address the way you were aggressive the entire 40 minutes on defense. Obviously, that's something Trent preaches. But the way you fulfilled that game plan, if you all could just address that? MARCUS THORNTON: Coach came in, his first day at LSU he talked to us, and he told us the defense will be our M.O. the whole year. And if you don't play defense you don't get in the game. It's as simple as that. So we all came together as a team and tried to play team defense. Team defense, that's how you win games. Not individually, we need the team to win the game. And we locked up at the end of the stretch. Chris came up big for us. Tas came up big, and that's what a team does, stick together and came out with the victory. Q. Did you get up any extra shots the last couple of days? Or did you do anything to address your shooting or did it just feel better? MARCUS THORNTON: Yeah, we came here for the 40 minutes and we shot around to try to get a feel for the arena. And then after we went to the off-site near the arena. Got a couple of free throw shots up. As a team, we knew we had to get a couple of shots up. Because the ball hasn't been going down the last couple of games. So everybody just took their time and knocked down the big shots. Q. In the first half the way the game was going, did it look like y'all were going to get a large lead there in the first half? It looked like you thought maybe y'all could run away with it? TASMIN MITCHELL: Well, you know, we never got overwhelmed with the lead we had in the first half, because the game's never over. Like I said, we started off real good. We made like five or six bad decisions down on the defensive end, and that kind of brought them back in the game within six. So, you know, we were going into the game hoping we could get the big lead on them, but this is the NCAA Tournament. Q. Closing out games is so crucial at this point in the season. From your perspective, how were you all able to close this one out? TASMIN MITCHELL: Like I said, defense. We made some key stops at the end. You know, Chris Johnson. He made a huge block down at the end of the game. And that's what really topped the cake for us. Won the game today. Q. Just address this a little bit. But maybe Marcus and Bo, can you talk a little about how Chris Johnson played after coming back from three fouls and playing solid down the stretch defensively? TASMIN MITCHELL: We told Chris to come out aggressive. Don't worry about the fouls. We need him. That's what coach always says. Don't worry about the fouls, just be careful, but always play with your intensity. And that's what he did. He came back out with three fouls, played like he didn't have none. So that was a big thing for us. Q. What did you guys see on tape before this game about your ability to get down low and get easy baskets? I know you had a smaller guy on you, Marcus and Tasmin, they kept feeding you the ball in the first and second half. And you had some easy buckets as well? MARCUS THORNTON: I'll speak on Tas's behalf. He's been a work horse the whole year. Shorter guys, taller guys. He's taken it. He's our strongest player on the team. Anyway he can get it down there, something good is going to happen. He's a veteran to so we have confidence in there, too. Just going into every game and doing what we've been doing the whole year which is running our plays and executing. It went down for us tonight and we won the game. THE MODERATOR: We'll continue with questions for Coach Trent Johnson. Q. I know you're happy with the obvious result. But talk about your defense in the final few minutes and how that was the difference in this basketball game? COACH JOHNSON: Well, I thought it was pretty good. Nate made a run at us, and I think they went up 1. And for whatever reason our intensity, our effort didn't look good. It looked like there was a little doubt. So we had a timeout. You know, I didn't challenge them. I just said hey, look, they're not going anywhere. We knew this was a good basketball team coming in, so we're going to have to really ratchet up a notch with our intensity and play extremely hard. I thought Bo was really good at the point of attack. Bo did a really good job of helping down in the post early and often when the ball was thrown. And of course, Chris, he's been much aligned all year long. How can you not be so happy for a kid like that who on this stage is at the free-throw line making crucial free throws, but more importantly comes up with a couple of key defensive stops on a pretty good basketball player. So any time you manage to win, it comes from the defensive side of the ball, it's an encouraging thing and a thing that's really good. Q. You just sort of addressed this question a little bit, but like I asked the players down the stretch. Chris played, came back with three fouls. Against Howard, he's obviously very crafty. And he manages not to ever get that fourth foul. Can you talk about maybe the poise and intelligence he played with? COACH JOHNSON: I thought poise was huge from his standpoint and our whole team's standpoint. But, again, late in the year, he was sick, and he was struggling with his confidence and his teammates and the coaching staff never lost confidence in him. You know, he's a very, very good kid. At times, like most players, he loses focus on the offensive side of the ball and maybe defense sometimes. But, again, he stayed within himself. He really concentrated on this stage against a very, very good basketball player who they go to all the time once they cross half court. Q. I know there's no such thing as style points necessarily at this point. But the way that you guys won the game with the steals, with the blocks, withstanding a comeback and hitting crucial free throws. Does that kind of make this a little more sweet for you guys? Give you a nice platform the rest of the way? COACH JOHNSON: Well, it's what we've been doing all year long when we win games. I mean, we managed it because we helped each other out defensively. Marcus understands the angles. At Tennessee they gamble a couple of times. But I don't know about style points. This team has been grinding all year long. Somebody asked one of the student-athletes about did we think we were going to blow them out? We haven't blown anybody out all year long. We just managed to try to find a way to do the right things to put yourself in a situation to compete and win games. Offensively, we have a couple of guys that can make some plays. And when those guys don't make plays we have some other guys that are not afraid to step up and shoot the ball. As Marcus said earlier, our M.O. is if we defend, if we rebound, then we take care of the ball with a sense of urgency, we can compete with a lot of people. So if that means we've got style points, so be it. Q. Marcus Thornton is heralded for his three-point shooting ability. But how crucial was the work he did on the lane and on the glass tonight as well? COACH JOHNSON: Well, again, he can play. I mean, I think Brad said it best, Coach Steven said it best. I read it somewhere he said in his opinion Marcus is a pro because in his opinion he's a unique player he can run off the baseline stagger pivot off his left foot and catch and shoot it. Go off, I see right foot go right or left. He rebounds the ball. We know we've seen him a lot and he's stepped up his ability to defend. So he gives you a multitude of options. He's, you know, he's special player, but he's a better person than a player. I mean, he really, when you hear him talk about his teammates and buying into coaches. He's brutally honest sometimes. Sometimes. Q. Did Butler do anything that you were not expecting either on offense or defense? Because it looked like you guys were, you know, pretty well prepared for everything they threw at you? COACH JOHNSON: No, they didn't. They were really well prepared for what we threw at them. I mean, that's a hell of a basketball team. You know, I have the utmost respect for that whole operation. Barry Collyer, the athletic director, and Brent who is a hell of a coach. So they weren't going to change anything in what they've done all year long. Why would they? You know, it just happened that, you know, the ball went down for us. We had a guy make some plays at a crucial time, and maybe they didn't. But, no, I don't think they did anything special. Q. When they came out of the locker room they made a concerted effort to get the ball down low to Howard. It was a successful thing for them early on? COACH JOHNSON: You think? Q. Well, yeah. But what kind of adjustment did you decide to make from that point? COACH JOHNSON: They were doing it all game long. Everybody that's played against us and every solid, sound basketball team is going to attack inside out whether it be off the dribble on the perimeter or through the post play. But they happen to have a multitude of weapons when they've got a post player to play, and Shelvin Mack is going off to bounce him. It's all about good team defense. When we decide to make a decision to leave our post guys on our own. We couldn't afford to cover off their perimeter players. My goodness, Hayward, if he's not special, I don't know what he is. He's as good a freshman as I've seen all year long. So every time he got into a situation, we rotated him in, and we're going to cover down Howard, and make a good decision, he kicked it back out and made the three. So we left our post guys on their own. And for the most part Quintin Thornton, excuse me, I thought they did a good job. Q. Could you talk about the potential challenge in the second round game, particularly playing in the opponent's backyard, and what do you all have to do better on Saturday? COACH JOHNSON: Who, Radford? Geez. Wherever we play we're going to try to concentrate -- well, not try. We're going to do the things we've been doing all year long. If it's Radford, obviously, they'll have to have a monumental win versus an exceptional program. But if it's North Carolina, I think we have an advantage because our basketball coach is light years brighter than Roy Williams, so I think (laughing). No, we're just going to come out and be ready to play. We're thankful to be playing. We're thankful to be playing, my goodness (laughing). Q. You talk a lot about how much tape you like to watch. But in a situation like this, you stick around and watch what happens here or you got to get back to the hotel and maybe rest up? COACH JOHNSON: I think everybody in the country is prepared, if it's Carolina because they may have one game that hasn't been on TV. So I think coach will be all right. I think I'll get my hour in if that's okay. Q. How nice was it to see the ball falling for Marcus? And how much of a relief is that for you? COACH JOHNSON: Well, again, when you've got Tasmin 7 out of 14, Chris was 4 out of 8, Marcus was 10 out of 15, and Terry Martin was 1 out of 4. It was really comfortable. Thought both did a good job of managing the team. He seems to be the lost guy in all of this. But Bo got us off to a great start. He hit two big threes and made the good decisions and he had five assists and two turnovers in 39 minutes and three steals. So I thought we executed well, thought the ball went down for us. We're 27 out of 55. So that's roughly 49%. So I thought it was good. It beats the alternative. End of FastScripts |
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