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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2010Tyler GriffeyDemetri McCameyD.J. RichardsonBruce WeberINDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA Ohio State – 88 THE MODERATOR: We'll ask Coach Weber to make an opening statement. Coach? COACH WEBER: I couldn't be more proud of our kids. I told them after, I wasn't very proud to be their coach at the start of the week. I didn't like how they played, I didn't like how they competed, and I didn't like how I coached, to be honest. And in a week I think they grew up, they matured, they competed, and I thought it was a tremendous last night, maybe even a better effort today. They just have so many weapons, and I think we just kind of -- we had defended pretty well, and then just as we got into the stretch run, we just couldn't stop them. We scored, we had opportunities. We needed the ball to bounce our way, a shot to go in, maybe a call to go our way. I thought Mike Davis, when he got a rebound, I thought he got fouled. They ended up getting it. I thought that was a crucial play, and we didn't get a foul. But it was a great effort by our kids. I don't know what's going to happen. Obviously I think we had a good showing here, but that doesn't mean anything. Hopefully it'll work out because I think we're one of the top 65 teams in the country, and if we get in the tournament I think we can do some damage. Q. Demetri, can you talk about the play at the end of regulation and the play at the end of the first overtime, the two plays when you guys had a chance to win? DEMETRI MCCAMEY: The first time, the regulation, we was going on a side ball screen, and I felt like I got bumped a little bit. But at the same time, I didn't make a play then. Then in overtime, the first one, I got the ball just like the Indiana play we drew up, and drove it, and I was going to have to take a tough shot, but I seen there was a little bit of time on the clock and tried to throw it to Mike Davis real quick, but I should have shot it and at least tried to get a shot attempt up. Q. Demetri, talk about the comeback. You guys went down nine after the big run. You guys battled and fought back. Who motivated you at that point? Did you take change? What happened there? DEMETRI MCCAMEY: Everybody, the coaching staff, the players, and we just felt like the whole game, don't let up now. They make their runs and it's time to make ours. Just the whole staff and all the players, we just got together and just said let's man up and we made a run ourselves. The ball just didn't bounce our way towards the end. Q. Both D.J. and Tyler, there were two threes late in the second half where it appeared both you guys got fouled. What are you guys' thoughts on that? D.J. RICHARDSON: It was a pretty aggressive game throughout the whole game, so we couldn't really complain about fouls at that time because there was times we fouled them, as well. We weren't going to complain, just had to get up and keep fighting. TYLER GRIFFEY: Yeah, the balls weren't bouncing our way. Like coach said, we needed a couple to go down that didn't. It wasn't really anything, just got to play hard, can't worry about the fouls, can't worry about the refs, just got to keep playing hard. Q. Tyler, obviously a new situation for you with Tisdale fouling out and you having to be in at crunch time. A lot of extended minutes for you. Talk about your experience and being in that situation really for the first time in college. TYLER GRIFFEY: Yeah, I was fortunate enough to hit a couple shots, a couple shots went down. I still need to work on my defense, situational plays like that. It was just tough one to swallow, especially for me. I felt like I could have done a couple things better, a couple more things to help the team out. But then again, we got -- tonight look for Selection Sunday -- or tomorrow, I mean. We've just got to look forward, can't hold back too much, and just see what's ahead. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Weber? Q. You had several players in double figures. I'm sure you're pretty happy with that as far as good balance there. Take us through the elephant in the room here. What was the thought process at the end of the regulation, especially at the end of the first overtime, 12 seconds to go, you don't need a three. Seems like they were trying to spread people over to maybe pit the wing. Just take me through that. COACH WEBER: I don't know which one was which to be honest. You know, the one we ran, it's a ball screen and a pop for our big guy. We had success the whole day with that. You know, they had to make a decision, are they going to switch on Demetri or are they going to let him get into the lane or get into the basket, and if they help or over help our big guys shoot the ball. We were able to do it against Wisconsin and do it today and had good success. They did start rotating, and this one of them that's how Mike Davis got open, because they started cheating up on the guy that ball screened and popped. I didn't want to call time-out because sometimes they're so hard to get it in on. They put Lauderdale on the ball, and I thought Tyler had an opportunity. One of them we just called it five wide where Demetri drives it. If they don't help, he goes to the basket. If they help, we send it back to Tyler, and Tyler caught it with about three, four seconds left, and I know it was a long shot, but those are the kind of payoffs you've got to make. Again, I don't know all the different ones. The one D.J. had in the corner, we were up two, Demetri got in the lane, pitched it to Billy, Billy swung it to D.J. D.J. is one of the better three-point shooters, he had a wide open look that looked good. It didn't go in. I thought we guarded pretty well for most of the game until down the stretch, and they just drove it down our throats, and we just -- hindsight maybe we could do some different things. But a lot of foul trouble, got a lot of freshmen in there, sometimes three at one time, and a new experience for all those guys. Q. When Evan picked up his fourth foul, they started rotating him a lot on defense and were able to kind of keep him out of the way. Did you guys try to do anything to attack him, because it seemed like he was playing with four fouls for a really long time? COACH WEBER: Well, he's a smart player, and he has good length and he's got good athleticism. I think any time we did attack him or get a switch, he was smart enough to keep space and not make the call or have the call go against him to get his fifth, and we finally got it, I think, what, second overtime, finally gets the fifth foul. But you know, you learn as a veteran like him what you can get away with and what you can't. Down the stretch you make sure that you don't foul out because they need him in the game. Obviously he made a huge difference for them. Q. There's always a lot of talk about the eye test with the selection committee. What do you think today's game showed to the selection committee before tomorrow? COACH WEBER: Well, it's one of the best teams in the country. They're a possible No. 1 seed. Really out-played them for a lot of the game. They did make the run, got up nine, and to our kids' credit, really we weren't up this much at their place 10 days ago, but we were up some at the half, and they made the run. And I said, guys, now this is it. I didn't like the body language, I didn't like how they looked at me, and I just said, you know, is there any sense in laying down and letting them run over us and talking trash to us? Let's step up and make a game of it, and we did, had chances to really win it. But sometimes the game of basketball is funny, and sometimes it's not meant to be. Q. You chose not to play Tyler in the second half after he had a fairly strong first half. COACH WEBER: I think he played. He shot shots down the stretch. Maybe -- Q. I mean before the overtimes. COACH WEBER: I thought he got in somewhere in there, but Tisdale is a veteran, didn't have a lot of minutes. I think he was rotated in and out. Maybe not as many minutes as -- I don't know, I'd have to look back. He did get 28 minutes, so he -- you go with your veterans, the guys that got you there. Tis played real well yesterday, got in some foul trouble. Mike Davis gets 18 rebounds for us. So as I said, we had three freshmen on the court at some times, too, so quite an experience for those guys. Q. You alluded to the trash talking, and I know that we talked to Evan Turner and Coach Matta about it. Was it just the nature of being the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament or were there a few things that were a little over the top? COACH WEBER: I don't want to make any comment. Q. When you got up 10 or 11, in looking back, do you think maybe you lost maybe a little bit of your aggressiveness after you got that lead? COACH WEBER: When it was nine, I remember back we beat the press and had a couple open shots and turned them down, and I thought we got real soft and tentative. Tisdale had the little handoff, they stole it. We had some other plays where we just didn't play strong and aggressive. It's that fine line. You don't want to come down and jack up a shot and then you guys are going, you don't have any control. But you've still got to be aggressive, put pressure on the defense. They're going to pick it up. You know, they're older guys; they know what's going on. They've been through a lot of wars, and they made some plays, some steals. That's what got them back in the game. But to our kids' credit, we did not quit or die when we got down nine, either. THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you. End of FastScripts |
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