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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS: SAN JOSE

March 18, 2010

Brad Stevens

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA

Butler Â– 77
UTEP - 59

ROGER ROSS: We have Coach Stevens here. We have Shelvin Mack, Gordon Hayward and Matt Howard, and we'll open it up for coach and go to Q and A with the players.
COACH STEVENS: Let me be the master of the obvious and say when you hit 12 three's in a half you've got to feel good about where you're headed. So that was a big deal. I felt like we were getting good looks when we moved the ball in the first half, and it was few and far between with regard to that.
We felt like we could get some stuff if we moved 'em and we were fortunate that we did. That's a heck of a basketball team. They missed some shots and they're obviously really, really good. The neat thing for me right now is I think they're as good as teams that we played in the preseason which means we got better.

Q. Shelvin, was it about as simple as Coach explained there? You just needed to keep movin' the ball and you guys were going to get open looks from the three point arc?
SHELVIN MACK: I think we did a good job of moving the ball, and we had to get to our spots and make the shots when we get the chance.

Q. Butler has been behind frequently, what was the mood in the locker room when you guys were down by 6?
SHELVIN MACK: The same as we were up by 20, down by 20 or 0-0, you've got to stay focused stay together, and play the course of the game. It's a full forty minutes.

Q. Shelvin can you talk about what you were feeling in the second half making those three pointers and how the rim was looking to ya?
SHELVIN MACK: My teammates did a good job of getting the ball to me when I was open, and that's what you have to do is knock 'em down when you have the chance, and my teammates were do get same thing as well.

Q. Shelvin, was something said to you at halftime by your teammates or was it something you said to yourself mentally to take it upon yourself and to go ahead and have the second half you had?
SHELVIN MACK: I think I took it upon myself. We did a good job with game stops. We was able to attack early and often.

Q. Gordon and Matt, the three's were spectacular, but UTEP went 10 minutes and just had 4 points. What were you guys doing defensively to make it difficult for them?
GORDON HAYWARD: I think it was a lot of just hide and focus. Coach wrote up a great game plan for us and we kinda came out and -- I don't know if we came out and didn't follow it necessarily, but didn't execute it as well as we wanted to in the first half, and then in the second half we came out with a little more energy and really executed the game plan they wrote up and it was all about guarding them.

Q. Gordon, you mentioned guarding. I don't think you were on Moultrie most of the game. I don't think he scored until seconds remaining. Do you see that as one of your primary roles in this game even more than scoring?
GORDON HAYWARD: I don't know if it was the primary role, anytime you play a game you don't want to let your player score. That's something that I think competitors want to do, and I think a lot of us have that mentality, trying to lock down the other team and especially if you're given assignment to lock down the other player.

Q. Matt, for you there was a lot of hand wringing before the game from the Butler fan room worried about you getting into foul trouble, and I don't think you had your first fowl until after 33 minutes. How did you manage to do that and have you ever had to defend a mountain like Caracter before?
MATT HOWARD: I don't know that I've ever guarded someone quite like him. In the first half he was getting a lot of really easy baskets, and then I think in the second half he got the ball in the post and Shelvin dug it out, and I think that got in his head a little bit, and we were able to string and I think it came down -- he came down and hit a three.
We did, I think, a lot better job in the second half of gettin' down there and really frustrating' him. That was the key. I wasn't going to stop him by myself, and my teammates did a great job of helping me out.

Q. Did you sense, Matt or any of you, that as the three started falling and the lead started widening that it was deflating for the other team?
MATT HOWARD: I would say it's deflating for any team to be in a situation where a team is really suffocating them defensively and you're coming down and making almost every shot. We were gettin' those same shots in the first half and they just weren't going down and in the second half Shelvin got us going, and I think everybody picked up on that momentum. Zach hit a couple threes, and Gordon hit a couple of three's, and it has to be frustrating for the other team when you're rolling like that.

Q. Shelvin what's it like to be in a zone like that? Have you been in that situation before? I know you're a three point guy but --
SHELVIN MACK: It's great to be on that stage, but my teammates gave me the ball and let me shoot all the time. My teammates found me when I was open and you've got to knock it in just like in open gym.

Q. Gordon or Shelvin, did you feel like there were more wide open shots in the second half and did you guys do anything? It seemed like every time you took a shot you guys were open. Did you do anything to change creating the ocean in the second half?
SHELVIN MACK: I think it all started with our defense, we were able to get shots and set up the full-court press and scramble mode different match-ups in different situations and we were able to take advantage of it.

Q. Coach, your players keep talking about how their offense came more in the second half because of their defense, was that the primary thing that you addressed in the locker room?
COACH STEVENS: We obviously addressed what we wanted to do differently defensively, but I do think that for whatever reason our guys came out and you're playing in the first NCAA Tournament game in a while, and it's easy to say, hey, you've been there before and you've done that and there's not going to be any nerves.
But I thought we were uncharacteristic on the floor the first 10 minutes, both ends of the floor, but we hung around enough and the defense spearheaded it a little bit but I think moving the basketball was the key to getting better shots and Shelvin hit the nail on the end only having three turnovers in the second half. They weren't able to set up their pressure as much, and when they were at the end of the half their pressure is not quite as great as it is at the start of the half because you've been playing for 20 minutes.
ROGER ROSS: Thank you, gentlemen. Congratulations. Questions for Coach now.

Q. Coach could you talk about the play of the guys off the bench? It seemed like Shawn gave you a big lift and Zach was hot for three and it seemed like when Avery came in playing post defense he was about as effective as I've ever seen him.
COACH STEVENS: I thought all three of those guys were really good, Avery had a great tip-in in our second half and Avery is giving up almost 60 pounds if Derrick Caracter is 275. But he did a great job of moving his feet. We all know that Avery is a good athlete and can defend, but against a guy like that you can't lean on him, you're going to have to swoop and duck and move and keep your feet active because once you wrestle or lean you're dead.
So he did a great job. I thought Matt did a great job in that regard, and Shawn settled us down in the first half and Zach comes off the bench and hits a three right away. Zach, we've said that before, I think both those guys give us great options off the bench and they're both fearless in their approach which is really important.

Q. Again talking about fearless, Butler has been a pretty good second is-half team. I think you've won eight games now after trailing at the half. That's something that's been building toward the whole season, maybe not exactly point of emphasis, but what does that say about your team?
COACH STEVENS: The point of emphasis is don't panic, stay together, do tough things. There is a lot of possessions left. I think I was watching a game before we came in my room as I was gettin' ready to come over, Florida was playing BYU and I think Florida was down 13 at one point and the next time I turned around they were up. There is a lot of possessions in a game, and a lot can happen in a short amount of time.
One of the things we try to do is we try to talk about not hitting home runs, it's single, single, single, single, one possession at a time, and we felt like if we played that way today we would be able to do some things. Now physically, athletically, that team is scary as is Murray State.

Q. The things that you struggled with at times during the season in the first half which included turnovers and haven't been as accurate shooting three's sometimes, seems like offensively those things sort of got magically resolved over halftime. Seemed like every area in which you struggled a bit in the first half you seemed to perfect in the second half.
COACH STEVENS: I didn't think we were overly great on the other end of the floor. I just didn't think we were playing, again, as characteristic as we would have liked to over the past two months in the first half.
We had 3 assists and 7 turnovers, and in the second half we had 11 assists and 3 turnovers. So that speaks to our offensive attack, but in the other end of the floor Matt and those guys were right, we helped off the right guys. We made it as difficult as possible and can you imagine how much attention we paid to Caracter in the last four days and he got 20 and 9, that guy is a dominant college player and will continue to be.

Q. Do you think you were influenced by the fact that you had done 25 days and played just three games?
COACH STEVENS: Good point.

Q. It's hard to measure but --
COACH STEVENS: It was important for us because we were hurt. A couple of guys were hurt late February, so it's been good that that's happened from the standpoint of giving those guys some extra rest and maybe they were a little rusty because of that but you know what? You don't have time to do that, that's why you've got to practice well, and do all the little things that I do think we've done.
But, again, I don't want to take away the magnitude of playing in this Tournament, just because you've been there before. We only have one senior starting and one other senior that played. So it was great to get our legs underneath us and play well in that second half and now you just go play basketball.
Murray State is going to be a heck of a test. I don't know that I've seen better -- many better college basketball teams this year, and they've just kind of flown under everybody's radar except for people in coaching and people that know what's going to.

Q. Brad, when they were pressing you guys in the second half a lot of times you would give the ball to Gordon and let them break the press, do you do that a lot?
COACH STEVENS: Obviously, he can't break it himself against five guys. But certainly his abilities back there and his size and ability to pass or handle is a huge, huge thing for us. I think we're a really hard team to press.
We've gotten a lot better at handling it and I think it started you know in the Sienna game in the second half. I thought we handled it as well as we've handled it all year and our guys have done a great job since then.
I think that certainly the qualities that he brings to the table, you know, you've got a 6'9" guy that can handle, pass, and throw it over the defense if need be. That's hard to find.
ROGER ROSS: Thank you for your time, Coach.

End of FastScripts

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