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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS: MILWAUKEE

March 19, 2010

Jamel McLean

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN

Xavier Â– 65
Minnesota - 54

DENNIS KRAUSE: We have Xavier Chris Mack, along with student-athletes Jordan Crawford and Jamel McLean and Terrell Holloway. We'll have an opening statement from Coach Chris Mack.
COACH MACK: Well, we had a lot of respect coming into this game for Minnesota. They did an unbelievable job down the stretch to regroup.
They dealt with a lot of adversity during the season, were able to pull together at the right time of the year and go into this game ready to go. And I thought in the first half our kids, we struggled finishing around the basket. I thought we got into the lane. We got into areas we wanted to get with the basketball, but we weren't able to finish around the rim. And you have to credit Minnesota's size and athleticism around the basket.
I thought in the second half our kids really adjusted. We found one another and made the extra pass. We began to score on the inside and out. And I kept reminding myself, although I didn't tell our kids, I don't think Minnesota had ever recovered from more -- from a deficit of seven points or more. So once we got it up there, I was hoping that that would hold true. Excited. Anytime you can win an NCAA tournament game it's a big deal. I love the kids I'm coaching, and we're ready to play on Sunday.
DENNIS KRAUSE: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Jordan, in the second half you scored 17 points, including about an eight-minute stretch where you had 11 points that really lifted you guys up. Could you talk about the adjustments you made in the second half, and did you see a different defense in the first compared to the second?
JORDAN CRAWFORD: I just kept attacking. My mindset before the game was to attack, from start to finish. Coach made a point that don't go into the game just tiptoeing in, go in being aggressive. That's what I was trying to be.

Q. Jordan, in the second half when they put Lawrence Westbrook on the bench with the third foul, did that open up some things for you. Did you feel you had more of an advantage over Devoe Joseph?
JORDAN CRAWFORD: I didn't care who would check me. I just wanted to be aggressive. I seen a couple lanes to the basket. I think they opened up. And once I got a couple easy layups then the 3-pointers started falling.

Q. Jamel, early on they were kind of letting you play a little bit. How did that kind of affect your game in the first half and then changing over the second half?
JAMEL McLEAN: I think the most important thing is Minnesota, they were big. And they're in the Big Ten, and we didn't realize -- at least me, I didn't realize how long they actually were, and the refs were letting us play.
I think in the second half, my teammates said when you get the rebound just pull it out, because they were sending three, four guys after me after the boards.
And I think that's just what I did at the end. Think most of our bigs did that. We just took our time and didn't force any shots up and found the open guy on the perimeter.

Q. Jordan, could you talk a little bit about the path you've taken to get here, what it feels like to get your first tournament win after transferring from Indiana and the transfer process and all that sort of thing?
JORDAN CRAWFORD: It felt good coming in here getting the first win. First time I experienced it we lost, and it's great to have your first NCAA win. I hope I can go as long as I can.

Q. Jordan, I'm sure that LeBron tape is something you're sick of talking about, but you're on a national stage now. You get a chance to showcase yourself for more than just that. What is it like knowing you can kind of change the perception and say, "Hey I can play a complete game. It's not just a dunk over LeBron."
JORDAN CRAWFORD: I think people already knew I could play a little bit. So the dunk just got my name back out there after sitting out a whole year. And that's about it.

Q. Terrell, can you talk about just the fact that beyond Westbrook, Minnesota, didn't seem to have a player that was capable of bringing them back into the game. And talk about that in the second half.
TERRELL HOLLOWAY: Coming into the game, we knew that Devoe Joseph and Hoffarber are great shooters. So we just wanted to continue to, like, contest all their shots and help out DantÃ© and Jordan guarding Westbrook.

Q. Terrell, can you talk about your first half shooting, as a team, and did you feel like you guys were just taking shots to get back into the game that normally you wouldn't take?
TERRELL HOLLOWAY: We were kind of taking tough shots in the beginning. And also we were missing chippies. I know myself I missed a couple layups. But we knew we had to keep sticking with it and eventually the shots would fall for us once we got it into also Jamel, Jason, and Kenny and they start making easier layups in there.

Q. Jordan, I heard you got a chance to watch Armond play last night. What effect did watching his big night have on you today?
JORDAN CRAWFORD: I don't know that it had an effect on me. But I was definitely excited for him. He's been through a long road, two schools after Indiana. So I was very happy for him.
DENNIS KRAUSE: Thank you. Questions for Coach Mack, please.

Q. Can you discuss how Jordan's versatility, his ability to drive off the dribble and hit the three kind of messes up another team's defensive plans whether it's Minnesota or anybody?
COACH MACK: That's what makes really good players really good. When guys are one dimensional, they have maybe only one special skill, they're an excellent driver. We had a great player last year in our program, C.J. Anderson. But if you knew us really well, it's tough. You just play off a guy like that.
But Jordan makes the game easier for his teammates because he draws so much attention. He does have the ability to do both, get to the rim and obviously shoot the 3s. 5 for 11 today. When you have a talented player that can do both, usually it makes your team that much harder to guard.

Q. Could you talk a little bit about what you've seen in Jordan's two years since he transferred and came over, how he's matured, not only as a better basketball player but just in general.
COACH MACK: I really think that you gotta give a lot of credit to Jordan. But I also think that the environment that he's in now is one that really, really truly cares about the student-athlete.
We've graduated 76 seniors in a row. It will be 77 when Jason Love walks across the stage. We're a small private Jesuit school with 3800 students and the kids know their teachers. They know everybody in the athletic department. We're a family. I think when you're in that type of environment, it helps you grow as a person. It's no doubt he's an unbelievable player, and he did a lot of that work on his own in the summer because coaches really aren't allowed to work with their kids.
So I give him a lot of credit for getting ready and being hungry over the offseason. I give our school and Jordan a lot of credit for maturing as a person in the past year and a half.

Q. Can you talk about just your talent level that you thought compared to Minnesota coming into this game.
COACH MACK: Well, I worried about their size. Also worried in the fact that they had three kids on the perimeter that shoot the eyes out of the ball. But there's different ways to motivate kids. And we're tired of being the little engine that could. We're a really good program. And our kids aren't scared to play anybody. We don't always win, but we're not afraid to compete. And Jen and Jim Souhan, however you pronounce his name, from the Star Tribune, thanks for the motivation to tell our kids that we should be fodder against Minnesota. Our kids are used to this stage. We played a lot of NCAA tournaments. We've been very successful. It's my charge and our kids' charge to continue to do that.

Q. You guys really dictated tempo and took it to Minnesota in the first half. What were some of the adjustments you made at halftime?
COACH MACK: I'd like to take a ton of credit, but our kids did a better job. We were getting to the rim in the first half, couldn't make a shot. Colton Iverson and Damian Johnson does an unbelievable job of blocking shots on the weak side, best defender in the Big Ten. Sometimes you have to learn the hard way. It's like you tell a little kid, don't touch the stove and they keep getting burnt. They finally realize. Halftime they finally realized and they came out, drove the basketball. Perfect example, second half Crawford drives down the left side of the lane. Jason Love, he drops it off and we get an "and-one," and that's how we continue to play the rest of the half. That's why our field goal percentage was as high as it was.

Q. It appears that your game plan, even in spite of their size, was to attack them inside, attack, attack, attack inside. And you go into the halftime they have ten blocked shots on you. That could be pretty discouraging. What did you tell your kids about continuing to attack.
COACH MACK: We talked to our big guys about if it's one-on-one in there and you're getting a shot blocked that's one thing. But when it's one versus two, sometimes the ball wasn't even getting out of Jason's hands or Jamel's hands. It's like you've got to be able to find the perimeter player. Got to be somebody open.
I thought like Jamel said we did a better job in the second half when we secured an offensive rebound, not just forcing it up and being greedy around the rim, and again I thought that really opened up things in the second half.

Q. Is there ever a moment in any game where you just say to Jordan, "Take over"? Is it understood on his part that he's got to do a little bit extra in a game like this when you're struggling offensively in the first half, or do you ever say to him, "Okay, now is your time."
COACH MACK: No. I'll call a set play if I feel like maybe he's scored a couple in a row or I feel like his defender's getting a little tired. Good players know how to pick and choose their spots. He's learned that as the years have gone on.
I thought today when he had the flurry of baskets after a couple of them were in transition, we tried to call his number a couple times. All our players were looking for one another in the second half, and it made the offense flow a lot freer.

Q. Would you just talk about your experience in your first year, first year as head coach in this tournament and what that was like your first game.
COACH MACK: Well, it maybe should be more of a story line than me. But just good teams have good players. And it's my job to make sure that the team thinks team first. And that's what they did today. It's exciting. I wouldn't lie.
But I feel like I've been a part of the NCAA tournament whether the camera's on me or the camera's on the other guy standing up. But I'm just one guy in our program, and really excited to be playing on Sunday against either Pittsburgh or Oakland.

Q. Was that second half play that opened the half, was that a designed play.
COACH MACK: It was.

Q. And knowing that you had shot 21 percent in the first half and were tied, did that give you -- were you pretty confident given that.
COACH MACK: It's better than being down ten. And you get to halftime you start reading the stats. We had 15 offensive rebounds and our assistant coaches were excited about that. I sort of had to calm them down. I said that's because those are all the blocked shots we're getting back in our face. That stat doesn't mean a whole lot. We had to get better shots, and we weren't going to get them around the rim. We were double and triple. We were going to have to kick out.
But to be tied against a really good team at halftime despite shooting whatever it was, 9 for 45, I mean, I'd take that in a heartbeat and hopefully be able to adjust in the halftime.

Q. Coach, do coaches in the NCAA tournament like yours, do you see these opportunities as a chance for you to prove your way and maybe move yourself into a position to move on one day?
COACH MACK: I'm in the position I want to be. I graduated from Xavier. My family is from Cincinnati. One of the reasons that I left Wake Forest as an assistant coach. People called me crazy. Why are you leaving the ACC, the bright lights of the ACC? And I left arguably the preseason number one team in the country, Chris Paul, to be an assistant coach at Xavier. I did that because family's important to me. I believe in the mission of Xavier.
And it's not about me. I look at it as a chance for our program to be elevated, not me personally.

Q. Aside from the trouble that Minnesota gave Jason Love today, he looked like he left energy in some points. Was he feeling okay today?
COACH MACK: I think so. I think anytime you miss your first seven, eight shots you get a little down, and it's our challenge to make sure he's still the same guy on the defensive end. He's had trouble at times playing against whether it's Baylor, whether it's Minnesota, because Jason's not an above-the-rim type player. He's more of a real estate guy. It affected him. I thought he continued to rebound and he did a better job in the second half, and he made his free throws, and he'll be better on Sunday.
DENNIS KRAUSE: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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