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

March 21, 2010

Chris Mack

MILWAUKEE, MINNESOTA

Xavier Â– 71
Pittsburgh - 68

DENNIS KRAUSE: We're joined by Xavier Head Coach Chris Mack and student-athletes Jordan Crawford, Jason Love, and Terrell Holloway. We'll start with an opening statement from Coach Mack and then questions for the student-athletes.
DANTÃ‰ JACKSON: DantÃ© Jackson.
COACH MACK: I think before the game had started a lot of reporters and media had asked, "Did you feel this was a revenge game going in?" I really didn't. I don't think our team did either. We played Pittsburgh last year, two different teams. I thought the game turned out what we thought going in. Tough physical Pittsburgh team. Runs by both teams. And I really credit our kids toughness for hanging in there. We squandered a couple of leads. You've got to give Pittsburgh credit. When you get this far in the NCAA tournament, it's not because you're executing or it's a lack of something you're doing, you have to give your opponent credit, and glad we were able to hang on for a tremendous victory.
DENNIS KRAUSE: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. DantÃ©, could you talk about the free throws you missed there at the end? Were you having flashbacks to Richmond, and what was going through your mind at that point?
DANTÃ‰ JACKSON: I just wanted to make one. And I put it on the floor and it just didn't go down. Thank God our team stayed strong like we did the entire game and just fought it.

Q. Terrell, could you talk about how comfortable your team is just knowing you have a guy like Jordan who can score in clutch situations?
TERRELL HOLLOWAY: Jordan is a great scorer. We're always comfortable out there on the court. Jordan is capable of going on 10-, 15-point runs alone. We continue to shed the ball and hopefully he can get on those runs so we can get up a little bit.

Q. Talk about your overall game today, but specifically, if you would, a little bit about your defense on Ashton Gibbs.
TERRELL HOLLOWAY: Ashton Gibbs is a great player. He was able to score about, like, 18 points in the first half. In the second half, I don't know if it was me, he missed a lot of open looks. I guess he ran out of gas a little bit.

Q. Jason, you had so many crazy finishes this season when you put .4 seconds on the clock. Did you know that was coming or did you think you guys had the game won and what was your mind set then?
JASON LOVE: I thought the game was over. I saw the refs. They were talking over on the sideline and put some more time on the clock. Coaches made the adjustment to kind of have us all out there on the 3 so they wouldn't get one up. We were fortunate it didn't go down.

Q. Jordan, you knew the game plan to start, obviously, was to contain you. Seemed like you didn't push the issue. But then when you started scoring it came in bunches. Talk a little bit about your offensive flow today.
JORDAN CRAWFORD: I think I just picked my spots good again. I know at the beginning of the game the team is going to be locked in on me. So I tried to ease my way into the game. I kind of forced it early. I made two turnovers and then I settled down a little bit. I was lucky enough to get it going.

Q. DantÃ©, I think it was you, it seemed like you were yelling things to the crowd, to your fans, when things went your way. I haven't seen you guys play that much. Is that typical for you, and what kinds of things were you shouting? It was pretty loud.
TERRELL HOLLOWAY: I'll answer that for him. Yes, that's him.
DANTÃ‰ JACKSON: Yeah, coach gets after me a lot to tone that down, but in a game like this, especially knowing what happened last year, I didn't want that to happen again. So I just wanted to be as energetic and as loose and into the game as possible for our team, because we were there last year, and I just didn't want it to happen again.

Q. Jordan, just talk about the maturation of your game. Seems like you've added mid-range jump shots. Seemed like you have added the ability to shoot from the perimeter. That goes with your ability to slash off the dribble. Just talk about how your game has evolved over the last year.
JORDAN CRAWFORD: My game has evolved, but you can't just get stuff overnight. I could always do it. I just wasn't able to play. I was sitting out a couple years, so it was just the first time people getting to see it. I'm taking advantage of it.

Q. Jordan, going into today's game, started out very well in the first half. Shots really comfortable out there. Second half slowed down a little bit to the end. But what did you see different defensively from Pitt going from the first to the second half?
JORDAN CRAWFORD: I think I started off slow and I got it going. But it was looking to dominate a little bit. And fortunately, my teammates got me a ball off cuts. Once they kind of jumped up on me a little bit, I started passing. I slowed down scoring, my teammates was getting open. They were leading us to the victory then.

Q. Jordan, there's a lot of talk, obviously, coming into the tournament about guys like Evan Turner and John Wall. Do you feel you were overlooked during this tournament and had something to prove?
JORDAN CRAWFORD: I think Xavier is always overlooked. Not just overlooked -- we just play with a chip on our shoulders. The things we do don't get noticed. It's only two teams that have been to the Sweet 16 three years in a row. And I just think, you know, we played with a chip on our shoulder and that allowed us to come out here and play so aggressively.

Q. Jason, being the only senior, you've been through this a bunch. Can you speak to the mindset, the toughness, whatever you want to call it, that it takes to win a game like this late?
JASON LOVE: We just believed from the get-go when we found out we were playing Pitt. We thought we matched up well with them. We can match their physicality down low, and our guards I feel are some of the best in the country. And I'm just at a loss for words. Nobody had us here. Nobody thought we could get this far. Back-to-back Sweet 16s. It's a great feeling right now.

Q. Jason or Terrell, Jordan hit on a good point. You're a mid-major, the most consistent one. You watch the television, seems like the media is more in love right now with a Cornell or a Gonzaga. What's your identity as a mid-major?
JASON LOVE: I don't feel like we're a mid-major at all. You look at our schedule, we played some of the best teams in the country. And I mean I don't know a lot of mid-majors that make three consecutive Sweet 16s. So you can throw that out of the door right now. And maybe media will start getting us a little more attention. We'll see.
TERRELL HOLLOWAY: I was watching ESPN the other night, and he was like they were breaking down all the teams for the tournament. He said we're a mid-major team but the strength was our high major talent. That's the labor we got. If you check out the track record with teams that we beatin' the last couple of years, you know what kind of team we are.

Q. Jordan, how difficult was it for you to not be able to play basketball last year and just how gratifying is it for you to be able to be on the court and doing what you're doing right now?
JORDAN CRAWFORD: It was tough. But now I went through it all and I fought through it and now I get to play with my team. And I know I'm not taking it for granted. My teammates not taking it for granted. And I just love the fact that I get a chance to do it, and hopefully we can get further.

Q. DantÃ© and Terrell, obviously with Jordan garnering all this attention, probably the best player on the floor in the six games in Milwaukee, is it a good thing or bad thing where you guys don't get noticed because everybody's keying in on him?
DANTÃ‰ JACKSON: I think it's a really good thing. A guy like Jordan, he can do everything. And I know coach talks about sharing the basketball, and he does a great job of that. And I think Terrell and I, and I think the rest of our team, benefit from other teams being really, really aggressive on him. So I think it's a great thing for us.

Q. Jason, as one of the veterans on the team, just talk about the closing seconds. You had the lead and they come back, they're within 3, and just how this team maintained its poise.
JASON LOVE: I just told them to stay calm and everybody up here, we've been in that situation all season long. So we weren't scared or rattled or nothing like that. We just kept our poise and stayed with it. And you saw the end result. We made some big free throws and we closed out the game.
DENNIS KRAUSE: Thank you. Questions for coach.

Q. Chris, can you talk about Terrell's play today, specifically the defense he put on Gibbs in the second half?
COACH MACK: Did an amazing job. And Terrell has very silently become our best defender. Does a great job off the ball, and a tenacious defender on the ball. When he went out in foul trouble in the first half it hurt us. Maybe the same mistakes that Mark Lyons made as a freshman, Terrell made as a freshman. The growth you experience with an offseason and sort of a reflection back in to your freshman year, Terrell made strides with that. And he was one of the big reasons we were able to win the game today, was because of his defense.

Q. Has there been any point this season where maybe you worried that the attention Jordan gets would become an issue for the other guys?
COACH MACK: No, because he doesn't carry himself any different than any of our other players. He's a great teammate. He's really enjoying being around his teammates. He shares the ball. We don't have to -- he doesn't have to get 35 for us to win. He's not Pistol Pete Maravich out there where the other four guys stand around and watch. Although at times it may look like it, it's because he's exceedingly talented. But it has nothing to do with him carrying himself a certain way. He's done a great job acclimating himself to being a integral part of our team.

Q. I'm sure winning is all that matters to you. But in terms of the national infatuation -- for example, you're a Jesuit school and so is Gonzaga. But there's an infatuation with schools like Gonzaga and Cornell. It just doesn't seem to reach Xavier, although you're more successful consistently the last few years. Could you talk about that and why you think that is.
COACH MACK: I think there are many reasons. I really take offense to the comment you made earlier. I know you didn't do it on purpose, but like we don't look at ourselves anything but being a high-major program, from the way we travel to the way we recruit to the amenities our kids enjoy.
If you've ever been to our building on campus, the center is one of the nicest on-campus arenas in the country. We've been doing some great things with our program for the last 25 years. We've had 14 NBA players since 1993. We've won multiple championships. We've only, us and Michigan State, to be in the Sweet 16 the last three years.
I think those things speak for themselves. I think sometimes other schools may get more publicity because we're in a hotbed area for college basketball. You could look 90 miles or 100 miles east, west, north, and south and you have some tremendous programs. From the Louisvilles to the UKs, the IUs, Ohio State. But you check our track record, it's pretty good.

Q. Can you talk about when they put that time back on the clock? You looked like you thought the game was over, as other people did too. How do you regroup the guys and what was the plan to play defense there?
COACH MACK: It's tough. I thought I was in Hinkle there for a second. But they did what -- we have the best officials in the country refereeing these games. So there was no need to get in an argument. We had to make sure our kids kept their composure, knew what we wanted them to do on the defensive end. And we simply lined five kids outside the 3-point line in hopes we don't care if they score two down the stretch. And I know they say .3 seconds or less has to be a tip, but seemed like he was going one way, caught it, turned around and shot. I don't know how you count that, but fortunately we don't have to worry about that.

Q. Could you talk about the lack of attention to whether or not that was something that maybe fueled your guys, playing with sort of a chip on their shoulders, feeling maybe they didn't get the attention they deserved?
COACH MACK: I don't know if lack of attention is a motivator for our kids. It certainly helps. I think our program and the kids we have in it play with a chip on their shoulder, like Jordan talked about. But we have some very, very competitive kids. When Pat Kelsey, my associate head coach, came on board, he left Wake Forest, and the one thing he really talked about was he couldn't believe how competitive our kids were.
And it's really shown itself throughout the entire year. When we took a couple of losses, we were able to regroup. We've never lost, and won't, consecutive games all year. And I think that says a lot about our kids and the makeup they have.

Q. If anything, what have you learned about your team in the last two games here in Milwaukee?
COACH MACK: Well, I've learned that we're starting to play better offensively and really share the ball. I know Jordan's getting a lot of attention. Very well deserved, but he's making some plays where he's passing, giving up -- some of the plays I showed our guys after the Minnesota game offensively were as good as I've seen all year, sharing the ball, making the extra pass.
When teams play like that on the offensive end and we stick to the defensive intensity I think this program's known for, we're going to be a tough out.

Q. Obviously for your team you have two great guards. And the biggest key for the tournament is having wings and big men who can play hard. McGhee obviously is like the (inaudible), and also you have Taylor. What's something you tell your big men going into this game knowing they're going against Pitt, and what can you take about the success going into the rest of the tournament?
COACH MACK: I thought we could have been a little bit better around the backboard. We played Minnesota, and they're a very long team. Affected a lot of our shots. Blocked ten shots. But today we played a team that I talked to our guys, like they're more tougher, smaller, more compact bigs around the basket. A guy like Nasir Robinson isn't 6'8", but he's strong and physical as a freshman. And being able to finish around the rim, and I thought Jason had his best game that he's had maybe in seven or eight games. Jamel and Kenny didn't play quite as well.
But I really have come to love the way our front court competes. I think we have a great rotation between those four kids, and the experimenting of four guards has gone by the wayside a long time ago, and really confident in our front court.

Q. Your roster seems to have a lot of diversity in terms of you have Lyon and Holloway and Crawford and you have bigs inside. Are you guys equipped to win multiple kind of games? Can you win a grind-it-out game like you won today, and can you win a game that gets into the high '80s low 90s?
COACH MACK: I think so. We just worry about the next game on the schedule or the next game in the tournament. We play different styles. Played a different team on Friday. Played a different team today. We play different styles. In conference tournament we played Dayton, ferocious man-to-man team, and followed by Richmond, a cerebral game-switching man to man. I think our team is more equipped especially with the perimeter play to handle different styles.

Q. Obviously your guys have gained some confidence getting two wins. What about you beating Tubby Smith and then Jamie Dixon today? What does that do for your confidence level going forward?
COACH MACK: I don't worry about my confidence level. My wife would tell you it's already high enough.
[Laughter] so it's about the kids. And I remember one of my mentors, Skip Prosser used to say that. Huge wins and he would be sitting on the side watching our guys celebrate, and I don't want to be the coach that runs out to half court and kisses the logo when we win. I'm just about our team. And you're a good coach when you have good players. And fortunately, some really competitive kids and kids that want to continue on this tournament journey.
DENNIS KRAUSE: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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

March 21, 2010

Jordan Crawford

Terrell Holloway

Dante Jackson

Jason Love

Chris Mack