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NCAA MEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS & FINALS: SALT LAKE CITYMarch 25, 2010Jordan CrawfordTerrell HollowayJason LoveChris MackSALT LAKE CITY, UTAH Kansas State – 101 THE MODERATOR: We welcome Xavier representatives to the stage. We'll follow our format of a brief opening statement from Coach Mack, followed by questions to the student-athletes. Coach. COACH MACK: Well, I told our kids in the locker room, I've only been involved with another game like that before one time, that was the Carolina/Wake Forest triple overtime game. Certainly the stakes weren't as high. I felt like tonight that eerily similar to Ali/Foreman, and they landed the last punch, unfortunately. As good of a game as I've coached, been a part of. Both teams battled, believed they were going to win. Unfortunately, only one team is allowed to. Have to credit Jacob Pullen. He's a tremendous player. I love that kid. I don't like him right now. Big-time guts. I love my kids. Toughness, grit. There were several times I felt we could have folded but we kept fighting. I'm just disappointed for them. I'd like to single out my lone senior, Jason Love, proud of a player as I've ever been around. He's a great ambassador for our school. Certainly a role model for our guys as they come into the program, to make yourself into a player. But a tough night. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the student-athletes. Q. Terrell, can you talk about the emotions involved in this game, not just for you, but for the team. Start with the three free throws you had to tie the game. TERRELL HOLLOWAY: It was a big game, you know. We lost to Kansas State earlier this year by 15 points. Both teams came out and played with a lot of energy, try to be as tough as we can. We got some emotional guys on our team. So has Kansas State. We just wanted to play hard. Q. Terrell, Jake Pullen said right before you came back out and attempted that three, you heard they were going to foul you. Is that the case? Was the play drawn up there before you attempted that shot? TERRELL HOLLOWAY: No, actually didn't hear them. I know in a situation like that, teams like to foul. I was just thinking to myself, if I knew one of the guys put a hand on me, no matter where I was on the court, I was just going to attempt a shot. Q. Jordan, towards the end of the second overtime, walking back for a timeout, you looked pretty winded. Did you finally run out of gas? JORDAN CRAWFORD: We were tired, but we walked into the huddle and coach said, Right now is not the time to be tired. You know, fatigue caught up to us on defense. We broke down defensively. They got a couple wide open shots. Good players like that going to knock 'em down. It was a tough game all around. Wish we could have came out on top, but they did a good job. Q. Terrell, I think you said earlier this year when the bright lights are on, New York City kids step up. I'm curious if you felt that way about your and Curtis' game. TERRELL HOLLOWAY: I'm a Long Island kid, not a New York City kid. I get it from Sebastien Telfair. I watched his movie 'Through the Fire'. He always say, When the lights is on, it's time to perform. I know Curt is familiar with him, too. We both watched the movie. Sweet 16 time is winning time. Big players kind of make big plays at that time. Q. Terrell, were you at all nervous shooting those three free throws? TERRELL HOLLOWAY: No. At that point I wasn't nervous. I'm nervous before I come into the game, but at that point I wasn't nervous. I know my team needed me to make those shots, and that's what I did. Q. Jason, this was a heck of a game to go out on. Can you talk about your emotions leaving the court for the last time tonight. JASON LOVE: You know, I was definitely disappointed about the game. Definitely wanted to come out on the winning end. You saw this team's fight. We've been fighting all year. So many people doubted us, said we weren't going to do this, that. We just kept battling all year. We had such a successful season and everything we did, what we set out to do, our goals, go to the Sweet 16, win 25 games, we set those goals at the beginning of the year and we accomplished all that despite everybody doubting us. You know, I couldn't ask for a better group to go out with than these guys up here and in the locker room. Q. Jordan, do you think after some time passes you'll realize you were just involved in a great tournament basketball game or do you think you'll always remember this as the fact that you lost? JORDAN CRAWFORD: During the game you don't think of it, how good of a game it is, but after a couple people tell you. As I probably look back on it, I'm probably going to say it's a good game, but I'm always going to take it as we lost. I'm not going to like to be a part of it because I took the L. Q. Can you talk about the shootout you had? How fun or whatever word you want to use was that shootout? JORDAN CRAWFORD: You know, they love taking big shots, them two. We just wanted to come out and compete with them on both ends of the floor. They made some big shots. We made some. They made a little more. They came out on top. Q. Talk about the intensity of this game. It was nail-biting from the end of regulation, let alone how well you played during both overtimes. JASON LOVE: It was a game to go to the Elite 8. It's supposed to be intense. We've been in overtime games all year. We kind of felt confident in them. But tonight just wasn't our night to come out with the win. But, like I said, we kept fighting. We were down I think like 15 or something. Started fighting, kept battling. Just came out on the losing end. Q. Jordan, what possessed you to pull up from where the ribbon was to take that shot? When that went in and some of the other shots that you and Terrell made, did you ever get the sense that it was meant to be for you to win? JORDAN CRAWFORD: As you make a couple of them shots, you do kind of think that it's meant to be. When Danté hit the step-back three in the corner, I thought it was meant to be. Unfortunately it didn't happen that way. I think times like that, you got to make big shots. You got to have some luck to advance in this tournament, too. It's not all just what we did in the season. So, you know, it was great, and I wish we could have come out on top. Q. (No microphone.) JORDAN CRAWFORD: Just had confidence in myself. Lucky enough it went in. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. We'll dismiss the student-athletes and continue with Coach Mack. Q. The emotions of a game like this, so many times you thought you weren't going to be able to come back, you did, and a few times you thought you felt like you had it. As a coach, do you allow yourself to think that way at all? How do you coach two overtimes in a game this intense? COACH MACK: Well, first of all, as a coach, you certainly live the highs and lows of the game while it's going on. You try to separate your emotions to be able to put your players in the best position that you can, both offensively and defensively. It's tough. But we always tell our kids to have a next-play mentality. It's what you have to do as a coach. While we're on the defensive end, you're trying to think what do you want to run offensively the next time you get the ball. Again, it teetered back and forth. But we could never build on the lead. We were always trying to recapture the lead. And that's tough. Q. Was depth a factor? You didn't play Kenny Frease very much. Jason at times looked like he was doing it all by himself. COACH MACK: Yeah, it's no question, hindsight is 20/20. Had I known it was going to go two overtimes, I would have got some more fresh bodies in there. But, you know, I'm sure Kansas State felt the same way. They had three kids that played 40 plus minutes, just like we did. Again, had I known it was going to go two overtimes, we would have got some more guys in there. But it's tough. Q. Did it feel to you at one point in the game that it was Jordan and Jacob Pullen going back and forth making key shots in the ballgame? COACH MACK: No, I didn't look at it that way. I felt like some of our kids made big-time plays on both ends. Certainly Jordan draws a lot of attention and gets recognized for his amazing offensive talent. But I thought we had a lot of kids that made big plays, Terrell Holloway, Dante Jackson's step-back, Brad Redford hit a big three, Terrell's three free throws down the stretch in regulation. I thought all of our kids battled. It just wasn't enough against a great Kansas State team. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. COACH MACK: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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