|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2011Jim CalhounDoron LambKemba WalkerNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK UConn: 69 COACH CALHOUN: Well, suffice it to say it was a very special night for us and obviously a tremendous week for us. In 1990, couple years after I came to UConn, we were fortunate to have a terrific team and won a Big East championship back-to-back, that sounds so nice, against Syracuse and Georgetown and that was one of the most emotional experiences I've had in any Big East play. This ranks with that, when you get a group of kids, and we've had a group of good kids in the last few years, Final 4, all that kind of stuff. This group has been resilient, they come off a loss and they're not happy but they're willing to work hard and get better every day. I'll be honest when I was looking at the handbook that John and everybody sends out about the tournament play and I looked at, if we don't get and we play until Tuesday to get to Saturday -- to get to Saturday we're going to have to play four in a row and you know they're going to be good and what these kids having through this week is -- it's been as moving for me as anything I can possibly think of. I -- when we asked them -- whatever we asked them to do, they did. We had a couple of stumbles during the year but we came in as a good basketball team 29-9. I think we're leaving feeling different about ourselves, they should, knowing the history of college basketball, as I've been told all day it kind of gave you a feeling that it wouldn't happen but it did happen. We played a terrific team and I know you're not supposed to do this but I voted for Rick Pitino as Coach Of The Year. I think he did as good of a job as anything and I still think he does a terrific job. They kept pressure on us and one of the last time-outs I called, it was a usual to get an extended time-out to get them as much rest as we could, but their heart took over, the determination to win and the skill level and I couldn't be more proud of 'em. Q. Coach can you talk about the two plays that Jeremy made in the end first the basket and then when he tipped the inbounds play to change the possession? COACH CALHOUN: He really -- I lost the last two nights. He's big time Kemba kept saying, you know what? He's big time, he's played big time in big time games and doesn't get much better for us here unless you get to a national level. But in our neighborhood, the Big East which I've been a part of for 25 years and a part of it even before that in many ways. He showed up in the toughest conference in America against four ranked teams in a row and was just absolutely the guy that -- another guy that -- Kemba had other partners who did great things for him but Jeremy stepped up and once again I've always believed he's going to be a special player. I still believe he's going to be a special player but in these last few games he has been special. Q. Coach talk about how this positions you for the NCAA Tournament. COACH CALHOUN: I haven't read the stat sheet. That's how up on that I am right now. I'm caught up on the emotion of what happened here. Once again -- as long as we're in the tournament and we get a reasonable seed, you know, hopefully we take a day off and be ready to play. I can't do all those kinds of things. I think we showed in the past four days particularly that we're a pretty good basketball team and I think during the season we had significant wins also but I think in the past four days clearly and to show the grit we had, I assume we will be placed well but at this point in time, and I've always felt this well, when we've been sent West, two of those times we've won national championships and I don't care where we get sent but I'm being looking forward to taking these guys to a national tournament. Q. Kemba, when you got fouled Rick Pitino yelled to the officials "he's not Michael Jordan" at any point in the five-day stretch did you feel like a player that great, like it was out of your own body, the way you were playing? KEMBA WALKER: No, this is what I worked for the whole summer. This is who my whole team worked for, and the hard work is paying off. If the refs called it, it's a foul, that's the way I looked at it. I'm not Michael Jordan, I'm Kemba Walker, that's it. Q. Kemba you talked about how you have this motor and everything like that. At times during the game it looked like you were running out of gas. How sort of on empty were you and how did you get to the finish line? KEMBA WALKER: Now that the tournament is over I can tell you that I was definitely tired. With about 2 minutes left I was -- I was gassed, but, you know, I just wanted to win this game so bad that you know my heart took over and I was able -- Coach, he drove a play, I was able to execute it. I got -- Peyton was playing great but he slipped up and I was able to get in and I drew the big man up and Jeremy was smart enough to cut and I got him the ball and he made the big basket for us. Q. Coach now that Kemba admitted he was tired when he got the second foul with 8 minutes left, did you consider letting him play? COACH CALHOUN: No. We were on the plus side. We were in the plus side. It was a long game. The only consideration was the five games, five days and would we have enough to come back in the second half. It did cross my mind that if we need him, but the other guys held the fort enough. We went in 6, came out and gave up 8 straight in the second half, but my point being -- I wanted him to keep playing because then we would feel tired when we sat down and that's why we came out of locker room the second half -- but I always remember Emeka Okafor had a tremendous game against Duke in the semifinals in 2004 was beckoning me and I lied like crazy, you will be going back in in 2 minutes, 4 minutes and the lie turned out to be a lie and he played the second half and scored 19 points and I had enough confidence in Kemba that I knew he would get us someplace and I had confidence in his teammates that they could carry the burden without him. Q. Jeremy, Kemba, talk about what it means, five games, five days, Big East championship. JEREMY LAMB: For me being able to play MSG, having fun with my teammates, out there competing, we all went through it together. It feels good to come out on top. It feels good that everybody trusts each other and we have some tough games. There were times when people probably thought we were going to lose or stuff like that but we didn't get that get to us. We kept playing hard and we was able to get wins. KEMBA WALKER: For me it's special because I'm home, playing in front of the greatest fans in the world, my family, my friends and, it's -- I can't -- words can't describe it, honestly. Q. Kemba after everything you within the through all week and in this particular game when Mike Marra goes to the line how big is the knot in your stomach? KEMBA WALKER: I was so mad at myself because Coach he said "stay down" and I'm telling everybody "stay down" and I'm the one that jumped. I was mad at myself but we were fortunate enough for him to miss that free-throw. When he missed, I thanked God because I knew he had something planned for us and I was just happy we was able to come out with this win. Q. What does it mean getting the M.V.P. award for the tournament, Kemba? KEMBA WALKER: It's special, to get the M.V.P., the greatest arena in the world. Knowing a lot of great players in this league and for me to come out on top, me and my teammates, it's great. Q. Kemba, what did you say to your mother when you saw her after the game? KEMBA WALKER: I told her I love her, her and my father because a lot of people are not fortunate enough to have both of their parents and I am. I'm one of them people and I'm thankful for that and every game, front row and you guys could see, my mom was always on camera on ESPN and stuff, I'm thankful for both my parents. Q. Being that you are from the Bronx, went to Rice High School, how special is it to win it here in Madison Square Garden? Do you have lots of fan support? Seemed like it was a UConn home game? KEMBA WALKER: Yeah, as soon as the game started I told my teammates it's a home game for us, because it seemed like it was all UConn. There was a little bit of Louisville but it seemed like it was all UConn. It's special, like I said, words can't explain it. THE MODERATOR: UConn thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|