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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: CHICAGO

March 18, 2011

Carleton Scott

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

Notre Dame - 69
Akron - 56

GREG GREENWELL: For Notre Dame we have head coach Mike Brey along with student-athletes Scott Martin, Ben Hansbrough, and Carleton Scott. We'll start with an opening statement from head coach and then take questions.
COACH BREY: We're thrilled to advance. Any time you win a game in this tournament, I think it's a huge thing. Akron, it took us a long time to get away from them, which doesn't surprise me because they're old, they're smart, they know how to play.
But I thought the beginning of the second half we defended well, and we slowed down a little bit offensively. I think we were a little wired in the first half. We were a little more patient.
I loved how we rebounded the ball, especially Carleton.

Q. Coach talked about the second half. You had four quick baskets where you had three of them assisted on the other. How important was it to pull away a little bit after they'd gotten it down to four before halftime?
SCOTT MARTIN: It helped. I don't think it was everything. Defense was the place where we set the tone and rebounding. I did the easy part. These guys hit the tough shots to kind of stretch the lane out a little bit, and they had to guard shooters. I was just able to find gaps and get in there.

Q. Carleton, you pulled down 14 rebounds. I'm pretty sure that's going to be a season high or up there. You come down with that going up against a 7-foot center, is there something you go into that knowing or just find the ball?
CARLETON SCOTT: It's a challenge. Facing a bigger opponent, you know, it's a challenge on the glass. We knew he's a long guy and going to be up there on the glass. I was like, hey, got to try to get every rebound I possibly can.
I went out there with that mindset and had 14 rebounds.

Q. Scott, you've obviously been through a lot over the last few years. I just wonder what the experience was like today finally playing in an NCAA Tournament game.
SCOTT MARTIN: You know, the last couple of years, they've been a tough bucket. That's all you can really describe it as. It's just a tough situation. You just move on from there.
I'm just thankful that my rehab went well, and I just get to play with this group of guys. That's the best part is I get to play with them every day. It's like playing with your best friends.
When things go well, it's great. When things go bad, it's still great even though it's not always shown on the floor. I'm just thankful to be here and to be on this team and to go out and play in the NCAA Tournament.

Q. Coach, can you just kind of talk about how you guys are able to kind of neutralize Marshall early?
COACH BREY: He changed some shots. He is one long guy. I don't know if we play against anybody in the Big East. He bothered us sometimes. I think he bothered Ben on some drives in the first half.
I think we did a good job. He didn't get going on us offensively. I think the key was they didn't get rolling from the three-point arc. That's where they get you. We were going to live with some twos and some drives and be efficient enough offensively.
If they get too many clean looks, that's how they were going to beat us. And 7 for 21 is good enough to get out of there if you're efficient offensively, and we were better in the second half because our tempo was better.

Q. Is there any way to avoid just those emotions that you feel when you're a prohibitive favorite and going to the game?
COACH BREY: You know, I've thought about that all week. As a matter of fact, I've been able to think about that seven times, when every one time we've had a bid. It's a fine line between being loose and concentrating.
You know, the first thing we did was erase the numbers next to the name. We played a team that cut nets down Saturday, and they're a good team. It took us a while to kind of calm down.
I'm glad the halftime was 20 minutes because we needed all of it just to kind of ratchet our blood pressure down a little bit.

Q. Coach, you said it took a little while to calm down. The team was wired to start. Was any of that carryover from Louisville?
COACH BREY: I just think it's -- I think Louisville and the Big East was way behind us. They really wanted to -- they hadn't won a first round game, and wanting to play well. And Ben played too fast. It's the one guy at halftime.
I thought he forced plays at times in the first half. In the second half, his decision making was excellent, and it helped us flow.

Q. Mike, are you encouraged you won despite playing sluggish or discouraged because you weren't as explosive as you wanted to be?
COACH BREY: I'm glad we won. We're in that mode of surviving and advancing. I think we will address a little bit and watch some film of great offensive possessions and forced offensive possessions because, if we have too many forced ones on Sunday, we'll be done.
I think we can still use tape as a teaching tool here, especially with this group. They're pretty good students and want to figure out how they can play better.

Q. Mike, you got a better effort out of Abromaitis in the second half. Did you say anything to him at halftime? What do you think accounted for that?
COACH BREY: I think with Abromaitis, he is a pretty steady guy. You just let him play. Those were two big shots he hit. We needed key buckets there.
Earlier in the half, he turned it over and fumbled a rebound, and I was a little disappointed in him, quite frankly. That's why Atkins was spreading to the table.
But that's a veteran guy because I kind of yank him there, and I'm not willing to do that sometimes because I need him to make shots. He's mentally tough enough to know, okay, let me get my legs. Assistants did a good job. He comes in and bangs down two big ones for us.
He's a veteran. He's been through so much. I don't worry about his psyche. And his demeanor is here. So at the end of the day, he's going to be pretty good over time.

Q. Mike, did you consciously take advantage of Scott's size in the second half? He was a lot more aggressive offensively.
COACH BREY: You know what I think this group does a good job of, we don't necessarily run plays for a guy. But in the course of our movement and our motion, we know when a guy's going good, and we kind of screen and find him. I thought during that stretch where we gave ourselves breathing room to win the game, his teammates screened and found him.
And they know then to get out of that guy's way a little bit. And that's a veteran group that's had different guys do it at different times.
GREG GREENWELL: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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