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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 12, 2013Cleveland MelvinOliver PurnellNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK RUTGERS – 76 COACH PURNELL: I thought that our guys came out ready. I thought we prepared well. Mack's three at the end of the half was a big basket for him, I thought, because I thought they made a made six or maybe even eight of their first eight shots in the second half. That kind of gave them a little bit of a working margin. I thought we got a little unnerved at that point. That happened to us so many times this year, we felt like we were down further than we really were. We made a little bit of a run with a pressure defense and cut it to eight with probably seven or eight minutes to play, and we just turned it over, shot turnovers, and just didn't do anything sound or solid offensively. Once we turned them over and got the tempo up and got things going the way we wanted to, our offense let us down. I felt all game long we didn't do a good job of‑‑ I should say their big people did a really good job. Judge and the rest of their big guys kind of dominated inside, particularly on the back boards, and inside as well with a high percentage. So their inside game, that stretch I mentioned at the beginning of the second half, our inability to generate some sound offense once we started to turn them over with seven or eight minutes to play proved to be our undoing. Again, I thought our guys came out ready. We just didn't play well enough to win. Q. Oliver, what was different? Did you prepare differently from the last time you saw them to this game? COACH PURNELL: No. Well, yes and no. They were down one guy. They were down one of their best players this time. He played part of that game and got hurt in our game. So that's different in terms of guarding, kind of focus in on their two guards. We focused in on their two guards. Clearly, they had some more help tonight with their inside players. But, no, we used a lot of the same preparation as we did last time. Q. Oliver, Rutgers starts the second half on a 16‑6 run. Do you think that really hurt your guys coming out there? COACH PURNELL: Do you think? Q. In terms of the overall pace of the game, do you think that really kind of slowed things down, any momentum you thought you'd create in the second half? COACH PURNELL: I mentioned that just a second ago as a key. The three he hit at the end of the half to give them the lead. And then‑‑ you've got it better than I do, but I thought they hit the first seven or eight shots in the second half, and we answered that with probably three or two. There you have their run. So no question, that was the‑‑ one of, if not the key parts of the game. That set a tone, and I think in our mind we felt like we were down further than we were, but that gave them a working margin. That gave them some control. I thought we had a chance to get that back when we turned them over‑‑ when we were a really small lineup, turned it over four or five times and came up with nothing on the other end. We would turn it over, shot or turnover, and that was the next key stage as far as that was concerned. Q. Oliver, tough to think that far ahead, but where do you want to start this off‑season in terms of pushing things to the next level? COACH PURNELL: You're right. You're right. It's a little quick to be thinking ahead. We've got a number of guys back. We clearly can't stand pat even though I felt like we were really close. Being really close and standing pat doesn't work, I don't think. So the first thing I told the guys was that we all need to look in the mirror and see what each individual could have done better, and that starts with me. So that's where I'll start, in the mirror tonight. Q. Where do you think in the off‑season you guys want to improve most team‑wise? COACH PURNELL: Defensively, we struggled there all year long. Our defensive field goal percentage, coupled with our rebounding, which have to do with each other, totally. I mean, tonight was a good example. We just weren't a good defensive rebounding team, so when we did stop a team, we gave them a second opportunity, and when we started getting second opportunities in the lane, the shooting percentage has a tendency to rise. So that was a problem all year long, and it really hurt us in a lot of close games. We take care of the defensive board a little bit better, it finishes on the other side of the ledger. That's where I would say is the first place you look. That's not rocket science or anything. Defense wins games. Defense wins championships. And part of defense is rebounding. Q. What do you think is going to go into that? Is that going to be more focus, more emphasis, more energy from you guys to finish defensively? COACH PURNELL: I think experience is one thing. We got a lot of players back. We got one senior, but also adding to that is recruiting and adding players. And practice and working at it. We have a chance to work our players out for a couple of hours during the off‑season. So we do have a chance to keep our hands on them a little bit. Q. You only spent three years coaching this team in the Big East as we know it now. What do you look forward to doing as far as the competition level and forging a new kind of legacy in the new conference? COACH PURNELL: I think the competition level is going to be pretty similar, to be honest with you. I'm just looking forward to us being better and winning more games and turning some of those close losses into wins and be the fourth year of us being on board here. So looking at get over the hump in most of those close games and just winning games. I think our new league‑‑ I'll call it configuration now, but it's going to be a league real soon‑‑ is going to be one of the best. It has a chance to be as good as this league depending on who else comes in. Marquette, Georgetown, resurging Providence program, Villanova. I don't see a whole lot of a dropoff here. Q. Cleveland, when you look ahead to next year, work on defense? What do you think? What are you looking for next year? CLEVELAND MELVIN: Like Coach Purnell said, a better job on the defensive end, rebounding, crashing the ball. Just doing a better job in those areas and crashing the ball. JOHN PAQUETTE: DePaul, thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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