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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2013Austin JohnsonMyles MackMike RiceNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK NOTRE DAME – 69 COACH RICE: I want to thank my seniors. They showed tremendous heart, especially the young man beside (Austin Johnson) me leaving everything that he had. If it is his last game, wow, what a way to go out at Madison Square Garden and doing everything you possibly can to help your team. We just didn't play two halves, didn't have any passion or energy or intensity the first half. Coaching staff's had to do cartwheels and cheering and yelling and screaming to get these guys, and when they did respond, that was the Rutgers that we had seen through the last month. It just took too long, Notre Dame's too good of a team. When we did have it rolling, it seemed Pat Connaughton found the opening tonight and certainly was‑‑ he was very impressive shooting. Q. Mike, coming out of the gate, was there sort of a change in adjustment to be made from playing DePaul to a totally different team like Notre Dame? Is that part of the problem? COACH RICE: It's part of the problem because of their pace and the way they implement it, but we fell right into it. We just kind of got lackadaisical, ran with the cutters, never put any pressure on the ball. So we kind of allowed them to dictate in the first half. In the second half, whatever happens, the intensity and the energy and the dictating has to be our way. I thought we did a better job in the second half. Q. Mike, with Connaughton, was it more of them running things more or losing sight of them? COACH RICE: Losing sight. When you're running and trapping and doing some things. But three‑‑ I would say, out of the ten shots, seven we just lost him. You can't lose Pat Connaughton. Of anybody, you can't lose him. Q. Given there was a lack of energy in the first half, what did you or the staff or the other guys in the locker room do at halftime to sort of say we've got 20 minutes left? COACH RICE: I just questioned their heart. You know the things you do in coaching. Question their pride. Austin spoke up, and I think Jerome spoke up. And, again, they responded. Pressed and did some things to pick up the level of intensity and energy, but, again, it still wasn't enough because, when it got close, when it got two possessions‑‑ I still don't know what happened on the out of bounds. Mike Poole maybe wasn't down far enough, but he'd been there for 30 seconds. He was standing up as they called a foul. I was telling Mike what we're in coming back, and they inbounded the ball. I'm not sure what happened on that. It was my fault, some of the players' fault on the floor for not being aware enough. That's down six, and that's a critical three that they hit. Q. Mike, you say, if this is Austin's last game. I guess in terms of the postseason tournaments, what does that mean? COACH RICE: We'll discuss some things. I know some of the secondary tournaments had called and gauged our interest, and that's something we'll look at as a program. Do we want to do that, or is this going to be our last game. That's just something we're going to discuss. Q. Austin, obviously, this isn't the way you wanted to end your career, but could you talk about the effort you put in. AUSTIN JOHNSON: It just came down to the fact I knew these were possibly the last two halves I'd ever play. Playing with these guys, I've been lucky to play under Coach Rice and his staff and some of my teammates. It's been the greatest year of my life. Even though it's been an emotional roller coaster at times. I just wanted to leave everything out on the court and have no regrets at the end of the day. Q. A.J., just to follow up with that, could you talk about the emotion of what it was like to walk off the court in a setting after a night you just had. AUSTIN JOHNSON: I think there was no better place to cap off your college career than playing at the Garden. Everything hit me when I was walking off the court. I knew I would never step back into a game and it was my last time playing with these guys possibly. Everything came to me at once, and it was a really crazy feeling. Q. What is it like now knowing that this is possibly the last time you'll be out here? AUSTIN JOHNSON: It's a numb feeling. I feel like it won't hit me until I'm sitting by myself later on. I just want to tip my hat off to all the other guys who battled. Even though we came up short, I felt like everybody gave it everything we had in the second half. Q. Mike, obviously, a completely different game for Wally as opposed to what you saw the last time out. Was it just the step up in personnel he faced? COACH RICE: Again, I thought he was much better in the second half in his attack. He always let the defense hit first, and in great post play, it's a foot battle, and then you have to be the one creating the contact. So you can be balanced and attacking. He just didn't do that. He just let Cooley and Knight and all of those guys knock him off balance, and he just didn't shoot a balanced shot. The second half, he had two or three really good plays. One of them went in, the other two didn't. That's what we saw the other night against DePaul. He wasn't letting the defense take him. They were knocking him off post and knocking him out of position. You can't do that as a defensive player. Q. When Austin spoke up to the rest of the team, what did that kind of jolt for you guys in the second half to make this into a game? MYLES MACK: We just thought about this as the seniors, this could possibly be their last game. We're just going to go and play for those guys. They gave us their all from beginning to end. From last year to this year, these guys have been fighting. I just wanted to dedicate it to these guys and go out there and play my hardest. JOHN PAQUETTE: Rutgers, thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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