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ATLANTIC 10 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 16, 2013Jim CrewsCody EllisDwayne EvansBROOKLYN, NEW YORK SAINT LOUIS – 67 THE MODERATOR: While we wait, a quick note. This is the second time that St. Louis has defeated Butler three times in one year. The other time happened in '88/'89 season. THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement from Coach Crews. COACH CREWS: I thought obviously two really good basketball teams. We've got all the respect in the world for Butler and their program, who they are and what they are and how they represent college basketball. There's nothing better than that. So we have a lot of respect for that. And being able to beat them a couple times this year, that was certainly a great accomplishment for these guys here. I thought at halftime we did a better job. The second half we did a better job of competing shots. I thought we got a little anxious the first half. We took some low percentage shots at times. Butler really gets into you at different places, different pressure points, and maybe got us a little bit hurried at times. I thought our guys made a great adjustment at halftime. Not halftime, but the second half. Did a good job. Dwayne was really good inside, and guys got him the ball, and Cody played a great game. We had a lot of guys playing a great game. We're not a big stat team. These guys got tremendous wisdom, and that doesn't show up in stats in terms of how many things that you do. So we like that. So that's good. We're really pleased and excited about trying to win a championship in New York. It's a great place and pretty neat for these kids for that experience. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the players. Q. For Cody, the feeling, like reminder of the last Butler game when you fell behind there in the first half, they got to around maybe a seven‑point lead in that game, and you guys turned it around and got back in it. CODY ELLIS: I mean, a little bit. They came out pretty hard. Clock ran out, but he knew what he was going to do. Coach always stresses at that point in the game you can't win it with 10, 15 minutes in the game. Comes down to the clock. Guys did a great job of picking up pressure and doing what our game plan was. Q. Dwayne, your second strong performance. You had 27 yesterday and 24 today. Again talk about what you were seeing inside‑‑ yesterday you were talking about what you were able to see yesterday, but today against Butler you had the same kind of performance. DWAYNE EVANS: It was kind of a different setup because they played a lot of zone. Early on, I just kind of went to spots. When they went man, I kind of tried to maximize size advantage or match up what I had in size. Guys were hitting threes so they couldn't really sag off. It really was a team effort. Wasn't just me. Q. I would like to follow up on what the coach said that you guys have wisdom. In your opinion, where does that come from? DWAYNE EVANS: We have a lot of experienced guys that have been here three, four years, been through the good and the bad. We know when teams make runs and we're not hitting shots, we can't let that little lull last too long. I think that wisdom is one of the things that's made us successful towards the end of the year that we didn't really have at the beginning of the year. Q. Cody, you were telling us yesterday you thought the worst was behind you on your shooting slump. It looks like you were pretty accurate on that one. Must have felt good today. CODY ELLIS: Definitely. It had been a struggle my last couple of games. Got to have that shooter mentality. Came out and felt good that Dwayne opened it up for me outside. Hopefully, it continues. Q. Butler's known as a really strong man‑to‑man team. What do you guys feel like you do that's made them want to play zone today? DWAYNE EVANS: We have a lot of action. We can do a lot of different things. I'm sure teams get tired of guarding ball screen after ball screen and the various things we do on offense. We're not surprised they go zone. A lot of teams have. Q. Dwayne, guys your size, your body type tend to be the high flyers and want to do all the highlight stuff. Where did you get this old school, down low game from? CODY ELLIS: Because he can't dunk. [Laughter.] DWAYNE EVANS: Don't be fooled. It's just a choice. It's just a choice. I like the ground game. I don't know. I'm going to go out and dunk on them all just to prove you wrong on that one. I don't really know where it came from. I kind of take what comes. Q. Cody, I'll ask you then. What do you see in his game that makes him so effective out there despite not being small? CODY ELLIS: He's a real smart player. He knows how to get position. He's really good at fielding his man. Easy to get to him. When he gets it, he's really slow, really controlled, and he's a really good finisher down there. Q. Cody, you guys beat Butler three times this year, and you'll go down in history as the only A‑10 team to beat Butler three times. To beat a team with that reputation, with that‑‑ they knocked off Indiana and Gonzaga. What does it mean to you guys? DWAYNE EVANS: To beat any team three times in one season is an accomplishment. To beat a team like that with the accolades and the guys that I have on my team is really a confidence builder. We were in the same predicament last year with Xavier, and we ended up losing. I'm happy that we came out and took the ball like we did and got the win. CODY ELLIS: Big boost for the team. It's hard to beat anything three times. Butler is an unbelievable team. Really talented, really great, and they play really good basketball. The guys did well with coming out, had the win behind us, and making sure we win today. THE MODERATOR: Guys, thank you. Questions for Coach Crews. Q. Cody, is your shooting mentality that if you make one you're hot. I like that mentality. Q. Jim, the same question I asked Dwayne. Where does that savvy low post‑game that he has come from, do you think? COACH CREWS: Where does it come from? He played there in high school, inside. And actually, almost all the things that we work with him is outside, to be perfectly blunt, from shooting. He's always with the guard shooting. We don't put him down with the post guys very often. He's coming off ball screens at times and driving the ball. He's really worked on his outside game. I think he hit a three today, didn't he? So that complements it. Cody is very, very effective. He's very good. He's strong. He's broad shouldered. He's got good touch. He keeps his eyes up on the rim. He's not shy away from contact, and he's pretty close. He's not a big jumper, but he's an explosive guy getting off the floor, and he's got a soft touch. That layup he missed, that was an awesome move. Actually, that was kind of funny. That was a tremendous move. He keeps his knees bent and his eyes up and plays slow, like Cody said. Some guys have a feel for where the bucket‑‑ it sounds stupid because that bucket doesn't move, but you've got to have a sense where that bucket it, and he's got a great sense where that bucket is. Q. Jim, you talk about their wisdom. How much do you trust this team, and how much of a luxury is it to do that, to trust they'll make the right decision in a tough situation? COACH CREWS: Immensely. A lot of times I'll say, "What do you guys want to run? How do you want to play that?" They're not shy about it. They do have wisdom, and they feel comfortable with one way or another, and they understand situations. No, it's a real luxury. It's a fun thing from my standpoint. Q. Coach, you guys forced 20 turnovers against Butler and 7 from Clarke and Dunham. Was that the game plan to really hound the two guards and force them into making bad decisions? COACH CREWS: Those guys play in a way, if you give them an inch‑‑ and this is where our guys really gear it up because they know, if you relax for a second, you're getting drilled by those guys. They're just that good. They shoot threes like I shoot layups if you give them space. Clarke was doing a good job getting by us because we really didn't want to give them a whole lot of space, but you've got to stay in that space and can't get caught underneath things. So we wanted to increase the pressure. Obviously, they played the third game in three days. So that has a little play into it too, and I'm sure that might be one of the reasons Brad played zone, or he probably saw us play zone offense yesterday, and it wasn't so hot. That's kind of what I think. Q. Coach, I'm curious about what you think of the possibility of this NCAA Tournament having a lot of success from mid‑majors at the same time that a lot of the schools like you have outgrown that mid‑major tag. COACH CREWS: It's hard to coach one team. I haven't given it an ounce of thought. Q. You're not worried you've outgrown the mid‑major tag? COACH CREWS: I never really worried about what people called things, all my life‑‑ I'm serious. I'm not trying to be sarcastic. Some guy in Idaho is telling me what‑‑ I mean, who cares? I don't care. It doesn't make any difference. That's not why you play the game. You play the game because you love the game. You have a passion for the game and play it no matter who we play. If that's in front of no one or that's in front of 20,000, great. But I mean, it's an amazing, fascinating game, and you're always trying to figure it out. Guess what? You never will. That's the only thing I can come up with. You'll never figure it out. Q. For those of us here in New York that don't get a chance to see you that much, how did you keep all of this together this year? This is an extraordinary circumstance. To this day, what impact does Rick have on you and all these guys? COACH CREWS: Rick has a big impact. Rick is someone we all miss and I certainly miss, not only from a comrade in coaching but from a friend I've known for a long time. I don't know what the question was, but the answer here, we had eight guys that are juniors and seniors, and they've invested a lot into the program and invested in each other. So there's a relationship. Relationships trump everything, in my opinion. So they got very strong relationships. We've got a very unselfish group here. We've got all kinds of different personalities here. But they have a real fondness for each other. Over time, that's what it is. I think there's nothing better than being in a college experience‑‑ winning games is great. Championships are awesome. That's all really good stuff. But the guys in the locker room know who the good teammates are, and we've got a team full of good teammates, and that's what we try to promote, and that's a lifetime thing. I think these guys will remember it for a lifetime because they've had the good, the bad, and the ugly and the tragic of all the things that have gone on. They've stuck together, stayed the course, haven't gotten too high, haven't gotten too low, and that's certainly been a credit to those guys. Q. The fact that you have all those guys, is that a reflection on him that he brought this group together? COACH CREWS: His fingerprints are everywhere, absolutely. Q. What has this experience been like for you playing in this gorgeous building, Brooklyn, New York, the big city, the big stage, and you're in a championship game tomorrow for the right to go to the NCAA Tournament? COACH CREWS: I was really excited when this went to here. Not to talk about the old days, but when I was in school, we were able to do some pretty decent things, but one of the big, big thrills was playing in New York City. I didn't do it all the time with teams that I coached, but we tried to get to New York any chance we could. So I just thought that was absolutely fantastic that A‑10 went to here, and I told our players coming here is different. There's going to be‑‑ I don't how many leagues there are, but there's going to be 34, 35, 32, whatever the number is, I have no idea, champions this week, but there's only two that are going to win in New York, and I think that's pretty‑‑ that's part of a great college experience, in my opinion.[end 5]. Q. What makes you [start 6] guys so tough to prepare for on a short turnaround? Is it the way you guys execute? Is it your experience? What makes you guys so tough to prepare for? COACH CREWS: I don't know. I don't prepare for us. We do a lot of bright things. Sometimes if you don't know what we're doing and you don't turn the ball over and you don't take bad shots, they don't know what you're doing either. THE MODERATOR: Okay, guys. Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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