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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: PHILADELPHIAMarch 22, 2013Nate LubickOtto Porter, Jr.Markel StarksJohn Thompson IIIPHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA FGCU – 78 COACH THOMPSON: They played well. You know, they outplayed us tonight. Have to give them all the credit for the outcome. You know, it's hard to sit here right now just with the extreme disappointment and recap, think about the entire season, because it came to an end quickly. But I'm proud of this group. They worked extremely hard this year. But you've got to give them all the credit. Q. Is that a 15 seed that you guys just played against? Does that sound right? NATE LUBICK: You know, I'm not going to get into the seeding of it. As coach said, they played well and we didn't. You know, they came out and got it and we didn't. We didn't play well today. MARKEL STARKS: I concur with what Nate said. Q. Seemed like at one point in the second half you couldn't get any rhythm going. Did it just kind of get out of hand that quickly? Can you talk about how it kind of got away from you? OTTO PORTER: Like Coach said, when things aren't going your way, it's hard. Winning is hard. They got out in transition, and that started their run. They started knocking down the shots. It's hard when a team is knocking down shots like that. Q. The kid Comer, the point guard, how tough was it to figure out which way he was going with the ball? His creativity on the floor seemed odd. MARKEL STARKS: He has some great athletes on his team. I wouldn't say he's extremely hard to guard. When they went on that run, it was just hard. It was hard. Like coach said, they outplayed us today, but he has guys flying all over the place. He did a good job of spreading us out, and then it makes it even harder when guys are hitting threes. We just didn't have it today. It just wasn't our particular day, and it wasn't like he wasn't on our scouting report. But just wasn't our day. What you saw out there wasn't typical Georgetown basketball. The thing that we pride ourselves on, we just couldn't get stops. We just couldn't get stops. But hey, congratulate them on their victory. Q. Nate, Markel just touched on it, all season long you guys have been able to get the stops when it really mattered. Can you flesh out in any more detail what made it so hard to get those stops against this particular team? NATE LUBICK: You know, they just played well. They were making shots. Everybody was making plays for each other. They played really well, and it wasn't that we couldn't get stops, we just didn't get stops. Q. Otto, have you made a decision about next year yet? OTTO PORTER: I haven't. I haven't. I haven't made it through that process yet. Q. Coach, we saw Otto kind of struggle in the Big East Tournament as well as tonight. Did he do enough to step up on his own over the course of tonight's game? COACH THOMPSON: Yeah, I think that Otto gave 110 percent, as he has all year. The ball didn't necessarily bounce his way today. There were some shots I want to say midway through the first half, some chippies by his standards that didn't go in, and he maybe started thinking about it a little bit. I don't know. But he got looks, the ball just didn't go in today. Q. Yesterday you were talking about‑‑ you sounded a little bit clairvoyant, you said they have athletes, they spread you around. Did you sort of sense that they were an odd or difficult match‑up and that they were going to make things difficult? COACH THOMPSON: Yeah, it goes‑‑ they are a very good team, and they have played very well most of this year, and so you go through, and as I said, because of the world we live in, you start putting seeds and rankings, and when you watch them on tape, hey, this group is‑‑ the one thing I said yesterday, which is has proved apparent today, is they're athletic. They're big and athletic. It's not a small little team. And they played very well today. Q. Are they good enough to keep winning, make a run in the tournament? COACH THOMPSON: If they play like they did today they are, absolutely. Q. I know it was a tough match‑up and they had a lot of athleticism on their team, but how does a team that's been as good defensively as Georgetown has throughout the year give up so many open dunks, open threes in that game? COACH THOMPSON: I don't‑‑ I wish I knew the answer to that question. You know, there are a lot of things that we have been very good at all year that we were not good at tonight. There have been a lot of things that we have gone through the course of a game and knowing we're going to be constants, knowing we were going to do that we were not able to do tonight. I think they went on that stretch early in the second half where they made a bunch of shots, and then I think we got a little nervous and started spreading out too much, then opened up the lanes. So it's just, they did a good job of going through their first option, second option, third option and picking us apart, and we didn't do, as we had for most of this year, a good job of making them take tough, difficult shots. Q. Losses to double‑digit seeds this year, Ohio a couple years ago, NC State last year, is there any reason you can put your finger on, something that connects these losses or a different story every time? COACH THOMPSON: I wish I could, trust me, more than anyone on this earth I've tried to analyze it, think about it, look at it, think about what we should do differently, and I don't know. Q. I guess full court pressure isn't necessarily your normal MO, but considering the way you guys were able to impose your will on them a little bit toward the end with that, and second thoughts on whether that might have been more effective throughout? COACH THOMPSON: Yeah, I mean we pressed probably for the last 14 minutes of the game just because after they went on that spurt we had to get back in it. Yeah, you can sit here now and say we should have done that the entire game. Q. You guys shared a piece of the Big East regular season. You put yourselves in position to be a 2 seed, but ultimately in this tournament you came up short again. There's going to be a lot of talk about the fact that you guys have come up short again. How do you respond to those who would deem this perhaps not a successful season despite everything else that you guys have done? COACH THOMPSON: Those that are going to say that, it's understandable, because we have had some early exits against some significantly lower seeded teams. That has happened. That being said, do I want to say we did not have a successful season because we lost this game today? I don't think I'm ready to say that. I'm not sitting here pounding my chest saying, oh, we had a great season, either. But there's so many things that go into a year. I don't know if I would say this was an unsuccessful season. Q. Do you think that there was a point where your offense kind of lost its patience, kind of lost your usual way of working the ball around and whatnot? Do you feel like you guys kind of panicked a little bit and rushed shots? COACH THOMPSON: I don't think we panicked. We were down big, and so I think in hindsight‑‑ most of those shots were open, good shots, you know, taken by guys that normally can make them. In looking back in succession did we take too many threes, too many long shots instead of going to the basket, probably, but I wouldn't say it's panic. I think we probably‑‑ panic is too strong a word. I think we became discombobulated at the defensive end more than the offensive end to tell you the truth. Q. You got it back within seven I think with a couple minutes left and then they threw that alley‑oop dunk. Are you of the opinion that two points is always two points or did that mean more than two points for them? COACH THOMPSON: I think the threes they hit early in the second half may have been more important than that play. That was a spectacular play. But I think those threes in succession earlier were more important. Q. For whoever plays them next, Oklahoma or San Diego State, what advice would you give them playing these guys? COACH THOMPSON: I don't know. Looking at how we played, I don't know if I'm in a position to give anyone advice on how to play them. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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