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NIT POSTSEASON: SEMIFINALS & FINALApril 2, 2013Devyn Roy MarbleEric MayFran McCafferyNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK IOWA – 71 Q.  Can you talk about the performance in the first half? FRAN McCAFFERY: I thought one of the keys to the game was how we came out, in particular with Dev offensively. We got into a flow early, and then the same thing late, kept everything going. I think it settled everybody else down. Q. Anthony gave you some big minutes tonight, especially down the stretch. FRAN McCAFFERY: He was rock solid. I mean, here's a guy that as the game changed, we're playing man and zone, mostly zone what he was in, but we played some man so he's got to do that. He had to deal with how we were managing the game down the stretch, whether we're going with a set or whether we're going motion to a set or whether we're going motion, and then he had to deal with the press. As they started to turn the heat up, they come after you, then they back it off, then they go off the next‑‑ he's got to make reads, he's got to make decisions. He was spectacular, defensively, offensively, decision making when we ran sets, he was precision like. I'm just thrilled for him. Q. Can you talk about the three that Eric hit with a minute left, kind of was the final dagger? FRAN McCAFFERY: Yeah, that was the one that put it away. I certainly wasn't surprised. I know you weren't. He's been playing like that all year long. You know, I kept looking, I've got to get him out, but I just didn't feel like we could take him out. Defensively, offensively, he did everything right. Q. Can you talk about the play from Woodbury and Marble going up against Wells and Len, two of the tougher match‑ups? FRAN McCAFFERY: I thought Woody was tremendous. He was physical, he moved his feet, got in a little foul trouble in the second half, but I thought really battled, utilized his size, affected the game for us, gave us some transition opportunities. Wells is a handful. Down the stretch he was putting his head down and going. But I thought we did a pretty good job on him collectively. I think when you look at those two guys in particular, it's got to be a collective effort. Q. Can either of you just speak to the upcoming match‑up against Baylor? What do you see from them and how do you think that's going to match up with them? FRAN McCAFFERY: I don't think Dev can. I mean, he saw a little bit of the game tonight. ROY DEVYN MARBLE: (Inaudible) Throughout the season, Peter Jackson is a really good point guard, very athletic team, so it's going to be a challenge for us defensively to rebound against this team and get back in transition. FRAN McCAFFERY: You know, they're just a team with a lot of weapons. They're long, they're athletic, and when you have a general like that, he puts your defense in jail every time he brings it down, and then they've got length and they've got offensive rebounders, and they're going to challenge us, they're going to push it. We're comfortable playing an up tempo game like that, but this will be a particularly difficult challenge in that regard. Q. Devyn, they would make those little runs, close it to six, close it to four, and you guys responded. Just talk about how you guys responded. ROY DEVYN MARBLE: Throughout the Big Ten season and the conference and tourney and all that, we've come up with a lot of close games and we fell short in a couple of them. We're used to playing in close games and teams making runs and coming back on us, so we've had to make plays down the stretch and we did that again tonight, and as long as we continue to do that we should be able to close games out efficiently. FRAN McCAFFERY: I thought one of the keys was there was a stretch there, we were fouling a lot early and they got into the bonus quick, they got into the double bonus pretty early. We were not, and I thought one of the critical things was we started going inside, we started driving the ball so that we did get to the bonus, and so when these guys went up there, if there was fear there was going to be aggressive with us having the lead, we've got to be able to get to the free‑throw line and extend the time that way. If we can get our defense off and make free throws, and we shot free throws well tonight. Q. Eric, can you talk about the three‑pointer that you hit right there? That's a critical juncture in the game, six‑point lead, shot clock going down. It looked like you had a lot of confidence. ERIC MAY: Yeah, the play kind of broke down, and Zach came out and set a great ball screen, had a great read, and it was wide open. I was confident at that point, shot clock was going down, needed to take the shot, and it felt good leaving. Q. Dev, this is your third straight game with 20‑plus points and each game in this tournament you guys have won by double figures. What is it about playing in this tournament and now being in the championship game that really has you guys going full speed? ROY DEVYN MARBLE: You've just got to love the time of March. It's the time to really pick up your play. Big Ten conference play prepares you for this, and our coach does a great job of preparing us. I mean, we just go out and play. We're playing with a lot of confidence, playing defense as well as ever, making sure we rebound the ball. I mean, it's just a good flow for everybody. Everybody is comfortable, and it's showing. Q. Dev, what does it mean for you and your team to possibly win the NIT championship? ROY DEVYN MARBLE: It means a lot to me and the team and our program, everybody, just to have the opportunity. A lot of teams aren't playing right now. We're one of the blessed and few teams available left to play. Like I said, we're not taking this opportunity for granted. A lot of teams look down upon it because they didn't get into the other tournament, but we just looked at it as another opportunity to win a championship from day one, and we've just taken it one game at a time, and now we have one more. Q. Eric, you guys know that 25 games ties the most in school history. Talk about how that feels to be on this team in your last season. ERIC MAY: Yeah, it's special to do it with this group of guys. Everybody, coaching staff is unbelievable people to be around, and I think that's why we are winning this many games is because we're in it together. There's one goal, and that's to win games, win a championship, and I think it's showing. FRAN McCAFFERY: I'll tell you what, we have one of the greatest captains around. You don't win 25 games without phenomenal senior leadership. We've got a great junior class that we rely on, but there's one captain of the ship, and he's sitting right here on my left. Q. Eric and Devyn, how did you find Madison Square Garden? ROY DEVYN MARBLE: It treated me pretty well. You know, I was just looking forward to the opportunity since I stepped down here. I haven't really walked around too much. They've given us that opportunity. I just wanted to play to be honest. Like I said, I'm happy I'm here. This is my first time here and it's a wonderful city, but I came to win a championship. ERIC MAY: Yeah, I can't complain with how it treated me, either. A win Thursday will make it a whole lot better, take care of that. Q. In the first half you guys forced a lot of turnovers, and in the second half you got into foul trouble kind of early. Did that affect your ability to force those turnovers as the game went on? FRAN McCAFFERY: Well, yeah, in this regard. It forced us to play more zone. We were a little reluctant, there was a couple times we wanted to shift back to the man and didn't feel like we could because they were going off the dribble and we were already in the bonus and we didn't want to commit any more fouls. We had at that point in time three guys with three, and I just didn't want to risk any further foul trouble, so we stayed in the zone, which created some longer possessions for them and enabled us to kind of guard our area and not chop it as much. Q. You kind of addressed this, but how do you keep guys from not sort of going into a shell when they're in foul trouble like that? How do you get guys to stay aggressive and maintain their poise? FRAN McCAFFERY: You know, I think there's a lot of ways you can answer that. No matter what you do, it's typically a function of who they are, you know, what kind of character does that athlete possess. We encourage them to continue to be aggressive and to continue to make plays and not be tentative. I try to take them out when they get two in the first half so they can be a little more aggressive in the second half when they get three, but I thought in particular Zach and Woodbury were very good in that respect tonight. Q. How would you assess Woodbury's play defending Len tonight? FRAN McCAFFERY: Well, I thought he was spectacular. You know, in the first half in particular when he was really matched up with him man to man, I thought he moved his feet, I thought he moved with the ball, he got his high hand up and he got in front, and he really understood angles and made it difficult for him. In the second half we played a lot more zone when he was in there and when he wasn't in there. He wasn't matched up with him as much. But even then he was aware of him and he bodied up and at least limited some of the rebounding opportunities he would have had. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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