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NIT SEASON TIP-OFFNovember 27, 2013Sean MillerNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK ARIZONA – 66 SEAN MILLER: First of all, I think the story line in a game like this, I think Arizona‑‑ we watched for five, six, seven days, whatever the length of time between our last game and tonight, is, or was, we invested a lot of time watching them and it became apparent to me that we were in for one heck of a battle. Keep in mind, one of their starters, front court players, a real key to their team did not play. Obviously I really hope that Damion Lee is okay. That would be just‑‑ I mean, just a real shame‑‑ (inaudible)‑‑ what Bruiser has done at Drexel is just amazing, 13 years there and the team that he has right AIRAnow, if they can remain healthy, they are going to win a lot of games. They already have. Part of what we went through in the first half was playing against a good job team on a neutral court. And the second thing that happens a lot in this type of setting. Q. Inaudible. SEAN MILLER: Outstanding player. I watched him play a lot when I was the head coach at Xavier. The NCAA gets criticized a lot. They need to also be complemented, well earned, well deserved. Nick Johnson is one heck of a defender. He's defended a lot of terrific players. Chris I know shot 27 times‑‑ you have to be a talented basketball player to shoot 27 times, especially when Nick is guarding. He did a very good job and I thought Nick said it right, Damion Lee, Tavon Allen, Frantz Massenat, big, strong point guard‑‑ they played against us‑‑ they might have sacrificed some free throw attempts because of the way they ran the offense, but it evened itself out, because they kept the ball‑‑ we earned a hard‑fought victory, when you're down 19 points on a neutral court, it's tough to come back. Q. Now it's behind you and you know you're playing for the NIT Championship on Friday, are you glad that you went through the adversity that you did in the first half with this group to have that type of experience? SEAN MILLER: Yes, and one of the reasons is, against Rhode Island, we played the first eight minutes of the game offense, I don't want to say selfish, but we didn't share the ball. We struggled to support, and the remainder of the game‑‑ tonight at halftime, we had zero assists. It's hard to play basketball and have zero assists at the half. And if you look at our second half, we had eight, so we shared the ball a lot more in the second half. And I hope that that‑‑ playing together is always the right recipe, because part of why we had 20 at the half, and 46 the second half, is we were much more willing to share the ball and pass it. No team is going to function at the highest level when the individual is trying to make plays. We did that way too much the first half. Q. I was just wondering your thoughts on T.J. he's been touch a key for you guys and seemed to struggle the first half. What was happening? SEAN MILLER: He's really a key to our team. He has to learn, when to‑‑ his gambling at times really hurts. He'll get a steal, he'll get a second steal, but what you also don't see is he went for two or three others and they lead to baskets. So we are going to run him like you've never seen if he goes for a steal. I think what you see is he'll foul a lot less. Q. What do you think it says about Drexel that they played two Pac‑12 teams and played both of you really, really tough? SEAN MILLER: I think it says they are a real good job team. Q. Having been in Philly all those years at Xavier, did you bring that up with your team at all? SEAN MILLER: No question, they were what we expected. Like I said, there's sometimes you play a game and you forget to mention a key part, one of their best guys‑‑ inaudible‑‑ he was helping them on the glass, physical. A couple times we had a chance to put them away with finishing second shots, finger rolls, little bank shots, they are not going to worse. So our guys have to learn that. And a couple of times, securing the defense, allowed them to get a second shot. Both cases we were not able to‑‑ and that's why we came down‑‑ also I'd like to credit Aaron Gordon, he's working really hard, and made six free throws in the second half. It was great for him. Q. Nick made a comment about he was trying to stick to their identity; what do you think it is? SEAN MILLER: We have to defend. As much as I'm critical about our rebounding, if you look at the numbers, 46‑37, that's a big stat for us, and thought we had more second shots in the second half than the first. But rebounding is a big one, defensively, you have to be a very good job team and on offense, we are going to do it with balance and we are going to do it with different players on a given night. Q. You mentioned Gordon. What did you think of his overall performance tonight and his first six games? SEAN MILLER: His first six games for me have been great. He's a pleasure to coach, as talented as he is on the floor. You know, Aaron is not going to wow you with 25 shot attempts. But if you really pay attention‑‑ inaudible‑‑ in 35 minutes, he had 13 rebounds, 10‑points. He's always hard on himself. Q. I know it's not determined yet, but how would you even begin to game plan against Parker and Duke? What would be your game plan towards them? SEAN MILLER: I'm not going to get into that. We came into here to have an opportunity to play in a big tournament. This is an honor for our program to be here. We won this tournament in this program, and our fans, our players, we all come here and hope to have a chance to win the Championship. We hope to enjoy Thanksgiving and be a better team on Friday. Q. You mentioned not sharing the ball; what was the key to these guys‑‑ what was the talk at halftime? Did somebody go crazy or what happened? SEAN MILLER:  We were down 19 points the first half. That's a pretty good lesson right there. We have to share and execute. Q. Your big man had a propensity are for shuffling his feet with a drop step‑‑ you spoke to him, and what did you tell him? SEAN MILLER: You know, it was a big moment, as a 7‑footer‑‑ inaudible ‑‑ you start to ask yourself, I think everyone, fan, player‑‑ he was really good job in the second half. A year ago, he couldn't have put a first half behind him like that. I think if he shows his growth as a player, a big reason we won is because of him, it was good job to see him fight through the first half. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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