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BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2014Jahenns ManigatDoug McDermottGreg McDermottNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK Creighton - 84 COACH GREG McDERMOTT: As I told the team in the locker room, I was extremely pleased with our defensive effort, attention to detail the first half. I thought we flew around pretty well and made DePaul's looks difficult, had them shoot the shots we wanted them to take rather than the shots they wanted to take. Because our defense was good and our rebounding was good, we were able to establish a transition game. Jahenns really got us off to a good start. Doug's performance in the first half was one of the better ones I've seen. I've seen some good ones out of him, but that was about as good as it gets. Second half, I thought we were a little tentative. I thought we played a little more not to lose than playing to win. I would have liked to have seen us throw that knockout punch the first five minutes of the half. But to DePaul's credit, they didn't allow us to do that. Q. What was it that gets the feeling go in your first Big East Tournament after winning the Mountain Valley last season? COACH GREG McDERMOTT: Missouri Valley. Q. I'm sorry. Missouri valley. Was there any type of pregame jitters going into this tournament? COACH GREG McDERMOTT: I don't think so. I think the guys were anxious. Fortunately, we had an opportunity to come in and play St. John's here. And even though we lost the game, I think that awe factor of coming into this building the first time, that was taken care of. We had a shootaround, they took pictures, we did all that stuff. This was more about the game and concentrating and getting down to business. Obviously, we have a heck of a following, as you all heard tonight, and that adds more fuel to our fire as well. If that many people are going to make the trip halfway across the country to come and support us, we owe them a good effort. Q. Coach, you talked about that was one of the better first halves you've seen. What do you see when he's playing like that in the first half? COACH GREG McDERMOTT: I see the guy that wants the ball when he's in the zone. His teammates have done an incredible job of recognizing over the years when Doug is one of those zones. They're making the extra pass, and our screening activity for him was good. Our team is about playing together and being unselfish, and Doug passed up a couple that he probably could have shot the first half to make an extra pass to Jahenns because he knew he had it going. That's why we've been successful the last three or four years is that we play unselfish basketball, and certainly Doug's included in that even for a guy that shoots a lot of shots. Q. This question's for Doug: The Garden has an opportunity to have a platform to raise the stakes, energy, electricity. We have had great individual performances in Big East Tournament history. Was that your feel coming into this game? Because it looked like you wanted that moment the first half. DOUG McDERMOTT: Absolutely. As a kid, you dream of playing in venues like this. The Garden is about as good as it gets. I watched the tournament growing up a lot. You remember the Kemba moment, so many great games. So just to be a part of it definitely was in the back of my mind. And in warmups, it felt surreal out there. Q. Doug, when you were here last, although you won the game, they kind of held you down the stretch, like you went seven minutes without a point. Was that on your mind coming in, back here? DOUG McDERMOTT: Not really. St. John's did a great job there in the second half, but a lot of it was my fault. I kind of quit moving with the ball a little. I got to do that for us to be successful. I wanted to come in with a mindset today just to continue to keep moving, just be aggressive. It's not only going to give me shots, but it's going to get shots for my teammates. Q. Doug, what did you see in DePaul's defense in the first half that allowed you to be so successful? In the second half, where you were in the lead and you tapered off with your scoring a little bit. DOUG McDERMOTT: Really wasn't much what DePaul was doing. I was just feeling in the rhythm, in the zone, and I felt like I could make it out there. They were doing a good job. I just happened to get going, and my teammates recognized that I had the hot hand. The second half, I wasn't quite as aggressive. I took a couple bad ones, and you've just got to not get complacent at halftime. Q. I mean, this is bigger than the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament; a lot more media is in here. Can you guys compare what it's been like so far, just the first couple moments, from last year to this. JAHENNS MANIGAT: It's a little different obviously. But we're just all focused about basketball. It's a different venue, obviously, from the Valley. You're not going to Carbondale, but you're going to Cincinnati. It's just different all around. But like I said, we're just focused on basketball, focused on who the next opponent is, and what we can do offensively and defensively to play our "A" game. With that in mind, I think we've had a pretty successful inaugural season in the Big East. Q. Jahenns, talk about hitting some shots tonight. JAHENNS MANIGAT: It felt great. I think it's about time. I wasn't shooting the ball too well down the stretch there of the season. My coaching staff kind of kept telling me, you know, "If you're open, if you're comfortable, let it fly." I came in with that kind of mindset today. I didn't want to let the past poor games be a distraction or discourage me from shooting good shots for our team, and they went in tonight. Q. Doug, when you were talking about being in the zone and feeling it tonight, can you describe sort of what that's like for you when you're out there and you get the ball in your hands. Do you just feel like you could sort of hit anything at that point? DOUG McDERMOTT: Yeah, it feels like that hoop is huge. It just feels like everything's going to go in. You just kind of‑‑ that energy carries over to the defensive end of the floor. I know he won't admit it, but it's one of those feelings where you just feel like you have all the energy and confidence in the world. It's a feeling that is the best. Q. Two‑part question: First of all, do you believe in the Sports Illustrated jinx? Secondly, do you try to channel Larry Bird in any way? DOUG McDERMOTT: No, I do not believe in it, but, of course, everyone‑‑ I think a lot of guys look up to Larry Bird. He's one of the best players to ever play. With that being said, there's only going to be one Larry Bird. It's a guy I like to watch. He's a crazy competitor. He makes all the right plays. So I try and watch a lot of film on him. Q. Jahenns, can you talk a little bit about what you see in Doug when he's in that rhythm. Is there a look in his eye when he has it going? JAHENNS MANIGAT: He looks a little bit different. He's moving a lot more, I can tell you that much. As a teammate, you're just trying to add a screen for him or get the ball in the right spots. I think our guys‑‑ in the locker room, we have a bunch of unselfish guys, and I think Austin did a great job of finding him in the first half. And myself and Grant did a great job of screening for him. So once he gets going, that's certainly the number one option we're looking for. Doug is a great player. He's super unselfish as well. If he doesn't have it, he doesn't force it. I know he thinks some of the shots he took in the second half were forced, but I feel it was part of our offense. He's an easy guy to play with. He puts up big numbers, and when he's that aggressive, it opens up the floor and opens shots for everybody else. Q. The team looked very comfortable against the press tonight. Is that a point of emphasis heading into the tournament? COACH GREG McDERMOTT: We just wanted to attack it. We had shooters on the back of that. Some teams at press, they put a shot blocker back there, and they can take the chance to press because they can protect the rim. We're probably not attacking the rim. We're probably attacking the press to shoot a three. That maybe changes the mindset of the press a little on that back end. So that was really our message to the guys. Let's bust it. Let's throw it ahead. Let's make an extra pass, and let's shoot an open three. We spend a lot of time on our offense trying to create the three‑point shot. We're very comfortable taking it after the one pass. Q. Doug, when you consider that 15 conference wins is the most that any school's ever had in the first season in this conference, when you have a chance to look back and think, wow, we're in the semifinals of the Big East our first season, how exciting is that? DOUG McDERMOTT: It's really exciting. It still doesn't all feel real. This season just flew by. It's just great for our university. I wanted to come back to school to set the tone here for our moving to the Big East. I feel like we've definitely proved that as a senior class, and we're really excited going forward. Q. For Greg: Rebounding has been a concern for you guys over the last few games. I know you mentioned it. How encouraged were you by tonight? COACH GREG McDERMOTT: I was very encouraged.  I think we led the Big East in defensive rebounding percentage. When we get off the bus, you probably wouldn't guess that that would be the case. So our guys have to be fundamentally very sound from a rebounding standpoint. For the most part, we've done that this season. It's so important to us because that's where our transition starts is with a stop and a defensive rebound. So I thought our guys really fought. I thought Ethan Wragge was outstanding, battling down there. He knocked down a couple big shots. I know that's what he's known for. I thought his defense and his rebounding was really good as well. Q. Greg, every time you guys got the ball after a defensive rebound or after they scored, you and your staff were screaming "Run! Run! Run!" How much of that was part of the game plan tonight, trying to maybe get DePaul sped up? COACH GREG McDERMOTT: They played a game yesterday, last night. So, obviously, their legs maybe were a little tired, and we were fresh. So we wanted to set the tone with our tempo. But that's our plan going into every game. We want to push it against everybody. That's who we are. That's how we've built this program. We're pushing it to do different things than some other teams, but we're pushing it just the same. As Jahenns alluded to, Austin is kind of the quarterback of all that. Tonight I thought he was really good. He made good decisions. He had a couple cross‑court passes early, but after that he cleaned it up, and I think he had almost double figures assists. That's the way we play. We're constantly hammering that message to our guys. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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