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NCAA MEN'S 1ST ROUND: DAYTONMarch 18, 2014Chris MackMatt StainbrookDAYTON, OHIO NC State – 74 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the Xavier head coach Chris Mack and student‑athlete Matt Stainbrook. Coach, an opening statement, and then we'll open up the floor for questions for Matt only at that point. COACH MACK: We picked the wrong night to play bad. First off, hats off to NC State. I thought they played really well. They've been playing their best basketball of the year here as of late. And I thought the biggest difference for us not being able to get over the hump in the second half was just our inability to take care of the basketball. We turned the ball over way too many times. And those turnovers resulted in baskets in the other direction. They weren't dead ball turnovers. And that just crushed our team. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Matt Stainbrook. Here on the right. Q. Matt, you talked about having some treatment on your knee. Did you feel good out there tonight? Played one of your best games in a Xavier uniform. Didn't like you were moving in any way where you were hobbled. MATT STAINBROOK: No, I was fine. I just tried to feed off all the energy everyone brought. I know going into the game I was definitely excited for it and definitely wish for a better outcome. Q. To kind of go with what Coach just said, what do you feel like the difference was in this game and you guys got so close so many times, just were never able to get over that hump? MATT STAINBROOK: We weren't ourselves today on defense. Obviously offensively we struggled a little bit. But we have to try to build ourselves an identity with defense. When you can't get stops, it sort of ruins everything else. We had a lot of turnovers that led to easy baskets for them, a lot of transition points, overall just a shambles. Q. One more question, I know it's probably hard to sum up the season right now, but can you look back at all and just talk about what the season has been like for you guys? MATT STAINBROOK: It's been a true roller coaster. Ups and downs. Had low points in the Bahamas. High points on six‑, seven‑, eight‑game winning streaks. But I wouldn't have had it with any other guys. I'm proud of all my teammates. I'm disappointed in myself for letting down the seniors. Q. Matt, you played an incredible game today, and especially coming back from injury so soon. Can you just talk about what your motivation was for today and how much this school, this team means to you? MATT STAINBROOK: It means a lot. We have some of the greatest fans, people who travel. You saw hundreds of people come out and support us. And my motivation was definitely my teammates, my family, Xavier University. Came down to it, I just wanted to try to reward all the people who supported me, supported the team throughout the year. And obviously we didn't get that done. But next year is going to be fun. THE MODERATOR: Any further questions for Matt? All right, Matt. Thanks for your time. Congratulations on your season. We'll open the floor for questions for Coach Mack at this time. Q. Coach, did you envision last year or anytime for Justin Martin's career that he would be a guy who would come out and play with this focused defense against some of the top scorers in the nation the way he's done the past couple games against Creighton and now T.J. Warren? COACH MACK: Justin, he wanted those challenges. And I think the next step for Justin is‑‑ Matt mentioned the roller coaster‑type season. Justin's had a great year. But guys that really win at a very, very high level, they get up for every challenge every single night. It doesn't have to be a Doug McDermott, T.J. Warren to get your juices flowing, because you play for yourself, you play for your teammates, you play for pride. And I think Justin's gotten better, but we need that fire every single night on the defensive end. He could be guarding a guy that's four points a game, but if he's locked in, he can help other guys that maybe have tougher challenges on the defensive end. So our team as a whole didn't get it done this year defensively. That's why we're going home early. That's why we're rolling down 75 early, because we needed to be a better defensive team than we were. And that's about it. Q. Can you speak to the overall inconsistency of this season and how much of it do you think was a factor or a function of a relatively young team? COACH MACK: It's very evident that over the last eight to ten games I didn't play our bench a whole lot. And our bench was mostly freshmen, mostly inexperienced guys that haven't played a whole lot. And I told them that we need them and they have to get better. NC State had a lot more bench minutes than we did tonight, and Coach Prosser used to say all the time‑‑ my mentor‑‑ that playing time is not like Halloween candy. Just because you have a uniform on doesn't mean you automatically get some. And our bench did not play well in the last eight to ten games, and I think teams who advance deep in the tournament, teams that play on consecutive nights, whether it's your conference tournament, NCAA Tournament, you have quick turnarounds, it's hard to play players 38, 40 minutes a game and have a consistency to it. Our starters need to play better, too. But, like I said before, we picked the wrong night to play a bad game. But that's where we have to get better, in my opinion. Q. Coach, did you feel like you guys were getting the looks you wanted from the perimeter tonight? COACH MACK: I can say it now. We're not a very good shooting team. Teams that have played off of us, teams that have big size, good size around the basket, we try to manufacture as many layups‑‑ we have more layup plays than any team in the country. But give NC credit. They have a lot of size. And when Justin's not hitting 3s, you know, it really makes it tough to score for us. And it would be one thing if we were taking better care of the basketball. We may have been able to manufacture some more points. But combine the fact that we didn't shoot it well, didn't draw enough fouls to get to the free‑throw line and we turned the ball over, we were just‑‑ we weren't good enough on the offensive end to win. Q. You mentioned it not being your night. What was the play or the possession where it really hit you like this really isn't our night? COACH MACK: Well, you know, not that we waved the white flag. I thought our guys continued to battle. Just NC State was a better team. But I thought we seemed like the first five or six minutes of the second half we'd cut it to 2, push it up to 8, cut it to 3, push it up to 9. And we got a corner 3 from Justin that would have put us up, hits the back of the rim, goes long, becomes a transition layup. So we tried to run a set play the next time down. We don't do a good enough job holding our man off. Steal. That becomes a huge swing. And it just seemed like we were fighting that uphill battle the whole game. Maybe that was just one of the times that stood out. Q. Chris, it was 43‑40 and Warren scored 14 from there. Did he start getting the ball in better spots, or that's just kind of the explosive type of scorer he is? COACH MACK: A little bit of both. I think for the most part in the half court we did a good job. We tried to crowd him, surround him. Couple times Justin Martin I thought did a great job chesting him in the lane. He's a great player. He knows how to use his body and keep his body under control through contact. He had a couple of tough floaters that not many kids at this level can do. That's why he's going to be an excellent player at the next level. But I thought in the second half he got a little bit more aggressive. It seemed like when he caught it, he went into his move quicker than the first half. I thought the first half he held the ball a little bit too long, allowed us to fill the gaps quicker. In the second half I thought he caught it and ripped it and got where he wanted. THE MODERATOR: All right, Coach, thank you. Congratulations on your season. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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