Coach Quentin Hillsman Postgame vs. DePaul
General Statement:
“It was a tough one. I think that overall we played hard and we showed a lot of effort. It’s tough when you look at the stat sheet and see that we had 40 points in the paint and they had 16 points in the paint. We had 20 second-chance points and they had 12. We had 18 transition points and they had four – which is their game. We had 11 bench points and they had 11 – our bench showed up and matched their bench. That’s what we needed. Their 3-point shooting was good and it hurt us. We had a good scheme for what to do on their 3-point shooting, and they just caught a loose ball two or three times in the second half and they blew the game open. There was a point in the first half when we went on, I think, a 19-2 run, and that was so big for us to be able to get back into that basketball game. It’s the points off turnovers (that hurt us). They got 23 points off of turnovers and we got 16, and we only had one more turnover than they had. It was a close game when you look at the numbers.
All I can say is that we prepare like crazy. I don’t sleep. I watch tape all night and try to find a way to win basketball games. I try to put our players in the best position to win every game. I think that our players come out with energy, effort and with great intentions to go with our game plan. You make two or three mistakes against a very good team – a lot of times you’re going to pay for it. They made us pay for it in the second half. We had two or three bad rotations and we didn’t follow the scheme for two or three possessions, and that hurt because it led to nine points. Overall we got our four players in double figures and we did some good things. We have to continue to work hard and find a way to win basketball games. We don’t want to be in a position where we have to win the BIG EAST Tournament to get into the NCAA Tournament. We’re going to continue to compete and play hard, and we’re not going to walk around here without a positive attitude and without the attitude of a winner. We’re going to play hard and we look forward to winning the game against Georgetown on Sunday.”
On the game being a testament to the difficulty of the BIG EAST:
“There’s no question about it. I’m assuming that everyone prepares like we do. Every player on our team gets a videotape of all of their sets, we give out scouting reports – we do it all. We do all we can with our personnel to win these basketball games. We probably over-prepare. We take written tests on their personnel, so we know who the shooters and non-shooters are. I feel really good about our preparation, and I feel really good about our team’s effort.”
On the game being a lost opportunity to make a statement in the league:
“I think that every loss is a missed opportunity. This is a tough conference, so no matter whether it’s DePaul, Connecticut, Seton Hall or West Virginia – they’re all very good teams. They’re all very good teams. They all have Top 25 talent. This is a tough conference. But when go out and play against a tough team you want to get that game, especially when it’s a home game. We have to find a way to win our home games.”
On the passing abilities of DePaul:
“They are a very good passing team. When you make the extra pass and you don’t get a deflection, it’s going to lead to a look which is going to put us in a close-out situation. They had three or four second looks in the second half and they made them. That’s the sign of a good shooting team, when you give them the open look and they make it. Overall, I thought we got there and they made some contested shots. There were some pretty deep shots.”
On the matchup in the post:
“I thought that Vionca (Murray) and Troya (Berry) really battled down there. I thought they really got a body on them and they did a good job of walking their players down below the block so they couldn’t get that high-low pass. We got hurt when our forwards didn’t pinch in enough. I don’t think there was a problem because their big kids had five points and 12 points, and our big kids competed too. It wasn’t so much of a problem as it was an issue of them moving the basketball and getting us scrambling around a little bit.”
On whether the team is seeking revenge against Georgetown in the upcoming game:
“I don’t think you can base your life on revenge. We have to win the basketball game. They won at their place and we have to win at our place. We’re not going to make this a revenge thing. We’re going to make it a ‘we have to win’ thing. We can’t get too out of character going into this game. We understand that it’s a big game, and we have to win.”
