Jan. 19, 2013

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Marquette at Cincinnati
January 19, 2013
Fifth Third Arena

Postgame Quotes


University of Cincinnati Quotes
UC head coach Mick Cronin
Opening statement:
"Buzz and I are very close friends, and we haven't had a lot of close games. They won here in OT when Ibrahima Thomas was a senior. So it's been a couple years since we've had a close game. Obviously, there guys never quit, which they never do, and it's a credit to him being such a great coach. A lot of big efforts on our part from our team and playing without Cash for the first time was a big concern. Hopefully, we don't have to do it a lot." 

On playing without Cashmere Wright:
"When you do lose a player, usually the first game without him is the hardest one. For JaQuon (Parker), it is tough to go from playing small forward in a three guard offense to playing point a lot. It was the same for Titus because I was using him to handle the ball quite a bit. We have to find some scoring for other guys besides SK. Obviously, we made a lot of big plays down the stretch especially in overtime when they started off with the three-point lead. A lot of big plays down the stretch to get the win. In this league, you just win and move on. That's all you do."

On talking to Kilpatrick about scoring more since Cashmere Wright was out:
"I don't ever have to say that to him. You think I need to talk to him about trying to score.You think I need to talk to him. Oh man, no. I had that meeting with JaQuon and in practice, trying to build confidence in the other guys - GeLawn (Guyn), Shaq Thomas and Jermaine Sanders. Jermaine came out and hit a couple big shots. At some point in the game from the opposite corner, he took a three down the stretch. I thought it was in. It didn't drop for him, but it was a great look for him. You have guys that aren't used to being relied on for offense especially lately. Cash has really controlled the offense for us. It is a lot on (Parker) because he is trying to run the offense and I'm asking him to score too at the same time."

On trying to get Sean Kilpatrick the ball:
"I struggled with it. I should have done a better job of it to be honest with you. I finally found a go to where we could get him the ball in the last two plays. We were able to get him a down screen. The problem was they were denying all over the place. It is hard to sit there and orchestrate. You are going to end up turning the ball over.  You have to keep pressure on the rim or their guys are going to steal it.  I was trying to keep our guys attacking the basket. It was important, obviously, to get him the ball. I tried to get him the ball a couple of other times.  Justin, instead of screening for SK, set a pick-and-roll and the next time he screened for him."

On the last play in overtime:
"The last play of overtime, I knew they would deny him so I had him bring it up. That way, it was in his hands to start. SK going to his left made a tremendous shot, but Kelvin was going to dunk it in if he missed it. Kelvin also set a tremendous screen and he timed it up perfectly to free him up. It was a great play on Kelvin's part -- a really big time play for a guy that hasn't played a lot of minutes. I'm really proud of him. His head was over the rim. He was ready to goal tend it. He came as close as you could come, and it was a great play to not goal tend it because his head was over the rim and his hand was ready to stuff it in. Thank goodness he didn't do it. That's what Cash was saying in the locker room that `I thought you were going to goal tend it.' " 

On status of Cashmere Wright:
"He is day to day. I'm not making things up. If he decides to play Monday, I'm not calling Jim Boehiem and telling him. Let's be honest. He is day to day. He could walk out tomorrow and practice. I can tell you this though, that if he's not 100 percent, I'm not letting him play. At the end of the day, Bob Mangine lets him get out there. He has to feel good about it, and I have to say that I feel good about it. I may not feel good about it. If it gets passed all three, I'm not going to call the next opponent and say guess who is playing tonight."

On Titus Rubles Performance:
"He got to the foul line which is something that is big for him. In practice, he is a great free-throw shooter. I know at times early he struggled, but in practice, he is 85 percent and up every day. He makes 25 before he misses one or two every time. For him, it's how to get himself fouled. He's a finesse guy. We have to continue to work with him to get to the foul line when he gets around the rim. He can get there on the dribble and he can make free throws when he gets there. Obviously, we are searching for offense and he was able to give us some."

On why UC was playing zone against Marquette:
"Yeah, just points in the paint. You can talk all you want about playing Marquette a certain way. They had struggled to shoot the three. I think they are last in the BIG EAST in made three-point shots. Their speed is tremendous. They make a lot of tough shots on the run, going at the rim. Also, I was concerned with our guys fouling Gardner, which we did. He does a very good job of getting himself fouled. I give him credit. He made some free throws, which is tough for him. He was shooting into a pretty tough environment into our student section."

On quick turnaround for Syracuse:
"We are used to it. In the BIG EAST tournament, you play bang, bang, bang. Our guys would rather play than practice anyway. We've had a long stretch. We didn't have a Christmas break. We played a lot more BIG EAST games than most of our opponents. We're at six where a lot of people are at four and five. It's always a challenge. As long as Jim Boehiem is standing over there, he is always going to have good players that play their system perfectly. It is never going to be easy."

On tonight's game being a big win:
"I think for Titus and Dave, new guys, they are still learning. Whenever you win without the guy that has clearly been your best player for the last two weeks, you have to be happy about that. Ultimately, it is the next game on the schedule. Winning builds belief in your system and the things you try to preach to your team. It builds credibility with what you are trying to preach in the locker room. But it's just one win. At the end of the day, it's one loss for Marquette and one win for us. We have 12 left and try to win as many as you can. It is a three-part season. You go to New York and try to win that thing, and hopefully you are healthy for the NCAA tournament. Quality wins all add up.  I hear what you guys say, that this is a big win, but it's one game. If you get too happy in this league, you are going to lose. You have to take them one at a time. Every time you play a game in this league the other team is hungry to beat you. It doesn't matter. The difference in our league is that the teams at the bottom have talent, have coaches fighting for their lives, and it is World War III. They don't just get out of their way, and that is why there is never an off night in this league. You may win, but you never just cruise to victory."

Cincinnati Player Quotes
No. 23 Sean Kilpatrick, G
On how the game played out:
"I felt toward the end, because they were face guarding me the whole overtime, I just felt like if they just give me a little breathing room then I was at least going to try to get the lay up if anything. On top of that he was letting me advance the ball up the court a little bit, so I was all right and Kelvin set a great screen and I just took their power forward on."

On taking over the offensive load with Cashmere being out:
"It was a lot because I knew that Cash is one of our leaders and I said this to the team earlier; we're down a leader and that's something that everyone has to do in this game and we have to step up. Everyone did a great job of doing that. With Cash not playing and we heard him on the sideline the whole time and that was great. It was just like he was on the court with us, but he wasn't playing."

On when he knew Cashmere wasn't playing:
"I didn't know until today, when I saw him I asked him in the trainer's room are you playing and he said, `no, I'm not going to play.' That's when everyone locked in and said you know what we have to step up."

On how frustrating it is when MU was face guarding:
"It's frustrating but then again I am kind of happy because we have four other scores. These guys are just like me. I just play a little bit more minutes than them and I know that if they have the opportunity and the ball in their hands they are going to score."

On what it was like playing in an intense game:
"I love the Ring of Red games, that's when everybody in the city comes out. There was one point when we were playing and we made a shoot and when we ran back it felt like the floor was shaking. I said to myself what is going and saw everyone jumping up. So it's a great thing that we have our fans on our side."

On having to play Syracuse next:
"We know it's going to be tough going to the Dome and playing but we just have to continue to keep playing the way we have been playing and that's winning with defense and rebounding. The scoring is going to come because everyone on this team can score, but if we continue to keep rebounding and defending the way we have the past two, three games then we will be all right."

No. 2 Titus Rubles, F
On MU trying to take Sean out the game and what he saw offensively:
"I knew they were playing SK really hard and they didn't want him to get the ball. It was really him that opened up a lot of opportunities for everyone else because when they face guard it's basically fouron four and you just have to make a play when the opportunity is available."

On the fans presence in the game:
"I just want to say thank you to all of our fans and keep coming and showing us support. We are working hard for y'all and keep showing us support and thank you. We love y'all."

On rebounding being more of a focus:
"I actually didn't know I had 10 rebounds, but it's anything I can do to help the team win. I know that we have scorers on this team who can get the job done, so just anything that I can to do to help the team whether it is taking a charge or scoring. It just depends how the game is going and whatever is lacking I am just trying to do anything were we can get a win."


Marquette head coach Buzz Williams
On DaVante Gardner's Performance:
"He's a hard guy to guard. He's done a really good job for us and our team has relied on him in a lot of ways. I thought our guys, particularly Junior, did a better job in the second half of feeding him inside on their zone. I wish he would have been a little better shooting the ball. I think he was leading the league in field goal percentage coming in and he was one of eight today so he probably fell out of the top ten."

On whether or not he was disappointed with the loss:
"I think everyone thinks I'm exaggerating when I say every game is going to be like this but, this is our margin and this is who we are. I don't think that it's going to change. I think that if we're going to win it's going to be a one or two possession game. I think that if we play the way that we did the first 20 minutes tonight it's going to be hard to win against a good team at their home, but I think if we play the way we did the last 20 minutes we'll have a chance to win every game both on the road or at home."

Marquette Player Quotes
No. 54-Davante Gardner, F
On coming alive in the second half:
"We started slow. That is not our game. We usually come out fast. It was like boot camp came to session in the second half."

On drawing so many fouls:
"I was talking to my team at halftime about throwing me the ball so I could foul their big men out so we have a chance to come back and win. We just didn't come back and win.

On if he ever had pressure free throws like the two at the end of the game:
"In high school, but that isn't anything compared to college. College is way more serious."