MU-Rutgers Postgame Transcripts

Mike Rice, Rutgers Head Coach

Opening Statement

“Thirty-one fast break points is a new one for us. For the opponents, DJO and Crowder were tremendous. Cadougan and the whole team were tremendous on the break. If you can’t stop somebody from putting their head down and scoring lay-ups, you’re not going to be very successful. We certainly weren’t tonight.”

You want to be fast paced. Was this the wrong opponent to do so?

“It’s the wrong opponent. We had trouble scoring off points in the Big East day in and day out. Do you hold back and have a burn offense or do you just work the shot clock. With this young group, it’s not the answer as they turn the ball over.

“We want to do kind of what Marquette does. We want to play at their tempo and pace. Right now they have men and we have boys. It’s as simple as that. The inconsistencies and lack of toughness showed (for Rutgers). (Marquette) is a really good team. They’re ranked tenth for a reason. They have two tremendous players and a great formula with a really good coach.”

When you fought through and came within six points, did you think you could pull back or no?

“I like the response. I talk about response in this league, because when you play six or seven freshmen you’re going to have a tough job. I thought we responded and then they turned up the heat, put their head down, and made things happen. We just couldn’t keep people in front of us tonight. Sometimes we’ve been pretty good defensively, but again men playing with boys.”

Jae Crowder

What’s gotten into you?

“At this time of the year, you’re just trying to win games. Whatever it takes. I’m aware of it and the guys are aware of it. Whatever it takes and we’re just trying to do it.”

Buzz always talks about how seniors start to see the end of the tunnel. Are you starting to feel that at all?

“You really don’t want to think about it. You just think about the next game. That’s what I’ve been doing and that’s what Darius has been doing. We’re just taking it one game at a time.”

What are some of the goals moving forward and looking to the Big East Tournament?

“We’re just trying to have a lot of momentum heading into the Big East tournament that will roll over into the NCAA’s.”

Is that double-bye something that you guys have talked about?

“Of course. Last year we learned that you have to win two games straight and that’s pretty tough. If you get that double-bye, your chances of winning it are really high.”

Jay Bilas and ESPN people have been tweeting that we’re looking at a pro here. What do you think of all that?

“I really can’t buy into it. I try to not buy into it, but my Twitter goes crazy. Unfortunately, I look at it. I try to play basketball and take care of things at this point and time.”

What’s your gameplan for the upcoming game in West Virginia against a player like Kevin Jones?

“I’ve been on him for a while now. He’s a great player. My team knows that. They’re a great team. They lost a few of late, but I’m really looking forward to the match-up between me and him down in West Virginia. It’s going to be a tough match-up and I’ll be watching film on him.”

What’s it like for you guys when you don’t have to play right away?

“We try to take it easy. We’re not going to do as much stuff physically at this point and time. This is the part where the young guys might lack the focus that we need. We have to keep them focused on what the task is. At this time during the season, it’s all mental.”

You guys finished ninth in the division just a year ago and made it to the Sweet Sixteen. You could finish second. How far can this team go?

“The sky’s the limit for this team. I’ve been saying that since day one. We could do whatever we want to do, if we play the way we want to play. We’re aware of it. The more games we win now, the less we need to get there. We’re trying to take care of business right now.”

Buzz Williams

What did you like about the first five minutes?

“As much as has been said, written, and talked about the slow starts, we haven’t been really good on our fast starts either. You think about how we started tonight and how we started at LSU.

“Then you think about our response after that fast start. I guess maybe it’s better to start off fast rather than slow. But I thought that if you were just talking about those five minutes, I thought we were really good. I thought we weren’t very good the next five minutes.”

What are the goals for the final three games, before moving on to the Big East Tournament?

“We have a lot of the same goals some of which you may know and others that are internal. None of which you would be shocked by. Thankful to be 8-0 at home. Thankful to have won 12 games in league play. Thankful to have won 23 overall. We have two consecutive road games with two teams that are playing extremely hard. Tough to win at their place. They’re both playing for a spot in the NCAA tournament. We’ll use our success to their advantage. That is a very volatile place to compete in.”

How good was it to convert their turnovers into points?

“Real good. I think they shot 48 percent in the first half, which is too high of a number, but we created 14 turnovers. If you just talk about field goal percentage defense, we weren’t very good in the first half. But when you can create 14 turnovers, and I don’t know how many that translated into points, but that was really good.”

Let’s talk about Jae’s play tonight, because he was all over the place.

“You asked of all the teams that I’ve coached here and all the players, his efficiency numbers are staggering. Better than any player that’s played here since we’ve been here. He’s just been in a really good space emotionally, physically, and mentally.

“When you get to February, it’s all about health management, rest management, energy management and it changes your mode from January. I feel like our guys have been accountable and responsible for that. Jae’s been the leader in that. He’s playing at a very high class. Not only is he very efficient. He’s very effective.”

You talk about management. How do you manage time and the quick turnaround with a game on Friday?

“The same way we would manage any other day after a game. I want to win this game and after we win this game, then we’ll start talking about the next game. I think sometimes coaches try to out-trick themselves and go ‘well we’re playing two games in 48 hours, how are we going to do this and how are we going to do that?’ No. Win this game. We’re not trying to outsmart anybody. Win this game and then we’ll figure it out from there.”

On the focus of the double bye week for the tournament

“So again you just get lost with ‘well if this team wins and that one…’ and ‘who is playing who where’ I’m not smart enough to do all that. I’m not going to recruit anyone that’s smart enough to do all that either. If they get here and they fox me out of how intelligent they are, then I’ll hire them as a coach. I don’t want all that. Let’s just play to win.”

Were you trying to work the bench a bit more tonight?

“I though Juan (Anderson) was good. We had three offensive rebounds in the first half, which is absolutely pitiful. Juan had two of them in four minutes and Derrick (Wilson) just got up there and got another one. He got fouled and he made one free throw.

“I thought we were better in the second half. As it all plays out, can Juan get to the point where he can play nine possessions? Because if he can, it’s not the physical break that Jae or Jamil (Wilson) need. It’s the emotional break. The induced stress on the responsibility for those guys just to sit on the bench for two or three possessions, it’s amazing their response once they go back in. If Derrick can help us and if Juan and Melo can help us relative to what’s upcoming I think that’s good.”

Published by Chris Chavez