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Georgetown 61, Butler 59
Washington, D.C. - Verizon Center
Saturday, January 17, 2015

Georgetown University Head Coach John Thompson III

On Georgetown's last offensive possession...

To tell you the truth, we left the decision up to Jabril. Put the ball in Jabril's hands and have Josh come up and set an on-ball (screen). We had Isaac on the single side and D'Vauntes and LJ on the other side and told Jabril just get to the rim, get to the rim and if they collapse on you and one of those three are open kick it out. He made a terrific play, a terrific decision. His man inched in a little bit and he snapped it to (Isaac) and he made the shot. It was designed to get Jabril on ball and have three shooters out there with him and let him make a decision.

On Jabril Trawick's play...

Rightfully so, everyone is going to focus on, not just the shot, but Isaac had a very good game. But I thought Jabril had one of his better games on both ends of the court. Starting the second half we put him on (Andrew Chrabascz) and he does a decent job. He's guarding little guys, he's guarding big guys and he can, that's what he does. We feed off of his energy and he provided a lot of energy at the defensive end and the offensive end. People talk about the drives and the penetration on offense, but on the defensive end he's working his behind off, going down to that last possession where he came up with the steal.

On limiting turnovers against Butler...

It's key. It's paramount. We can't turn the ball over, we have to get shots every time down the court. In the first half I thought we were getting good looks, the ball was just not falling through the net. It's another game, I have to go back and look at it, but I felt like we had 10 or 11 three foot shots in the first half alone, that just didn't go in. I kept telling the guys, "relax," let's not get antsy on offense, we're getting good looks. It's not like we're just taking perimeter shots, we're getting it inside and we're getting open outside shots; the ball will go in.

On Butler...

That's a very good team. That's a mature team. They know how they want to attack you. They know how to take advantage of defensive situations when they put pressure on you. They have so many guys that can hurt you. You can sit and talk over and over again about how (Roosevelt) Jones isn't an outside shooter, but you can't stop him. That being said, I thought our defensive effort pretty good. It was a BIG EAST game. It was a tough physical game. It was the BIG EAST.

On Isaac Copeland's game...

I know (Isaac) has been effective when he's making hustle plays for us. When he's flying in for rebounds, when he's getting deflections, when that happens that's when the ball starts falling for him. We need him on the board, we need him getting deflections using his length and athleticism. When that happens he finds a way to get his points.

On the first half ending 10-2 run...

We were able to get some stops and we were able to get some transition baskets and that got us going. Early on we weren't getting stops. You have to get stops to be able to get out in transition and we want to get out in transition as early as possible. That (stretch) got us loosened up a bit.

On if today was a turning point for Isaac Copeland...

We're long past that point. It's not like everyone in the locker room is going to say, "ooh, Isaac is pretty good." They know that. That's something that has happened through weeks and months of workouts and watching and playing with him. The trust has been there.

On playing Villanova on Monday...

If you look at our league every game is tough. The difference between the top and the bottom is miniscule. We have once again on Monday a very good team coming in here and we need to be ready to play.

Senior Forward Jabril Trawick

On his energy to close out the first half on the game ...

I started pressing up against Roosevelt Jones a little bit and I saw that that was kind of speeding them up and we were able to get some stops. Coach Thompson said in the locker room at halftime, but when we picked up the energy the ball started to fall for us on the offensive end. I just knew that something had to happen for us because they were starting to increase their lead.

On what he saw during the last play of the game ...

I saw Alex Barlow lining up to guard me as I was coming down the court and Josh Smith was coming up to set the screen, when I was going over in the right direction I saw Barlow inch over into onto the right side of the screen so I just refused it and Isaac was wide open. As Coach Thompson always says, one of our mottos is `trust each other' so I snapped it to him and he made a big play for us.

On the two-win game streak and momentum going into Monday vs. Villanova ...

We're just playing hard. When things get tough we grind it out, Coach Thompson always says to keep grinding it out no matter what and that's what we've been doing these last two games. It was a tough game on the road against DePaul and tonight Butler came in and they played us tough but we played tough and we were able to come out with the win.

On this being his best game while at Georgetown ...

I think I was just able to make some big plays today on defense and on offense so I'm just happy we got the win.

On playing against Villanova ...

We have to play tough because we know that they're going to be aggressive and coming right at us so we just have to be ready to play Georgetown basketball and grind it out.

Freshman Forward Isaac Copeland

On the last play that led to the win ...

Honestly Coach Thompson said it all. We gave Jabril the ball and told him to make a play so everybody just spotted up in their corner and I made a shot.

On his play against Butler ...

I wouldn't say it's about Butler specifically, I would say it's me having confidence game in and game out. It depends on what player it is, it can be any player on any team, and tonight was my night and it's been twice against Butler.

On outrebounding conference leader Butler ...

All week coming into this game Coach Thompson had been stressing that Butler led the league in rebounding so we knew coming in that it was going to be a fight so we just had to box-out and get the ball.

Butler Head Coach Chris Holtmann

Opening Statement

Well obviously a tough one for us. You have to give Georgetown credit, they certainly made some plays late. Give (Isaac) Copeland credit for making the shot in the corner. Obviously a big play for them. He seems to shoot the ball pretty well against us. First give Georgetown credit for the win. It was a BIG EAST grinder and, you see it all across conference play, it was physical and not unlike what we thought it would be. It was a possession game and they made enough plays late to pull it out so you have to give them credit. We have had two real battles now, so I'm sure the third one will be a battle as well.

On decision on going from man-to-man defense to zone in second half, then back to man ...

It's part of our defensive system to be able to play both defenses and they are obviously a good executing team and (Joshua) Smith is a load but he is not just a load, they have good balance on the inside and on the outside. It felt like zone would potentially keep them off the foul line and we were struggling fouling a little bit too much, so that was a primary reason for it.

On the balance of their offense, with Roosevelt Jones scoring 28 points ...

It certainly helps if we can have a third guy in double figures. But you have games like that where you roll with the hot hand. Their pressure was significant and [Roosevelt Jones'] strength allowed him to make some plays against their pressure. So I think that is why he was effective and he was able to make some plays in space. But we need more offensive balance than what we had tonight. But, having said that, you have a game where a guy has a hot hand and really keeps you in the game and he did that for us.

On the comfort level in Roosevelt Jones in bringing the ball up the court ...

I've got complete confidence in Roosevelt's ability to handle the ball. (Jabril) Trawick made a nice play on the ball there. He's a physical guy, a physical defender so he made a great play there, but I have got great confidence in Roosevelt in, not only making the right play, but making the right pass if he needs to.

His thoughts on the play of Kellen Dunham. 13 points in the first half, none in the second half ...

I'd have to go back and look at the tape and see if there was a change. I thought he was able to get loose and get some clean looks in the first half, not as many in the second half. And I thought there were a couple that he had that he could have gotten off and he turned down. We wanted him to stay aggressive. We'll have to go back and look at film of that. We need him to be ultra-aggressive for us. I'm thinking of a couple, maybe in the second half, where I thought he could have gotten a couple of clean looks that he turned down. Having not looked at tape, I don't know if there was anything [Georgetown] did necessarily differently, other than pay him a lot of attention.

Did he notice a different level of aggression from Jabril Trawick to start the second half ...

I think they made a concerted effort to drive the ball coming out of halftime. They were really decking it on us and putting their head down and trying to drive it on us. Whether that was something that Coach Thompson said to them or not at halftime they were clearly focused on driving the ball and getting paint touches and they were effective at doing it early in the half for sure.

What was Butler's defensive plan on the last possession ...

We were playing our defense. I don't want to give away all of our secrets, we don't have many. We had a way that we were going to play the ball if it went into the post. We had a way that we were defending ball screens. We had a way that we were defending ball screens if [D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera] off of them. They just made a nice play and pass. I don't fault [Kameron Woods] at all for being where he was. Copeland stepped up and made a big shot.