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Georgetown 74, Creighton 73
Washington, D.C. ââ'¬" Verizon Center
Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Georgetown University Head Coach John Thompson III

On what defeating Creighton means for Georgetown...
My feelings are pretty good. It was a big game. I like the way our guys kept fighting. There was a lot of adversity coming from a lot of different angles throughout the game and I liked the way we kept fighting and kept plugging. In the locker room, every single person made a play, a winning play, to help us win this game. Every single person made a play and that's how we have to be. And at the end of the day No. 4 is No. 4.

On holding Creighton to 19-percent from 3-point range...
I think our guys were very attentive in the scouting report the last couple days. (Creighton) is a powerful offensive team. They share the game, they have different offensive weapons and they have a nice combination of interior and exterior. But I thought our guys did a good job - for most of the game - of staying tight and helping each other on Watson's penetration, but then knowing I have to run out as hard as I can and not go for the pump fakes. We got in trouble a couple of times, we'd close out, didn't have our hands on the ball and go for the pump fakes, but I thought we were attentive and they missed some shots that they normally make.

On if trapping and denying the ball to Maurice Watson Jr. energized the team down the stretch...
Without a doubt. We had to do something. Denying him is not easy - some people say "go deny him," ââ'¬" okay, but we wanted to get the ball out of his hands and see if we could make someone else make a play and it was effective. We had one key play where D'Vauntes had a big steal, obviously then Kaleb had a big steal, Marcus had one in the corner down by their bench and L.J. came up with a big steal. At that point we were in scramble mode and they were relying on their instincts to make plays.

On not calling a timeout late and letting D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera take the ball...
They ended up changing defenses actually. They went to a 1-3-1 right there during the last couple of possessions and most importantly I don't think we had any timeouts left.

On forcing 10 Creighton turnovers on 10 steals...
I'll be honest, I don't think that was part of the game plan. We just came up with the ball at the end. They don't turn the ball over, they don't make mistakes. Watson doesn't make mistakes, he just doesn't. So we're fortunate at that very last possession he fouled out - D'Vauntes drew a foul on him ââ'¬" because we were sitting there with six seconds left and if that little kid was in there, who knows what would happen.

On the importance of D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera having "ice water in his veins"...
We checked his veins three years ago, so we haven't had to go back and check. He makes plays. What the world doesn't see - I think it was during one of those TV timeouts - but we're in a timeout and he's telling everyone, "calm down, we're going to win." It's one of those things; you're frustrated where things are going and he's calming everyone down and then he goes out and makes the plays to make us win. So, I mean he's one of the best in the country and if you're coming down to the end, I'm going with him.

On Isaac Copeland posting career-highs in assists in rebounds, despite struggling from the floor...
That's what he has to do. What I mean is he can't label himself just as a scorer or a shooter and decided that he's in a rut or funk because he's not scoring or shooting the ball well. What he did today, he has to do other things, he's capable of doing other things and he's good at doing them. So we need him not to worry about the scoring, and that's not saying I don't want Isaac Copeland to score, but the seven assists, 10 boards, a couple of deflections, just play the whole game. Today he went out from the very beginning and made a concerted effort to play the whole game. Even as he's been in this, however you want to describe it...
early on he drove, got an and one, a couple of other times he got in there, he might have made one, he might have missed one, but it wasn't just living and dying by his jump shot. But he's skilled and talented enough where he can have these games where he's got the assists, the rebounds, the steals, the deflections, the communication on defense and if he keeps doing that the offense will come.

On what made this feel like a big game...
Because it was the one that was today. They all are big. You're not quite at the half way point, but if you look at our league, which is the most difficult league in the country, everyone is good, everyone can beat everyone top to bottom, so every game is the big game. Coming off a loss to Connecticut on Saturday, it's your next game, it's a big game. Saturday is going to be a big game.

On Trey Mourning's play...
That was nice wasn't it, great coaching. No, B.J. and Jessie had foul trouble, so we put Trey in there and it's kind of like the exact same thing we were talking about with Isaac just now. Trey scored six points, but he had a block, he had a big rebound, he had some good defensive possessions where I don't think he had a steal, but he was dancing around in the post and tipped and someone else came away with it, so it was good to see him going in there. All of us know those shots he makes, he makes, he's going to make those shots, but I was glad to see him do other things. We went right back with him in the second half and then at the end of the game and then he stepped up. He came through when his number was called. He's one of the hardest workers we have on our team in terms of being in the gym, being in the weight room and putting in the extra work, so he's prepared to have success when he gets in there.

On the officiating during the game...
During the course of the game we have to adjust to the officiating. You have to adjust to how they're calling the game. Sometimes it's more difficult than others to adjust to how they're calling the game and tonight was one of those nights, for one reason or another, we couldn't quite adjust to how they were calling the game, but our guys fought and kept playing.

Georgetown Senior guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera

On the last play...
I just knew we needed plays to be made and he didn't call a timeout, he didn't try and draw anything up. He trusted me and I wanted to come through.

On his free throws...
I just wanted to make them. I didn't really think about it too much. I shoot every day. My teammates instill the confidence in me to know down the stretch you've got to make the plays and that's what I wanted to do."

On how they played Creighton guard Maurice Watson Jr. We tried to close out on him, make him make plays over the top of the defense rather than drive it by us or let him get open looks. It's hard to contain someone who's 100 miles an hour all the time. He's definitely one of the toughest guards in our conference and I think we did a good job on him today."

Freshman Forward Kaleb Johnson On his steal...
I just knew I had to make a play and I did. On the defensive intensity in the last two minutes...
. Like Coach said, we were in scramble. We knew this was a big game and we needed a win. We all came together and made some big plays down the stretch.

Creighton Head Coach Greg McDermott

Opening statement ...
"Georgetown made some plays down the stretch. It felt like we dominated the game for the most part, for 37 minutes and we didn't execute very well late. As their coach I have to find a way to bring my team home in that situation and I didn't do my job today."

On when Georgetown started denying No. 10 Maurice Watson Jr. and doubling on the catch ...
"Well we wanted to be spaced and I don't think that hurt us. There was maybe one turnover as a result of that, but we missed the front end on 1-and-1. We had a wide open three to really open, 70-62, that would have put an end to it; up top, where Maurice [Watson Jr.] made a great decision coming out of the double team. Georgetown is long and athletic and can pose problems when they play in desperation. Obviously it was a pretty physical game. There was a lot of physicality that probably went unnoticed in the last few minutes."

On how he instructed his team after Georgetown went small with No. 33 Trey Mourning down low in the second half ...
"[Trey] Mourning did a good job the first half, providing a little bit more spacing because of his ability to shoot the basketball, so obviously we had to respect that coming into the second half. We also felt of Georgetown's three guys, he was the weakest defensively on the block so we wanted to go at him with [Geoffrey] Groselle, which we were able to do early in the half."

On the challenge that D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera gave Creighton late in the game ...
"It is difficult to keep a guy like that in front of you when he is in desperation mode. The game is over if he doesn't make a play. You want to stay a little closer to 3-point shooters when it's a six-point game or nine-point game, because the three-point shot hurts you more than two. And we just gave up too many easy-two's and that the reason I decided to go to the zone in the last couple possessions, but Georgetown still found a way to get into the teeth of our zone."

On how the loss will affect Creighton ...
"It hurts us if we don't learn from it. There is a lot of possessions in the course of the that game, where we made mistakes, where I made mistakes that I have to learn from and where each one of our guys didn't execute part of the game, which is important to us. If we don't learn from that, then it's a devastating loss. If we're mature enough to understand it's one game in the big scope of things and we learn from it, we come back to the practice floor with energy and focus on Thursday then I think it can make us better."

Junior Guard Maurice Watson

If fatigue was an issue for him ...
"No. We do a good job of conditioning in off season and every practice we transition a lot. I do a good job of taking care of my body during the year, so I don't think fatigue was an issue. I think I need to be stronger mentally, to not turn the ball over three times in the last five or six minutes. That's unacceptable, so it's not really fatigue; it's a mental on my part."

On the end of each half ...
"I think at the end of both halves, we let the shots that we didn't make dictate our play. When a lot of those shots are open shots, it kind of puts a damper on the confidence level that some of our shooters have and the confidence we have as a team. When we work hard and execute our plays to get an open shot and we don't knock them down, it tends to weigh on us on the defensive end and I think that's what we did. We had some rough patches and that's part of our maturity. You have to be able to dig down like we did during our game against Providence; dig down like we did in the last six minutes against Georgetown the first time we played them at home, when shots aren't falling. We have to make free throws down the stretch and I think I have to lead my guys better. I felt like that at the end of the game I let the turnovers dictate my body language and that's not something I can do. These guys rely on me, so I need to learn from this. I need to go back to the drawing board and not be in my head so much and find a way to keep my head up and keep my guys going."