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Georgetown 71, Creighton 51
Jan. 25, 2017
Post-Game Quotes

Head Coach John Thompson III

Opening Statement...

I usually sit here and say 'Questions." You go through a stretch like we go through, and I've heard a lot of people do this and I never have, but I just want to give God the credit and thank Him for the win.

On holding Creighton to low shooting...
I thought our guys, and everybody, not just four people on the court and the fifth the isn't, or three people on the court and two aren't, were very engaged. We were very, very engaged. And as a unit, I thought we did maybe the best job we've done this year, or even in a couple of years, of the people off the ball anticipating what was coming next. We've gone through too many stretches where we're just reacting to everything, it's a series of reactions and you end up chasing. But we've watched a lot of film and talked about it and I think they did a nice job anticipating and being there before an action happens. Clearly, they miss Watson and as you said, he's one of the best players in the country and he's averaging like nine or 10 assists and that takes a big hit, but they will figure it out. That's a very talented team without him and they will figure it out.

On playing them without Watson
We wanted to come off hard and make them make guys who haven't done it (ball screens) every day ââ'¬" not that they can't do it, and they will, and Mintiz ââ'¬" make them get the ball out of their and make decision. They're a team that if you let them flow, that's why, they have outstanding offensive players. They have so many good offensive players and you can't just let them flow.

On changes from last game to this game...
Xavier went to the foul line 49 times, we had one offensive rebound and I forget what the rebounding totals were, but you can't survive in this league like that. We did a better job today. We did a better job of not fouling. The first part of the year, we were very good at not fouling and getting to the line and we kind of reverted. Today I think the guys, and that goes to my initial point of paying attention to the details, making sure we had our hands up, and hopefully we can keep that going.

On rebounding...
I think a lot people, when you talk about rebounding, you start talking about the big guys. Our perimeter guys haven't been as engaged with rebounding as they were today. Jon Mulmore with six, Rodney with five and Jagan with four. It's easy to look and ask what Marcus did, what did Jessie do, what did Akoy do, what did BJ do. Our guards, our perimeter players, did a good job of running down the long rebounds.

On last year's game to this year...
In looking our game at their place last year, we took too many 3's. We were just passing it around the perimeter. We wanted to make sure, let's get to the rim, let's get to the rim, let's get a paint touch. We were successful, especially early when they were doubling every time the ball went to the paint. I think Jessie, BJ, Marcus did a very good job of throwing it out and the perimeter play making the play or the next pass. Let's just not settle for chucking up these shots.

Sophomore Center Jessie Govan

On what was working on the boards ...

We just made sure we put a body on everybody. That's a team that you have to box out because a lot of their offense is shooting the ball and then rebounding and getting second opportunities and third opportunities. We made sure we put a body on everybody and made sure we boxed out so they couldn't get those opportunities. And it worked in our favor today.

On 13-2 run in the first half ...

I think we just started making shots and attacking the basket and getting to the free throw line. Not settling for threes like coach said. We were really focused on defense today and I think that helped us during that run - we got the stops. They are a great three-point shooting team too and we held them to one three for the whole game. That was a big aspect of that too. It was just an all-around team effort.

Graduate Student Guard Rodney Prior

On what led to his 18 points and Georgetown's 20 assists on 29 made baskets ...

We knew we needed to get into our stuff quicker and be more aggressive with our cuts, with our movements. I got some looks early and stepped up and knocked them down.

On what he saw in the Creighton defense that led to more cuts to the basket ...

Well our guards do a good job of putting pressure on the defense, getting downhill. And I know now that guys are going to close out hard on me, so sometimes if they are really closing out hard, I have to show shot fake and get to the basket to put pressure on the defense also. Just being a good shooter, you have to be ready for people closing out hard. Without Watson ââ'¬" I don't know how good of a defender he was on the ball ââ'¬" but we have guards that can get downhill and that helps me.

Coach Greg McDermott

Coach Opening Statement:
"Obviously neither team shot the ball very well, with that even as poor as we played offensively I felt pretty good about where we were with seven minutes to go - I think it was 16-15. Then they scored 23 points in 11 possessions and we never recovered from that. We really didn't have an answer for Pryor or Peak, they were both really good. We're fighting a lot of adversity right now. We lost a great player. We have some guys hurt, some guys sick. But we have to be able to corral that adversity and try to use it to our advantage and to understand when we're not at full strength our execution needs to be at a better level. We're going to need some young guys to grow up really fast. That's what I was telling Justin walking down here. He's not going to be able to make freshman mistakes, for us to progress the way we need to progress and that's not fair to him. He's a freshman. He's 19 years old and supposed to be able to make these mistakes. But our margin for error is different than it was before and everyone going to have to play better and this group will stick together.

On recent history with Hoyas:
We lost a big lead here last year and beat them at our place, so I don't know if we really struggled here last year. But they are physical, long and athletic, and obviously very well coached. Their length presented some problems for us tonight. We get pretty small sometimes with that guard court at times so times Pryor and Peak were able to rise over the top of us and score and also hurt us on the backboards. So we need to be more efficient and fundamental with what we do.

Freshman Center Justin Patton

On playing without Watson:
"Maurice is a really good player, and it's not just me. He made the game easier for everyone including coach and our other teammates. It's hard but we just have to find a different way. When we stepped on campus June 6 we didn't know what type of team we were. Then we found it and now that we lost Maurice we have to do it again. Someone has to fill that void and step up. On rebounding vs Hoyas: Just toughness and execution and knowing that you need to box out. We knew coming into the game that this wasn't a good rebounding team and our job was to hit the offensive and defensive glass and we didn't do that. We just have execute and be tougher.