Lavall Jordan Kelan Martin Tyler Wideman

Big East Conference Men's Basketball Tournament Friday, March 9, 2018 LaVall Jordan night, do you feel like the team was more emotionally spent coming into this game, that that Kelan Martin maybe affected the execution going forward offensively? COACH JORDAN: Yeah, I thought -- we thought we Tyler Wideman tried to plan it out as best we could from last night. Butler Bulldogs Obviously that was -- you had to fight to come back and win in a thriller. And try to get these guys as Villanova - 87, Butler - 68 rested and recovered as possible along with refreshing ourselves on Villanova and coming up with a game COACH JORDAN: Start off by saying that's a heck of a plan, which didn't prove to be a very good one. basketball team that we just played. A lot of credit goes to them for coming out with the level of intensity I thought they did a good job of denying Ke the that they did. Obviously they made a ton of shots. basketball. Obviously he's a big part of our offense. They took him away many times and wouldn't let him But I'm extremely proud of our group for just catch it. responding. After the first big run it was even after that. If you spot a team like that 16, 19 points, it's We had some cuts that were open and they crowded going to be really tough to dig out of that. But as we us and we couldn't see them at all times. And so, like I talk about in the locker room, circumstances don't said, a lot more to do with them and we didn't respond, define you as much as how you respond to the timely responses. circumstances. When you're playing like that defensively everything So I thought our guys continued to fight the entire way. has to be on time. When they're cutting, the pass has We found some smooth air at a certain point and cut got to be there. If Tyler sets a screen and rolls and into the lead a bit and they responded. Sometimes you he's open, it has to be there now because they rotate have to give the other team credit, shake their hands. really well. If they play like that they'll be playing for a long time in March. Q. Kelan, you had had some good games against Villanova in the regular season. What did they do THE MODERATOR: Questions. differently defensively against you to frustrate you and get you out of rhythm? Q. We know this isn't the first time this season that KELAN MARTIN: It wasn't frustration. It was just they Butler has fallen behind early. Do you see any kind denied me, every player they had just denied me the of common thread that causes that to happen to ball. I was just trying to get open every time. I mean the Bulldogs so often? hats off to them; they had a great game plan for me. COACH JORDAN: I don't know. We've gotten off to And sometimes you just can't beat it. And, I mean, just good starts at different games, and sometimes, I think things like that happen. tonight had a lot more to do with them coming out and they didn't miss. We weren't as solid as we had been. Q. Coach, obviously things are looking good ahead of Selection Sunday, and this is a great Nova team When we had to rotate they made an extra pass, which that you guys played. But how do you build off of a is what Villanova does. They made the shots. loss like this ahead of March? Sometimes you need them to miss a couple of shots to COACH JORDAN: That's a great question. I think you give you some life or give you a chance to get back in look at the guys in the locker room and look at our two it. senior leaders and I have a lot of faith in this group. Q. You spoke about how this was more or less Told them in the locker room, I love this group, what about what they did. In terms of the comeback last we've become. I think it's a group of fighters. That's Rev #1 by #188 at 2018-03-10 04:58:00 GMT page 1 of 2 what will define us for the rest of time. Team 120 chapter of Butler basketball history is they're a group of Q. Tyler and Kelan, you guys have had some great fighters; we've been down, we've come back, we've things happen in recent days. You've had some won and continued to fight. We continue to fight downs. What's your sense of the team's state of tonight. And our fight wasn't enough for these guys. mind heading into the NCAA Tournament? KELAN MARTIN: Staying in the moment. Now is win And so we'll get into Selection Sunday, get into the or go home. We talked about it in the locker room just tournament. We'll be excited. These two will be one of now. We'll be fine. We've got something to play for. three classes to do that for four straight years and we'll And it wasn't like we didn't have nothing to play for fight. We'll see where we go and who we're going to tonight, but I mean now it's do or die, win or go home. battle with. So staying in the moment, staying within ourselves and just compete and just outsmarting teams. Q. The toughest part about defending a team like Villanova that at times can put as many as four 3- TYLER WIDEMAN: Just take it one possession at a point shooters on the floor at the same time. time. Every possession matters. Like he said, it's win COACH JORDAN: Seemed like six. And they don't or go home. And just trying to live in the moment, play miss. That is what makes them a very difficult each possession and take it one game at a time. challenge is they have a shooter at every position. But they also can post at every position, so they can invert THE MODERATOR: Thank you. and bring their big guy away from the basket. They're posting Jalen. He's probably their best post player, and Brunson. And it makes it a challenge because your guards have to play post defense. And at the point when you over help or try to commit, the ball moves quickly and now you're in rotations. They're the most fundamentally sound team that we face. They shot fake if you jump. The next thing you know the guy's in the paint and rotate, and they move it to the next guy. They're unselfish. When they're shooting at that clip you kind of have to outscore them. We didn't score enough early to stay in it. Q. You've gone up against Mikal Bridges three times this season. Talk about having to account for him on both sides of the ball this season? COACH JORDAN: Yeah, he scored in like two seconds. They tipped it, passed it and he shot it in. That lets you know a little bit of their mentality and his mentality. He's a tough man. He's so long defensively, we tried to get him on a couple of backdoors, he deflected it. They put him on the front of the three-quarter press and it slows you down. It's hard to get up the court, and you have a flow to what you're doing. So both sides of it, he presents a real challenge just matching with him on one end but disrupting your flow offensively on the other. And he recovers so well defensively with his length. So he's a really, really good player, obviously a lottery pick. It's been a good challenge and good battle for these guys to go up against him. Rev #1 by #188 at 2018-03-10 04:58:00 GMT page 2 of 2.

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