March 19, 2009
MICHIGAN – 62
CLEMSON – 59
COACH JOHN BEILEIN: Yes, I thought
our defense today was really a big factor in this
game. If you look at the stats between Oglesby
and Rivers, 2-for-something from the deep outside
and had great perimeter defense because Booker
is so loaded inside and got a feel for offensive
rebounds, it's incredible. We've got to hang in
there.
Obviously they did a great job on the
boards and there's some things you can't even do
that. They're really good in there. I love the way
our kids persevered after they hit the three 3s and
we missed open ones and had the three
consecutive turnovers. Our kids still hung in there.
Zack had the big foul shot.
KEVIN KLINTWORTH: We're open for
questions for the student athletes only at this time.
Q. C.J., when you were the last person
being announced in the starting lineup, you
were sitting all by yourself. What were you
thinking with that weight on your shoulders
there all alone on the bench?
C.J. LEE: I was thinking what our team
has been thinking. We have no pressure. Go out
there and do the things we've been taught. I'm a
calming influence on offense. I did that for the
most part today except for some a few stretches.
That's all I'm thinking about when I'm going
through the game and defense.
Q. Manny, you allowed the game to
really come to you tonight but you know when
you made the 3-point play, was that just kind of
you knowing when -- you needed to kind of put
the team on your shoulders again?
MANNY HARRIS:
We work on that
everyday in practice two-on-one. It got in between
me passing the ball to DeShawn. I went up and
got my body into him and luckily I made the basket.
Q. You guys could have lost tonight
and in the eyes of most people this would have
been a very, very successful season. How did
you guys overcome the idea that you could
have just walked in here, done whatever but
actually caught on and beat a very good team?
MANNY HARRIS: To a lot of people, it
probably feel like that but, to us, we kind of -- to
ourself we expected to win, we wanted to win and
that was the main thing.
Q. C.J., you can you talk a little bit
about Manny's performance tonight and the
timing of his shots and made the teammates
better.
C.J. LEE: Manny did tonight what he was
doing all year. We ask so much of him on a daily
basis. He did a remarkable job of knowing when it
was his time to takeover.
Just throughout the game his patience to
know when to shoot. I mean he's got three guys
on him, he's kicking out for shooters and when he's
doing those things, we're a tough team to play
against.
Q.
Manny, you experienced what
Terrence Oglesby felt tonight, getting thrown
out for an elbow. What is it like? Where your
stunned?
MANNY HARRIS: It's frustrating. You go
into the locker room and pray that your team can
win. You know there's nothing you can do at that
point. The only thing you can do is pray and hope
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your team can win.
Q. Talk to us about Oklahoma, how you
think you'll matchup against the No. 2 seed
Sooners, DeShawn?
DESHAWN SIMS: They do a lot of -- we
haven't done a lot of scouting on Oklahoma yet.
I'm pretty sure in the next 24 hours our coaches
will have us prepared and ready to play.
Q. Manny?
MANNY HARRIS:
Same thing.
The
coaches are going to have us prepared.
C.J. LEE: Our coach is going to do a great
job of getting us ready.
STU DOUGLASS: We're going to be
prepared. The coach will get us prepared.
Q. DeShawn, you guys seemed to start
a bit slow. Do you think it was nerves, anxiety
going out there at first?
DESHAWN SIMS:
Definitely.
Eleven
years, first time in the tournament. We sensed as
a team we want to stay in the tournament. It
wasn't a compliment for us to make it. Anxiety
kicked in, little anxious. At the end we were able to
persevere.
It didn't take long for us to get a rhythm.
That's why we have great teammates. We pulled
each other together and were able to sustain
confidence throughout the game.
Q. DeShawn, in the first half they were
just grabbing offensive rebounds left and right.
Anything Coach told you or you told yourself in
trying to keep your confidence up and trying to
do something more inside?
DESHAWN SIMS: It was tough. Guys
were grabbing offensive rebounds and luckily I had
teammates pick me up. Most of it was things I can
control, just had some lapse during the game and
in the second half I gave a better effort and I gave
enough to get my team over the hump in the
second half and we prospered.
Q. Stu, you know, you and Zack have
kind of gotten used to being the starting five.
Was there anything today that you guys did
just to kind of calm the nerves a little bit, just to
kind of get ready for your first tournament
game?
STU DOUGLASS: You can't really say it's
another game. That's how you have to prepare.
And we came out and our coaches had us
prepared and we just had to be confident and trust
in ourselves and you can't get nervous and I don't
think Zack was nervous and I definitely wasn't
nervous.
Q. Manny, you guys used the bench a
lot tonight, seemed like they gave you minutes
even if they didn't give you points. Did you
notice the difference in freshness maybe down
the stretch?
MANNY HARRIS: Oh, yeah. The starting
guys, we need little breathers and stuff to keep us
fresh down the stretch and the guys, they came in
off the bench, came in and gave a great effort and
that's one of the big reasons why we was able to
pull out the win.
Q. Stu, talk about the intentional foul
and also what kind of impact it had on you
guys. You really pulled away after that.
STU DOUGLASS: You know, it was just -he was coming off a screen and, you know, if it's
intentional or not, elbow came up and hit me in the
face. Stuff like that happens.
We've experienced that as a tam. I think
we kind of rallied behind that. Oglesby is a great
player and for them to lose him is kind of big hit on
him and we played great perimeter defense but to
have one down at that time took a lot of pressure
off us.
Q. DeShawn, you've been here for
three years. How was your preparation and
your feelings before tipoff? How did that
compare to all the games you've played here
so far?
DESHAWN SIMS: It's safe to say that it
was different, this game, not because it's the
tournament game, because we almost got to the
point where we were striving to -- it was is it the
end of the road for us or what's next?
So it was a little different for me today. I
didn't prepare as well as I have in the past and I'll
be prepared to play on Saturday.
Q. C.J. the fact this could have been
your last game, did that bother or cross in your
mind before the game?
C.J. LEE: No, it didn't, honestly. I mean
all year we've just been talking about 40 minutes of
focus. The Coach is doing a good job of telling us
to play in four minute segments. See you in four
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minutes every media time.
I really haven't thought about it being the
end. I'm trying to play as hard as I possibly can to
keep this thing going and the team, what I can give
them.
Q. Manny, can you talk a little more
about that 3-point play when you get the ball,
they're coming back? What's going through
your mind there? Were you pretty determined
you were going to find a way to score at that
moment?
MANNY HARRIS: Like we said, went over
-- we practice that everyday in practice and the guy
just was kind of shading me and DeShawn and I
just wanted to make a play and that's what it ended
up being and lucky I was blessed to make the 3point play.
KEVIN KLINTWORTH: Okay. At this
point we'll let our student athletes head back to the
locker room. Thanks guys.
Questions for Coach John Beilein.
Q. John, obviously you've been on the
other side of having to play -- or ejected. Is
there anything in the huddle during that brief
moment that you tell your team that, you know,
maybe this was an opportunity that we can
kind of capitalize on right away?
COACH JOHN BEILEIN: I didn't even address
that. He's a very, very good shooter. Hadn't made
a lot of shots at that point. So I just said he's a
good player but this doesn't make any difference
right now. They've got other guys that are talented
come off the bench. Don't let down one minute.
Q. Coach, congratulations. Obviously
we don't know the winner of this next game but
how do you think you would matchup, talk
about the strength of your Michigan team and if
you should be facing Oklahoma, how you
matchup, obviously, with Blake Griffin?
COACH JOHN BEILEIN: I'm the wrong
guy to ask. I know nothing about them right now. I
really don't. I don't watch any of those games that
they've played. I know -- I remember seeing him
as a young recruit. I played against -- actually his
older brother when Calvin was coaching Oklahoma
and we had a West Virginia team. I really don't
know anything about him. You can bet in the next
42 hours I'll learn as much as I can.
COACH JOHN BEILEIN: Oh, you know,
you got two -- you saw four of them right now,
they're tough-minded kids and really want to win.
They came out there, played with a great edge on
their -- chip on their shoulder today as we were
fighting to get into this tournament. We weren't in
until the last couple days.
And I think that's always an advantage
going down the stretch when you're fighting to get
in and then you get in. I don't think you lose an
edge from -- not that Clemson did but teams are in
those middle seeds that knew they were in. They
didn't even win their last game or weren't fighting
as hard as we were. It was survival the last two
weeks for our kids.
Q. Coach, can you talk about the
balance that Manny Harris struck tonight,
aggressively taking the ball to the hole and
setting people up on his team?
COACH JOHN BEILEIN: And breaking
the press as well. We could get the ball to him on
the press, it was -- advance the ball very quickly.
He just finds people very well and Zack hit some
shots, C.J. hit a couple and then he finds -- always
finds DeShawn, he's always looking for him.
He makes a big difference in our
quickness and gets into the lane and he got -- he's
the leading rebounder as well tonight.
Q.
Coach, when Manny made that
move at the end of the game, you were up by
one with 30 seconds left, was that one of those
no-nos?
COACH JOHN BEILEIN: Absolutely. Just
like the three in the corner that Novak took. I don't
know if I would advise either one but there's some
things you just got to watch and see what they're
doing.
He did have some -- if we didn't have
something good, we say if the numbers weren't
right at that time, probably good idea to bring it out,
but one point we were -- they were going to have
to get it back. I don't know the exact number on
the clock. What was the number on the clock?
Q. 37 when he made the move.
COACH JOHN BEILEIN: When he went in
there. I probably look at him and say you have a
great shot here, it's got to be like a layup. When
Manny gets into crowds those are like layups to
him. If we didn't have something there we would
Q. The strength of your team, Coach?
Michigan – 03.19.09
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have pulled it out and made them follow us.
Q. You had some success against ACC
teams this year.
Is there any different
preparation against an ACC team?
COACH JOHN BEILEIN: I haven't had
any success against the ACC.
Q. You beat Duke. That's why you're
here.
COACH JOHN BEILEIN: I mean -- you
can look at just the score. Clemson is averaging
79 points a game and they had 59. I don't think
anybody in that game was holding the ball, right?
This game is played -- we've learned in the
Big 10 you do not survive if you are not going to
guard people, you know, be able to guard people
for 35 seconds and so, you know, that's one
difference I know that when you're averaging that
many points, it's hard when you can get that game
where it's just a little bit different pace.
We would have been crazy to do this all
day. You can see why, 21 offensive rebounds.
They would have another 20 defensive rebounds if
we played like that at well.
Q. Can you talk about the minutes you
got from Zack Gibson and Anthony Wright and
the hustle plays they made?
COACH JOHN BEILEIN: It was great.
When they started to make their little run back
Zack had two tipouts that were huge for us to get it
and then Anthony coming in and Manny -- a new
thing we put in, Manny drives the baseline and hits
Anthony in the corner and Anthony hasn't played a
great deal this year. He shot very good in practice.
We felt he was the right skilled guy for their
pressure and hit a huge shot for us and rebounded
as well. We had a lot of guys that were ready to
step forward today.
KEVIN KLINTWORTH: Last couple of
questions for coach.
the NCAA Tournament. I wasn't surprised. How
could we survive this? And somebody has got to
make one shot here and we got to get one
defensive rebound here to be in position to win the
game. Manny made the big shot and I don't think
we ever got the defensive rebound we needed.
Q. You've been in this situation first
game, first NCAA Tournament appearance with
your team.
How did this appearance of
Michigan compare to the other schools you've
been to?
COACH JOHN BEILEIN: Well, I think that
everyone of them, that first game has been an
absolute -- I don't think the first -- I think three of
the four have been actually last shot games, South
Carolina, they missed one at the buzzer, we beat
Creighton with a shot at the buzzer and the last
time, it was very well decided and we lost to Utah
once by a lot.
But they're intense for our kids. I think that
it took a little wind out of your sails to lead and then
all of a sudden hanging on. It's still a great W for
us to win today.
KEVIN KLINTWORTH:
Thank you,
Coach.
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Q. Coach, what was going through
your mind when they cut that 15 point lead
down to one inside a minute?
COACH JOHN BEILEIN: You know what,
we had the two 3s which I didn't mind taking. Stu
took one, Manny took one wide open might have
sealed the game. They went in and out and they
made the two. Then we had the three turnovers.
I know -- we know we have a young team
and we know we take care of the ball -- we don't
have a lot of experience of taking care of the ball in
Michigan – 03.19.09
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March 19, 2009
MICHIGAN – 62
CLEMSON – 59
KEVIN KLINTWORTH: Next up is Clemson Head
Coach Oliver Purnell, Trevor Booker and K.C.
Rivers.
COACH OLIVER PURNELL: Obviously,
we're terribly disappointed that we didn't win the
game and here in the first round of the NCAA
Tournament. I thought our big problem, of course,
was we couldn't get the ball to go in the basket.
I was pleased with our energy level on the
defensive end of the floor. I thought defensively
for the most part throughout the game we played
pretty well. We made some errors against the
Harris kid in terms of giving up some 3s but by and
large I thought we -- we did a pretty good job
defensively.
Certainly was an improvement over last
couple of weeks. Offensively just couldn't get a lot
of point blank shots to go in.
Late midway to late in the first half and
then during the second half, of course, we went
through the soap opera right there and were down
14, 15 after that and was all down and settled
down, we made a heck of a come back.
Got started to get even more stops and we
started to make some shots and gave yourselves
an opportunity to get back in it but we dug
ourselves too big a hole going into the half in the
second half with just not being able to get the ball
in the basket and then mainly not getting the ball in
the basket.
Obviously we're disappointed with the TO
situation because he's a young man that can give
us some spark every now and then but if that's the
case, if you elbow the kid, then he should be
thrown out.
KEVIN KLINTWORTH:
Questions for
student athletes at this time.
Q. K.C., obviously a disappointing end
to your career. What are you thinking right
now after that game?
K.C. RIVERS: Right now, I'm just trying to
look positive and not the negatives. Just let my
mind be free, really, right now. I don't know what
to think. It's been up and down ride, you know.
I cherish the fight I have in my teammates
throughout the whole year. They helped me
become the all time winningest player in Clemson
history. Right now my mind is really blank.
I'm just trying to look at more positive than
I am negative but right now I'm hurting.
Q. K.C., why don't you just talk about
what you were looking for on the last shot and
kind of how it set-up for you.
K.C. RIVERS: Well, I came off -- when I
was running off it looked like it was going to be a
good enough spot for me to catch and release but
a little jammed up. I figured if I take it down a little
further I could get a shot off and sure enough the
little man switched on me but the quicker I had to
turn, being a left-handed person, you got to turn
and square and it's got to be a fast turn and I didn't
turn as well and fortunately time ran out and the
ball was short.
That's what happened. I took the last shot
of my senior career.
Q. Trevor, can you just talk about your
efforts on the boards and how you kind of
dominated the boards but couldn't turn it into
really anything?
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TREVOR BOOKER: Well, we did a good
job of attacking the glass, especially the offensive
glass but unfortunately we came up short. I think
we got down a little bit too much in the second half
and we took too long to try to fight back.
Q.
K.C., did they do anything
particularly on defense to frustrate you guys?
K.C. RIVERS: Nothing we haven't seen,
you know. Just, again, we talked about not being
tentative and we talked about not being frustrated
at what we see and, again, some of the frustration,
some of the tentativeness creeped in.
After we got beyond that, the time was
kind of ticking short and still making that push but
the push was too late.
Q. I guess for Trevor, talk about the
overall disappointment of having such a strong
start back in February and having it end the
way it did the last month or so.
TREVOR BOOKER: Well, I think we
accomplished a lot throughout the season. We
didn't want it to end like this but I mean we still
learned a lot.
We came close as a team
throughout the season but unfortunately it ended in
tragedy.
KEVIN KLINTWORTH: Any questions for
student athletes? Okay. We'll have these guys to
head back to the locker room.
Questions for Coach.
Q. Coach, how did you try to reset
things after the Oglesby situation? What was
your approach to them?
COACH OLIVER PURNELL: Well, my
approach was to remind them that we talked about
both sides of the coin. We talked about being 15
up and as one hanging it together and get the job
done and we talked about being 15 down.
I just reminded them not more than 24
hours ago we talked about the situation. And I
think that positive thing is they were looking me
right in the eye. They believed that.
And you know, obviously, we came close
to getting the thing tied. Andre Young had a shot
go down that would have tied it. Obviously K.C.'s
was a tough look but could have tied it.
But, you know, you got to give Michigan
credit. They got up 15 and hung in there. They
were tired. They just hung in there. That's why
you don't want to be down 15 to a good team
because it's kinds of like a hot wire. Maybe you
stay up on it and get it done, make a couple shots,
get into overtime.
That happens so many times in this
tournament. The way we were making shots in
this game, probably wasn't going to happen. That
was the real key to the game was lose -- us losing
the game, couldn't make a layup, couldn't make
shots.
When you look Demontez, TO, K.C.,
Potter, their shooting percentages, we just couldn't
make a shot. And K.C., Potter had layups and
obviously didn't make them and I think Demontez
had four in the lane from about 7 feet.
Got to make some of those or you're going
to put yourself behind the 8 ball and then the
situation coming out of the half, all of a sudden
you're a man down, particularly a good shooter
down and by the time we kind of settled back in
from that situation, we're down 15.
Our guys made a valiant effort and again
when I looked at them in the eye and said we can
do this, I think they believed me.
Q. Coach, you're down 15 with under 6
to go and you bring it within 9 with a timeout.
What did you tell your team in that timeout after
they hit two 3-pointers and how proud of you of
your team with that 14-0 run?
COACH OLIVER PURNELL: I told them it
was a situation that we envisioned and talked
about, that we could be 15 up, 15 down. It's the
tournament. But because of our ability to kind of
hang in there as one, coming closer together we
could get it done and I thought they believed it.
I thought that's one of the reasons why we
gave ourselves a chance. So, yeah, I'm sure. I'm
proud of the fact they fought hard, proud. Fact
they came out here, ready to go defensively.
We hadn't played well defensively in the
last couple of weeks. But, at the same time, you
got to kind of put together a complete game. You
got to finish strong inside. We didn't do that.
Q. Same thing to ask the players, your
thoughts now about finishing the season the
way you did after the way you guys started the
season on such a strong run?
COACH OLIVER PURNELL: I would kind
of agree with both our guys. K.C. basically was
saying he's kind of numb and that's how I am right
now but Book said we've accomplished a lot of
things this year and I told the guys, you've had a
Clemson – 03.19.09
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solid year but it's not good enough for me. I don't
think that's good enough for the program. I don't
think that's good enough for you.
And told the seniors I hope they learned a
lot in terms of team and consistency and those
kinds of things as they go off to play for somebody
else or they go off into business. But from a
program standpoint, we can't be satisfied. Got a
lot of guys coming back, got some guys coming in
and we're just not satisfied with having a solid
year. We want to have a great year.
Q. The way it played out, you guys
spent so much time talking and working on
defense and getting your energy back on
defense and the press and all whole thing. I
mean did you ever envision just missing -- it's
one thing you don't worry about, missing a
layup?
COACH OLIVER PURNELL: Might miss
some jump shots. We weren't concerned about
that against the zone. You don't think you're going
to miss a lot of layups. And if you remember, we
talked about attacking Michigan or any other zone.
Make sure that we have balance and we get the
ball inside.
We don't want to get in a horse contest
from the outside. Sure enough we got it in there
and just didn't finish it. Really not a lot to say
about the execution. We just didn't finish.
KEVIN KLINTWORTH: Anything else?
Thank you, Coach.
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