Creighton University
22-8,14-6Big East
Ohio
17-8,9-5MAC
How Sweet It Is! Men's Basketball To Sweet 16 After Win vs. Ohio
3/22/2021 7:05:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Hinkle Magic has Bluejays in Sweet 16 for first time since 1974
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- A 23-5 run spanning halftime helped the 19th-ranked and fifth-seeded Creighton men's basketball team make history on Monday evening at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse as the Bluejays earned a trip to the Sweet 16 with a 72-58 victory over 13th-seeded Ohio.
With the win, Creighton (22-8) advances to a game next Sunday vs. top-ranked and unbeaten Gonzaga (28-0) at a time and venue in Indianapolis to be determined later tonight. Creighton is 6-4 all-time against the Bulldogs. The Mid-American Conference champions, Ohio finishes its season with a 17-8 record.
It's the first time Creighton has won consecutive NCAA Tournament games in the same season in program history, and first time among the final 16 teams since 1974. Back in 1974, the tournament field was just 25 teams.
Creighton missed its first five shots before an alley-oop to Christian Bishop and wouldn't take its first lead until a Marcus Zegarowski three-pointer with 10:42 left in the half put the Jays ahead 13-11.
Creighton's offense started to click midway through the first half. Tied at 19, the Bluejays used back-to-back dunks by Bishop to initiate a 10-3 spurt that made it 29-22. The Bluejay run grew to 20-5 as they took a 39-24 lead into the half, its largest intermission edge ever in an NCAA Tournament game while sinking half of its 34 attempts from the field and holding Ohio to 31.3 percent shooting. Ohio star Jason Preston played all 20 minutes in the first half but was 0-for-5 from the floor and had just one free throw. Zegarowski topped CU with 13 points and Bishop contributed eight points and six rebounds.
CU then forced a turnover to open the second half and promptly found Mitch Ballock for an open three-pointer for the senior's first points, which made it 42-24. Back-to-back triples by Damien Jefferson and Zegarowski advanced the Bluejay edge to 52-31 with 14:41 left. Preston, who approached a triple-double vs. Virginia on Saturday, wouldn't convert a field goal until 12:22 remained in the game, and it came on his seventh shot attempt.
Ohio fought back, crashing the offensive glass and getting four points by Dwight Wilson III to get within 54-41 with 10:01 to play but Creighton would compile consecutive stops and stemmed the tide on a score by Jefferson.
A late rally by the Bobcats, highlighted by a three-ball from Mark Sears, trimmed Creighton's lead to single digits at 65-56 (2:26), but Zegarowski closed the door with four straight to ignite a 7-0 run for Creighton.
Zegarowski led five Bluejays in double-figures with 20 points. Creighton got a combined 68 points from its starting five, getting 15 from Jefferson, 12 from Bishop, 11 from Denzel Mahoney and 10 from Ballock. Bishop closed the game with a double-double, his sixth of the season, grabbing a career-high 15 rebounds.
Wilson led the way for the Bobcats with 12 points, but the Bluejays limited Preston to four points on 1-of-10 from the field.
NOTES: Creighton has made a three-pointer in 912 straight games and a trey before halftime in 283 contests in a row ... Marcus Zegarowski has made a three-pointer in 22 games in a row, tied for Creighton's eighth-longest streak in history ... A one-handed slam with 6:13 left in the first half was Christian Bishop's third dunk of the game, and 100th of his Bluejay career ... Marcus Zegarowski passed Bob Gibson on CU's all-time scoring chart with 1,274 career points ... Mitch Ballock passed Marcus Foster (1,292) for 21st on Creighton's all-time scoring chart with 1,299 points ... Creighton has won 24 games in a row, when holding opponents to 69 points or less ... Greg McDermott is now 5-5 in six NCAA Tournament appearances at Creighton ... Creighton's 22 victories are four more than any other BIG EAST team this season ... No. 5 seeds are now 16-3 against No. 13 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, including a 6-0 mark since 2007 ... Monday was the 80th anniversary of Creighton's first NCAA Tournament win ever, a 45-44 win vs. Wyoming ... Marcus Zegarowski reached 100 career steals in the win ... The win was Creighton's first at Hinkle Fieldhouse since January 31, 2017 ... Christian Bishop's 15 rebounds were the most by a Bluejay in an NCA Tournament game since Bob Harstad had 16 vs. New Mexico State in 1991 and the most by a Bluejay in any game since Ronnie Harrell Jr. had 15 vs. UCLA on Nov. 20, 2017.
NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Second Round - Ohio vs Creighton
Monday, March 22, 2021
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Hinkle Fieldhouse
Ohio Bobcats
Coach Jeff Boals
Postgame Media Conference
Creighton - 72, Ohio - 58
THE MODERATOR: We have Ohio head coach Jeff Boals. We'll start with an opening statement.
JEFF BOALS: Number one, congratulations to Creighton. Very, very good team, well coached, and I hope they continue this journey. Really, really proud of our guys. I thought they battled, competed. This is a special group on and off the floor. The way they represented Ohio University, the way they represent their families, our basketball program is just a high character group of guys.
You hate to see something like this end the way it ended, but that does not take away from anything that they've done. I told them afterwards as an alumnus, as a former player, thank you, and that I loved them. This team will be bonded for life. It hurts right now, but it's going to be a great memory someday.
Q. Jeff, obviously, your offense did not have the kind of night it wanted to, season low in points, you guys never found a groove from three. Was it more what they did, what you guys didn't do? Could you explain the struggles on the offensive end?
JEFF BOALS: I think it was a little bit of both. We wanted to get up and down. Transition has been a big key for us all year long, and we weren't able to get some easy looks in transition. They're a physical, defensive team. A lot better after playing them than watching them on tape I thought.
They were trapping the ball screen. We did some things in the second half to combat that. We got some really good looks in the first half, but they just didn't fall. When you dig yourself that big a hole against a really good offensive team, you spend so much energy getting back into it. I think we cut it to 10. Shooting free throws, could have cut it to eight. I think it was nine at one point. And just came up short.
Q. First off, congrats on a great season. It seemed like in the second half the team never felt like it was out of it, always kept trying to come back, but at what point did the clock start to have an effect on what you wanted the offense to be able to do?
JEFF BOALS: I think the way they guard us, they switched a lot. They trapped those ball screens. They were very physical, pushing us off the block. A lot of those shots, we miss in the first half. Lunden McDay hit some big ones in the second half. Like I said, they're a lot better defensive team after I played them than I thought coming in.
But give them a lot of credit. We just came up short today. We didn't have it. A lot of it was them, and some of it was us.
Q. First off, congratulations on a great season, Coach. Thinking back to when you guys had the COVID issue and now here you are playing in the second round of March Madness, what does that say about the resilience of this group, and how even against all odds, they still found a way to come here?
JEFF BOALS: That's what I told them. I could not have been prouder of the way they handled everything, the way they responded. That shows the character of these guys. You go all the way back to the day that the tournament got cancelled last year, and through the summer, and the sacrifice that these student-athletes on a daily basis did, we had the pause, they responded the right way that way. We got regular season games cancelled at the very end, and for them to go win the MAC Tournament like they did, with a mindset and a focus, and go three straight games and play the way they played, and then come in and win a game against the defending national champs, the ACC champs, and came up a little short against a really good Creighton team.
Like you said, the resiliency of this group, I love them, 1 through 15, just an awesome, awesome ride that they brought me on.
Q. Most of the last seven minutes was you guys trying to keep up with the Bluejays on that 14-2 run in the last seven minutes of the first half, and then first bit of that second half was you guys fighting to keep in the game. What kind of -- what was the -- when you guys were those time-outs, what was the main focus of that huddle? What were you telling them to do? What did you want them to focus on?
JEFF BOALS: When you play a team like that where they really push the ball, and they've got great guards. I think they've got three seniors, couple juniors, thousand point scorers, multiple guys, multiple guys that can make threes, we missed shots, and they turned those into transition points. We turned the ball over, they turned those into transition points.
In the second half, we competed, battled, fought back into it. I thought our press was effective, but when you do that, you expend a lot of energy, and I think we were down ten. J.P. shot that ball with about 4:07 left. He hits that three. You're down seven with four minutes to go, and it's a different ball game. But we came up short.
Q. Jeff, looking ahead, this is only your second year as the head of your program, and I know you guys want to get back to this point. So what do you hope your guys learned through this experience this year, especially Jason Preston?
JEFF BOALS: Yeah, I think number one, they can compete with anybody. I think the mindset right now is we just lost a game, but a whole body of work -- you know, this is a special group, like I said. They're fun to be around. They came every single day. They're great on the court. They're great off the court. They're great students. They represent Ohio University in the right way. This is who we want in our program.
To taste the success and win the MAC Tournament and come in the NCAA Tournament where no one's played in either one, to do what they did, this will be the memory of a lifetime. They'll know that they can do it again, but it's a lot of hard work. Winning is hard, and it's not just showing up to practice, it's a lot of different things. A special group.
Q. You mentioned Creighton's defense was physical and that caused some problems. Did they do anything particularly on Jason Preston and all that that made it difficult for him?
JEFF BOALS: They trapped all the ball screens, which trying to get the ball off his hands, and we had a couple of things that we wanted to do against that, but we were so extended. The ball screens were happening at 28 feet as opposed to 20, 21 feet. We made a couple of adjustments in the second half. I thought we were better off of them, but give them a lot of credit.
I mean, Jason Preston has gotten us this far. He's a special player. One of the best players that ever played at Ohio University. I know he didn't play very well tonight, but he's the reason we're here.
Q. Coach, it's come up a couple times, and you've mentioned it about their physicality. What can you do in game when all of a sudden you see that that's really taken its toll? I would guess -- and they had the one time-out after they got the couple alley-oops, a couple shots above the rim and whatever. How do you try to get your team to recalibrate, so to speak, and say, hey, this isn't the game we expected, but this is what we got? How do you kind of get back into that?
JEFF BOALS: A lot of it's how the game's called. I thought the three officials did a very good job, but you've got to adjust to it. If they're playing physical, you've got to be a little tougher with your cuts. You've got to be tougher with your screens. You can't let them knock you off balance in the post. I thought they were physical on offense too. They kept on backing us down, drives, post-ups. You just have to adjust to it and figure out how they're guarding you.
Q. Just wanted to follow up on just what you mentioned, just about the physical nature of the game tonight. You played other teams, particularly Illinois and Virginia as well, and I'm just wondering if that's sort of the difference between the Power 6 conferences and the so-called mid-majors? Is there anything that -- I mean, is that something that -- I'm just wondering if that's what you see.
JEFF BOALS: Yeah, I don't think so. There's a lot of teams in our league that are physical teams, and I think -- if you look at their team, they're a really good team. They've got three seniors, two juniors, thousand point scorers, they played a lot of games together. They're big, strong, their wings, their 3 and their 4 and their 5, very athletic. They pose a lot of problems.
You might have bigger, athletic guys, but we've seen physical teams throughout the course of the year.
Q. You talked a little bit earlier about Jason Preston and the impact he's had on this program, but being his coach for the last two years, what do you feel like the impact that you left on him is and vice versa?
JEFF BOALS: I've been in 26 years of coaching, and I've never seen a story like his. To see where he's come in a five-year time frame, the adversity he's overcome, and to show the character he's shown, the perseverance he's shown, the leadership he's shown -- he's a great teammate, great student, very appreciative and thankful. He teaches me a lot of lessons.
I'm just a small part of what he's done and what he's going to do. Biggest thing is I'm thankful I was able to coach him for a couple years. Like I said, he's going to have a decision to make here. We'll take some time off, regroup, see where he's at mentally and talk out, communicate, and see what happens with him.
NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Second Round - Ohio vs Creighton
Monday, March 22, 2021
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Hinkle Fieldhouse
Ohio Bobcats
Jason Preston
Postgame Media Conference
Creighton - 72, Ohio - 58
Q. Jason, you're often your own worst critic when it comes to things. How would you process your night tonight, and what would you attribute it to? Were you off your game? Were they really good defensively? What kinds of things happened to you out there offensively, and how do you feel about it?
JASON PRESTON: You know, give them credit. They were really determined in the first half to get the ball out of my hands and ball screens, trap me hard. But I missed a lot of makable shots tonight, a lot of floaters I should have finished, missed all my threes. This is on me. I missed so many makable shots.
Q. Jason, at one point in the season, Ohio was .500 in the MAC, and you guys made it all the way to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. To turn around that season like that, what can you say about the turnaround of that season and the improvement you guys had to just make it this far?
JASON PRESTON: It just speaks to our culture. Our culture that Jeff Boals -- Coach Boals, I mean, I'm sorry -- has done for our program. I don't know if you saw any of our elimination games, but just the energy has been amazing. From the start of the game, they're waving their towels. It just shows everyone who's not playing, 1 through 15, we're all locked in. We're rooting for each other, we're all cool with each other.
I'm just so thankful that all 14 of those guys are my brothers. It goes down to the training staff, the assistants, everybody. I'm just very thankful.
Q. Jason, Coach Boals earlier said, as an alumni and a former player, thank you to you all. What has your relationship been like with him, and what has he done for improving you all in this program?
JASON PRESTON: Everything. Coach Boals, Coach Boals means everything to this program. You know, what he does, the confidence he gives us -- and it's fun. It's fun. Like I talked about our culture, and Coach Boals, he did that. He taught us how to celebrate our wins, how to respond to our losses. Even at halftime, we were down 15, and everyone was just positive. Just how he's handled everyone and made improvements to people's characters.
He's big on the little things. It's not just basketball with him. On and off the court, he's going to do anything for you. I love that guy. I'm so thankful that he's my Coach.
Q. Jason, you got to experience something that very few athletes get to in their entire career. When you first came to Ohio, you knew that this would be a possibility of a goal to achieve, but now that you reached this pinnacle, what does it mean to you to be on this stage and to be able to accomplish that with this group of guys?
JASON PRESTON: When I look back on this, it's going to be a memory of a lifetime. I'm just so grateful to be here. This doesn't happen often. I was telling our freshmen the other day this stuff just doesn't happen often. I'm taking it all the way back to freshman year, prep school, high school. This has been a dream of mine to make it here my whole life. I had one of my worst games of my career today, but I'll forever be thankful for this experience, the lessons I learned from all this. Yeah, I'm just grateful.
Q. What are the things you'll be thinking about in the next days, weeks, about your future and whether you want to come back or not?
JASON PRESTON: I can't really think about that now. I'll take it day by day, pray about it, talk to God about it, talk to Coach Boals about it. We'll weigh our options, and we'll see what we'll do.
Q. What are you going to remember most about this year besides, obviously, getting to this point in the season? Is there a moment? Is there a period? Is there something that's going to kind of like crystalize what this whole year has meant to you, Jason?
JASON PRESTON: I'll remember how fun it was. I'll remember how fun it was. Every day -- Coach Boals was just talking about how rare it is, every day you come to practice, and it's fun. You want to play with one another. Every guy is unselfish. We don't have egos on this team. It was just so fun doing it with the team.
Some of these teams, they win, and I don't know if they really have fun doing it, but every day was a blast. It really sucks that it's all over, but it was just so fun to be here.
Q. Jason, I just wanted to follow up on what I asked you before. I guess, what are the things that you're going to be considering, the things that you'll talk about with Coach Boals and maybe your family and other people that are close to you?
JASON PRESTON: I'll probably talk about my future. I love Ohio so much. I'm so thankful for the opportunity that I've been given to play here for three years, and like I said, we'll weigh all of our options and see what happens.
Q. Jason, at the end of the game, I saw that you and Ben Vander Plas had a long moment together. What was conversation like between you two?
JASON PRESTON: Ben Vander Plas. I love Ben Vander Plas. That guy is my brother for life. Man, we do everything together, and he makes the game easier for me. It's so fun -- it was so fun to play with him. Off the court, we're always eating together, talking together. It kind of sucked being in a hotel with no roommate. He's always my roommate. We're always talking.
Oh, man, he really doesn't get all the credit he deserves sometimes. That's an amazing basketball player. You want to talk about a guy that can defend one through five, pass, knock down threes, go in the post. I love Ben Vander Plas and everything he's done, him and his family. They're amazing people. I love that guy.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Jason. Appreciate your time today. Congrats on a great season.
NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Second Round - Ohio vs Creighton
Monday, March 22, 2021
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Hinkle Fieldhouse
Creighton Bluejays
Coach Greg McDermott
Postgame Media Conference
Creighton - 72, Ohio - 58
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thanks for joining us. If you'd like to provide some opening comments.
GREG McDERMOTT: Just incredibly proud of this group. The journey of the last two years with this core group of guys has been incredible, and as I told them before the game, this is where they were suppose ed to be. Last year's tournament got taken away. We would have been a 2 or 3 seed. And the celebrations of a great season last year were taken from us because of the virus.
To sacrifice and do everything that they've done to allow us to get to this day has been pretty incredible by a special group of young guys. So I couldn't be more proud of them. Obviously, we beat a very good Ohio team that was playing at a high level, and especially defensively, I thought we did a terrific job.
Q. I'm curious for you what it means to lead this program into a regional semifinal for the first time since 1974.
GREG McDERMOTT: Yeah, it means a lot. Obviously the tournament was a lot different in '74, there were fewer teams. So really since the expanded tournament, this is a first.
So to do it with this core group of guys, as I mentioned, what they went through last year, to be able to get to this day and have this opportunity, I'm really, really proud of them, and obviously appreciate the support of everyone that's helped me along the way, starting with my wife, Theresa, and my family, and then the Creighton administration, from Father Hendrickson to Bruce Rasmussen to Butch and Adrian Dowell and the gang. They've been incredibly supportive during our 11-year tenure here, and this is a ribbon on top of it for now, but I hope we're not finished.
Q. Mac, Denzel's defense on Jason Preston tonight, you can argue that Jason Preston is one of the top two or three guards in this whole tournament, and it didn't seem like Denzel and Shereef ever let him get into a rhythm.
GREG McDERMOTT: Denzel was terrific in both games, both against McLaughlin and against Jason Preston. As you mentioned, Jason is very talented, sees the floor so well. We didn't want to allow him to be a passer and a scorer, so I thought Denzel's work on him, on the ball, Christian and Ryan in the ball screen coverage was really good.
Then just like the Santa Barbara game, the change-up going from Denzel to Shereef, that's a hard one to follow as an offensive player, when all of a sudden you've got a big, strong physical defender on you in Denzel with great anticipation skills, and now you come in with this little guy that's going to get under you and poke at the ball and make every dribble difficult, that's hard to adjust to.
Those two have really emerged the last month of the season as go-to defenders for us. From where Denzel was coming from Southeast Missouri where he played the four all the time and guarded bigs and he did a lot of that last year to what he did today speaks volumes of his buy-in and his development on that end of the floor.
Q. Mac, Marcus talked a little bit about it, about the importance of playing loose and free. Did you get more of a sense tonight that they were a little more at ease, and how big was that first half surge?
GREG McDERMOTT: I think there was some nervous energy in that first game on Saturday. I thought we were a little better today. Their ball screen coverage was probably a little different than we anticipated, and I thought it took our guys a little time to get settled into that. Once we did, I thought we played better offensively and we were able to create a little separation before halftime.
Marcus just plays the game. He plays the game the right way. He's -- everybody's talking about a lot of good guards. You know, McLaughlin Saturday and Preston today and how good they are and what they mean to their team and their ability to play after college. They're missing the boat on the guy we've got on our team. That dude is going to -- when he makes a decision to go to the next level, he's going to play a long time because he wins, and he won when he was in high school, he won in AAU, and he's won in college.
He's got a grit and a toughness about him that you don't see often, and he's absolutely been a pleasure to coach.
Q. Greg, did you -- was there a moment at all, today, yesterday, when you got a sense that your guys were in the right frame of mind. You mentioned that you told them before the game, hey, this is where we're supposed to be. I'm wondering if you had an inkling at all that they might come out and play pretty well today?
GREG McDERMOTT: I felt good after the UConn game. I thought, for us to be able to win that game, as well as UConn was playing and kind of win a rock fight, where we didn't necessarily shoot the basketball great, even though we didn't play good against Georgetown -- and Georgetown deserves a lot of the credit -- I really felt good coming into this tournament because of that.
We've been in a lot of close games this year, and sometimes in the NCAA Tournament, especially in the early rounds, teams don't shoot it great for whatever reason, and we had to find other ways to win, and we really did a great job on two really good offensive teams, the two teams that we played in the tournament.
So their preparation was good. Their focus was good in the film room yesterday and this morning before we went over to shootaround, and they were hungry to play, and this group's been together a long time, and they know that I trust them, and I think they trust each other, and you saw that, I think, this afternoon.
Q. Chad Gallagher, a Hall of Famer, Paul Silas, and now Christian Bishop, the only Creighton Bluejays with back-to-back NCAA Tournament games with double double performances. Can you explain the level that Christian is playing at right now?
GREG McDERMOTT: It's incredible. You know, he's so active, and he tweaked the ankle the first play of the game against Georgetown and really struggled in practice most of the week probably until Friday, when he went through a full practice. He's attacking the glass. His ball screen coverage is elite, and his ability to roll to the rim and do what he does and run in transition is incredible.
Those are two spectacular names that he's in company with, and our sports information director, Rob Anderson, told me before the game or this morning at breakfast that the four NCAA Tournament wins that Creighton has since 2002, somebody's had a double double in that game, and the losses, nobody's had a double double. So we've got to find someone to have one again on Sunday against Gonzaga.
Q. Greg, curious about that run at the end of the first half where you guys finished on a 20-4 pace there. What do you think happened? What changed there late in the first half?
GREG McDERMOTT: Well, I thought we got some stops, and we got out in transition. I felt we were a little bit tired. I sensed that, and I think our guys sensed that. We're used to playing that way, and while there's some teams in their conference that play fast, I'm not sure they play as fast as we do.
So we were able to continue to put pressure on them in transition, and that created some mistakes on their part, and we were able to get loose and hit some shots during that stretch.
You don't have a 20-4 run without the 4, so defensively, you have to be doing that job, and obviously that allows us some run-outs and gets us in space, and we're really good when we play in space.
Q. Greg, you know how kind of tight knit the Creighton family is, especially from the basketball program side. I wondered -- I know you know that there's a lot of alums watching and a lot of former players who take pride in this. Did you hear from any of them the last couple of days, the last week or so? Just sort of what's your impression of how connected this group is and how much they cheer for you guys as you make this run?
GREG McDERMOTT: I've received a lot of texts during the course of the season from a lot of former players, and obviously a lot of our former guys that played for us, playing overseas or some of them in the NBA, are tuned in all the time. Then the guys that have moved on with their families and are in their jobs have played for Coach Altman and even before Coach Altman, the Creighton family, it's a special place.
You saw it in our fans today, and as I told the team in the locker room, we had a bunch of people here that took time out of their busy schedule to find their way to Indianapolis, not as much -- not just because they enjoy watching this group play basketball. I think they enjoy who this group is and what they stand for and how they've represented our university over the course of their careers.
To have so many people here today to celebrate on this stage is something that I'll never forget, I know our guys will never forget. But we've talked about having the best fans in the country for a long time, and we didn't get to enjoy the 17,000 or 18,000 fans per game at home this year, but the fact that we had that group here today and they were loud and they were proud and they had a chance to celebrate history with us is something that none of us will ever forget.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thanks so much for being here. Congratulations again, and best of luck going forward.
NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Second Round - Ohio vs Creighton
Monday, March 22, 2021
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Hinkle Fieldhouse
Creighton Bluejays
Marcus Zegarowski
Postgame Media Conference
Creighton - 72, Ohio - 58
THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the NCAA March Madness post-game press conference featuring Creighton. We're joined now by Marcus Zegarowski. Marcus, we have several questions for you.
Q. Marcus, big run at the end of the first half there, 20-4. What was going on there? Why were you guys so successful?
MARCUS ZEGAROWSKI: You know, I just think we found our rhythm offensively and started getting stops. Once we get stops and get out in transition, we're tough to guard. That's what we have to do moving forward.
Q. I guess with the change of pace tonight off the dribble, keeping it alive and kind of surveying the defense and getting inside and outside, did you feel like that was dictated by what Ohio was showing you defensively? Were you just trying to keep the ball alive as long as possible to see if you have windows to score or facilitate?
MARCUS ZEGAROWSKI: You know, with the ball screen coverages, it was either going to be a red, which is like the big men kind of shows, like takes two steps down and goes back to the big, and my mankind of goes under him. Or they do drop coverage, and most of the time it was drop coverage. Those two-pointers were there. I probably missed all the easy ones.
Yeah, that was it. I was just trying to read it, trying to get a flip up or a throw back, but, yeah, it was more of a drop coverage, and that made me keep my dribble alive, and yeah.
Q. Marcus, congratulations. Have you thought about the magnitude of this achievement, bringing Sweet 16 trip to Creighton, and how does it feel to achieve one of your goals?
MARCUS ZEGAROWSKI: Yeah. It's a phenomenal feeling. We worked -- this is a two-year kind of thing for us. We got it taken away from us last year, and everything we've been through this year is for moments like this, and I'm happy we capitalized and came through.
But you know, we're not done yet. This is just the start, and we look forward to our next matchup with Gonzaga.
Q. Marcus, to that point about accomplishing that goal, getting in the second weekend, you have more left to do. You're the one that's steering this ship right now. Can you take us through your mentality?
MARCUS ZEGAROWSKI: My mentality is you don't expect to win. That's who I am. I'm always going to expect to win. I don't care who I play. I know they're a great team. I know they have no weaknesses. I know they haven't lost, but that doesn't change my mentality. I'm going in telling my guys, they've still got to play us. Obviously, that don't take nothing away from them. They're a great team. They dominate teams. We have to have a really good game plan and really execute that. I look forward to those practices coming up.
Q. Marcus, what do you think a win like this can do for the national reputation of this program moving forward?
MARCUS ZEGAROWSKI: I think it brings more light to it. I already think Creighton is a great school to come to.
It's awesome. And just continuing to win games, especially this time of year, is only going to help this program out, and I'm happy to be a part of that.
Q. Marcus, I mean, it just looked like you guys had a certain, I don't know, spark to you. It always helps to make shots, I'm sure, but like just the energy that you had, did you feel a little bit different tonight or as the game was rolling that maybe you could -- that you guys felt like you had a rhythm going?
MARCUS ZEGAROWSKI: Yeah, I think the first game of this tournament, it felt like we were almost on our heels a little bit, like maybe a step too slow. We were kind of in our own heads, including myself. I was pretty nervous. That was my first March Madness game.
Getting that one over with and getting on to the next one, I just think we play better when we play free and we just play loose and just try to enjoy it and enjoy each other, and that's what we've got to do.
Q. Marcus, I believe the only game of your career where you guys allowed a hundred points in regulation was to Gonzaga back in your freshman year. I know the rosters have changed a lot, but what are your memories of their 62-point second half that night, and do you guys feel like you'll have to a play a perfect or near perfect game to beat them?
MARCUS ZEGAROWSKI: I do remember that game. We were up in the second half. To beat them, we have to play really, really well for 40 minutes. We can't have spurts where we take a bad shot or miss an assignment. We have to on our -- we have to be. They're a great team, and like I said, they don't have any weaknesses. So for us to mess up on a game plan on defense or take a bad shot on offense is only going to help them out.
I'm still confident. I feel ready. We'll be ready.
THE MODERATOR: Marcus, congratulations. Best of luck in the next round.
