News Conference: Arizona Sweet Sixteen Postgame

JACKSON-CARTWRIGHT: . THE MODERATOR: We're joined by
Arizona Arizona, head coach Sean Miller and student
-athletes Parker Jackso n-Cartwright and Kadeem Allen.
THE MODERATOR: Allen.
Coach, a quick opening statement.
COACH MILLER: Well,
it's never easy when it ends, especially if you have a great
team or had a great season. I think it's always important,
especially as the leader of our team and program, that we define
our own success. And I think if you're a team that is 32-5,
you win both the Pac-12 regular season and also the Pac-12
tournament tournament , and our journey ends in in
the Sweet 16 in the Sweet 16, it's hard to look
at that as not getting it done or failure. But our goal and
aspiration is always to challenge for a Final Four and
get there. And we pulled up short. I cannot say enough good
things about Xavier. It's not because I used to be there. I
think their coach is awesome. He had his way with us tonight.
He called plays after after after after
timeouts underneath out of bounds. He got his players some
great shots. I knew going into the game it was going to be a
challenge and there were a number of breakdowns we had.
Some of this is this is our plan , we have to execute it, and
then there's some other things that you know what Chris is a
great coach. And they have some clever older players in Bluiett
and Macura Macura. And they all know their role on that
team and they executed. We could not guard them. If you
just go through the numbers, it wasn't the total points, it was
the field goal percentage, 3-point percentage
percentage. And the thing that kept us in the game is our rebou
nding. Usually when we have a 35-27 rebound margin we win.
And very few times, if we're up eight points with I think under
four minutes do we lose. But we did. When they had the
opportunity to take a shot or make one, they made them. And
we had a couple that didn't go in. Equally disappointed in
myself myself. You know, our team never really ever
established great confidence against the zone. And I think
in some ways that was the reason, defensively, that we
weren't as good as we usually are or maybe better than we
needed to be be, because the game never really felt good.
And that's on me. Your job when you get to this area area,
when you get to this level of college basketball, your best
players gotta be confident. We have to give them shots. I don'
t care what defense they're playing, 1-3-1, 1-21 man to man
and I don't feel we did that tonight. And that's probably
the worst feeling you can you can have as a coach.
This guy on my left I'll only talk about him because he's
leaving there's never been been anybody we had some great
kids at Xavier and Arizona that means more to me that embodies
the good in college basketball than Kadeem Allen. And that's
always the hardest part when you know that his time is up. And
Parker also did an outstanding job. And you know it's tough to
look at our guys in disappoint ment, because we've had so many
great moments. And that's what makes the tournament so special.
And that's also what's the hardest part about dealing with
it, unless you get all the way to the promised land. And in my
mind it's going to be a great game between Gonzaga and Xavier.
And I wish Xavier nothing but a great journey. I hope they go
all the way. THE MODERATOR: Questions?
Q. Q.
Q. Sean, the last three and a half minutes of your offense,
what did you see there? COACH MILLER: Well, first of
all, you've got to remember our defense. We had an eight-point
lead under the four-minute mark. They needed to make shots.
And I thought that they hit two 3s in a row and you have to make
the shot you take. That really were barely challenged. When
you're under the four-minute mark and you have teams fighting
to stay alive, you have to jump . You have to run at them. You
have to close out with great effort. You have to make them
miss. You have to understand that even a 2 is better than a 3
. And we didn't do that. And they made the shots. And then
when you foul on an offensive rebound really late in the game
at 15 feet, we gave them two more points that they didn't
even have to work for. But from an offensive perspective, we
had both going the wrong way. And did we get great shots. We
have a couple we could have made , maybe we could have made a
couple, but it's to my point. We weren't able to get great
looks down the stretch or a wide open one. And that's not these
guys. That's on me. We have to be more comfortable this late
in the season against that type of defense and we really just
never quite established a rhythm that I think we needed to
continue to play
. Q.

Q. Coach, there were a couple moments in the game where a
media timeout was approaching you used the team timeout was
that something that just didn't cross your mind or you just
wanted to stop the runs? COACH MILLER: We were
struggling. We didn't have a lot of confidence. We moved our
lineup. It went small. And we had a burst where it looked
pretty good. And then all of a sudden they would change
defenses and we didn't have the right group in. So then we
would put the right group in in. And then we would establish
a couple good things. But when you're a coach you can tell
when your team's not confident. You can tell when your team
needs some direction and help. And I called those timeouts
because of that. Everybody focu ses at the very, very end, but
there were times when those timeouts really helped us. And
again sometimes on those timeouts we needed to reorganize
our defense. We had as hard of a time defending them as any
team that we've played against this season. We had really no
answers, including they had a high-low one-foot shot,
basically, to put them up. And, again, they execute. They do
such a great job of getting their players shots. And they
did a better job of that than I did.

Q. Q. Kadeem, this of course being
your last game, has to be very, a lot of emotions going through
you, what are your thoughts after something like this?
KADEEM ALLEN: Hats off to Xavier, they're a good team. We
lost confidence they lost six in a row their coach did a great
job regrouping them to play the basketball they played. Tonig
ht they played a good game. They made big shots and we
really didn't have an answer and we couldn't get a stop. But
I'm proud of my team. We win 32 games and only five losses it
says a lot about the program and the coaching staff. I'm just
proud of these guys
. Q.

Q. Sean, I know you've been thinking about this game, but
looking ahead to Saturday, what do you think will be the key
points of that game in terms of what decides it with those two
teams? COACH MILLER: You know, I think
Karnowski is just an incredible player. He's such a great
passer that it's difficult to double him and it's difficult to
crowd him because he has the ability to both score but also
move the ball and get his teammates shots. Gonzaga is an
excellent 3-point shooting team as well. And to me they're good
against zone man. So I think Xavier's keem defensively

not affect them much. But I'll tell you this Xavier is capable
of beating anybody. They're playing great basketball. I
think, again, back again, back to Trevon Bluiett
and Macura, two great competitors. In a game like
tonight, sometimes those players can really rise to great
heights heights, and Bluiett had 25. And in the
first half we had no answer. One thing that really hurt us in
this game is Kadeem picked up two fouls early on. And he
means so much to our defense, that we really almost played the
entire first half without him. And although we were up two,
not having him out there hurt our team. And then in the
second half half, I thought Malcolm Bernard was great for
Xavier. He went 3 for 3 from t the from the 3-point
line. And his And his 3s were big 3s. So I forgot the
question you asked me, to be honest with you you.
Q. That's fine. The key elements for Saturday's game.
You mentioned some but is there --
COACH MILLER: Karnowski is really a problem inside. He can
do it rebounding. He can do it in the post. He can do it
bypassing. And Gonzaga is very underrated defensively. If you
look throughout the season, they've been probably as consi
stent on defense as maybe any team that Mark has had. They're
good on both offense and defense. And I mean, what, are
they, 35 and 1. But they're a good team. They're playing a
very good team in Xavier. So I think it's going to be a really
good game
. Q.
Q. Q. Kadeem, can you give us your
thoughts on the comments your Coach made about you as a player
about five minutes ago? KADEEM ALLEN: It speaks for
itself. My coaches, teammates, everyone in the program, they
give me the confidence that I have toward the end of the
season. And I just took it and I was just out there playing
basketball. And I appreciate everything he's done for me and

News Conference: Arizona Sweet Sixteen Postgame

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