Q. Coach, could you walk us through what you were looking for in the last play where you had the turnover?
COACH EWING: The first thing we drew up I didn’t like once we went out there. I ran a high pick-and-roll with Don and Collin. Mainly we just didn’t get a good look. We tried to get the ball to Kaiden, one of our best shooters, and then we turned it over.
Q. What was the message after the game? Obviously another close one and another disappointing end to a disappointing season?
COACH EWING: We told them that even though the outcome wasn’t what we would have liked, we still had opportunities, just like you said, once again. We just weren’t able to overcome them. So still have to be proud of them, proud of the effort, and we just gotta regroup.
Q. Was there any update on Dante?
COACH EWING: I’m not sure what it is. He hurt his foot. He wasn’t able to play today. And hopefully if we had moved on, maybe tomorrow. We’re not sure.
Q. Aminu, in a game like this where the offense isn’t really flowing but you guys are kind of fighting defensively, what was the feel down the stretch of the game, and what were you guys talking about amongst yourselves?
AMINU MOHAMMED: We were basically talking about we’ve got to pin down, gotta get better shots, you know what I’m saying? And if you look at the game, we got good looks. We got a shot we wanted to get. Got the guys open. Shot the 3 but he didn’t make it. But we got what we wanted.
Q. What does it say about this team that considering four days ago you gave up 97 to Xavier and you albeit a losing effort, hold Seton Hall to 78 tonight?
COACH EWING: If you look at every game, pretty much every game we’ve played, we had opportunities to win, even our last Seton Hall game — not just this one, the one before that — we missed a layup, missed 11 or 12 layups. We made them and make our free throws, we win. Hey, look, like I said, I’m proud of them. I’m proud of the fight. I’m disappointed that we didn’t have the year I would have liked. But you still have to be proud of the fight that we gave. We could have easily let go of the rope and called it a night. But we never did that.
Q. You had a really rough end to the season, and as head coach, the leader of this program, after an ending like that, where does your mind go and how do you look to start anew?
COACH EWING: It’s been a rough year. Can’t do anything rash. Just gotta take a few days, regroup, think about what we want to do and then start the process.
Q. Aminu and Coach, how confident are you that things can be different next year, and what changes if any do you have to make to show progress, anything with the coaching staff?
COACH EWING: Like I said, I’m not going to make any rash decisions. I know we will be better next year. That’s it.
Q. When you were first hired, you talked about getting back, getting this program back to when you were a player at that level competing for championships. Anything happen this year or recently that changed your opinion about that? Is that still a doable proposition in your mind?
COACH EWING: In life, you’re going to have bumps in the road. And right now, this year, this was my bumps in the road, our bumps in the road. And to me that’s one of the things when I’m talking to kids, it’s all about how you come out of it. How do you handle it. I think my guys have handled it with class. I think I’ve handled it with class. And our better years are still ahead of us.
