MU Head Coach Buzz Williams:
I thought it was a great college basketball game. I thought the last 16 minutes, it was Joe Frazier and Mohammad Ali. I think Bo Ryan is a Hall-of-Fame coach, I think they have a distinct style of play that is extremely hard to prepare for. I think he has constructed his roster in a way and with their style of play that they are really, really tough to match-up with. It changes how you have to play, it changes how you have to prepare. I thought it was an incredible college game, and I am not saying that because we won. I thought that Dwight Burke was arguably our best player. I thought he guarded their best player. I thought that all week, I don't know if we matched up anywhere but the one or the two spot.
I thought that Dwight was our most valuable player. I think Jerel McNeal was our best player, but I thought that Dwight was our most valuable player. I thought that Maurice Acker, even though he only played a few minutes, the possessions that he played, he was really, really good for our team.
On the significance of the win for him
It means a great deal to our institution. It means a great deal to our players, it probably means a little more to our fans and our alumni. The game is not about me. I am unbelievably humbled and grateful as I have been for the last 242 days. It's about the guys that have been working every single day and it is about the people that have allowed this platform as it relates to Marquette basketball to be what it is.
MU Guard Jerel McNeal:
Everything that we did tonight, especially for that part of the game, was predicated off us playing unbelievable defense. We were getting stops and rebounding and forcing turnovers, giving us a chance to run. That is what our team is all about. Offensively, coach put the ball in my hands and I was trying to read their defense and make plays when I could.
I was trying to do whatever I could to help the team. It was one of those grind-it-out type games, it wasn't as up-and-down as we would have liked.
On the pace of the game
Whenever you play a type of team like that, that is the way that the game is going to be. They are going to make you work on defense each and every possession that they get. They are a great passing team and a great skill and fundamental team. I think it is a complement to our team that we can win those types of games. I think we did an unbelievable job rebounding.
