Quote Center: Georgetown Postgame vs. Seton Hall

Big East Conference Men's Basketball Tournament

Friday, March 15, 2019

Patrick Ewing

James Akinjo

Georgetown Hoyas

Seton Hall - 73, Georgetown - 57

THE MODERATOR: Let's go for questions for Coach Ewing or James.

Q. Patrick, you said coming into this game that energy and effort would be the difference. It seemed like you guys came out strong tonight, but what did you think was the difference maker early in the first half there?
PATRICK EWING: Turnovers. Turnovers hurt us. You know, we went down big early, and it was trying to dig yourself out of a hole, and when the turnovers, unforced turnovers hurt us. They had 22 points off our turnovers the entire game. But I think in the first half, they had 12 points off our turnovers, and that's something that we can't -- it's hard to overcome. When you're turning it over and you're not getting stops, the other end, it's hard to win.

Q. In the first half, you guys missed easy baskets. Did you feel the moment was overwhelming?
PATRICK EWING: I don't think the moment is overwhelming. Even though it's the Big East Tournament, it's a big game, but we've been in other big games. Their trap put us back on our heels, and we weren't able to get in the floor of our offense. Then we couldn't -- we're digging ourselves out of a hole for the whole entire game. I think that's what also hurt. The turnovers, then the trap slowed us down. We weren't able to get into a good flow, and that hurt.

Q. James, this is the third time you guys have followed a really big win with a loss like this. How do you account for that difference or kind of the yo-yoing there?
JAMES AKINJO: Maturity. I think as a team, we're not as mature as we need to be right now.

Q. Patrick, what was your message to this team at the end, especially your senior class that's leaving?
PATRICK EWING: I didn't really say anything to the senior class. I just said it's disappointing, we have a good enough team that we could be playing tomorrow, but because we didn't come with the right focus and the right effort, we fell short.

Q. Coach Ewing, talk about the chances for the NCAAs and your case for making the tournament.
PATRICK EWING: I'm not sure what it's going to be. It's hard when you leave the decision in other people's hands. We had an opportunity where, with wins, we would have had enough -- you know, our record would have been good enough to be able to move on. Now we still have a good record, but it's in somebody else's hands to put us in or not.

Q. Patrick, Powell is obviously a great player, and he had a hell of a half. When you're watching that, what are you trying to think of to stop him?
PATRICK EWING: He's a very good player. This is the second time he's had a great game -- the third time he's had a good game against us. He got hot in the first half. We did everything. We tried to trap him. It didn't work. He was able to drive away from the trap. In the second half, we switched it a little bit, and that kind of slowed him down a little bit. He got hot in the first half, and everything he shot, he made.

Q. Coach, so how do you feel like Georgetown has made strides from last year? Like what's some differences that you see from last year to this year?
PATRICK EWING: The difference is the freshmen. The freshmen, they play great. They had -- they played extremely well. They had their highs and their lows. For the most part, I thought that they had a great season.