Fran McCaffery Post Purdue 12024
Fran McCaffery Interview
Transcript
00:00 All right, questions for coach.
00:02 What did you think of Tony's play today? It just seemed to really give you guys a spark throughout.
00:10 Yeah, I thought Tony played really hard, played really well.
00:13 It's kind of what we expect from him, and it's what he expects from himself.
00:18 Really impressed.
00:22 That run that Purdue went on in the first half to gain separation, what did you see go wrong there?
00:27 Well, it's the same thing the whole game, you know, rebounding was an issue.
00:31 How do you explain the rebounding discrepancy?
00:34 Well,
00:38 I would like to see my guy, who's freshman of the week six times, get a little more respect.
00:43 When they have a guy like Zachy, a lot of size, you know, you double, triple team him.
00:52 I mean, how tough is it for your guys to defensively just kind of contain the perimeter when they're having...
00:56 It's really hard. I mean, they run really good stuff. They have a lot of, well, they have a multitude of three-point shooters.
01:01 So it's not like, okay, let's chase these guys, leave him. They're all out there hitting threes.
01:07 Yeah, his grandmother passed yesterday. He was obviously very upset, very close.
01:19 Didn't practice yesterday. Really proud of him today.
01:25 Came out, played hard, a big bucket early and
01:28 thought some prayers with the Freeman family.
01:32 That's your job. I have confidence in you, Mike.
01:49 Brandon, when you go through something like that as a team where there's a death of a teammate's family member,
01:56 I mean, how do you kind of approach that from your role? What's your role in kind of comforting them, giving them a choice?
02:00 Yeah, you know, we're a family and we just all put our arms around them and love them up.
02:05 We've already gone through it once with Tony.
02:09 It's not something you ever want to go through, but it happens.
02:13 Dealt with it with Jack Nungi. We dealt with it with Gable and Shaney.
02:18 And he just needs to know that he has people around here that care about him and will be there for him.
02:25 His mom's here with his brother. They're gonna head home today.
02:28 Yeah, you know, I thought we had pretty decent shots.
02:39 We ran a play incorrectly. That was unfortunate, but I still think we got a good shot.
02:46 The guys were really moving the ball, I thought.
02:48 I don't think we settled. We had the right guys shooting the ball.
02:51 And that's kind of how we play.
02:53 Probably true. You know, and that's on me. I probably should have played some of my bench a little bit more.
03:04 You know, it was kind of a constant struggle to, you know, cut into that lead.
03:11 And we finally started doing it, and then it's, "Okay, we're just gonna leave this group and let them finish it."
03:17 I think it's just a bad sprained ankle.
03:23 I think they did x-rays. I don't think it's broken.
03:26 So, you know, you don't know how long those things are gonna take.
03:29 Sometimes it's three or four days. Sometimes it's two weeks.
03:32 How do you cope in preparation for Eadie? Because it's clearly nobody like him that you play.
03:41 Yeah, you know, I thought our scout team did a good job, Mike, with that.
03:44 You know, we put Riley Mulvey in that spot.
03:45 And he does a terrific job of sort of emulating what their other bigs do.
03:52 And so do the other guys around them.
03:56 And I thought we did a pretty decent job on that.
03:58 But it's just different with him, you know, and he gets deep position.
04:03 He's really hard.
04:03 He's close.
04:09 He was about 50/50 today.
04:11 Hopefully, he'll be ready to go by Wednesday.
04:13 A few more questions.
04:14 What was your emotions like in pregame to get the ball?
04:18 Well, it was, you know, very high because I didn't know what was gonna happen.
04:25 Nobody said, "Hey, this is gonna happen."
04:27 So all of a sudden, you know, my family's there.
04:30 And, you know, you think about, you know, you think about a lot of things, you know.
04:39 It brings back a lot of memories.
04:40 You know, we moved to cross country and it was a big move for the family.
04:43 I've said that before.
04:44 And, you know, I wouldn't have had any level of success without my wife, Margaret,
04:49 and all of our children.
04:51 Connor, part of 111 wins.
04:54 It's pretty impressive.
04:56 You know, Patrick a lot too.
04:57 And, you know, enjoying that together has been really special.
05:01 My daughter, Mark, goes here.
05:04 And so it was really emotional, but it's kind of unique because you're trying to be locked
05:11 into a big game, but it was very nice how they did everything.
05:17 I really appreciate Beth and our people for doing that.
05:21 Brandon, he shot 15 free throws.
05:24 Your entire team shot 16.
05:26 Obviously, you're not trying to foul him, but is there any...
05:28 That's not good math.
05:29 Do you regret any of the way you defended?
05:32 Ask Mike.
05:35 Mike will answer that question for me.
05:39 You know, there's a pay discrepancy here.
05:42 You know what, Mike?
05:45 You know, just name your fee.
05:49 I got you covered.
05:50 It'll be cheaper than what I have to pay.