2017 NCBBA National Championship Game Postgame | Purdue University

In regards to the block, instead of our big man, we used to be able to get inside and score easy baskets. That's when the ties come in and we're able to take the lead. I said we should be down to one the way we were playing. To be down 11 or 10 at half, that was a blessing. We were able to keep the game that 9 to 11 point range. I always feel confident, especially when they weren't able to at least put that lead up to 15 or 17 points. We were able to chip away at it and keep it up. Michael, you finished 14 points, you were 5 of 16 in the field. What did you see in Pitt's defense that got you down? They had a lot of gaps in their defense. Like he said, we were trying to space the big out and bring them out of the paint. What I would try to do is come off the screens and if I had an opportunity to go, go. JT, being a senior, going out on top like this, MVP award, performing in the skills competition yesterday. What's it mean to you at this point in your college career to have these awards that you can hang on your resume for the rest of your life? What's that mean to you? It's very big. To go out on top in the last year, I want to thank them and everybody for just playing hard. Coach, it's still a relatively new program and now you're taking your program to the top of club basketball. What does 2018 have in store for your team? I'm just going to try to find a better job. If I'm still coaching next year, if I'm lucky enough to be coaching, we've still got a lot of talent coming back. I've told these guys from the beginning of the season, I said, I should win the National Championship. Preach that from day one, we're going to win the next season. He sees this experience, he's one of our better players on the other team. He's probably going to win next year. Just being able to experience this and going into next year, players like him and some of our other players can come in next year with the goal ahead.