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NCAA MEN'S FIRST ROUND: DAYTON


March 16, 2015


Andy Kennedy

Stefan Moody

Jarvis Summers


DAYTON, OHIO

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by student-athletes Stefan Moody and Jarvis Summers.

Q. Stefan, as you probably know by now, BYU scores among the top in the country. You guys are a high-scoring team. Are we going to see a track meet tomorrow?
STEFAN MOODY: I mean, if that's what it consists of. But we're just going to stick to the things we do and just hopefully we do it better than them.

Q. Jarvis, what was the first thing that popped into your mind when you saw that you were playing BYU?
JARVIS SUMMERS: We were happy. And we know they're going to come out hard and they're a good team. And we just know what we gotta do to win and just play hard.

Q. Stefan, you guys struggled against a 3-point shooting team in Vanderbilt late in the season. What can you take from that game to maybe improve and guard BYU shooters better?
STEFAN MOODY: We just gotta work harder on running teams like that off the 3-point line. Just general mistakes that we made that we gotta correct this time.

JARVIS SUMMERS: We just gotta man up and play defense hard and communicate and basically just be aggressive and make them score over the top of us. And like he said just run him off at the 3-point line.

Q. Does BYU remind you of any team you've played at all or are they pretty different from most teams you played?
STEFAN MOODY: I guess closely, like he said, would be Vandy because obviously they're a great shooting team and we've got to stop them from shooting as many 3s as they've been shooting.

Q. Stefan, you guys played in this game a couple months ago. Will that be an advantage at all, or is that kind of a meaningless thing?
STEFAN MOODY: I don't see it as being meaningless, personally, but I guess the fact that we've been here before we kind of have a feel for the building and the arena.

Q. Jarvis, are you guys more comfortable playing at kind of up-tempo basketball like BYU plays, or are you more comfortable with kind of a grinder-type game?
JARVIS SUMMERS: It really doesn't matter, you know? It comes down to what the team needs to do, and if we've been struggling, we're going to grind it out. If we're making shots, that's good for us.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Coach, an opening statement.

COACH KENNEDY: We are happy to be here.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach.

Q. Andy, can you just describe your travels today and the adventure in getting here?
COACH KENNEDY: Really, we got good weather out of Oxford. Good weather into Dayton, which was surprising, having lived in Ohio for five years and know what March can do to you. The plane was delayed getting to us, so we didn't really have any issues.

Q. Coach, what you've been able to see in the short time that you've reviewed BYU, how do you go about trying to guard the Haws kid?
COACH KENNEDY: It's more than him. He's awfully good. But it's more than him. Their style of play is such that they're going to put pressure on you really with four guys on the perimeter all night. Their pace of play is unlike any we've seen this season. They're truly committed to playing fast. Dave Rose and I are friends, contemporaries through Nike, and we've done some social things together, and when I see him I'm going to say, boy, I made a huge mistake not playing for you. People think I'm a liberal offensive coach. I'm the most conservative coach you've ever seen compared to the way BYU runs and shoots quickly. I'm glad they didn't recruit Marshall. I don't think he met the code, but they really let you shoot it fast. For us, we've got to follow our formula, and you know what that is. We can't give them live-ball turnovers. We can't allow them to beat us on the offensive glass and get second-chance opportunities. We've got to run them off the 3-point line. We've got to do a good job of using our size and athleticism up front to make them play through us. And if we do that, and we can manufacture some baskets, it should be an entertaining game.

Q. Can you take anything from the Vanderbilt game, Andy, some mistakes to correct that maybe will help you to guard the BYU 3-point shooters?
COACH KENNEDY: Good point. We've used that comparison because we told them, Vandy, if you leave them open, they're not like your teammates. They're going to make it. So in practice sometimes when we leave them open and the guys miss, we think it's good defense, no, it's not good defense, it's a bad shooter. When you play Vandy, if they're open they're going to make it. If you leave BYU open, they're going to make it. That's proven over the course of 30-some odd games. We've got to be really locked in, understanding personnel. That's not easy to do in a two-day turn. And I spent half my pregame talk today or prepractice talk talking about a mission because I'd say, hey, this guy's gone on a mission. And I had to explain to them exactly what that was. We're trying to get up to speed on BYU and the different challenges they're going to present.

Q. You talked yesterday about playing against Haws' father. What do you remember about that game? Could you expand on that a little bit?
COACH KENNEDY: I remember it didn't end well for the old UAB Blazers. I do remember that. I do remember altitude is real. You try to talk yourself out of it as a coach, it's just altitude. No, it's real. I remember that. I remember his dad was a good player, very good player. His son is tremendous, tremendous. And they're similar. They're similar in their look, similar in their style of play. It was a long time ago in the late '80s. We played in, I believe it was the Marriott Classic, some tournament in BYU. And it didn't end good for us. But I got a chance to experience firsthand the passion of BYU basketball. Storied history. Great fan support. Incredible facilities. They should be proud to be here once again.

THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for Coach?

COACH KENNEDY: Nothing on Marshall and BYU, the transfer? You're not going anywhere with that?

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.
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