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March 22, 2015
COLUMBUS, OHIO
WEST VIRGINIA - 69
MARYLAND - 59
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by West Virginia. We'll go right to questions for the student-athletes.
Q. Juwan, when you were a junior in high school here in Columbus, you had a pretty special moment with LeBron James after the game, your state championship game. What did he say during that long moment, and how big of an impact did that have on you?
JUWAN STATEN: You're taking me way back. He grabbed me close. He told me that, he said that he lost a state final his junior year. He told me I was a special player and to keep my head up. He told me to remember that moment for the rest of my life. He told me to let that drive me for the rest of my life, never to feel like that again. Those were wise words, and I've tried to live by them. But that was just a lot of encouragement that he gave me.
Q. To follow up on that, how neat is it going to be going to Cleveland where he's obviously made a name for himself, and facing the challenge you guys will be facing this week?
JUWAN STATEN: I'll always be a LeBron fan but right now I'm not thinking about him. I'm thinking about Kentucky. We have another game to play. We're in the Sweet 16. It's one of our goals, and we just want to keep moving forward. We've got a special group of guys, and we just want to take this team as far as we can.
Q. For all you guys, what's it like knowing you're now going against Kentucky? What did you get done tonight? What do you think the message was you sent tonight, starting with you Devin?
DEVIN WILLIAMS: Pretty much just what we've been doing all season. It's nothing that we've been -- is new. I mean, I guess it's kind of new to you all, but the way we scrap, we get out there and we practice is the same way, it's a (indiscernible) to the court. But pretty much we're just doing what we do. And we just playing our hearts out and pretty much we just gotta get back, prepare, focus and it's another team. It's another team. They put their drawers on the same way we do. So that's pretty much it. We've just got to prepare, and get our minds right.
JUWAN STATEN: Dev said it best, they put their drawers on the same way we put ours on. Like I said since we started we played the underdog role. They didn't think we'd get past Buffalo. We got past Buffalo. They didn't think we'd get past Maryland, we got past Maryland. I'm pretty sure nobody in the world thinks we're going to get past Kentucky besides the 1.2 million that's in West Virginia. So we're going to keep doing what we do. And keep playing.
GARY BROWNE: We won't stop now that that got us all the way over here, so we're not stopping. We don't care what other people say to be honest with you, in my opinion. We have a small circle. We believe in our coaching staff. The title don't have no name anyway.
Q. Gary, could you tell, when could you tell you all were really getting into these guys, maybe into their heads a little bit tonight with the pressure, the constant pressure and stuff? When did it kind of turn, from your vantage point?
GARY BROWNE: When the guard worn out. When their guard worn out. That was a big key right there for us. We told our guys, we make sure they he don't catch the ball, we going to have other guys that can make great decisions make decisions. That's what we've been doing all year and it worked today. And he got tired. And I mean teams like that they don't know because they don't watch us play all year. So...
Q. Juwan, could you talk to that, too, the fact that you were able to get the pressure going and the defense going better as the game wore on rather than the other way around. It didn't seem like they figured it out. Seemed like you sort of imposed it more as the game went on. What went into that?
JUWAN STATEN: We had a game plan. We came into the tournament with a game plan. And we said all we gotta do is get that first one. We didn't think teams would be able to prepare for our pressure. Early in the game they we're making good decisions. They were breaking our press. They were looking good, but they were using a lot more energy than they had to use all year. So we knew that at some point they would break. And they started slowing down. They started getting a little shaky with the ball. And when we seen them throw it out of bounds a couple times we tried to turn up our pressure. And pressure is -- you know what pressure is. So we just wanted to turn it up on them and it worked for us.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much.
COACH HUGGINS: I'll try to say something intelligent that you didn't say.
THE MODERATOR: Good luck. Questions for Coach.
Q. Obviously when you install a full-court press system like this at the beginning of the year this is what you had in mind. Did you think that these group of guys could get to this kind of level the way you've played Friday and tonight and shutting teams down, forcing 20-plus turnovers?
COACH HUGGINS: Yeah, I did or we probably wouldn't have done it. You look at the stats. We get 16 more shots than what they get. That's what we have to do. We have to get more shots. We shot 36 percent the first half. They shot 55. And we led by one. Because we get more shots. And that's what we are. We're not -- it seemed like everywhere we go people say, well, it's not pretty. Well, I think it's beautiful. I love it. I love the fact that we can not make shots and still win, still find ways to score. We get 14 offensive rebounds. We've led the country in offensive rebounds. And a lot of those things come down to offensive rebounding and the pressure, comes down to -- it's hard work. It's hard. And it comes down to having a lot of heart. And that's what I told our guys at halftime. I said, you know, if you guys want to play pretty we're going to lose. We've gotta do what we do. And they came out the second half and did a pretty good job of it.
Q. That was essentially what my question was. So thank you --
COACH HUGGINS: I knew that, that's why I answered it there.
Q. But given all of those things, the fact that you got 16 more shots. 15 steals, 14 offensive rebounds. You got bench points because you played 12 and they played seven or eight. Is this the kind of game that you can almost frame and say, this is what we're supposed to be doing?
COACH HUGGINS: Yeah. But I mean, honestly, that's what I told them the very first day. The very first day we started that we can play a bunch of guys, but you're going to have to play really, really hard. And it's going to be hard. But we can do it. We can get you guys in the game. You can all have playing time. You can all experience playing and have some success. But it's going to be hard.
Q. The players said they thought once they got past the first one, the next one would be easier because they wouldn't have time to prepare. Now you're back into that rhythm where you got a team that's prepared for you. Where do you go from there?
COACH HUGGINS: Fortunately they believe me when I tell them things like that. Otherwise, I don't know where we'd be. But I mean, I think it is hard. I think you've got one day to prepare for something that you've seen very little of all year. I don't know. Cal's probably already been practicing it. I mean, they let them play on Thursday at whatever, noon or whatever he's had a day and a half already. And I'm not doing anything until tomorrow morning. I'm tired. I'm going to get a break.
Q. That's what I was going to ask you. You touched on this yesterday. Does this put you all in a little bit of a bind, preparation-wise, basically your biggest game of the year coming up?
COACH HUGGINS: We're kind of used to it. We're kind of used to it. I mean, our league plays Wednesdays, Tuesdays, Thursdays. So we're a little bit used to it. The hard thing is we can't really do much tomorrow. So we'll practice Tuesday and you really don't want to kill them on Wednesday because you need a bunch of energy on Thursday. So it does hurt your preparation.
Q. Follow up. Do you feel this team is ready for this kind of challenge?
COACH HUGGINS: Well, 36 people haven't been. I don't know. We're going to have fun trying.
Q. A lot of teams have been intimidated by Kentucky. It doesn't seem like you've got a bunch of guys who are going to be intimidated by them.
COACH HUGGINS: No. I mean, I wish I could sit here and tell you we're definitely going to win. I can't do that. But I can tell you that we're not going to be scared.
Q. You seem to back off the picking up full court in the first half quite a bit. A lot of the possessions. But did it a lot more in the second half. Have you done that in other situations and why did you do it tonight?
COACH HUGGINS: I don't know that we backed off. We just got spread out. We had to change some things. And it's hard to change things without having some time to make them understand what you want them to do. And we did a better job, I think, after halftime, after we could -- I didn't want to give them layups. So we were a little more conservative when they did some things that we really weren't prepared for and then we went in and made some changes at halftime.
Q. In your career, you've played -- you know, you've coached against a lot of teams that were supposed to beat you. A lot of teams that you were supposed to beat. Does playing against a Kentucky team, because of the streak and that kind of stuff, does that mean anything different to you professionally, do you think it will mean anything to the kids, or do you have to approach it that that's irrelevant, it's just another game?
COACH HUGGINS: I mean, it's not another game. It's because it's in the Sweet 16. It's in the NCAA Tournament and it's one-and-done. So you can't just say it's another game. I just want our guys to make sure they know Cal's going to have them ready to go. John and I go back 30, 40 years. We know each other really, really well and we've played against each other a bunch of times. Coached against each other a bunch of times. I wish I could play against Cal. We'd have a better chance. But he'll have them ready. He always does. He does a great job. And I think the hard thing is we don't know what their scheme's going to be. That's the hard thing, you know, for us. Harder because --
Q. (Off microphone)?
COACH HUGGINS: You get tape and you try to figure out what people are going to do. And we had an idea what Maryland was going to do. I don't know if anybody's really pressed them. We'll have to go back and look. I don't know.
Q. I think you're 8-2 now against John.
COACH HUGGINS: Who is counting, Mike?
Q. Somebody. Can you explain that sort of statistical edge, what the difference has been?
COACH HUGGINS: No. I can't. He's an absolutely terrific coach. He does -- very few people could do what he did at UMass and then he went into Memphis when they were struggling. And what he did at Memphis, I've got -- I mean John and I tease each other a lot. But I've got great respect for him and for what he's done and what he's been able to accomplish. So, like I said, he'll have them ready. He always has them ready. You were there for a lot of the games. We were fortunate. We won one time in Memphis because our guy thought we were ahead and it was tied and he started dribbling it out, he was going to run the clock out. And they jumped out and wouldn't let him take the ball out. I don't know if they knew what the score was either. And he dribbled in, got a layup and we won by two. I think you were there for that one. So, I mean, it's crazy. But again I've just got great respect for Cal.
THE MODERATOR: Congratulations, Coach. Good luck next week.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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