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NCAA MEN'S FIRST FOUR: DAYTON

March 18, 2019

Dayton, Ohio

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by student-athletes from Prairie View A&M Taishaun Johnson, Antione Lister and Iwin Ellis.

Q. The First Four is traditionally a showcase for Historically Black Colleges, and there's at least one every year. Last year I think they had two playing. How much do you feel that you are here representing HBCUs, and is that something that's important to you guys?
TAISHAUN JOHNSON: I think it's very important. I think that we just try to go out here and represent the best way possible and just try to put on for the HBCUs.

ANTIONE LISTER: Yes, just piggybacking off Taishaun, it's important for our culture most of all to go out and represent in a positive manner. And that's just most important. I know Texas Southern, they were one of the teams that were in it last year, and now we represent the SWAC this year, and we're just going to come out and make sure that we put our best foot forward.

IWIN ELLIS: I feel the same way as my two teammates here: just come out and represent.

Q. You guys have been known for your press defense. Could you talk a little bit about how you guys have gotten to that level with it and what you hope that will do for you guys tomorrow night?
IWIN ELLIS: Practice every day on it, every day. That's our mindset. To come out and play defense hard.

ANTIONE LISTER: Yes, this started way back in August with our shell drills for 45 minutes, every day throughout the day and those long grueling three-hour practices, and 45 minutes was dedicated to our shared drill and working on pressure defense and that's what got us to the point we are now.

TAISHAUN JOHNSON: I agree with my teammates. Basically it all started before the preseason was even here. We made that was going to be our little niche to play on and try to outwork teams and play teams because we may not be the most talented at times but we definitely will play harder than everybody else.

Q. It's been 21 years since Prairie View has been in this position. So it's like no pressure but all the pressure. So how are you guys feeling just going into this game knowing that the school was pretty much counting on you guys?
TAISHAUN JOHNSON: I actually feel great about it, because like we've been the underdog all season. And I feel like that's an advantage to us because everybody is expecting us to lose. So we come out and play the way we've been playing and just making sure we just harp on what our strength is, I think we'll be fine and we'll shock the world.

ANTIONE LISTER: It's really crazy thinking about it. I wasn't even born when Prairie View first last made the tournament. And we are just going to come out and play hard. That's what we know. There's really no pressure at all. Like we know what we're capable of, especially it starts on the defensive end with us.

IWIN ELLIS: It feels great to make history. It's been a long time since Prairie View been in the tournament and we're excited to be out here.

Q. Can you guys talk a little bit about the attention and the big stage? I'm sure that most of your games aren't played on national TV with a big crowd 12,000 people in the arena. Can you talk -- is that pressure for you guys or how are you going to handle that?
IWIN ELLIS: I feel like it's no pressure. We'll come out and play our style of basketball, that's all.

ANTIONE LISTER: What Iwin said. It's no pressure. We've played on TV before. And we just don't really let the (indiscernible) affect how we approach the game. We just make sure we lock in and stay together and that's our mentality.

TAISHAUN JOHNSON: Just to piggyback what they said, I don't think it's any pressure at all, because I think some of the guys on this team, they get up for big games, big moments and we thrive in those moments. So I think we're ready for it.

Q. You are 17-1 in conference and been playing really well, obviously, and you're locked in. How do you guys stay locked in while you guys are here?
TAISHAUN JOHNSON: I think we just prepare the same way we've been preparing. We're 17-1 for a reason because I feel like our approach has been the same. We know our game plan, we know how to execute our game plan and stay together and stay sound. I think we just do the same thing we've been doing.

ANTIONE LISTER: I like to attribute that a lot to the coaching staff. They make sure we stay level-headed. We never get too high and never get too low. That's just the mindset that we just gotta come in with and with that we could be successful.

IWIN ELLIS: Just staying prepared. We know what we can do so we can come out and do it.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Prairie View head coach Byron Smith.

COACH SMITH: Good afternoon. Thank you for coming out. Really exciting time for our program for Prairie View to be in the NCAA Tournament, the first time in 21 years, since 1998. So we look forward to the opportunity against Fairleigh Dickinson tomorrow. We're really excited.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. As you said, first tournament appearance in 20 years. What does this do, especially playing in Dayton, just for the profile and visibility of the university?
COACH SMITH: I think it's great. Prairie View, obviously, we're known for having one of the top engineering schools in the country and one of the top nursing schools. So we have people, prominent alumni all over the country, just not in basketball.

So that's kind of our mission is to try to get our program to be a top flight program, mid-major, if you will. And being at a place like Dayton, it's exciting, obviously. And to kind of start the tournament off, really excited about it. So just trying to raise the basketball profile and I think right now we're off to a pretty good start.

Q. The first four has become a showcase for the HBCUs. How important is that to you and to represent that group? Is it something that you think about?
COACH SMITH: I can't say I think about it a lot. It's basketball. And I'm just thankful. God's given us all an opportunity to be a part of a great game. I don't really look at the HBCU as much. Obviously I respect it. But it's just basketball. Baskets are 10 feet, 94 by 52 is the court.

And it's just a great game. It's a global game and just really excited to be part of it. And be here representing an HBCU institution, obviously, I think that's a pretty neat deal.

But all of us have a common goal to try to be the best that we possibly can be each and every day. And we are representing the game and the people that came before us. So it's not something I pay a lot of attention to, but I still respect it, that we're an HBCU.

Q. Another HBCU coach told me that he would rather start the tournament in the first four than as a No. 16 seed on the opening day because you have a better chance of winning a game, obviously. Where would you rather start? Where would you rather be here or playing Thursday?
COACH SMITH: I always say that everything happens for a reason, and I'm going to be where my feet are and we're going to be where our feet are. So we're excited to be here to start it off. And just excited for the opportunity.

If you can take care of your business on the first night, obviously it means you get two games in the tournament. So I think that's pretty neat and pretty special and we look forward to that.

Q. A lot of your athletes weren't alive the last time that you guys went to the tournament. Do you think it's kind of lost on them that the significance of it? They just seem so excited to be here. Do you think they kind of recognize the significance?
COACH SMITH: I think they're starting to. I think they were a little bit numb when it first happened. We talked about it, the periods of time this season that if we do the things we asked them to do, they did the things that we asked them to do in the way that we started to play, this was a distinct possibility that we could be here.

So I think it's surreal. I think the word I would use -- the reaction, I've watched several of them the past couple of days, and I keep seeing them kind of pinch each other a little bit and pinching themselves, saying, is this really happening? So I think they're excited about it. I think they're raring to go.

I think it's any young person's dream or goal that's playing college basketball is to be in one of the top 68 teams selected. I think it's a dream come true for the majority of them if not all of them.

I'm really excited. This is not my first time being here. I've been here as a player many moons ago. And I've been here as an assistant coach. So I kind of know the drill a little bit.

But I'm just super excited to see -- I'm excited to see that they're excited and sharing their excitement is really neat for me as a head coach to be able to watch that.

Q. Your defense, Fairleigh Dickinson was fairly complimentary of your defense. How did you come up with your style of play?
COACH SMITH: If you look at our roster you'll see we don't have a lot of size. We figure we better stop them getting to the basket because if a team gets to the basket they've probably got a pretty good chance of scoring against us.

So we've got -- our tallest guy is 6'7". But I think the goal for us is that we wanted to be able to -- it will switch a lot. We switch a lot on ball screens and things like that. So we've got guys that can guard 1 through 5, which kind of helps us. And we've got to fly around. We talk about having active hands and live feet and just flying around and just junking things up, trying to be a disruptive group, taking teams out of their comfort zone and their offense and what they want to do.

I think we're top five or top 10 in the nation, I think, in turning teams over. So we feel really good about that. We like our defense to dictate our offense and get out in transition because we've got some pretty athletic guys. So far it's worked.

But obviously this next game up it's a new day against a new team that presents challenges themselves. But we like how we play and it's worked so far. We've won 21 out of 22 games and won our conference. And so we feel very good about how we play. We want to go out and execute against Fairleigh Dickinson and see how things play out.

Q. Antione has been one of your key contributors and he's done this while only starting two games this year. Could you talk about his contribution and how he's gotten settled into his role as basically the sixth man?
COACH SMITH: I would be remiss if I didn't say if every coach in the country had an Antione Lister, then this game and this business would be so much more enjoyable. He's a great human being, first and foremost.

I can see Antione -- he's from a small town of 25,000. I think probably next year he'll probably be the mayor of his town. I don't think anybody will run against him. He'll probably go unattached and run without any opposition.

But he's a come-early. He's a stay-late. He's a "yes, sir; no, sir" guy. I don't think he's missed a class this year. I think even the professors have missed some classes and Antione was still there.

He's just a special kid. And when you work as hard as he works each and every day and he doesn't care about getting any accolades. When he wasn't playing at all early in the season -- because he had a funny class schedule so he missed a lot of our practices just in terms of time and practice. So he kind of got behind and he didn't play a lot but he still is the hardest-working guy every day.

And he's always the first one in and the last one to leave. And sometimes he would have to leave practice to attend a class, and a lot of guys would just go on to the dorm or just say, I'll come back tomorrow. But he would just always come back to finish out practice if we had 50 minutes left or five minutes left.

So the success that he is starting to have late in the season it doesn't surprise me, because when you do the right things, you live the right way, you get rewarded. I'm so proud to have him a part of my program and to say I'm his head coach.

Antione Lister is the guy -- if any of you people that have daughters, you feel really good if that's the selection they make. He's a great, great human being.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you Coach.

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