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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: JACKSONVILLEMarch 20, 2019Mike YoungFletcher MageeCameron JacksonMatthew PegramJacksonville, Florida Q. Fletcher, I want to go back to the beginning of the recruiting process. At the time what made you believe that Wofford was the right place for you? And then the second part of it is what's allowed you to become such a successful three-point shooter within the offense? FLETCHER MAGEE: So the first part of the question, the recruiting process, I just felt that Wofford really wanted me and really valued me as a recruit. I felt like one of the main recruits and important. So I went up there and I visited and I just loved the team, the culture and all the people at Wofford, so I committed pretty soon after my visit because I just really liked everything. And the second part, I think a lot of that is the system that we have, guards coming off screens a lot, my teammates looking for me a lot. I think those are two of the main things, and then obviously you have to work on your game and get in the gym and shoot as much as you can. So I think the combination of shooting in the gym and getting your confidence in your shot and then having coaches run plays for you in the offense and having your teammates, good passers, good screeners get you the ball, I think that combination has allowed for a lot of success. Q. Fletcher, having a chance to play the biggest games of your career essentially in your backyard, what does that mean to you? FLETCHER MAGEE: Yeah, I think it's really cool because a lot of my family and friends can come up from Orlando. Also Cam's freshman year I actually watched them as a recruit play here against Arkansas, so to come back now as a player to the same site, I thought that was pretty cool, too. Q. For Fletcher, closing in on this national record, I also know your high school career ended against a Jacksonville team in Providence four years ago. What would it mean to be able to sort of turn the tables in sort of a career highlight coming in Jacksonville, if you're able to get that win out here tomorrow? FLETCHER MAGEE: Yeah, that would definitely mean a lot. High school was a long time ago. I don't really think about that loss to Providence too much. Yeah, to come here to Jacksonville and to get a win here in the tournament, two wins, yeah, would be great. Just for all of us, for our team, our program, our school, I think that coming in here and winning could definitely be something that we value and will remember for a long time. Q. Every year when the NCAA Tournament comes around, there's always a team or a player that captures the country's heart, and Wofford has garnered some of that hype this year, and Seton Hall to an extent, as well. When you consider something like that, how do you go about approaching a game and trying to find a sense of normalcy knowing that people are out there looking for someone to believe in and someone to follow along throughout this tournament? MATTHEW PEGRAM: We're just going to try to approach it like we would any other game. The hype is built the past couple months of the season, so we've kind of gotten used to it in a way, but we're just going to try to approach it just like any other game. Q. Cam, can you talk about being back here and the difference from last time, being back here as a higher seed and your feelings about that? CAMERON JACKSON: Being back as a higher seed is not something that I don't think any of us are really thinking about, nothing I'm thinking about for sure. But it is cool to get another chance to play here, another chance to win here at this stage. It's just amazing to have another opportunity like this. Q. Cameron, having had this opportunity four years ago as a freshman, coming here against Arkansas, first of all, did you ever feel you'd get another chance at this, especially on this same stage right here, and what is the sense of anticipation knowing for you this is one more opportunity, one more chance to go that one step further that you didn't get to do before? CAMERON JACKSON: Yeah, I mean, it's really cool that we're back here, and Arkansas was a really good game for the team. We lost by three, had two really good shots at winning the game. Were tied to go into overtime. So it's definitely really cool to be back here. Always extremely thankful for an opportunity to play another game, especially in the postseason in a place like Jacksonville is another great thing that we are able to experience. Q. Is there anything you've been able to do to maybe help your teammates adjust to what the atmosphere is going to be like here, what the experience is like? CAMERON JACKSON: We haven't really talked about it a lot yet, honestly, just trying to enjoy the little bit of time that we've had together here, the experience that has already come about being in Jacksonville, a part of this process, just trying to really sit back and enjoy it and really enjoy being here in the moment right now. Q. Fletcher, you've garnered obviously a lot of attention over the past couple months especially, but now that you're on this macro stage where all these eyes are on you and you know that teams are going to be looking at, especially for your abilities in particular, does that change your approach at all and open up any options for your teammates maybe in the process or affect your game in any way? FLETCHER MAGEE: I don't think I'm going to change my approach too much. I think that teams in our league have played us for a long time and done some things. I'm sure teams that haven't seen us are looking at what they can do and strategy-wise and stuff. So I'm just going to continue to do what I do, and we'll make adjustments from there. You know, if they're maybe double-teaming off of screens, I think we can definitely open up some stuff for our teammates, but we'll just kind of see how the game starts and make reads and adjustments from there. Q. The New York Post called you Wofford's Steph Curry. When you hear something like that, what goes through your head? FLETCHER MAGEE: Yeah, I know that Steph has done way more great things than I have and was a better player, but it's definitely high praise. But I don't want to get too caught up into the comparisons and all that kind of stuff. Q. Matthew, could you just talk about what it's like to represent Wofford on this national stage, such a small school that you're coming from? MATTHEW PEGRAM: Yeah, getting a chance to remember Wofford on a national stage is great. It's something we're all very proud to do, something we're all proud to put the Wofford jersey on on a national scale. To do it in the NCAA Tournament is the biggest stage, and I think we're all looking really forward to what's to come. Q. A Southern Conference championship over a UNCG team that a lot of people thought were in talks to get an at-large bid, what kind of win, coming in behind in the second half, what does that do for you momentum-wise moving into this game? CAMERON JACKSON: I think that just any win against a quality opponent is going to give you a bit of confidence coming into your next game. But at this stage, everybody here has won at a high rate and is a very good and talented team. So we're excited to get another opportunity. I don't think we're really thinking about the past as much. I think we're confident that we can go out and compete, though. MIKE YOUNG: Pleasure to be back in Jacksonville. We have had a remarkable year to date, 29-4 I think it is. Went through a really, really good Southern Conference season with a number of excellent teams, you know, unscathed, which I'll never understand as long as I live. But it is a treat to be here. We've been fortunate enough to play in five of these in the last ten years. Three of them have been in Jacksonville. I love coming down here, and it's a pleasure to be back. Q. What are your thoughts on Myles Powell? What jumps out at you the most when you watch film of him? MIKE YOUNG: If I watch one more video of Myles, yeah, just an elite scorer and he's got all the tricks. I think of New York City, New Jersey guys that can really score the ball, shot fake, get you in the air, get into you, get fouled, unlimited range. You try to press up and he blows your doors off and gets into your post players, where he's terrific in getting fouled. He is just a really, really talented basketball player. I'll tell you something else that I've been impressed with him, he makes the right play. He's a good basketball player. You see Marquette and you see Villanova and you see these others that try to do some things to him to negate his ability to get shots off. He throws the ball to people when they're open, and I admire that about him. Myles Powell is terrific. I've enjoyed watching him play. I don't know that I'll enjoy seeing him play my team tomorrow. Q. Given what Fletcher Magee does, there's no secret. How has he been able to be so successful knowing teams are going to focus on his shooting game after game? And then go back a few years, why was he such an important recruit for you? MIKE YOUNG: You know, the second question first, I don't know that any of us know coming in that he's going to score 500 threes and 2,500 points. His high school coach is a great coach, Chris Mayberry, at First Academy, has been there a long time. If I had a nickel for every time I had a high school coach tell me kids will be the hardest worker you've ever had, I'd have some money, and I respectfully internally thought to myself, yeah, I've heard that again; here we go. He is the hardest worker I've ever been around. To the point last week, I thought he was hurting himself. Sometimes you have to save him from himself. "You need to take a break, all right, relax. Okay, we're practicing for an hour, hour and a half every day. You're in here at 7:00 to 8:00, you're over here again at night." Man, I said, "I'm not telling you you have to sit -- you have to relax, because I know if I do that and you want to do it, you're still going to do it, but I'm telling you, you need to rest your body." Of course I saw him later that night. He's down there, and I said, "See, I told you, that's why I didn't tell you not to do it." He said, "I'm just shooting foul shots and lay-ups, foul shots and lay-ups, not breaking a sweat." He's an animal, and in the best way. He is the finest young man. He's meant a lot to us, but never in a million years did I think he would be this good. I mean, he is -- and he's gotten bigger and stronger, you know, as they all do. David Land, our strength coach, has done a great job with him in the year that he's been with us, and he's better prepared to take a lick, and he'll take some licks tomorrow now, with Cale and McKnight, those others that will be matched up with him. But he can get through that contact better now, and he's really worked on his handling, creating separation and gets to the edge. He's a really good athlete. He is a much better athlete than most expect him to be. Q. It's been since March 12th since you guys figured out that you had secured the bid to the NCAA Tournament. It'll have been a week since you guys played. What's been the message to the team throughout the time of indecision not knowing who you're going to play and keeping the energy up during practices? MIKE YOUNG: Yeah, I get the impression that some people see it as a negative that, gosh, it's been 10 days since you played, will you be rusty. I think it's the best. I mean, I love it. To have the opportunity to win that, know you're in, last Monday when we beat Greensboro, you go into the weekend not knowing who you're going to play, watch friends sweat it out in their league tournaments, and then you find out where you're going on Sunday. I think the opportunity to collect your thoughts, decompress, rest up a little bit, get back and practice and work on Wofford and not be so concerned. It's so repetitive, preparation, preparation, play, preparation, play, to be able to take a step back and look at some other things with a critical eye and work on those I think is very, very beneficial. Q. I'm not sure how well you know Kevin Willard. I'm just curious what your impression of the coaching job he's done this year after what he lost last year and what stands out about him? MIKE YOUNG: I don't know Kevin at all. I don't know Seton Hall very well, honestly. You hear all these projections and they say this school, they say this school, and then Seton Hall pops up, and it's like, oh, gosh. But I have thoroughly enjoyed -- he makes you uncomfortable, and I admire that. And match-up and 2-2-1, back to match-up and man-to-man and switch some things and not switch some things. Kevin is -- he's exceptional. I mean, I've seen them play. I don't know how many times I've seen them play now. But he's an awfully fine basketball coach. I'm sure the match-up is what his dad employed at Pittsburgh and Holy Cross and such a great coach. I wish my dad could give me some help. I talked to him last night, and I said, "Do you have any pointers?" He said, "Yeah, get Magee and Jackson more shots." Thanks, dad. Appreciate it. But Kevin is really, really good. There's a lot of things that go -- I referenced a great coach. A great coach to me is a team that plays really, really hard, and his team plays really, really hard. Trying to get a better understanding of Seton Hall and Kevin's team, talked to some people, without divulging great Big East secrets, every one of them referenced how hard they play, and they will never stop. They keep coming. The physicality and toughness is a part of their game that I admire greatly. Q. You've had two near misses here. What comes to mind when you think about the past games here, and then coming back as a higher seed? MIKE YOUNG: 0 for 4, bad coaching. You know, and here we are again. I love coming down here. This is three of the five years that we've been a part of this great tournament been in Jacksonville. I love the city. I love the arena. You know, and our two closest games were 2010 against Wisconsin, a tie game with a minute to play, and John Leuer hits a short quarter jumper and we get beat. And a really good Arkansas team, we were a 12, they were a 5, Bobby Portis, Michael Qualls, we're right there, led for a lot of that game, if I recall correctly, 20, 22 minutes of that game and lost 56-53. You know, there's a lot of things that make it the greatest tournament of them all, one of which is you know you're going to play somebody really, really good. And we're the 7 seed. That's a heck of a seed for anyone. I think the highest seed a Southern Conference team has ever achieved, and lo and behold you've got to play a Big East team Seton Hall that just went nose to nose with the defending national champion. You know, we know what's in front of us. I've got a really good team. You know that. And we're excited to be here. We're excited to take to the floor tomorrow and get after it. Q. You mentioned the games here with Wisconsin and with Arkansas. What do you feel you were able to learn from those that can help you know what to tell the team what to be prepared for, what the arena is like, everything from a preparation standpoint? MIKE YOUNG: You know, I wish there was something -- three things that I could give them. You're going to be faced with this, you've got to be prepared to handle this. I can't. It's a different -- it's a bit different, all right, it is the NCAA Tournament. We knew playing Greensboro that we were going to play again. Wherever that might be, we were going to do it again. Coming over here tomorrow and playing Seton Hall, there's some things on the line. The media exposure and the arena and the crowd and all that, you rely on toughness and you rely on experiences that you've had throughout the year at Furman, capacity crowd and you find a way to win, at East Tennessee state, huge crowd, really good team, and you find a way to win. You rely on internal leadership, and I have three guys in Cameron Jackson, Matt Pegram and Fletcher Magee that have been through it. I have had some great moments and have had some moments that haven't been so great. And all of those experiences culminate here in this tournament, and you know, you just hope you can play another good ball game. I think a lot about that. I think, gosh, I hope we play well. We haven't played poorly in -- we haven't played poorly all year. Now, we got our tail kicked a couple of times, the wheels came off at Phog Allen Fieldhouse, but that's a tie game where we are right there with ten to play. It's been a special team, and we know how well we have to play and the toughness we're going to have to display and the ball handling that we're going to have to carry into that thing tomorrow if we expect to win. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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