NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - OKLAHOMA VS GONZAGA

March 22, 2021

Austin Reaves

Hinkle Fieldhouse

Oklahoma Sooners

Postgame Media Conference

Gonzaga 87, Oklahoma 71

Q. You've been on campus for three years now. What are you going to remember the most about this year's team?

AUSTIN REAVES: Really just the togetherness as a group. I felt like from day one, we really gelled well, on the court, off the court, really created a lot of special bonds with a lot of these guys.

Q. As a senior, you're going to be afforded the opportunity to return. Have you made any decision on your future yet?

AUSTIN REAVES: I can't really hear you. You keep breaking up a little bit.

Q. As a senior you've been given the opportunity to return next season. Have you made any kind of decision on your future?

AUSTIN REAVES: No. I really stay in the moment. Don't really think about tomorrow. Just stay in the day and try to make the best of that day. I haven't made any decisions about that. I hadn't thought about it. That's about it.

Q. You've got to be sick about not being still in the tournament, but you guys struggled so much down the stretch and you saw today what they're capable of. Is that how you feel? Is this a team that if you feel you could have played better, of course, you wouldn't have drawn the No. 1 team in the country?

AUSTIN REAVES: Yeah, for sure. Like you said, we kind of did it to ourselves down the stretch. In the regular season we lost the last four or whatever and put ourselves in that situation. But on the other end of it you've got to beat really good teams anyway, if you want to win it all. Probably see them down the road if they're a 2 seed, 3 seed, it doesn't matter. The difference is we seen them in the second round and not the fourth round, whatever.

I'm really proud of these guys. We did a lot of special things this year, and you know, we just got beat today.

Q. Austin, I was going to ask, you picked up your third personal foul with about 17 minutes left in the game. Was there any sense of having to be less aggressive for a stretch knowing you don't have De'Vion to come back in?

AUSTIN REAVES: You've got it in the back of your head, but you still want to play the basketball game that Coach wants and that you want to do. You don't really change to kind of counter that. You might do something just a little bit different, but you stay as aggressive as you was the first quarter of the game, the second quarter of the game. That's about it.

Q. There's only one team that finishes this whole thing with a win, and obviously you guys losing today is disappointing, but the fact that you personally -- and really you guys had some great moments. The fact that you guys really did empty the tank, is there some satisfaction in that, or is that hard to even see after the season has ended like this?

AUSTIN REAVES: It's hard to see right now, but a couple days from now, we'll -- I don't even know if it'll be a couple days. We'll still probably be mad. But down the road you'll look back and you'll be like, damn, we really did some special things. It's all about the relationships that you get to create with a lot of different guys.

But right now you've got a bitter taste in your mouth, but one of these days we'll look back and be like, we had a good year.

Q. When Elijah fouls out and Coach takes you and Elijah out, there in that huddle I noticed that Lon allowed you guys to -- I think you were saying some things. What was the essence of that message from you in that moment?

AUSTIN REAVES: We were just talking about basketball. I mean, that's about it. That'll really just stay in the group.

Q. You being the vocal leader of this team, anything you told this team before or after the game just as far as parting words or what could have been your last game and that what ultimately was your last game?

AUSTIN REAVES: I mean, the message before the game was go give it everything you have. The message at halftime was we've got 20 more minutes to make this not the last game for the season. After the game, just tell everybody you're proud of each other, and that's really about it.

Q. You come out with a loss, but it seemed like you guys were locked in there at the beginning. I'm just wondering, was there another level of like being amped up for this kind of game and being able to come out like you did?

AUSTIN REAVES: I mean, yeah. You're playing the No. 1 team in the country, 27, 28, whatever, and 0. They haven't lost a game all year, really good basketball team. So you come out feeling some type of way.

But I feel like we do that in every game. Maybe just a little bit more today. We had a really good start in the basketball game, and then it just went on from there.

Q. You touched on the start there; how did you feel about just the tempo of the game early, and did you feel like that was sustainable? And then also, what was that five minutes like for you on the bench watching things after you pick up the second foul?

AUSTIN REAVES: The pace was up and down the first, whatever, four minutes or so. I think it was 16-14, something like that, so high-paced. That's what they like to do. We was kind of trying to stay away from that, trying to stay away from them getting out in transition. If we could get out in transition, then it is what it is and just make the right plays in transition, but trying to keep them out of transition that we didn't do a good job of. Another hit Timme over the top for a lay-up, which was my fault, I went back.

And then the five minutes on the bench, the guys played well. I mean, in basketball you take breaks, you get in foul trouble, stuff like that. It's the next-man-up mentality, and we've got a lot of guys on the team that are capable of competing and getting the results that we want, and they played really good.

Q. Was it hard, though, to recapture things after you get back out there? Obviously they changed some stuff up there on y'all.

AUSTIN REAVES: Not really. You really just play to what they're doing. You can't get overaggressive and turn the ball over and do stuff like that, but you really just -- it's basketball. You sit on the bench and you come back and you play in the game, and that's just really how it goes. So there wasn't really no difference.

Q. Just wanted to ask you, if this is your final game at OU, could you just reflect on the career you've had from transferring to Wichita State to becoming a First Team All-Big 12 member and being inquired by professional basketball teams, how important was it for you to make the decision to transfer to OU, and how has your career been from that aspect?

AUSTIN REAVES: My career has been really good. Coming out of high school nobody knew who I was, and now I'd say that people probably know who I am now. So it's a big thing. Coming to OU was a big decision, as well. It was a really good decision, as well.

I've just really got to give thanks to Coach Kru and the coaching staff and all the guys. They welcomed me with open arms, and like I said, I've had a really good time.

Q. Austin, this seemed like a really chippy, intense game for a long stretch, especially right at the end with Elijah's foul that they didn't like so much. Speak to the intensity of the game and the physicality of it relative to other games you've played throughout the year?

AUSTIN REAVES: I mean, we play in the Big 12. The physicality was about the same. We're used to that kind of physical play.

The foul down the stretch, I mean, probably looked worse than what it was. I felt like he was actually trying to go for the ball. He's one of my best friends on the team. He's not a dirty player. He isn't out there trying to hurt anybody, just to clear that up. But the refs call what the refs call. Can't change that. But he's not out there trying to hurt anybody, just to clear that up.

Q. I was curious, you guys are playing at an extremely high level in the second half, shooting the ball very well but it's still hard making inroads into that Gonzaga lead. What makes them such a difficult matchup?

AUSTIN REAVES: There was a couple things that was on us. We gave up a number of second-chance opportunities, gave up a number of uncontested threes. If we cut that down, get one of those offensive rebounds or defensive rebounds and then start the break, the whole game can change. I know they got two in a row when it was a 10-point game, and then if we get those and go make a bucket, it could change the game, and it's a whole different game at that point. But we didn't, so it is what it is.

Q. What a weird challenging season with all the demands on you guys and everything you had to go through just to play ball. Better question to ask in another week or so, I realize, but just in the moment, do you look back and say, thank God that's over with, I don't ever want to go through anything like that again, or do you take pride in sort of hanging in and being resilient with your dudes and pressing on?

AUSTIN REAVES: Everybody in the nation that went through it, men, women, you're going through three COVID tests a week, waking up at 7:00 to get them, stuff like that. So you look back and you're just proud of the year that it has been. It's been a different year, of course. But it'll be a year that everybody looks back and remembers.

You couldn't be a regular college student. For the people that are social and stuff like that, it was a different year. They really had to stay to theirself, stay within the group, the team, the coaching staff. So really just cherishing all those moments, all the little things that came from this year, honestly. If it wasn't for that, you might have not got those moments, like the little things that I'm talking about.

But you'll look back and be proud, and then probably look back and -- I mean, hopefully it's over with soon, so look back and then be like, damn, that was a big part of the year.