NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - UTAH STATE VS MISSOURI

March 16, 2023

Ryan Odom

Steven Ashworth

Taylor Funk

Golden 1 Center

Utah State Aggies

Media Conference

Missouri 76, Utah State 65

THE MODERATOR: We have Utah State, Coach Ryan Odom, student-athletes Steven Ashworth and Taylor Funk.

Coach, can you give us a little opening statement, your perspective on what took place today.

RYAN ODOM: Yeah, sure.

First off, congratulations to Missouri, Coach Gates, his staff, his players. They had a great game plan today. Played an excellent game. They obviously got off to a great start. We turned the ball over quite a bit there at the beginning, then began to settle into the game, tried to tighten it up a little bit heading into halftime.

We got it close enough to where it was, okay, our guys at least felt pretty good about it at that point. We've been down at half before this season and been able to come back and win games.

Then in the second half, we were able to take the lead. Obviously there was a timeout there when we did that. They stepped up in a big, big way. We have a saying that we have in our program: champions always answer. They certainly answered in that moment.

Brown was tremendous. Two really difficult threes. Obviously the first two going to the basket. I mean, he's a load.

Obviously Hodge got loose there, as well. All of a sudden we were chasing the game pretty quickly. Up two, then all of a sudden we're chasing. That's not easy to do.

When you finally fight all the way back, you take the lead, then all of a sudden that kind of takes the life out of you. Unfortunate, but I'll tell you what I told the guys after the game. I mean, like, there's only one team that's going to finish with a win in this and going to have tremendous joy.

But what needs to be remembered and reflected upon as we march on into the spring is that this particular Aggie team gave certainly the coaching staff and gave one another a tremendous amount of joy all season long. No problems, no issues. Just love in the locker room for one another.

Every day that we came to practice, it was just a happy group. It's not like that everywhere. We've all certainly been a part of teams where it's like you have to get 'em going, get 'em going, to help them realize the opportunity that they have.

These guys wanted to play in this tournament. From this time last year, after we lost in the NIT, they wanted an opportunity at this. It takes a lot of hard work, right? You have to be really, really lucky 'cause it's really, really, really - I say that all the time, right, Steven - it's really, really, really, really, really hard to win in college basketball.

These guys did it. They won enough to get an at-large bid here. Even though we didn't get what we wanted in terms of advancing in the tournament, the guys did what they do, have done, all year, and that's continue to fight regardless of the circumstances.

I couldn't be more proud of these guys. We have several seniors that I'm really proud of. The other guys, as well, from the scout team to everybody involved in our program that invested in these guys in a big way. They gave us and our Aggie Nation a tremendous amount of joy.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Steven, from your point of view, with some of the shooting struggles, what was Missouri doing defensively to run you off your sets? Was it more so just not hitting shots that you normally make?

STEVEN ASHWORTH: I think obviously there's a little bit of both there. There has to be some credit given to Missouri, their style of defense, what they like to do to teams.

At times, even if you're getting open looks in those situations, you can be a little rushed into those shots. I think the first half we had a little bit of that. At the same time it was we just weren't hitting the shots we normally make.

I know even some of them were just bad beats. Taylor is really close to the corner, I was right there, I didn't think he stepped out. He thought he stepped out. That could have been the one to open it up in the first half.

After that, we went into halftime knowing that we were down four and hadn't made a three yet. We had a lot of confidence in that. I think later in that second half, started to open up a little bit more, we started to be a little more patient and get the right threes instead of the first three.

A majority of it was the fact that they really like to speed you up.

Q. Steven or Taylor, can you talk about a little bit when they made those couple of threes in the second half? How tough was that to watch that? You were playing pretty good defense at the time.

TAYLOR FUNK: Yeah, for sure. I mean, we trust Dan. Dan is our best defender. He made them make some tough shots. You said it.

But he's a really good player. I mean, we knew he can make those shots. We just wanted to make them as hard as possible. He really got that offense going. I mean, he opened that lead a little bit.

Like Coach said, we never gave up. We didn't hang our heads when those shots went in. We continued to battle. We got to give credit when credit's due. I mean, that team is not here for no reason. We gave them our best shot, and they made more shots than us at the end of the day.

Q. Taylor, the season as a whole, you were picked to finish at the bottom of the conference, you made it to the top. How do you look back on this season as a whole given the expectations that were on your team pre-season?

TAYLOR FUNK: Yeah, looking at the season, made the best memories of my life with these guys (tearing up). They're my brothers. Credit to the coaching staff for bringing me out here.

Wasn't easy, you know? We had our ups and downs. Just the attitudes on this team has been always positive. Steven, this kid's one of the best leaders I ever been around in my life.

Next question.

RYAN ODOM: I think you can see - I'll add to that - these guys have a genuine care and love for one another, a brotherhood. It's hard to end your season.

These guys, like I said at the beginning, have given the coaching staff, Cache Valley, the state of Utah for that matter, anybody that loves basketball, a tremendous amount of joy this season because of how they handle themselves, not only on the court but off the court.

They're always smiling, always looking to help one another. It's what being on a team's all about. You develop these memories that will last a lifetime. You're forever connected.

It's easy to tell, we're certainly not a perfect program or anything like that, but there's a lot of great programs out there. The one we just played is a great program. It's easy to tell that those guys and coaching staff are connected to one another in a big way.

That's what makes college athletics and team sports so fun. That's what makes it so fun. Even though it hurts right now, as we begin to separate from it, as we go forward, then all it's going to be is the laughs, right, the times together, the fun memories that we shared.

That's it. That's really what it's all about.

THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you for your time.

RYAN ODOM: Thanks so much.