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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: GREENSBOROMarch 15, 2012Kenny FreaseTu HollowayMark LyonsChris MackAndre WalkerDezmine WellsGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA THE MODERATOR: We'll start with questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Dez, you're a freshman and your team has made the NCAA tournament and you're playing near your home state. Can you talk about what that's like for you and also kind of what kind of crowd of friends and family are going to come watch you? DEZMINE WELLS: My mom is going to be probably the loudest one in the gym, so she's going to be the one here really supporting us as a team or whatever. My friends are going to be here, my sister. I'm not sure how many of my friends are going to be here, but it's a great experience for me. And just hearing coach and the guys talk about it, it's a really, really big deal. So I just want to do all I can to help our team win and just send these seniors out the right way. Q. Kenny and Tu, can you explain why it was that you had such a strong start? And then after the Cincinnati game, you never performed to that level and to the level that a lot of people expected you to the rest of this season beyond. What exactly happened there? What changed and why weren't you able to play the same after that? KENNY FREASE: I don't think that we haven't been able to play the same. We have definitely had our bumps in the road, but I think that as a team we have been able to really come together over the past few weeks here. And I think that we're playing just as good as we did at the beginning of the season. I know that there's a lot of time in between then and now, so it's hard to sort of see that. But I think that we have really come together as a team and we're playing our best basketball right now. TU HOLLOWAY: After that game our confidence was lost a little bit, so it took a couple months to get it back and we had a great weekend down in Atlantic city. And we're really excited about being here right now. Sometimes you go through things that make you better. So we're just here trying to make the best of it now. Q. Kenny, sort of following up on that, how difficult was it to kind of‑‑ in the aftermath of you guys losing five of six to kind of pull yourselves out of that and get yourselves back to where you were in contention to get back to the NCAA tournament? KENNY FREASE: It was difficult just because of the pressure that was put on us from the outside world, and I think that as a team we always knew that if we were able to come together that we would be where we are today. And in the locker room it really brought us closer together just having gone through that type of adversity, so I think that that's something that the adversity that you're going to see in the NCAA tournament, we have been through all that. We have been through a lot more than that. So I think that as a team we'll be ready for anything we see. Q. Mark, can you talk about Notre Dame's burn offense and kind of what onus it puts on you guys to play defense for the full shot clock? MARK LYONS: They're a great team. They have been through a lot of ups and downs too by losing players and other people stepping up this year. So we got to come out ready to play every game like it's our last because it could be. Q. Is their offense different than things you've faced before and the other teams you played this season? Do they stand out to you in any way? MARK LYONS: Actually, we played a couple teams like them. They're a pick and roll, middle ball type of team and we faced a couple times like that this whole year. And so we're ready for it and it's going to be a good game for both of us. Q. Andre, talk about Notre Dame and some of the things that they do well heading into this contest? ANDRE WALKER: I know they have a couple of guys that are really good offensive rebounders. They run their offense to a T, and they're very patient. And they get everybody involved. They have great back court players as well as front court players and they just jell well as a team. I know they're young, but everybody grows up throughout the season. So they have been playing pretty well together and they just know each other and they have got great chemistry. Q. Tu, can you talk about your back court's obviously a very veteran back court compared to theirs, does that give you guys an advantage do you think going into the game? TU HOLLOWAY: I don't know if it does give us an advantage. It definitely gives us confidence going into the game. Just like our team, we're great in the back court; we're also great in the front court. With Kenny and Dre, you know, the same goes for Notre Dame, Atkins and Grant in the back court and they have Cooley or who I believe was second team all Big East in the front court. So I feel like it's an even matchup across the board. THE MODERATOR: Okay. Thanks, guys. We'll start with an opening statement from coach. COACH MACK: Well, it never gets old playing in the NCAA tournament. For our program it's the seventh straight year and didn't really look that way about three or four weeks ago. I thought our kids really responded. They had their backs against the wall, and we knew heading into our conference tournament in Atlantic City that we were going to have to win some games in order to be a part of, in my opinion, the greatest sporting event in the country. And I was really proud of the way our kids responded. So it's a big challenge tomorrow night against Notre Dame a team that's gotten better from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. Coach Brey as done an incredible job with not a lot of returning experience, and so I think it's going to be one of the better first round matchups. THE MODERATOR: Take questions for coach. Q. Welcome back. What does being back in North Carolina mean to you? You spent three years at Wake Forest and had some good years there. COACH MACK: It's special. I had a great time; my wife and I had a great time during the time that we were here. Obviously I spent three years as an assistant to the late Skip Prosser who was as big of an influence on me and my family as there's ever been. I think my wife took my family while we were at practice today to our old house in Winston and visited Hanes Mall, so it's great. I've seen a lot of old friends in the short time that we have been here already. So it's special and we played ACC tournaments here. And with Duke and Carolina here as well, it's going to have that ACC tournament type feel. But, no, it's been great. Q. I read that you're fond of saying the games people remember are the ones you play in March. I'm wondering, do you need a March run to make people forget about that game in December? COACH MACK: Well, I don't know if some people seem to have memories of elephants, that they don't want to ever forget that. But for our kids it is a chance to go out on the biggest stage of college basketball and advance. And I truly believe that the only games that people remember are the ones you play in March. And that wasn't my quote; that was Digger Phelps a long time ago. And so this is the time of year you want to be playing your best. I thought our program took a huge step forward in our play in Atlantic city, and let's hope that it continues for us tomorrow night. Q. Sort of following up on that, how did you guys ‑‑ you guys lost five of six after that Cincinnati thing. How difficult was it on the players to sort of pull themselves out of that and sort of get themselves back into position to be here again? COACH MACK: If I was being very, very honest, it was extremely difficult. I don't think there's a manual for a coach, for a program, for your players, in how you respond, but the one thing I never questioned about our kids is their desire to compete and want to get better. We stepped in a lot of venues where we heard about the incident, but Xavier basketball is much bigger than 10 bad minutes on a Saturday. This program has done so much good for so many years that we can define ourselves with who we truly are. Again, we're an extremely excited to play in the NCAA tournament. It's not the ultimate goal, but it was one of our goals. And now we want to be able to advance and play as deep as we can into this thing. Q. Do you think that because of the adversity you've been through that the team is closer in the locker room than other teams you've coached? COACH MACK: Yeah. I tell you what, I thought we took a big step forward. Again, I keep saying the same thing when we went to the Atlantic 10 tournament. We had won the regular season in the Atlantic 10 in five straight years, and I think that when that goal really wasn't attainable with about two and a half weeks left in the season unless Temple somehow lost some games they weren't supposed to‑‑ you know, we became scoreboard watchers, and we didn't play necessarily that well. But I feel like this team has grown closer together. I don't know if there's another team in college basketball that's gone through what we have gone through, some may say self‑inflicted, but nevertheless we've gone through it. And I think that we're a much closer group in March than we were in January. And again that's when you want to be playing your best basketball. So I'm hopeful that it's something that's able to bring us even closer together and give us a little bit of momentum for this tournament. Q. A big part of the game that Notre Dame talked about being important tomorrow is rebounding. Can you talk about that and kind of the importance for you guys to get in there and crash the boards? COACH MACK: Rebounding is important in every game. The one guy that just scares the living daylights out of us is Jack Cooley. He has 128 offensive rebounds. The next closest player on their roster has about 30. He's one of the Top‑5 offensive rebounders in the country. He's very, very aggressive. He's determined. I think he's strong as an ox, although we haven't played against him yet, just when you watch him on film. But no question, getting second shots or eliminating second shots is always a huge key to the game. Tomorrow night will be no different. Q. With such a late start tomorrow, what will you guys do during the day? COACH MACK: Go fly fishing for a little bit. No. We're going to break up the day. Late game starts are not anything new to our program. In fact, a week ago our game against Dayton was at nine o'clock, so we'll have an afternoon shoot around off site, kids will have a chance to go back to the hotel room, stay off their feet, watch a little college basketball, and generally get focused for the game. But the late start won't be any different than some of the games we have experienced this year. Q. What's this homecoming been like for you to come back to a place that was so familiar to you? COACH MACK: It's been great. The people of North Carolina are as friendly as they get. And certainly the weather's cooperated, early spring is always a little bit warmer and a little bit more sunshine here in North Carolina. But, no, the familiarity of so many friendships, relationships, just places that my wife and I visited when we were here, it's not as much of a sightseeing trip as it is a business trip, but it's great to be back. Q. Coach, can you talk a little bit about what you tell the younger guys coming in an environment like this? COACH MACK: Just be ourselves. We don't have to re‑invent anything. I think that the stage that we're on now is the reason that a lot of these kids came to Xavier. When they had some of their options whether it was ABC or Xavier, they chose Xavier because we have been a player in the NCAA tournament and we have had deep runs in March, that we have been to the NCAA tournament 11 of the last 12 years, and so you don't have to re‑invent yourself. You don't all of a sudden have to be a guy that takes shots out of the norm. You just have to do what we practice every single day, be who we are, and if that's not good enough, so be it. But I got a funny feeling if we play up to our capabilities then we'll all be happy. Q. Brad hasn't made a 3‑pointer since the Richmond game, and he had a drought earlier this year. Is it just a matter of him getting more repetition out there in games? COACH MACK: Well, I think that he lost his confidence a little bit. And when you don't play an extended amount of minutes, it's not the easiest thing in the world to just come in off the bench cold and knock down two or three threes. But hopefully Notre Dame has looked at the box scores over the last four or five games. And they don't even put him on the scouting report because I do know if gets an open look, you can generally chalk it up for a three. So he's a big part of our team. Again, like I said the other day, some matchups are better for Brad than others, and we'll see what kind of opportunity he gets tomorrow night. Q. Follow‑up about Skip Prosser, you guys have played Wake Forest a couple of years with the Skip Prosser Classic and it went on hiatus this year, is it coming back this next season? COACH MACK: I believe it is, yes. We'll play those guys in late December and it's a game that I think is very near and dear to both programs. The amount of influence and what he did for both programs, it should be played and it will be played, at least that's my understanding, at Wake Forest, next year. THE MODERATOR: All right, thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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