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WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

March 26, 2019

Gregg Marshall

Bloomington, Indiana

Wichita State 73, Indiana 63

COACH GREGG MARSHALL: Okay. Well, obviously that's a big win for us. Tons of respect for not only Archie and his team and how he coaches and his guys and his program, but the program itself. You know, five National Championship banners, a great crowd. Probably ranks up there with our best road wins of the year. I don't know how many road wins we now have in a row but it's one of the best that we've had all season long.

I'm just really proud of my team, the way they have matured as a team, as a unit, and individually, how they have grown up and just gotten better. Able to deal with the adversity tonight of a tremendous crowd and come out with a victory and make plays like they made all night long.

I don't think we trailed in the game -- I'm not sure about that but I know it was tied a couple of times. But our guys were always there to get the stop, to come up with the loose ball or to make the big basket, so really pleased with the result.

Q. All the road troubles the first three months; that this is the team that every single time they tried to make a run, you had the answer every single time.
COACH GREGG MARSHALL: Yeah, you know, it was a defensive stop here; it was a Dexter Dennis dagger three. He had a number of those. He looked like a tremendous player tonight. Not only -- we talked about his defense and he had number 11, Green, for most of the night because he's their bet three-point shooter, but then there are other times when he was guarding Juwan Morgan, their best inside player, and this were other times when he was guarding 1, Durham.

So he can guard a multitude of guys, and that's been his calling card and we've really relied on some of his defensive abilities to get W's this year.

But tonight, he just steps up like Ray Allen, like a young Ray Allen and strokes that basketball in the basket and looked so confident doing it.

And the guys that were coming off those ball screens, reading their own offense, reading the role and then reading the opposite corner or the roll-up behind him, it was just dynamite; the decisions that Samajae, Ricky and Erik and J.B. were making.

Q. What was it like that, water bath in there?
COACH GREGG MARSHALL: It felt good. It felt really good. The water was cold. I'll have to get my tie dry cleaned. I have my lucky tie working.

I'm going with the Shirley Beggs NIT run. We haven't -- the first year -- excuse me, in 2011, the second year we were in the NIT; 2010 we didn't do so well but in 2011 we beat Nebraska by 30-plus in Cocorain (ph) and as I'm leaving the arena, Shirley Beggs who was the wife of the president at the time, Dr. Don Beggs, she counters my wife, Lynn, my two children and myself, and we have a conversations and she was just -- she is one of the nicest ladies on planet earth.

She goes, you know -- we should all dress exactly what we're wearing now for every game until we win this NIT. Is that okay, Kellan? Maggie, Lynne? You're the one that's going to have to watch the clothes. I want the same tie, the same suit.

I went, whatever you say, Shirley. So we did. That we won five straight. We cut down the nets in MSG and so now I'm worried about my tie because it's soaking wet. I may have to get it dry cleaned but we're going to roll with it.

Q. That moment with Markis, four-year guy.
COACH GREGG MARSHALL: You know, this program owes him such a debt because he is now the bridge. I feel very confident in saying that, from the 30-win seasons, the NCAA Tournament, winning games, advancing, his whole career until his senior year, and then he's left with literally less than 300 minutes returning on the roster, other than him. Ten brand new players. Of the ten, not one second of Division I experience and two guys with less than 300 minutes total.

Those are the other two guys with experience, and he has bridged now the past to the present and what's to become the future, and I'm just tremendously proud of him, the leader that he's become and as well as the tremendous performer that he is.

Q. You talked all along, you wanted to get Markis to the Garden and now you have. What was it like seeing young guys buy into that?
COACH GREGG MARSHALL: They also understand what he's meant. It's been really great to see him bring these kids along, and you put an arm around him when he need to, kind of give them a jolt every once in a while, like, hey, we're better than this, this is not how we operate, and they have -- and he's done it so well, and hasn't demeaned them, hasn't been too critical of them, but has brought them along as a leader to get them to play like this because they didn't play like this for the first month or two of the season. It was obvious, we were kind of treading water, and sometimes we were going under the water. We were fighting to stay alive.

But now, now we're swimming like fish, and it's just beautiful to see Markis, to help lead these guys in this direction and get to this point. 22 wins now and we're in the Final Four of the NIT.

Q. A lot of guys over the years -- anybody who stands out to a program like Markis?
COACH GREGG MARSHALL: Well, right now Markis is my favorite, okay. Now, I've had many favorites, and there will be favorites in the future. But the way he has helped bridge this gap, because it looked for a while, man, we were going to take a dip.

But the way this season has evolved and the way now we are playing down the stretch, I'm very prideful of that. I'm very excited for the excitement that's in that locker room and how they have continued to persevere and fight, and grind and get better individually and collectively, and he's the leader. He's my go-to guy in that locker room, and he deserves a ton of credit. He's got a wonderful family. He was raised the right way and him and Samajae have been tremendous leaders, when they really have never led at all previously in their life.

But they were thrust into this situation, as was I, and it was difficult, but they never wavered.

Q. What does it say about this team, the top three seeds --
COACH GREGG MARSHALL: We talked about that in the locker room. We've tried for years to be a team of superlative, the best, the most, the first. We didn't have too many good superlatives this year, okay, but now we do. We're the first team in the history of this format of the NIT to go on the road and beat a 3, a 2 and a 1 and go to Madison Square Garden.

And this was a wonderful crowd tonight. They have a great program, a wonderful fan base, very talented players. Big, long, athletic guys. They are just young, and they are going to get better.

But tonight was our night and we led start to finish.

Q. Is this the most fun you've had winning games?
COACH GREGG MARSHALL: It's the most fun I've had this year. You know, we've won a lot of games, man. I can't say it's the most fun I've ever had winning games because we've been to the Final Four, we've gone 35-0, we came back from down 17 points to 21 points to win when our streak was going that one year in the second half. There's been some tremendous wins.

But nothing is better than that right now.

Q. What do you think winning three games on the road, and now going to Madison Square Garden, you might the favorite going in even though you're the sixth seed.
COACH GREGG MARSHALL: I don't if we'll be the favorite. There will be a lot of good teams. I know we have to play either my friend Kevin Keatts from North Carolina State or Lipscomb -- do they play tomorrow? We'll be able to watch that. We'll be able to schedule some time to watch that game and view our upcoming opponent. There's still TCU, there's Creighton, who else is left, two more -- Colorado, who I watched last night and one more, Texas.

And Colorado was there the last time we were there and Tad Boyle used to be an assistant coach at Wichita State.

Doesn't matter. We've got a chance, and at this point in the season on the 26th of March, this team is still playing and we're going to be playing into April, and that's unbelievable from where we started.

Q. In the locker room they were playing "New York, New York" --
COACH GREGG MARSHALL: I love that song. We had it blaring on the speakers in could he can a Ryania, old blue eyes, I think when Lynn and I got married, there was another Frank Sinatra song that we danced to the very first time and he's one of the greatest. That's a tremendous song, and says in there somewhere, "I'm King of the Hill, top of the heap: And at least now, we're at the heap but to be the King of the Hill, we've got to win two more.

So cutting down those nets in Madison Square Garden is pretty cool, and to end the season on a win. If you're counting the CBI and the CIT, there's only four teams that get to do it along with the eventual national champion. I've done it once and I'd like to do it again, and it would be great to get to 24 wins and an NIT Championship with this bunch.

Q. How much better -- you mentioned the patrol, the chess match, giving what the defense takes you, how much better has this team got, the kick-outs to the corner, the roll-up guy, how much better has this team got?
COACH GREGG MARSHALL: A lot. And I've gone to it more because they have really improved as the season's gone on. Early in the year, man, maybe should I have gone to it earlier but we just threw the ball to the other team too much. We didn't read the play. We just kind of predetermined what we were going to do, and that's not a good idea.

You can't do that in basketball. You have to let the game come to you and however the defense guards you, there's some way -- they can't guard you 360 degrees unless you're a fifth grader and you're playing against LeBron James. He can shut you down 360 degrees. But there's always got to be a way to cut, a way to move, to free yourself, okay, against one man, unless he's just far and away superior to you athletically.

We've got especially so much better at using those ball screens and reading the situation, and then making the right play.

All right. Thank you, guys. See you in New York.

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