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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: PITTSBURGH

March 18, 2015

PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

MODERATOR: Today we'll have head coach Bill Coen and student-athletes David Walker, Quincy Ford and Scott Eatherton. We'll start with the student-athletes.

Q. Guys, what was the buzz like on campus the last couple days before you headed down? And I guess for all three, just kind of talk about that, what it's like to be around Northeastern right now.
SCOTT EATHERTON: It's great right now, the energy around campus. We have people who were at our bus when we left and we had a good Selection Sunday show. A lot of people came. So it's been a lot of fun so far.

MODERATOR: Quincy?

QUINCY FORD: Yesterday, I got a lot of high fives going to class. Everyone's real excited. Truly a lot of support behind us. Our whole school is behind us. Just a great feeling.

DAVID WALKER: Just support is awesome. We have great fans and to know that they came to the Selection Sunday show means a lot. Just all that support really is great.

Q. This question is for David and Scott. You guys both went to high school not too far from Pittsburgh, a couple hundred miles on either side. Are you looking forward to having a lot of friends and family that are going to be able to attend here tomorrow?
SCOTT EATHERTON: Yeah, I've had a decent amount of people text me for tickets and stuff like that. So I'm sure I'll have a good, a good support base. I like Pittsburgh, my sister went to school here. So it's nice to know that it's so close to home.

DAVID WALKER: Same thing. I'm only two hours or so from here. I had a lot of people texting me, Hey, can you get me tickets. I'm like, I only have so many. But it's nice to have my family close by and Pittsburgh, again, is a great city. So glad to be here.

Q. Did any of you play here before, AAU or anything like that?
SCOTT EATHERTON: At my first school, I played at the University of Pittsburgh.

DAVID WALKER: I've played AAU here a couple times. It's nice.

Q. I'm not going to test your NCAA tournament knowledge. When lower seeded teams have managed to pull upsets and to win games, what do you think there might -- what similarities might there be that would allow a team seeded lower, 13, 14, 15, to win a game against a high seed?
SCOTT EATHERTON: I think it's the just the ability to be able to shoot the ball and I think we have that. If we can knock down some shots, I think we can challenge them. Confidence, a big thing is confidence. I mean, we've won four in a row, so we're confident right now. We just have to look at ourselves like it's just another game and we can't worry about the seeding and stuff like that. It has to be our mindset.

Q. For Quincy, we'll start with you, Northeastern's a school that doesn't have a football program. It folded. The Beanpots have been, what, 20, 21 years since you had a victory in that? Do you guys feel like you are the biggest thing on campus right now? Also, for the two juniors, how do you guys keep this rolling, going forward?
QUINCY FORD: I would say basketball right now is a big buzz on campus. We have a great hockey team in the history. So just this year, what we've done with basketball for this school means so much. Being here with David is such a journey, as well as Scott. This is a great start. Hopefully we're going to make history tomorrow and continue next year.

Q. The situation you guys are in, playing a legendary opponent, maybe coming into the game as an underdog, is that something that you guys are embracing and maybe can add a little bit of a fun experience to this already important experience?
DAVID WALKER: Yeah, I guess so. The name of the program -- I mean, Notre Dame, they're a great team. It's fun. We really have -- they have all the pressure. We're just coming in. We're going to play hard. And coaches, they have a great scout for us. We're going to come in, execute the game plan. Like Scott said, just try knock down shots, play confident and have fun.

Q. For those of us who haven't seen a lot of your games, what is it that's made you guys so successful this year, and how have you gotten as far as you have? What's been the key to your success?
QUINCY FORD: I would definitely say our chemistry, our togetherness. We're a close-knit group on and off the court. It really shows when we play. We share the ball so well and that's just one of the makeups of our team and that's one of our strengths.

Q. I don't know if you'll give me the same answer, but I'll ask all three of you, at what point in the season were you guys convinced that you could have a special year?
SCOTT EATHERTON: I don't think it occurred to us until -- I don't know. We had an idea of where we wanted to be at the beginning of the season. Then we lost some close games and we had some bad losses. And before our game against Charleston, which is right before we go into the conference tournament, we all sat down and had a team meeting and we kind of just rallied together then and got everybody's confidence. That helped us get through the tournament and get through our last regular season game.

QUINCY FORD: Going off that, it was closer to the conference tournament where we were beginning to play our best basketball, which we really want to do towards March. Just going to the conference tournament, the practices leading up to that point were amazing. Everybody was on the same page and just had so much momentum going in.

Q. Scott, first off, real quick, you said your sister went to school here. Was that Pitt?
SCOTT EATHERTON: Yeah, she went to Pitt.

Q. Did she play sports?
SCOTT EATHERTON: No.

Q. You guys were the top 12 in the country in field goal percentage. Is that a function of the offense and wanting to get good -- is that something Coach really stress, moving the ball around to get the right shot? Is that kind of a hallmark of your team?
SCOTT EATHERTON: Yeah, he focuses on getting a lot of reversals in the offense and it's something he enforces every practice and we focus on getting each other great shots, getting each other wide open looks on three, getting easy layups. Going into the games, playing with confidence, that's helped the whole field goal percentage thing.

Q. Scott, Coach Brey said the other day that you guys are a lot like them from seeing them on film. Do you see similarities? Especially offensively.
SCOTT EATHERTON: I think with how they move the ball and how we move the ball, we look to get wide open shots and we -- I wouldn't say we rely heavily on the three, but we shoot a lot of threes, a lot of wide open threes and that helps us free up the inside. So maybe that's the similarity there.

Q. Did you see the ACC tournament as it was transpiring? Did you see it live?
SCOTT EATHERTON: I didn't personally watch it. I know, I think these guys did. But we know they won the ACC, which is huge. So we're going to have to come and play with a lot of energy.

Q. Scott, I know I've asked you this in the past. Against a team like Notre Dame, if I were to show you the box score now, what would be the first thing that you would look for to give you some indication of if you have a chance to win.
SCOTT EATHERTON: What was the first part?

Q. If I showed you the box score for tomorrow's game right now, what would be the first thing you would look at to give you an indication if you win or not?
SCOTT EATHERTON: Just rebounding and their field goal percentage. They get a lot of -- they go on a lot of runs, so it will be important for us to stay together and stop those runs. If we can do that, it would give us a better chance to win.

MODERATOR: Other questions for the student-athletes? All right, gentlemen. Thank you. Coach, we'll begin with a two-minute opening statement.

COACH COEN: I just -- our group couldn't be more excited to be participating in the NCAA tournament. It's been quite a week of anticipation and celebration and now it's time to get down to work. We're happy to be here and ready to go.

MODERATOR: Questions for Northeastern Coach Bill Coen.

Q. Bill, how many people have reached out to you from Northeastern, players, coaches of the past in the last week or so. And do you kind of understand the magnitude of this situation you guys are in right now and do your players also?
COACH COEN: Sure. Well, we've had a tremendous outpouring of support and congratulations from the entire Northeastern community; former players, alums, fans, friends of the program. It's just been outstanding. I know your kids are very appreciative of everything and I think they understand the context of this event and how much it means to everybody in the Northeastern community. Our whole campus has been abuzz. There have been rallies and send-offs and greetings and watch parties. So it's been very exciting for them and I know they appreciate all the support, and they welcome the opportunity to come out here and compete and represent Northeastern University.

Q. When teams in the past seeded 13, 14, 15, when they've been able to win games in this tournament, do you think there are common denominators or similarities that allow a team seeded like that to win against a team favored to win?
COACH COEN: I don't know -- well, probably, simply stated, you have to play mistake-free basketball. You have to play the perfect game. You have to have a really good game plan. You have to execute that game plan. And you have to catch a break. You got to get a little bit lucky. You got to get a bounce. Something during the game has got to go your way to shift the momentum. And then you have to have the confidence and the courage to seize the moment, and that's, I really think, is the beauty of March, watching that play out over and over again, seeing kids step up and really seize the moment. I think those have been the success stories.

Q. A lot of those wins, a lot of those lower seeded teams have been close, obviously. What about your squad would give you the confidence in a close game against Notre Dame, you'd be able to close the deal and get past --
COACH COEN: I think I'd have to lean on our experience. We've had guys who have played, multiple guys who have played over 100 basketball games and have been in those moments along the way, obviously not at this stage. But if they can stay focused in what they're doing, they've been in those situations. They've been in close games. They've won close games. They've hit game winners. They've made clutch free throws. They've got that big rebound or that big stop somewhere along their career. If they rely on that experience, and we do have an experienced club, if they can -- if we can draw upon that, you know that will serve us well.

Q. Coach, the situation you guys are in playing a team with one of the biggest names in college sports, the neutral crowd always seems to embrace the underdog and pull for the upset. In addition, you've got a couple players who grew up not far from here, might even add some more fans to the crowd. Is it a situation that the players are already embracing as something that's going to be fun in addition to the competitive experience?
COACH COEN: I think so. We'll gladly take all the fan support we can get if they want to volunteer it. I think, typically, in these things, many of the other clubs are rooting for the upset too. So I think once the game environment settles in, that all plays a factor. And if it's favorable, then so be it. We gladly take the support.

Q. Bill, as you've watched more tape over the last week, what really stands out to you about Notre Dame?
COACH COEN: Just about everything. They're just comprised of a team of really good basketball players. They dribble, pass and shoot, rebound, defend, and they know when and how to do each of those skills and execute them brilliantly. They are a very unselfish team, maybe the best passing team in college basketball. Their spacing, their movement, their ability to shoot the three, their ability of the guards to penetrate and get into lane and cause rotations, they're elite at that. They're an elite offensive team. All their numbers are off the charts. So we're going to have to get back in transition and try to make it a five-on-five game and then we're going to have to be elite in all the different various defensive coverages, whether it's ball screen coverage or help side coverage or guarding the ball man-to-man. As you're preparing for them, you see the likes of Duke and North Carolina and Louisville and some really, really good basketball teams that struggled to do that. So that's when you know just how good they are.

Q. Sort of along those lines, what's your biggest concern? What's kept you up at night trying to figure out a way how this is going to play out?
COACH COEN: Their transition. They're so quick and explosive. I think one of the things that concerned us all year long is our turnover ratio. We've been at our best when we've been able to keep our turnovers down. They're not a team that turns you over, per se, full court. But when you do turn it over, they are elite at making you pay and just really transitioning quickly and turning turnovers into points. So I think if we're going to have any chance, it's going to start with us taking care of the basketball.

Q. What are you most looking forward to?
COACH COEN: Tip time. It's been a tremendous year leading up to this point and we always tell our players that they want to build to that moment and just be ultimately prepared for that and just to be ready at tip time.

MODERATOR: Coach, thank you.

COACH COEN: Thank you.

MODERATOR: Good luck.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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