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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: PORTLANDMarch 18, 2015Larry KrystkowiakJordan LoveridgeBrandon TaylorDelon WrightPORTLAND, OREGON THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Utah student-athletes. We'll open the floor to questions. Q. Delon, talk about coming and playing in this building where your brother plays professionally and how kind of a cool feeling that is. DELON WRIGHT: I knew that was coming. It's a good feeling, I guess, playing on the same floor that he plays on regularly. Besides that, it's not too much of a big deal. Q. Delon, are you anywhere as superstitious as your older brother? DELON WRIGHT: Not too much. I do have my superstitions. But I think he has a couple of him coming to our games, not winning, so that's it. Q. Jordan, this is what you pictured three or four years ago when you signed up for this program when it was at a low stage. What does it feel like now that you're here? JORDAN LOVERIDGE: It feels good, just seeing the struggles that the program has been through. Then to see that we've brought it back. You know, it's been I think six years since we made the tournament, so it's nice to have the buzz around the program again, just to be back, being able to compete in this tournament. Q. Brandon, talk about, now that you've had a few days to look at the competition, Stephen F. Austin, what is it about them you're going to have to take care of tomorrow? BRANDON TAYLOR: They're a good three-point team. They get out in transition. They're a very fast team. They're extremely well-coached. We know we have to be dialed in defensively tomorrow, and be dialed in on our defensive personnel, and knowing how to guard their guys and defending the three-point line. That's something we're going to have to be dialed in tomorrow. Q. A great shooting night against Stanford and then an off night against Oregon. What do you look at as the difference between those two games and are you pretty good at shaking off a tough game? JORDAN LOVERIDGE: The difference was I think shots went in the first game, shots didn't go in the second. We'll see what happens. I have confidence in my shooting. My teammates give me confidence. So, you know, just hopefully when they find me in open spots, I need to knock down open shots. Q. Coach talks a lot about culture, the values of the program. What did he do in your first year to establish that culture and build the foundation of the program as it is today? BRANDON TAYLOR: He did a lot. He did a lot. We had team meetings. He established rules early on. Me and Jordan's freshman year. He had a saying he wanted us to be mayors of the campus, just around the city. He just wanted us to be good guys all the way around the city, not really guys that come off arrogant or anything of that nature. He really wanted a whole bunch of good guys that could be coachable, that is willing to receive coaching in the positive side. Q. Delon, how much of a challenge is it for you, when you're on offense, to look for yourself and also get your other teammates involved? DELON WRIGHT: I don't think it's too much of a challenge. When I play, I try to be aggressive first. If somebody, you know, commits to me, I'll look to a teammate. I think it's having a balance of the two, knowing when to shoot and when to pass. Q. Jordan, you had Navy SEAL training in October. Talk a little bit about that. You also took boxing lessons to make your team tougher. I'm not too sure about that. JORDAN LOVERIDGE: Yeah, with the Navy SEALS, they came in for a weekend, we went through some of the things that they go through. Made us tough. We slept together at the gym with no cell phones. We got in the water, got in the sand. We were doing all type of things just to make us closer. We had to really pick each other up. It was tough for the whole weekend. We got sore. Non-stop. We didn't sleep very much. Just tried to do the things that they did, you know, because they're so close, they have a task that they need to do. If they fail, that's their lives. With us, it's a little different. But we just wanted to come together on that. Then with the boxing, you know, it was just kind of to switch up our training. It's tough what boxers do, the training they go through. They do a lot of different things. It was tough. We had a lot of fun, too, just to get out of our little element in the weight room or just on the court to try something different. Still a good training aspect for us. Q. Delon, did your brother have any advice for you about playing in this building or just playing in the tournament at all? DELON WRIGHT: Before our first basketball tournament, he told me, Now is the time. You got to leave everything on the court. Every game is one-and-done. He just told me to continue playing, you know, the way I am, to be more aggressive, you know, just leave it all on the court because this is my last go-around. Q. Delon, you've gotten a lot of hype this year, deservedly so. As you go into this, your career's coming to an end, do you feel any extra pressure or need to do anything more to try to lead this team into a deep run? DELON WRIGHT: Not necessarily. I just know to have trust in my teammates, you know, a sense of urgency every game. I just want to continue playing well, I mean, playing well, but playing together. That's what got us here. It's not about, it's tournament time, now I have to do other things. Just want to continue playing the way we are, just go far in the tournament. THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you very much. Good luck. We're joined by Utah head coach. Coach, first an opening statement, then we'll open the floor for questions. COACH KRYSTKOWIAK: Just fire away with questions (laughter). We're excited to be here, feel fortunate to be a part of what I think is the best sporting event of the year, the next month. It's on and we're ready to rock and roll. Q. Describe your emotions or thoughts as you pulled up to the venue here bringing the University of Utah program to the NCAA tournament. COACH KRYSTKOWIAK: Well, it's a little bit surreal. I think maybe some of those emotions will strike me tomorrow. We're still in a pretty high-intensity period with the practice, the shootaround, a lot of things. Stephen F. Austin presents a lot of issues. It's not a typical team when it comes to a scouting report, but they present obstacles on both sides of the ball. May have been as in-depth of a scout as we've possibly had all year in a short period of time. I haven't been caught up in too much of the emotion and the soft side of this thing. It's been more of the meat and potatoes, trying to get this thing ready to go. We're within 24 hours now. It's getting closer. Haven't had a chance to assess it or think about the emotional things. That happened a little bit on Selection Sunday. Lasted for about 30 seconds when I saw our team on the board. Had a little emotional moment for about 30 seconds or a minute, the magnitude of seeing those guys in our TV room. Then it went into preparation time, time to watch some film and try to figure out a way we could beat the Lumberjacks. Q. You came to this tournament coaching Montana. Can you relate to Stephen F. Austin, the emotion involved in that for those teams? COACH KRYSTKOWIAK: A little bit. To be honest with you, I haven't seen ourselves -- I never thought of ourselves as an underdog before. I'm not thinking of ourselves as a favorite right now. The number thing, I realize you got to start with 68 and place numbers on everybody, but I'm feeling like we need to fight and scratch, like back in the days when we were at Montana. So it feels the same to me. It's very much survival time of year. Everybody in this tournament, 1 through 66 now, short two teams, has a story to tell. Whatever that story might be, it's interesting. But I think, you know, it's far more important to get caught up in where we are and what it is we can control and not think too much about where other teams are, where some of these seeds lie. Q. Jordan's shooting stats are kind of a contrast when you win or lose. Do you look at him as a barometer on how your offense is working? COACH KRYSTKOWIAK: To beat a Stanford, we need to have multiple guys play well. I think you saw that. Jordan was one of the key components. This time of year especially, in order to advance, we're going to have to have guys rise to the occasion. It seems like for the most part Delon has been there pretty consistent. We've had a lot of ups and downs from everybody else is where the situation lies. Maybe it was as good a game as I've seen Jordan play. Then we turned around and had the other end of the spectrum. It's a challenge for him. He's typically pretty good when he bounces back. I think that's an indication of a better team and maybe some more maturity. That stuff is tolerable when you have young kids on your team. I'm hoping now with some of those juniors, the upperclassmen on our roster, that we can bring more of a presence. There's no doubt, if you look at our wins and our better games, it's not always Jordan. It's just bringing that other third or fourth guy into the mix. So there's some pressure on everybody. That question was posed to me early in the week. Who do we need to step up? I don't really care who it is, but we need to have a couple guys beyond the usual suspects that are going to rise up here to the occasion. Q. If I remember correctly on Friday, most of Jordan's missed shots were from the perimeter. Can you do things to get him going otherwise if the perimeter isn't working? COACH KRYSTKOWIAK: Well, we try to. There were a couple of threes. There were in and around the basket shots that he missed which is where he came through against Stanford on Thursday night. But we can't live and die at the three-point line. Some of those opportunities, when they're presented to you, you have to make them. I thought that was one of the highlights with Jordan's game against Stanford, was he got to the rim. He's a bigger three. He has been for two years been an undersized four man. Maybe where you made a little hay as a stretch four man, now it's time to use some of your strength and size to get in near the basket. That's been part of our process this year. I think with some of his successes, some of the games he plays better in, you'll see a correlation with him getting in and around the hoop. Those things are built into our offense. It's just a matter of finishing the play when it presents itself. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. COACH KRYSTKOWIAK: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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