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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: COLUMBUSMarch 20, 2015Bob HugginsTarik PhillipJuwan StatenDevin WilliamsCOLUMBUS, OHIO WEST VIRGINIA - 68 Q. Tarik, could you take us through the 3-point. How late was it in the shot clock, whether you thought you had to hurry it and where was the defender closest to you? TARIK PHILLIP: The previous possessions I got my shot blocked, so I was just thinking to get it up. When he found me, I just though, get it up on the rim. Q. Juwan, the last minute and a half, how tough a nut was that Buffalo defense to crack for you guys and obviously Tarik steps up and hits the 3, how tough was it there the last minute? JUWAN STATEN: They made it real tough for us. They were gapping everything and forcing us to take outside shots. We tried to screen and rescreen a lot of times. But every time I came off they kind of funneled me to one side. I just had to probe and probe and see what the bigs was going to do. I noticed Tarik's man was running in to help a little bit. So I had to get it to him. So it wasn't that much time. He couldn't think about anything and he just made a great shot. Q. Devin, how intense was it out there? This was a game you guys had in hand. And then it seemed to have in hand but then of course they come back on you and stuff. What was it like out there? DEVIN WILLIAMS: It's been like that all year, definitely playing in the Big 12. It's always close. So it was something we was familiar with and understood. We just had to stay composed and just do what we do. And that's what we did. We just played with each other and things just happened to happen. Q. Devin, can you talk about the play when you went on the ground and secured the ball in the timeout? Can you talk about that play? DEVIN WILLIAMS: I was just in the game. I just wanted to win and that's the way we've been playing. That's the reason we're here now is because we make them extra plays. We don't stop playing. So when the ball came off, I was just -- just happened to get a hand in there and he lost the ball. So I just fell on it and that was pretty much it. Q. Juwan, yourself, was it tough to get a handle on this game today, with the fouls and stuff? It didn't seem to be a lot of flow, a lot of tempo. What was it like, I guess, out there? JUWAN STATEN: This game was pretty common for us. We've been fouling all year. So this is something that we were familiar with. But that's how we play. We play hard and you can't always control how the fouls go, but you can control how hard you play. So we just played through anything and we try to keep it ugly, because we're used to the ugly games. And we were just able to pull it off. Q. Devin, I think you hit the two free throws with 2:10 to go or so. There was some question from the Buffalo players that was somehow a mystery foul. Could you give your perspective on it? DEVIN WILLIAMS: I was just ready to step up and just shoot the free throws. There wasn't much I had to think about. I happened to be there a few times this year where I had to make some free throws and it was just pretty much get my elbow up, follow through and just make the free throw. It wasn't trying to overanalyze it or anything like that. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach. Q. Was that your preferred style of play, the pace, the tempo, the way it worked out for you, you think, for most of the game? COACH HUGGINS: No, I liked the early part when we were up about 15. We just -- it hurts our pressure when we lose Holton and/or Adrian. Our pressure is not near as good at the point of the press. So we were playing pretty well until those two guys got in foul trouble and it really hurt our pressure. Q. Tarik's been in and out of your good graces at times this year. COACH HUGGINS: I've loved Tarik the whole time. I don't say that now. Q. How about this, Dax or Jevon or maybe both of them that have been in the game late at that position. What was there reason for Tarik, was it him playing well earlier offensively. Did he have a good game defensively, anything in particular? COACH HUGGINS: Tarik has the ability to be our best on-the-ball defender. And he's really long and athletic. And I thought he'd do a better job of rebounding the ball than what the other two guys would have. It wasn't for him to really to take the shot. It was for the other end. It was for the defensive purposes. And really I kind of thought why didn't I get him out and get J.C. in to shoot the ball on penetration. And my absent-mindedness probably won the game. Q. Sound like a weird question but what's it like to see a kid step up and make a shot like that, make a play in this kind of setting and stuff, from your vantage point, to deliver, I guess? COACH HUGGINS: He's that kind of kid. He's a guy -- Dax has been that way as well. They love that moment. Probably the only one who wanted Tarik to shoot it was Tarik. He had to, it was the end of the clock. But he relishes that kind of moment. And we're fortunate to have a couple of guys that do. Q. Can you take us through the last couple of minutes after they tied it? Obviously you were trying to shorten the game, particularly that one possession where they got two timeouts and fouled right there under the basket. COACH HUGGINS: I don't know that I was necessarily trying to shorten the game. I was trying to keep it in Juwan's hands as much as we could and let him try to create and make a play. And we wanted to throw it to Dev. We wanted Dev to screen and roll at the basket. We thought we could get him better iso 'ed that way because we did have him fairly spread. But it was more -- it was more just to try to keep the ball in Juwan's hands than it was anything else. He's been great. His ball security is really good. He's not going to turn it over. And we're going to get a shot. It may not be the shot we want all the time, but we're going to get a shot, we're going to get an opportunity. Q. Their two timeouts and play underneath the basket. COACH HUGGINS: Their two timeouts? Q. Yeah, right at the two minutes, they got the layup rolled off the rim, off the inbounds. COACH HUGGINS: Yeah. I was glad he missed it. There's eight seconds. And I thought we did a pretty good job of defending it. It kind of looked like they were trying to get it in the corner and get it in and get him an angle. And I don't know. I just kind of looked and Devin was laying on the ground. Q. Where did Devin's performance tonight compare, stack up to compared to what he's done all season? COACH HUGGINS: It's pretty much what he's done all year. I think the bigger the situation, the tighter the game, the better Devin plays. And I said to him after the game, I said, why don't you rebound the ball early in the game the way you rebound the ball late in the game? And he said, sense of urgency, Coach, gotta have that sense of urgency. But he's made huge plays for us all year, rebounding the ball, giving us second opportunities. I think the play that he makes diving on the floor and calling timeout was a huge play. Just a huge play for us. And we were sitting in there, Wany said he was getting ready to dive on it he said he saw the big body come flying in there, he said he got out of the way. He's done it all year. Q. Who is Buffalo like if they're like any other team you played before this year, what adjectives would you use? And also did you use the fact that a lot of people had picked Buffalo as motivation in any way when you talked to your players? COACH HUGGINS: I'm really going to have lost my mind when I start paying attention to what Jay Bilas and those people say. Jay always does those tweets, gotta go to work, I'm trying to wonder what that is. But I don't pay any attention to those guys. I mean really, honestly, if they knew everything they probably would have a pretty good coaching job making a lot more money than they're making sitting there in the studio. So we don't pay any attention to that. What was the rest of the question? Buffalo. They're just so competitive. When you watch them on tape, they'll do kind of what they did today. They'll get down. I think the game, they had to beat Bowling Green, I think to tie for the conference championship and they're down 14 and all of a sudden they just, they start making shots and they make plays. I think Bobby's done a great job of kind of inserting his personality and his will into the team. Bobby played with such great will and just kind of willed himself to be a great player and willed his teammates to be better. And I think he's done that with his team. Q. I think even President Obama picked Buffalo. Do you pay attention to President Obama? COACH HUGGINS: Absolutely not. (Laughter). Q. That wasn't my real question. What do you get out of a game like this? You've been to the Final Four and stuff. Does a nitty-gritty game like this help a team or is it just the fact that you've got the W is all that matters? COACH HUGGINS: Well, it's kind of survive in advance. I guess it remains to be seen. Dev's a little banged up and Gary and Wany played a lot of minutes for not playing for the last four games. So I think it's a matter of how well and how quickly they can recover to find out the effects of the game. We're not going to be able to do a whole lot tomorrow, obviously. But we played so many Saturday/Monday games, and at least we don't have to fly across the country to play the next one on Sunday. So we're kind of used to it to a degree. And as long as you win by one this time of year that's all that matters. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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