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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: COLUMBUSMarch 21, 2015Lon KrugerTaShawn ThomasJordan WoodardCOLUMBUS, OHIO THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. TaShawn, last night you were able to take advantage of a size advantage and Dayton is a smaller team. Is that something you guys are focusing on? TASHAWN THOMAS: We know that they play through their two big guys down there, though, at the same time. We do have kind of a height advantage. But their two guys are very aggressive. So we're just going to try to be more aggressive than them. Q. Jordan, did you guys get a chance to watch the game last night between Dayton and Providence? And what were your initial takeaways just from Dayton being able to win the game? JORDAN WOODARD: Yeah, we got to watch a little of that game. And we got to get some film in this morning. And we just noticed that they're a real scrappy and physical team. So we've got to come out and be tough for the whole 40 minutes, because it's going to be a fight. Q. This is a virtual home game for Dayton since their campus is 70 miles away. But how much of the Big 12 road schedule gets you guys prepared for a contest like this? TASHAWN THOMAS: I think the fact that we had to play in a lot of tough road games in the Big 12 is going to help us out a lot. It's not going to be nothing new to us, just being in a hostile environment like that. So if we come ready to play, and have our minds right, we'll be able to compete. JORDAN WOODARD: We had a lot of road experience, non-conference and conference schedule. And the Big 12 helped us a lot. But we just gotta use that as motivation that we can't have any breakdowns, limit our turnovers, take good shots, things of that nature. Q. Just talk about how much of an advantage it's been for you guys to be able to start the same starting five all season long and just have that consistency you've had? JORDAN WOODARD: This helped us build chemistry along the way. And I feel like now at this time of the season we know what these guys are going to do and we got a good feel for things like that. We've just got to keep playing together, keep getting better game in and game out. TASHAWN THOMAS: Just being able to have the same starting five has been a big thing for us, like Jordan said. The chemistry just grew and grew and me not even -- being this is my first year at Oklahoma, I feel like our chemistry is a lot stronger than everybody would think it would be. So I think that's an advantage to us, just being able to have that same starting five throughout the whole year. Q. There was so much emphasis on getting this first win because you hadn't done it and the coach hadn't done it at Oklahoma. Has there been any talk about readjusting or making sure that you're not content with just the one win? TASHAWN THOMAS: Yes, of course. We wanted to get that first win. But at the same time we didn't want to just get that first win. We wanted to be able to compete to keep going and we're going to try to do whatever it takes to get this next one and continue to keep on going on. JORDAN WOODARD: Yeah, it really just made us hungrier. We're just not satisfied at all. We've been talking about it as a team that we got that first one out of the way and none of them are going to be easy, so you've just got to fight a easy game, and hopefully we can keep advancing if we're doing our jobs. Q. How familiar were you with Dayton before you got here this weekend? They're not a power-five conference school. Were you that aware of their Elite Eight run last year? What do you know about them? TASHAWN THOMAS: I heard about them when they made that big run last year. My dad kind of predicted that they might go on that big run last year, so I kind of kept my eye on them when that happened. And this year I haven't really seen too much of them this year, but I watched the game last night and the game, I think was it Boise State they played against? I watched that game, I seen they played real hard. They played with no fear and just playing hard every possession seems like. Q. What did your dad say -- TASHAWN THOMAS: My dad watches a lot of basketball. Sometimes he'll just tell me one team, there's a team you need to watch out for. And last year Dayton was one of the teams he told me about. I don't know why he said it. It was just something out of the blue. Q. Talked a little bit about it basically being a home game for Dayton, but you're the guys that earned the 3 seed. Do you think it's fair that you're playing in the second round against a lower seed? JORDAN WOODARD: I wouldn't say that's unfair. That's how the draw goes sometimes. You've got to come ready to play regardless where the site is at, what the seeding is. Cuz this is how the tournament is. That's why they call it March Madness. Anything can happen. You've got to worry about your team playing their best ball. TASHAWN THOMAS: Yeah, it was kind of crazy that day, that was going to happen. We kind of seen their crowd coming in at the end of our game last night that it was just a lot of people -- that's when I found out that Dayton wasn't that far away. It's kind of -- we kind of wish it was a different way, but I think we'll be all right. Q. TaShawn, could you take me again through the circumstances that led you to leave Houston and go to Oklahoma and get to play the No. 2. Are you surprised by how well you fit in you know what I mean on a quick basis? TASHAWN THOMAS: It was just a coaching change. That was one of the main reasons. And just the way I fit in, I kind of felt chemistry as soon as I got on campus at OU, like the teammates, they just came in, so welcoming. There wasn't a teammate that just didn't like talk to me because I was the new guy. Everybody wanted me to feel like I was at home. I feel like as soon as that happened it was just chemistry from like even summer school we was playing open gym. It was like instant chemistry with a lot of people on the team. Q. Jordan, wondered if you've seen Kyle Davis, the Dayton player, No. 3. He's a defensive guy. And last night he harassed a lot, I wonder what you notice about this guy on your quick scout so far or why he's successful? JORDAN WOODARD: He played, I saw he's really athletic. And he's real quick. He's just got -- you can't play with the ball in front of him because he uses his quickness against you. But you just got to be sound with the ball and limit the turnovers because he's going to be a big energy guy for them. When he gets turnovers, he's going to get the crowd into it. So we just gotta limit, can't let him get steals. Q. What do you like best about playing with Isaiah? What does he bring to the squad? When you think of him, what do you think mostly of? TASHAWN THOMAS: First thing that I noticed when I started playing with Isaiah was his defense, how hard he played on defense. He's always talking on defense, making sure, trying to make sure that everybody knows what to do and when to help out and everything. And he brings a lot of energy to the court. Like if we're going on a little drive where we haven't got a stop in a while, Isaiah is that guy that gets everybody ready for the next possession to actually try to get a stop. JORDAN WOODARD: Isaiah is tough. He's not scared of the moment. And we could rely on him to make baskets for us, get stops for us, and he just do it all. He's solid. He has no weakness on the court. Q. TaShawn, could you talk about Coach Kruger and his mentality? This is your first year with him kind of winning that first NCAA Tournament game. What's he like in a one-game elimination kind of field? TASHAWN THOMAS: He keeps telling us every day you all deserve to be here. It's like you all put a lot of work in to get here. Just realize that. And at the same time don't overlook anybody. You can't look at the seeding and be like we're at 3 seed so we're supposed to beat this team. He tells us that you gotta go out there and actually take it at the same time. So right now he's just been trying to keep us up. He's not been too negative around us or anything. Just keeping us positive and keeping us ready to play, basically that's what the mode has been. Q. TaShawn, to dovetail off that, both of you guys, can you tell that your coach has a lot of miles on him? How does it -- he's been a lot of places and had success in a lot of places, you understand what I'm saying? How does that show up when he's talking to you guys, coaching you guys? JORDAN WOODARD: He's so consistent. He knows what he needs his players to do. And he knows what he needs from his coaching staff, things of that nature. It's like he knows the game. He's been in it for so long. It's like it's not really new to him. He's been here before. He's been to the Final Four. So he knows what it takes for us to be great. TASHAWN THOMAS: Coach Kruger, every time you see him, he always has something to teach you. It's like you can learn something new from him every day. He'll just walk by and just like: Tay, when you're shooting the ball try to do this a little bit more. He's always got something positive and something to help you out on the court. And even off the court, too. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach. Q. Somebody that hasn't maybe followed Isaiah since his Mount Vernon days, what kind of player has he developed into for you and what does he mean for your program? COACH KRUGER: Isaiah is great. He's worked so hard. He did that in high school. He had a routine where he was always up early and he hasn't changed that. In the gym all the time. Has really gotten better and better. He's one of the most improved on our squad the last two years as voted on by the teammates. Can tell you how much his work has changed off. He loves being in the gym. He's a guy that led the conference in the 3-point shooting and I think as a freshman he shot 20 percent from 3. So that's a credit to Isaiah and how much time he's spent in the gym. But very good defensively on the ball, very good quickness with the ball and creating shots for others. Real good competitor. Love to see the progress he's made. Q. The topic of the day is Dayton playing in Ohio. So two things: A, do you think it's fair that you're playing them essentially in what is almost a home game and, B, Coach Cooley approached it in the sense of he clearly wanted to downplay this to his team or at least he did publicly try to downplay it. Do you prepare your team as if you're preparing for a road game? COACH KRUGER: We do. And we don't worry about it. Fair or unfair. That doesn't even come up. We're playing Dayton with a crowd that's going to be pro-Dayton. But again that's the way it is. We're not going to worry about it. We understand it adds to the challenge. But more importantly, Dayton is a really good basketball team. I love their guys, the way they play and Coach Miller has done a terrific job with their mentality, their toughness. They execute things well. They're attacking all the time. We're a lot more concerned about those guys than we are the crowd, even though the crowd warrants consideration too. But concerning because they're a really good team. Q. There's a lot of teams that go against Dayton with big guys, and they're going to try to get the ball into the paint, and try to draw Dayton into foul trouble. Does that mentality come into play here or is there something different that you do if that hasn't been working against a little team like Dayton? COACH KRUGER: We try to throw it inside. We always do. Not just because we're not that much bigger than Dayton. But we always do. With TaShawn and Ryan in there, we love to establish inside and play inside/out. Easier said than done in a club that's as quick as they are. And their perimeter guys do a great job of helping on the post and digging back in there and getting steals and deflections. But we'll still try to throw it in there. Q. What have you noticed about Jordan's game changing over the last four weeks, and how important will he be moving forward as a tempo setter for you guys? COACH KRUGER: At the point guard, it's always important that he does a good job setting the pace, pushing the ball, the activity defensively, moving the ball, he's taking good care of the ball, shooting it with more confidence here lately. I think his game has progressed especially in the last month or so. Big games come along, he's been there and he stepped up and he's delivered and played well. So we need that out of your point guard especially. Q. You've been at basketball schools. Now you're at a "football" school. You were at Florida. How is that challenge? Are you embracing that? What are the challenges of being at a "football" school when you're a basketball coach? COACH KRUGER: It's great. We try to take full advantage of that, the great atmosphere on football game days with recruiting. Bob Stoops is terrific. He'll meet with recruits on game day. And he'll help out -- he's great with all the other sports and the big picture of Oklahoma. And, no, we love it. We think it's a great advantage. And we try to get recruits in town anytime we can for a football game. Q. I didn't realize this last night, I overlooked it, but you're the first coach to win an NCAA Tournament game with five different schools, I guess, and milestone. What does that mean to you? Is there a certain time when you get in life where you've sort of seen it all or do you see new stuff every day? COACH KRUGER: You see new stuff every day. It's the nature of NCAA basketball or basketball in general. We've got good players. A lot of good schools. And don't think about it other than when people bring it up and doesn't mean much other than when people bring it up. So don't concern ourselves too much with it. Q. You guys are one of the few teams in the country that have able to start the same five for every game all season long. Could you talk about the advantages that gives you, that consistency? COACH KRUGER: It means, number one, we've been healthy obviously. Knock on wood. But, number two, it also means that no one's really gone through a big slump where you just need to get them out of there to get their minds refreshed or reenergized. Ironically, we did the same thing last year. We started the same five every game. So our people have trained well. Our trainers have done a good job. And again we hope that continues. Q. What is it -- you're talking about Dayton being really good, what is Dayton really good at from your vantage part and what sets them apart? And number two, TaShawn Thomas fit in immediately with you guys. But is he the kind of guy that would fit in immediately anywhere? COACH KRUGER: I think he would. He's got that type of personality. He's very mature. Very easy going. Wants to accommodate. Wants to please. Didn't want to step on anyone's toes, and I think he'll be that way everywhere. I think our guys are pretty easy to fit into, because they're like TaShawn in terms of wanting to play and wanting to do well. Dayton does a lot of things well. I think probably the thing that stands out, I just like their personality. I like, they're attacking, playing off each other. They're playing for each other, it appears to me anyhow. They're fun to watch in that respect. They know what each can do and each takes care of their respective responsibilities. And they trust one another to take care of it. So, again, I like the look of their club, and again that starts with the coach. But they appear to do a really good job. Q. Until last year, Dayton I think had won one tournament game in 30 years. Now they've won five in the last two. How should they be thought of as a program? COACH KRUGER: Probably what they've done the last few years with Coach Miller has been fantastic. He's done a terrific job. And certainly they win. Their players carry themselves like they expect to win and they have won. And no surprise there. I think when you win games like they've done, you tend to do that. So, no, I think everyone looks at Dayton with a great deal of respect. The success they've had, the players they've got, they've done very well. Q. Would you rather face a team with two smaller big guys but that are very athletic and aggressive like Dayton has, or bigger guys? COACH KRUGER: We've probably been more effective against the bigger guys than we have smaller, mobile guys on the year. I think it more depends on how good those bigger guys are, how big those smaller, mobile guys are. In this case it's the worst of both worlds for us because they're smaller guys, they're very mobile and they're very good. So we've got kind of from both directions. But we've got to figure that out and play better. Q. Excuse my lack of history but I've forgotten, how close did you get to the NCAA when you were at Pan-American? COACH KRUGER: Not very close, I don't believe. We got close to the NIT, I think, one year. We got to over .500 one year and we were hopeful for an NIT bid. We were an independent. We weren't in a league. That was back in the early '80s. But no, there was never consideration for NCAA opportunity there. Q. The Dayton game last night started at 10:50. We've asked a couple of other coaches who have been in here, is that right, to start an NCAA Tournament game that late and stuff? What's your take on that? COACH KRUGER: I think it's not good at all. No. I'd love to see that revisited by whomever is going to make those decisions, because for the student-athlete it's not good to start a game at 11:50 and have it finish at 12:30 at night or whatever. I don't think any coach is going to be a proponent of starting a game that late. And hopefully we'll express enough concern about that that we rethink that, because I know there's dollars, I know there's all the things that go into that, but still I don't think that's healthy for the game at all. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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