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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: PORTLANDMarch 21, 2015T.J. McConnellSean MillerGabe YorkPORTLAND, OREGON ARIZONA - 73 COACH MILLER: Well, anytime that you beat Ohio State, it's a great, great moment. I say that because of the terrific coach they have, the program, the history in this NCAA tournament. You look at their senior class, I believe they're a part of a Final Four team, an Elite 8 team, several Big Ten championships. So you're playing a team that knows how to win and has been in this type of setting. So going into a game against them, you know you're going to be tested, and we were. Their zone defense had us playing very tentative for a duration of the game. I really felt like we started to get control towards the latter half of the first half. But in the second half we clearly got the basketball around the rim. Even some of the shots we missed were better shots, whereas in the first 10 minutes we looked very, very tentative. That's to Ohio State's credit. Our guys did an excellent job on D'Angelo Russell. I thought we defended with a lot of purpose. We won our way. You look at the rebounding, 43 to 26. To me that was the difference in the game. We're obviously excited to be moving to the Sweet 16. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Gabe, when you see a defense packing in a zone as much as they did, as a shooter, what kind of goes through your mind? GABE YORK: Well, to be honest with you, T.J. and Rondae getting into the middle of the zone. When they shrink like that, the only thing that's left for me is to knock down shots. I didn't score in the Texas Southern game. Tonight I wanted to be aggressive, but also know that my teammates were going to find me in transition or throughout the zone with however many seconds were left on the shot clock. I just did a great job of knocking down shots today. Q. T.J., coach talked about the rebounding, which is always the big stat for you. 18 offensive rebounds. How much of that was from them playing zone and how much was it you guys being aggressive? T.J. McCONNELL: When you play zone, it's hard to block out. Our bigs, when they do a great job of rebounding, especially on the offensive end, we're a very tough team to beat. I don't think Brandon and Kaleb and Rondae and even Stanley get enough credit how hard they work on the offensive end getting rebounds. I think that was a big reason we won tonight. Q. T.J., 15 points, five boards, five assists, five steals. Just the sixth person to do it in NCAA history. Were you aware of that? What are your thoughts on your game? T.J. McCONNELL: No, I wasn't aware of that. You know, we can enjoy it now, but we've got to move on to Georgia State or Xavier. It was a good game for us, but we can't be too high on this one. Just got to look ahead to the next game. Q. Gabe, when you have a guy like Rondae struggling, he's behind the back passes, finding guys in the right place at the right time, not finding his own shot, what kind of impact does that have? GABE YORK: That just gives credit to Rondae. I think he's a very unselfish basketball player. That shows I think throughout every single game he works so hard defensively guarding the best player, then on the offensive end he's so unselfish as well. He's getting offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds, getting in transition, finding the open man, like you said. I don't think he gets enough credit for what he does for this basketball team. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach Miller. Q. T.J.'s game today, the sixth player in the history of the NCAA to do that. COACH MILLER: I've said it all along, he's our most valuable player because of what he's done consistently over time. But also what a talented defensive player that he is. It's never a one-on-one game, T.J. versus D'Angelo Russell. But T.J. guarded him throughout the course of the game and I thought did an outstanding job. You watch D'Angelo Russell play in the Big Ten season, he's an amazingly talented offensive player. For T.J. to impose his will, work as hard as he did on that side of the ball, a lot of times that player doesn't have enough on offense to help you. When you look at what he does for us on both ends, he's like an All-American player. He reminds me a lot of what Aaron Craft gave Ohio State for so many years. T.J. has meant that to our program, not just the last two years, but he practiced with us three years ago, I'm telling you, he made our team better even in that year. I think he's one of the best players that's playing in college basketball right now. Q. Gabe York scoreless in the last game. What was the difference today? COACH MILLER: Well, he got a couple good looks, especially in the second half. I thought Gabe's answer was correct. In the first half, we were very tentative, and we weren't able to break him free because the ball didn't get into the middle and we didn't move it well enough. Even a couple of the shots that he took in the first half were almost desperation. Second half he got some great looks. Gabe's a very good shooter. You know, if you followed us I would say over the last six weeks, you look at his points per game, his minutes per game, he's really emerged. Tonight was another great example. We needed him and he delivered. He's really a big, big part of what we've done all year long. Q. There were times early in the game it looked like Stanley was forcing things. He wanted so badly to help you guys. Is that part of coaching a freshman with that much talent, teaching him to let the game come to him? COACH MILLER: No question. This type of atmosphere, you know, playing for a Sweet 16, you don't have to remind someone like Stanley that this is a big game, a game that in many regards we're all judged by. His intent was very good. It's just the ball didn't go in a couple times for him early. He started to press, a couple times late. It wasn't his night. I will tell you that that's a great sign for our team because we won tonight's game in a convincing fashion. Really, if you look at Stanley, this would probably be one of his subpar games that he's played, considering he's 1-12 from the floor. We look at it as a positive. A lot like Gabe not scoring a lot in the last game against Texas Southern. Stanley will be fine. I think in the next round he'll regain his form. Q. Sort of an obvious question. What Gabe did tonight, when you were recruiting, is that a big reason you brought him to Arizona? COACH MILLER: Yes. And Gabe deserves a lot of credit because in today's world, if you don't play a lot as a freshman, you have a lot of people that are pulling you and tugging you to transfer and go to another program. Gabe and his family have always shown great trust in our staff. We knew that his best would be when he's older. A year ago he was a huge factor on last year's team, started for most of the year. But he's improved. He does more things now as a player as a junior than he ever has before. He's practiced 300 times, he's been around three years. A lot like T.J. McConnell, they sometimes become your heart and soul and best players because they know how to do it, they've invested, and their heart's in the right place. Anytime a guy like that has success, you're elated as a coach. I find myself for T.J. and Gabe today, you feel great for them because of how hard they've worked. Q. I know you've had a couple of concerns in each of the first two games with your team. How do you feel about it moving forward into next weekend? COACH MILLER: I feel great. We've weathered a couple of storms. I think we've learned in this region, this tournament, a couple things, this week leading to L.A., that we have to make sure we're sharp and ready to go. Now that we have two more games on a neutral court, I think it becomes easier to go out there and be yourself as an individual player. Stanley is a great example. He now has played two tournament games. I think it becomes easier to be himself in the third tournament game. So I feel good about us. We've played some excellent basketball. Looking at how our conference is doing, you know, UCLA, we want to congratulate them on also being a part of the Sweet 16. We have Utah out here. Oregon won yesterday against Oklahoma State. That's four teams that have advanced. I think that also says a lot about our team, how we've done in our conference against all of those people. Q. We've seen it all year obviously, Rondae gets a lot of credit for defense. At times you're throwing a guy like Elliott Pitts. On this team, how important is that defensive rotation? COACH MILLER: Elliot is very important. He has some qualities of both Rondae and T.J. defensively. He's much taller than T.J. He might be even a little more laterally quick than Rondae, as hard as that is to believe. He's a good third person to be able to mix in, play through foul trouble, use our depth. Elliott has always done a great job of embracing that role off the bench. He's also an excellent shooter. It was great to see him make one here tonight because we're going to need him to take and make those open shots in the tournament. Q. I wanted to ask you about Stanley's recruitment. He comes from a basketball background, but it's his mom who coached him all through AAU. What was that like? Did she have some pretty tough questions because she knows the game really well? COACH MILLER: Stanley is a product of both his father and his mom. He's lived with both. They raised him in many ways together. He's also a product of Mater Dei High School, which they taught him a lot how to win. He's won four high school state championships in the state of California. I mean, that's unheard of. But I think it's that combination of his mom, his dad, his family, Mater Dei High School that has made him who he is today. Hopefully we'll be a part of that as well, of what he learns at Arizona moving forward. His mom, no question, she has a lot of pride in her knowledge of the game. When Stanley was young, I think some of the love of the game really stemmed from her instilling herself in him. Then Stanley's father, as well, who is a hard-working guy. But Stanley's fortunate. He has a lot of people in his life help him and hopefully will add on to that. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach Miller. COACH MILLER: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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