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NCAA MEN'S FIRST FOUR: DAYTON

March 15, 2016

Dayton, Ohio

Wichita State - 70, Vanderbilt - 50

THE MODERATOR: We're now being joined by the head coach of the Wichita State Shockers Gregg Marshall as well as student-athletes Fred VanVleet and Ron Baker. Coach, an opening statement.

GREGG MARSHALL: Very pleased with our second half, in particular. I thought it was a very even 30-30 tie, self-explanatory, but I thought we didn't play well. They didn't play well. It was back and forth in the first half. But the second half we kept defending them. We did a wonderful job all game long with our defensive field goal percentage. And ultimately we got the lid to come off the basket for a few 3s. So we made seven 3s in the first (sic) half. We made none in the first. That's the difference. That's the discrepancy.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Ron, there was a stretch in the second half you guys were able to extend the lead a little bit while you and Fred were kind of alternating rest time. How important was that stretch with some other guys stepping up and making some shots?
RON BAKER: It's always nice to see teammates step up and play their best. I think the reason for the run was we weren't fouling them, getting them to the free-throw line, getting those easy uncontested shots. And our bigs started contesting without fouling. And we were able to get some stops in a row, and Fred and I hit a couple of 3s there to get things going early on. And the momentum started to shift slowly and we just kind of grasped it and kept on rolling.

Q. Fred, it was hard to tell what happened on that play early that cut your eye and then you went to the bench, I don't know, were you more in pain or just annoyed that you had to sit out there?
FRED VANVLEET: Definitely, just frustrated. I wanted to be out there. It didn't hurt at all. I didn't even know it was bleeding until Anton told me. So I tried to shut him up so the ref didn't see it. And the ref ended up seeing it. I tried to take the ball out so I could get another play in. And that over there, I just hoped I didn't need stitches because that was going to take more time, and I also hate getting stitches. So we got the best trainer in the world, Todd Fagan, and he patched me up real quick and got me back out there.

Q. Obviously you guys are as upper classmen are leading this team. But they cut the lead to one and you had a freshman and sophomore hit big 3s, Conner and Markis. How big is it for you to have these young guys that step up in big moments as you move through the tournament?
FRED VANVLEET: It just speaks volumes to our depth. We worked so hard on the young guys. And for them to step up in those moments is huge for our team. This time of year, that's what you need. I mean, teams are too good to just have one or two guys carry the show all night. So it's going to take a total team effort, and those two guys made a couple of big shots. Conner made two. Markis made one and Zach Brown made one also after struggling in the first half. So huge, huge shots and that gave us some momentum and we were able to get stops and get some rhythm going.

RON BAKER: Happy for those guys. They put a lot of time into their craft. And they were able to knock down some shots, and Fred did a good job creating for his teammates like he always does. And ultimately we want to feed off those shots that went in tonight and continue to shoot the ball a little bit better. We've been struggling as of late and I think it's a good confidence builder to move on to this next game.

Q. Fred, you got some 3-pointers to go down early in the first half. How much did that energy, relief just really help this team?
FRED VANVLEET: Yeah, I mean, it's funny how that works. I was telling the guys at halftime all it takes is one and it's contagious. And I ended up being the guy to hit the first one, I believe, and Ron hit one and we were able to get it going. And it's a double-edged sword where it gets other guys going and it loosens the defense up, spaces them out a little bit more, too, just by nature. So able to get a couple shots to go down. You're going to have to make some 3s obviously to win these ball games, and we were able to do that.

Q. Ron, Rauno Nurger gave you a little lift off the bench. Tell us about his performance tonight?
RON BAKER: Rauno has been putting a lot of work in practice. He's been giving us good practice minutes. We really like his aggressiveness at the rim. He does a good job at rim protecting. And he had some really big plays at the rim tonight, especially when their point guard drove in their late and he was straight up and down made a good contest on the ball. Those are plays that our five men are starting to have to make. As long as they can keep their players off the foul line early on in games I think we have a pretty good chance in our half-court defense.

Q. Fred, Conner's been struggling a little bit with confidence this season. Had a bad stretch in the second half. Came back in, made a very important shot. Made another one. Just talk about his contribution.
FRED VANVLEET: It's big time. That's what we expect Conner to do is make shots, and I think expectations were crazy on them early. He's been able to fight through that and I think I'm as hard on him as anybody. But it's all love. And I just want him to be the best that he can be. So we keep instilling confidence in him. I think he has it. It's just about finding spots. And sometimes you gotta be a little bit lucky, too, and he was able to get a nice couple of rainbow 3s in that really stretched the game open. So gotta give him a ton of credit for being pretty mentally tough through there, through a tough stretch. He got scored on a couple of times and he was able to bounce back and forget about it, knock down some crucial 3s.

Q. Can I get some thoughts on facing Arizona; it's a quick turnaround, another good offense that you guys will be facing?
FRED VANVLEET: Tough team. Tough team. Arizona is one of the top programs in the country for a long time now. They're a really good team. We were able to catch some of their games this year. They're always late with the West Coast times, but got a huge front line and a couple of young and really talented guards. So we're already shifting our minds towards that with a quick turnaround, catch the first flight out of here tonight and head to Rhode Island, get some rest and try to game plan for Arizona tomorrow.

RON BAKER: I think the first thing that comes to mind is just the excitement. We're trying to have fun with each and every game in this tournament. And Arizona happens to be the next opponent. Fred and I had the opportunity to meet Tarczewski this summer in Colorado, while the guy he's a good kid, high character guy. Coach Miller does a good job with his program each and every year, and we're just excited to match up with them and I know Coach is going to have us ready with film and the process tomorrow, just preparing. And so we're excited.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach Marshall.

Q. You mentioned yesterday that height is very overrated as a stat. How were you guys able to neutralize and really outplay their bigs inside?
GREGG MARSHALL: I don't remember saying it was overrated. But maybe I did. I think I said I'd like to have a little more height. But our guys just scratch and claw and fight and really battle. I learned from one of my mentors, John Kresse at the College of Charleston that you always have to have three guys that can defend the post, and tonight we went with a fourth guy in the first half. Anton Grady substituted in quickly for Shaq Morris, did a great job, especially on the offensive end, and then Rauno Nurger played very well in the first half and he got a couple of fouls and we were able to put Bush Wamukota, our fourth defensive post player in. Damian Jones is a very talented player, seen him -- first round draft pick, by some publications as a projection. But our guys just hung in there, and they fought every possession. And ultimately I think just the wave of fresh players and 6'8", 6'9" guys going at them was very effective.

Q. Conner had a stretch where he gave up a 3-pointer, 3-point play, defensively got taken advantage of a little bit. He went to the bench. I don't know that any of us thought that he would reappear, but you put him back in and he made two of the biggest 3-pointers of the game. Just talk about the decision to put him back into the game, if that's one of your hallmarks as a coach is not to have any memory of the bad stuff?
GREGG MARSHALL: Well, you know, we've got X amount of guards. We're still down a guard, as you know, with Landry Shamet, who played three games and he would be out there. He was in the rotation. He was maybe the third guard behind Ron and Fred. It would be very close with he and Conner right now. So we're down a guard. You've got to play the guards that you have, and Zach Brown is our fourth guard along with, then you get to J.R. Simon and Tyrone Taylor. Those guys needed a blow. Ron and Fred were playing so hard. They were both exhausted. They were very honest with me. I need a blow. And Conner fouled the 3-point shooter twice. That was the biggest thing I was concerned about, playing defense and coming up with loose balls and doing those type things, but I'm going to ride with Conner Frankamp when the ball leaves his hand. I really feel like it's going to go in. He talked to me before we left that he's going to make some shots, which he didn't in St. Louis. But he's going to make some shots. And I said, finally I just said, look, stop talking about it. Okay, I need you to do it. And he stepped up big. Zach Brown made a big one, too, as well as Markis McDuffie, so those guys also contributed.

Q. Coach, how did you feel your defensive activity on the perimeter, especially, maybe disrupted Vanderbilt's offense?
GREGG MARSHALL: Well, I mean, let's see, they had 16 field goals. Baldwin had three. And LaChance had four. That's seven. Toye made some threes. He hurt us in the first half, he really did, played well. Other than that, I think we were really good. I thought our guards neutralized them. Baldwin is tremendous when he starts going downhill, and we were very diligent in not fouling him. Sometimes he gets in there and he just puts up a circus shot because he's looking for contact. So I thought we did a good job of not fouling him. One time Fred stripped him. Another time a couple of our bigs altered his shot without fouling. So that was good. But he's a very talented player. And Fisher, Davis Fisher, Fisher-Davis, I'm sorry, did not make any 3s. So that was a real concern that we had, because I mean he's like Conner Frankamp at 6'5". When the ball comes out of his hand it looks really good. So we were trying to stand on his toes and did a good job at that.

Q. Start making some 3s early in the first (sic) half. How much of a relief was that from giving them kind of an energy boost at that point?
GREGG MARSHALL: I think the game was very identical to the first half. As I've stated in my opening statement. But the difference is you make seven 3s. We made none in the first half. We made seven in the second half. We win by 20. You've got to knock down some shots in this game, and we haven't been doing that. But I still have faith in my guys. I have faith in my shooters, and ultimately, you know, our success or failure in Providence, Rhode Island, now is going to be determined by us being able to knock down some shots. Because Arizona, I haven't seen them on film yet. I've been concentrating on Vanderbilt, one game at a time. We have done some advanced scouting, but I assume they've got some pretty big guys, too.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you.

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