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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: DES MOINES

March 16, 2016

Des Moines, Iowa

THE MODERATOR: We have UConn on the podium. We have Shonn Miller, Sterling Gibbs and Daniel Hamilton. We will take questions for our student-athletes.

Q. Q Shonn, I guess they're obviously a very good rebounding team, a lot of size. You guys have done well on the boards most of the year in and out but is there anything special you have to do in the game tomorrow?
SHONN MILLER: We have to make an extra effort to hit first every time the shot goes up, make sure we make first contact and then go get the ball. Q Shonn, as you guys have started preparing for Colorado and watching film what's jumped out to you? What has impressed you the most about them?

SHONN MILLER: They move the ball, shoot it well, they get inside to Scott, and he's a really good player and we'll have to be ready.

Q How hungry is this team considering you guys didn't make the postseason last year, Daniel?

DANIEL HAMILTON: We were excited, you know, a lot of people counted us out, but we stand here excited to play, show a lot of people what we can do in this postseason.

Q you guys obviously came to make the postseason, now that you've made it, what does it mean to you guys?

STERLING GIBBS: It means a lot just to be here. I think it just shows how we came together as a team and started clicking at the right time. At the same time, we know we're not done yet. It means a lot to get here, but at the same time we don't want to just get here we want to make a deep run and make some noise in the tournament.

Q Shonn, can you talk about your decision to come here to UConn and what you are expecting when you -- what you were expecting when you came and how that compared to your experiences.

SHONN MILLER: Coach recruited me right after the season and the visit I took from him on campus I knew it was the right place for me. And coming here and being an up and down season I never questioned should I have went somewhere else. I always knew this was the place and to be here now is great, but like Sterling said we don't just want to be here. We want to make a deep run.

Q Daniel, do you feel you played your best basketball in the American Conference Tournament? If so, why did that happen? What happened to change things?

DANIEL HAMILTON: I think I'm playing my best basketball right now and I think it's just confidence, you know, me being there, being able to trust my teammates and my teammates trusting me, but they continued to trust me and I came through at the right time.

Q Is it good to finally be back in the NCAA Tournament? You've been here sort of, but obviously you're going to play tomorrow and a different experience?

STERLING GIBBS: For sure. It's a great feeling to be back. My first year when I came here with Texas it was a little different experience, because I wasn't too much into it. But now just to really be a part of it and be part of these guys and for my last year and guys that I really care about and I really cherish. It really feels good. But like I said, the job isn't done yet. We want to make sure we go out there and get Colorado, and whoever be play in the second round we want to make sure we get that one, too.

Q How long did it take to physically recover from that four overtime win in Cincy, obviously you came back and won the next couple of games and follow-up to this, any benefit to you guys coming into the NCAA Tournament with that experience?

SHONN MILLER: Well, in that game I was in foul trouble so I only played 18 minutes, so I was pretty fresh for the next two games after that. So I will let these guys answer.

STERLING GIBBS: It was tough. It was tough. At the same time at that moment we knew it was kinda do or die for us. So we knew we had to win that game and at the same time get the next two. We were hungry, so when you're hungry and you have a goal set and you have your eyes on the prize, you don't really worry about fatigue, we worry about that once we actually get a day off, which we did so now our legs are back fresh and ready to go.

DANIEL HAMILTON: We prepared all year for this moment so, your Honor, us going into four overtimes, I think it was pretty fresh because during the season we had to work so hard as a team and us not being fatigued helped us out as far as preseason because we were ready to play when postseason AAC was here.

Q Daniel, being your first NCAA Tournament experience, do you think you're going to be nervous playing tomorrow, can you settle into the game and will it be difficult for you to sleep tonight?

DANIEL HAMILTON: Not nervous bullet I can't let Colorado speed me up, play at my pace the way I've been playing the last couple games and I think I will be all right. Not nervous, but we know the first round is fast and we gotta come out and play like we've been playing and we play like that it will be pretty hard to beat us.

Q Sterling, for the coaches you've been under, different programs, how long did it take you this season to get to a point where you felt comfortable?

STERLING GIBBS: I don't know that it took too long, but at the same time it was an adjustment. But I think it's one thing for -- to come into a group that doesn't really accept you and it's another thing to come into a group that accepted you and takes you in as a brother. I was really accepted in here and they accepted me as a brother and as a teammate and I think that just made it so much easier because they -- as much as I wanted to contribute, they felt that they needed me to contribute as well, so I think that helped a lot.

Q Seton is playing tomorrow, have you been in touch with any of those guys? Both make great runs in the conference Championships and you wanted to make the Tournament, you guys are both doing it tomorrow?

STERLING GIBBS: It's funny because when I get to go home for a couple of days, we have a couple days off. I live down the street from Seton Hall, and I bumped into those guys a few days ago and said I was proud of them, proud of the job they were doing. And like I said, just focused on what we have to do throughout the next couple of days to get to the next round.

Q Sterling, what have you seen from Colorado's point guard play and if there is any match-ups you believe you guys can exploit?

STERLING GIBBS: I think they have really good guard play. I think the guards get underestimated just because they have good big men, Scott's really good. But at the same time they have really good guards, they shoot it really well. They're able to attack really well off close-outs, so I think it's going to be a tough job for us, but at the same time we're up to it.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, gentlemen.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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