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

March 16, 2016

Des Moines, Iowa

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by the student-athletes from Stony Brook. Carson Puriefoy, Rayshaun McGrew and Jameel Warney. Questions for the student-athletes?

Q. Guys, what's this whole experience been like for you? Has it almost been a little overwhelming?
JAMEEL WARNEY: It's surreal moment right now. We're just taking it one step at a time. It's great to be here, and we're having a lot of fun.

CARSON PURIEFOY: It's been amazing. I know for us three it's a dream come true since we spent the past three years trying to get here, and we're extremely happy to be here and ready to play tomorrow.

RAYSHAUN McGREW: To piggyback on what Carson and Jameel said, it's a great feeling, especially being our last year. We get to experience what any kid would love to experience as a basketball player, so we're taking advantage of the moment.

Q. How do you prepare for a team like Kentucky when they've got so many weapons and so many ways that they can come out and attack you?
JAMEEL WARNEY: They're a great team. We have been watching film on them for the past few days. We have a great game plan to try to contain them and hopefully get a win.

CARSON PURIEFOY: Our coaching staff does a great job in preparing us for good teams and we try to take away some of their strengths and I know they have a lot of them, but we're just going to go out there and do our best to just take those away.

RAYSHAUN McGREW: We're going to stick to what we've been doing all season to help us went. We know Kentucky is an elite program, but we got faith in our team and our coaching staff. So we're going to be doing what we've been doing all year and try to keep the game close.

Q. You said you're going to keep the faith and I'm wondering what that faith is based on, how many people, basketball fans share that faith in you guys?
RAYSHAUN McGREW: It starts with the first 17, 18 we came with, our coaching staff most importantly and we have a community back in Long Island who have faith in us, our family and friends. But it all depends on the faith of each guy on the court and if we all got faith in each other we can go in with extreme confidence and make it an interesting game.

CARSON PURIEFOY: Like Ray said, we're an extremely confident team. We have been through the battles. We've been down in games, up in games. We've been in every situation that there has been this season and all we gotta do is stay confident and do what we've done all year.

JAMEEL WARNEY: I think it starts with the 14 on our team and the coaching staff because you've got to have confidence in this game to pull up such an upset, so I think it starts with us.

Q. How much of that confidence do you have right now and how much is due to the fact that Jameel is playing obviously the best basketball he's played?
CARSON PURIEFOY: We always have confidence in Jameel. He's one of the best players in the country and it's comforting to know we can throw the ball in and he can get it done inside. We know that Kentucky is going to try to take him away first and foremost and that opens up a bunch of lanes for us to try and get ourselves going.

RAYSHAUN McGREW: To mention what he said, Jameel is a great low post player, so we know that their game plan, they're going to try to get him limited touches and take him out of the game. But that's why everybody else gotta step up. And like I said earlier, we all got confidence in each other and some guys are going to have to step up and knock down shots to take the pressure off him. So that's our game plan.

Q. Guys, for Ray and Carson, Ray mentioned one of the tail end things you said about keeping it close. How important is it to keep it close in a situation like this, sort of a neutral site because they'll tend to root for the underdog, especially against this big bad Kentucky team.
RAYSHAUN McGREW: Keeping it close is really important because, like I mentioned earlier, Kentucky is an elite program. So getting down by them it would be hard to come back, average team. But as long as we keep it close, our goal is to keep it close and sneak out a steal, steal a win. That's our game plan.

CARSON PURIEFOY: We realize how talented they are and we're going to try to dictate pace. That's extremely important. We need to use our veteran leadership and our savvy to be able to handle that pressure and keep it close like that.

Q. Jameel, how much do you know Isaiah Briscoe from the same high school and familiar with his game and what kind of friendly rivalry might that bring?
JAMEEL WARNEY: We went to the same school. He transferred in a year after I graduated. But I have the utmost respect for him. He brought the team to another level, him winning a state Championship there. I admire what he did for our school and we have a mutual respect for each other.

Q. For all of you, now that you're finally here and we've seen all the pictures of you with CBS crew and everything, what stands out to you so far about the experience? What have you liked the best and just what sense did you get walking in here knowing that you're finally where you wanted to be?
RAYSHAUN McGREW: For me personally, it's memories that you can have for the rest of your life, some of the things that we experienced, some of the people we got to meet. Regardless if we win or lose the things that we got out of that experience is life memorable moments. So I'm going to cherish those.

CARSON PURIEFOY: Yeah, just being able to share this moment with my brothers and the community being able to give back to them. They've been waiting for this for a long time and it's a great opportunity for us. It's a great opportunity for Stony Brook as a whole. We just gotta take it in stride and do our best.

JAMEEL WARNEY: Just same, basically your family, the 14 members of this team, the coaching staff, our athletic director, everybody who came on this trip and just to meet people that you see on TV all the time, getting star struck, this is the moment of a lifetime.

Q. Jameel, I heard your game described as an "old school" game. I wonder what you think of that and what role models maybe for bigs that you tried to pattern your game after?
JAMEEL WARNEY: I just stay in my lane, just stay to my strength. I don't tend to my weaknesses, because I'm good at what I do. I watched a lot of post players back in the day, Tim Duncan, KJ, but I didn't get the height, so stuck in the middle. But watching those few players and watching a lot of old school stuff just to keep my game modeled.

Q. For all of you, you talked about how long you've been waiting to get here. Now that you are here what has it been like taking in all the emotion of how exciting that was and then refocusing to kinda get ready for a game again when obviously just getting here has been the goal for so long?
JAMEEL WARNEY: Well, we took it all in on Saturday and Sunday until we got Kentucky then we got back to the drawing board. We were happy to be here, but it would be great to get a win, too. So we're focused now on trying to get that, preparing for Kentucky because we know they're a great task to be beat.

CARSON PURIEFOY: I think it's been tough to refocus, just being with all the media attention and everything, but our coaching staff does a great job at keeping us in check and keeping us focused on the task at hand which is to play Kentucky and get a win.

So that's extremely important to have them in our corner because they do a great job with that. Even with how tough it's been, I think that we're doing a great job of refocusing and finally trying to get it done.

RAYSHAUN McGREW: I personally feel like that's the difference between rookies and veterans, when you get to a stage like this, you know when to turn it on and turn it off. Of course we enjoyed the moment of making history at our school, but now that we know it's back to business time. So we are focused and we enjoyed the moment that we had. But everybody knows it's back to business. That's what I've personally felt about it.

Q. First time in the tournament facing Kentucky, do you feel like anybody is really giving you guys much of a chance in this game?
JAMEEL WARNEY: If not, it's perfectly fine. We have the most confidence in the world with us 14 on the team. So it really doesn't matter if people aren't giving us a shot. We know what we can do.

CARSON PURIEFOY: Yeah, I mean, we're giving us a chance. We're a confident team, like Jameel said, and we're just going to go out there, and like I said before, do what we've been doing all season. And, you know, we've been good at refocussing and doing all this stuff, so that's what we're going to do.

RAYSHAUN McGREW: I feel like the only opinions if we win or lose or if we got a chance really matters from the guys who are going to step on the court with us. All the other people in the world who believe we could win or can't win, nothing they can do to help us get a win, so me and my teammates and my coaches and our community, we all got faith so that's all that we really need.

Q. You guys talked in general about memories that you are building today. Is there something specific that's happened today, a person you've met, something that somebody said to you that you guys are smiling and talking about how cool it is or how memorandum rabble it is?
RAYSHAUN McGREW: Well, actually one of my best memories came today, growing up I was a huge Duke fan. I actually wanted to face Duke rather than Kentucky because of playing Coach K. I got to meet Grant Hill today. I watched a lot of 30 for 30 for him and in college and I actually got to meet him and get to go see how down to earth he is was an amazing feeling. That was my best moment.

CARSON PURIEFOY: Today was really good and when our team went to CBS Sports and met with that crew that was amazing and just to see all the things that went into the broadcast, and being on national television was amazing. So just that whole experience was probably my best memory.

JAMEEL WARNEY: Probably piggyback on what Ray said, meeting the CBS broadcasters, seeing Grant Hill and seeing how tall he is. He's taller than me. So lack of confidence there on my part, but just seeing how down to earth he is and seeing somebody you always see on TV and now looking at them face-to-face.

Q. Kentucky is on TV a lot. How much did you watch them without knowing you would play them in this tournament throughout the season or past seasons?
JAMEEL WARNEY: I mean the best part of it is if you turn on ESPN or CBS. They're always on TV. You can watch 'em on Sports Center. Obviously we watched them a lot as a fan of basketball, but it's great to watch 'em even closer when you're scouting them because the feeling of knowing you're going to play one of the biggest programs in college basketball history.

CARSON PURIEFOY: Like Jameel said, they're one of the most storied programs in college basketball history, and I know when I turned on the TV and watched them I would keep watching because they're exciting to watch. I had no idea we were going to play them, but now that we do it's really exciting and I'm looking forward to the opportunity.

RAYSHAUN McGREW: These guys covered most of it, but like they said, being able to see them anytime you turn on ESPN or any sports channel, it kinda give us a head start. We kinda know what the guys are about. And us being a low program, we're under the radar. So I feel like we have got our first step on them right now in our advantage is, so it's exciting to get to play against them.

THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you very much. Good luck tomorrow.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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