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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: ST. LOUIS

March 17, 2016

Kermit Davis

St. Louis, Missouri

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Middle Tennessee head coach Kermit Davis. Coach, an opening statement.

KERMIT DAVIS: Thank you. It's good to be in the regional. Obviously we're playing a team who right now, when you start really scouting them on tape, looks as good as anybody in college basketball. I enjoy our team. We have -- our team has played 10 tournament games over the last two years and are 9-and-1, so they have a good tournament feel. They have the confidence. They know the challenges tomorrow afternoon versus Michigan State. They've been a great group to come to the locker room every day with. And I think our team will play with good confidence and play with a good physicality tomorrow.

Q. As you prep for the game, do you stay away from the whole 15-2, the upset thing, and do you just try and focus on what's happening on the court and just prepping like you would any other opponent and stay away from all that shock the world type of stuff?
KERMIT DAVIS: We have. I just said guys you gotta be who we are. We understand who we're playing. And we've scouted Michigan State like we would scout every other team. Obviously their talent level is extremely high and so well coached. I used a typical analogy, I said, if we just show up in Nashville, nobody had their colors on, and you go to a park and play a pickup game, every college player thinks you're going to win the pickup game, and you kind of pick guys. And that's the way you approach it. You can't worry about Michigan State. You just gotta go and play and be who we are. And over the last four or five years, our team has beaten UCLA, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Auburn, Ole Miss a couple of times. I do think they have a quiet confidence, but they also understand the challenge.

Q. You have a team that you've got five starters who can shoot the 3 from all over the place. But what kind of game are you expecting tomorrow, more a defensive battle, maybe just wide open from beyond the arc from both teams?
KERMIT DAVIS: Obviously we need to get more into a defensive battle. I think if this game, if Michigan State gets in the 80s, it will be tough for us. So the less possessions probably the better for us. Now, in our semifinal game against Marshall we scored 99 to win. And in the championship game it was almost like the Purdue/Michigan State game in our league, Old Dominion is a half-court team and it was in the 50s. So we like to get easy opportunities in transition, but a big key is you've got to get back defensively against Michigan State because Valentine is just so good, and a lot of their 3s come in offensive transitions.

Q. As a coach you guys are obviously champions, they deserve to be here. How do you transition as the head coach from that euphoria of being in the tournament to the reality of facing a Michigan State?
KERMIT DAVIS: I really haven't thought a lot about it like that. And I don't think our players really have. I mean, I think they expected to win our tournament championship, our team's been through a lot of adversity with injuries. Like I said, I think they do have a quiet confidence. We understand Michigan State's a team that can win the national championship. But I just think our guys have just prepped like we have all year long, and I think they're looking forward to playing well tomorrow.

Q. Another thing, your team really stands out as unselfish on defense. They love to help each other. On a team like Michigan State, though, that will go 10, 11, 12 deep with a lot of weapons, do you almost need them not to help as much and take a chance of leaving somebody open?
KERMIT DAVIS: You know, we changed defenses a lot. That's kind of who we are. And we do different things, not tricky, but trying to disrupt tempo. Michigan State is probably the best offensive rhythm team in college basketball. So hopefully that will take into play. We've had two injuries to two starting guards during the year that won't play tomorrow night. Our team was playing 11 guys every night. So tomorrow we'll play nine, possibly 10.

Q. What school would be the closest comparable to Michigan State on your schedule?
KERMIT DAVIS: You know, this year, God, it would be tough to name one this year. We have a home-and-home series with VCU, but their styles are different. VCU is a really good physical team but a more of a pressing, trapping in a zone, and Tom's team is obviously a real tough, conventional, man-to-man team. We beat Auburn early in the year in Bridgestone Arena in Nashville when their team was playing well, but to try to compare somebody to Michigan State, probably style of play in our league, Old Dominion, but obviously not as talented.

Q. Who is a player this week that really stuck out in practice? I know you mentioned Darnell Harris, how he might be a key to the game in the post and he might be able to stretch it out from the 3-point line. Who stuck out to you most in preparation ahead of Michigan State?
KERMIT DAVIS: Although one particular guy, we do need Darnell Harris to play well because he's a 5-man who at times he's as good as any center 3-point shooter in college basketball. So we need him to be able to stretch defenses like that. Just our core guys have been good -- Perrin's been good. Giddy, Reggie, our whole team has had a good week of practice, not in an elated sense but in a workman-like sense of looking forward to the game.

Q. You mentioned Darnell, and I was wondering, how has he done in the post when you do go man against the bigger guys. And as a guy like Gamble more of a factor in a game like this?
KERMIT DAVIS: Karl is young. Karl is going to be a really, really good player. He's about 6'10", 6'9". He's young. He's going to get his chance tomorrow.

Darnell is not a real physical guy. So kind of what we've done is we've had to change defenses. So we'll play some 1-3-1, we'll play some 2-3, we'll play some different kind of mans and double team. So we've had to do some things defensively just for reasons like that.

Q. As a peer of Tom Izzo's how do you describe and analyze his March resumÃ©?
KERMIT DAVIS: When you watch Tom's team casually during the year, we love to watch his team. But when you really start scouting, it's the first time I've ever played a team that Tom's coached. But you really start scouting them. What makes him so good, and I think him and Bill Self are about as good as any, is they can coach their best player the toughest and nobody blinks. I think when you do it at this level of program, that's why teams just play like they do. And they're so physical. They play unselfish and they play fast. So I think it's just who he is. I think he's just consistent. And I think it just goes back -- and Popovich is probably the best in the NBA at doing it -- but when you can coach your very best players the hardest every day, and that's what he does with every different team, that's why your team in March will play just like his teams play.

Q. You touched on the ability to stretch the defense with the 3 ball from the post. Can you talk about Michigan State's defense, what kind of things do they do in the post and how do they defend the 3-point arc, because it's obviously a big part of your game?
KERMIT DAVIS: You know, their team is just -- they're just conventional, physical, man-to-man, nothing tricky. They'll switch at times 1 through 3. But they're so long around the goal. Their help-side defense is tremendous. They make you make tough 2s. When you get within 15 feet, they don't foul a lot. Their bigs stay walled up and they really try to make you score over them. And then they're the best rebounding team in college basketball, so you're not getting a lot of cheap offensive put-backs against them. What we've gotta do is we've got to move them around. And it's nothing we haven't done. It's just who we are. Is that our 4 is our leading assist guy. He's going to run around, we're going to move him around and motion and different things, and hopefully we can drive the ball and create some opportunities that way.

Q. Wondering if you could describe your personnel a little bit, it seems like you've got a lot of similarly sized guys in the 6'6", 6'8" range. How much can you switch and what does that do for you guys?
KERMIT DAVIS: That's been a part of what we've done. A couple of injuries hurt us a bit. Giddy Potts, our guard that leads college basketball in 3-point field goal percentage, he's 6'2" and about 220. And then you've got Perrin Buford, Reggie Upshaw, both about the same size. Darnell Harris is around 6'7", 6'8". Jaqawn Raymond, a guy we'll start at point tomorrow, is 6'4", 6'5", 200 pounds. So we do have a lot of alike players and hopefully that will help us tomorrow.

Q. Coach, you mentioned earlier that one of the keys for you guys is just to do what you do. How do you keep the team, say, relaxed, playing relaxed, and maybe avoid getting caught up in the moment or even overwhelmed by the moment?
KERMIT DAVIS: It's a great question. I think it depends on the leadership you have in the locker room. And I think we have three seniors, Darnell and Perrin and Jaqawn have done a great job with that. I could just tell by their approach. Now, whether it's good enough tomorrow afternoon I don't know, but I can just tell they do have a sense that they think they're going to play well and they think they deserve to be in the game. And that's what matters. And we're going to have to have Michigan State maybe do a few things they normally don't do to win, sure, and that's just kind of how upsets maybe can happen.

Q. You mentioned Giddy. What will this game be like -- you're talking about the two leading 3-point shooters between him and Forbes. As a coach, what's the thought of seeing those two guys go head to head more or less?
KERMIT DAVIS: I think it will be great for the fans. Forbes is such an outstanding -- didn't he make 11 3s, I think, against Rutgers? And their team is so fun to watch. I hope it's not fun to watch tomorrow for us in transition when they start making 3s in transition. But that's where they are. That's what makes Valentine so good. You have good shooters. He just delivers the ball at the right time, at the right place, convenient for guys to catch and shoot. And those guys are just great rhythm shooters in the break. But, yeah, college basketball will see, because I'll tell you what, Giddy is like Forbes, whenever he lets it go you think it's in. He just shoots it like that all the time.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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