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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: OKLAHOMAMarch 17, 2016Kevin MaysDedrick BasileAly AhmedRod BarnesOklahoma City, Oklahoma THE MODERATOR: We're joined by CSU. Gentlemen, we'll take questions for our student-athletes. Q. Kevin, yesterday you get off the plane, you go practice at an off-site facility and you go back to the hotel and have dinner, whatever. Probably felt like a regular road trip. Is this now where it sets in that you guys are here at the NCAA Tournament? KEVIN MAYS: It set in when we went home and got to Bakersfield, the way the community reacted to the whole situation. But it's just the next game for us, pretty much, like we're setting up for the next opponent, just like we would anybody else. Q. Aly, did you grow up in Egypt? ALY AHMED: Yes, I grew up and lived in Alexandria, Egypt until I was 18 years old, then I moved to Texas, Houston for a year, and then Midland and then I came to Bakersfield, yes. Q. What did you know about the NCAA Tournament growing up over there in Egypt? ALY AHMED: I'm sorry what was the question? Q. What did you know about March Madness growing up in Egypt? ALY AHMED: I always watched it on TV. I always watched it, and just looking at the fans and the whole experience was a dream. You know, it's a dream, and finally to be here is something, yeah. Q. Dedrick and Kevin, a lot has been made over the years about Bakersfield having a lot of Oklahoma culture because of the Dust Bowl migration. I don't expect you guys to know much about that. But in the 24 hours since you've been here, does this feel anything like Bakersfield to you? KEVIN MAYS: It kind of does. It's not as busy as a big city to me. It feels a little bit like Bakersfield. DEDRICK BASILE: Yeah, it feels a little like Bakersfield, but I mean, I don't think it's the same. It's different to me. I don't know. Q. Kevin, we've been covering you guys all season over the past years, but you guys have never had this kind of national attention. Are you reading into anything that's being said or focusing on the game? What's been your preparation for this? KEVIN MAYS: Personally I don't like all the attention and stuff, so I'm just not even paying attention to it. I mean, we have to do the interviews and we have to talk to the people, but I'm just focused on the next team up. Q. Kevin and Dedrick, when you watch Buddy Hield on film, what jumps out at you? DEDRICK BASILE: He can really shoot the ball, and the defense we play, I mean, I think it's going to be a good match-up because he can get off at any time, and it's going to be very exciting to see what's in front of us. KEVIN MAYS: I mean, I can't give you everything that they told us about him in the film, but he's an aggressive scorer. He definitely takes a lot of shots. But I think we have a pretty good game plan on how to contain him. I wouldn't say stop him, because a guy like that, you can't really stop him. But I definitely think we've got the right pieces to contain him. Q. Aly, I know that Coach has said that he's going to try to work a little bit more in the post, especially since they are such a strong three-point shooting team, what kind of preparation does that mean for you or what kind of mental, I guess, shift are you going to have to make in this game? ALY AHMED: I have to stay solid the whole game, try to keep my team going and help them as much as I can, because I know the tough matches they have. And whenever I have the chance to help them in a screen, I would. And on the offensive end, whenever they pass the ball, I'll be tough enough to handle the situation, if it's the pass or whatever. I mean, our main focus is our defense. You know, we play a pretty good defense, and people expect that from us. People expect us to play tough. People expect us to play defense, and that's what we're going to show up tomorrow. That's our weapon, defense, yeah. Q. Aly and Kevin, you're here on what's supposed to be a neutral site, but let's be honest it's probably going to feel more like a road game tomorrow. We're just 30 minutes down the road from Norman. Your thoughts on basically playing a road game here in the NCAA Tournament? KEVIN MAYS: I like road games personally. I feel like it's less pressure to me. But to me it's just the next game. It doesn't really matter where you're at, at home, on the road, in front of 10 people, 10,000, it doesn't matter. It's the next game. Q. What do you say to people who say you're just happy to be here? KEVIN MAYS: I think it's more than that with this program. I feel like we're supposed to be here. From the beginning of the season Coach preached that we're a special group, and I just think that it's no surprise that we are here and I'm just looking forward to making some noise. Q. Kevin and Dedrick, I know that Houston and New York are big places, but Oklahoma's got a couple of guys, Isaiah Cousins from Mt. Vernon, just north of the city, and Christian James and Khadeem Lattin from Houston. Do you guys ever run into those guys playing growing up? DEDRICK BASILE: Yeah, actually me and Christian James was in the same district in high school. When I was a senior he was a sophomore, and I played him when he was a freshman too. He was always good, so it's going to be exciting. KEVIN MAYS: Those names don't sound familiar to me. Q. How do you go about winning the game tomorrow? Sounds like you have the right mindset, but how do you go about actually winning this game as a 15 seed? DEDRICK BASILE: I believe there's no pressure on us. We've got nothing to lose, but everything to gain. I just feel like we can go out there and play our game and do what we do. Whatever happens happens. KEVIN MAYS: I just think if we're us and the scrappy, annoying team that we are, and we get after it on the defensive end, that's our best chance of winning this game. I just think we can't get away from what got us here. I feel like if everybody plays their role that we'll come out victorious. ALY AHMED: I think they're a good team, but they are not great. They are beatable. We play pretty good defense, and we proved a lot of things since last year, since this program has started building maybe four, five years ago. We keep just proving things every year. I think if we play pretty good defense tomorrow, we'll have a big chance. Q. You guys mentioned that this team is beatable. You don't like the spotlight, but a lot of news outlets have given you the Cinderella tag already. How do you guys go about that? Do you, I guess, have any response to that? Do you feel like you guys are the underdogs for sure? KEVIN MAYS: For sure, but we've been the underdogs the whole time so ain't nothing changed in that area. Q. Dedrick, since you hit that shot Saturday night, how has your life changed, if it has? DEDRICK BASILE: I mean, a lot more people have been calling and texting me, but nothing has really changed. It's the same. I'm still going in with the same mindset. It's still a grind. The season's not over. It was a big shot, but we've still got more to come. THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Coach Rod Barnes. Coach, your thoughts about tomorrow's game? COACH BARNES: Well, first of all, I'm just thankful to be here. Thank God that we were able to make it here. Obviously we all know about Buddy. We can start right there and talk about their team. I think a lot of people probably put a lot of focus on him, but I think they've got some other players. They're one of the best teams in the country, obviously having a No. 2 seed. So we have our work cut out for us. I think a very good offensive team which it's been obviously proven this year that they can shoot the three-pointer. We're a pretty good defensive team, so hopefully we can play our game, and we're going to need to be as good as we've been all year. Strange things happen in March, so hopefully we can put ourselves in a position that down the stretch, it will be our defensive play against their offensive play. Q. When you look at what West Virginia was able to do against Buddy Hield in the Big 12 Tournament, what do you take from that and what can you apply for your team tomorrow? COACH BARNES: Well, it's a lot of the things that we've been already doing this season when we play teams that have their leading scorer, a guy that they go to a lot. You can't score without the ball, and I think West Virginia did a great job of denying him the basketball, face guarding him a lot. I think they gave him a lot of looks. I think as the attention -- there were five guys. They didn't go one-on-one or two-on-two. They didn't try to go and trap him. Everybody was focused in on him. Obviously, you know, it helped them win the game. Give OU credit. I mean, they still had an opportunity to win the game, but I think they set a precedent of where you've got to kind of play the majority of the game against them. Q. You've obviously been in the NCAA Tournament since '98 and you've been in Oklahoma City since '98, but you haven't been in the NCAA Tournament in Oklahoma City since '98. One of the most memorable shots ever. What do you remember about that day across the street with the Bryce Drew shot, and fallout and ramifications 20 years later? COACH BARNES: Well, when we drove into town the first day, I said, here we go, man. I can't believe the last time I was here in that building, I'm glad they moved. Because every year you try to live it down, it's kind of like pulling the scab off an injury. It keeps coming right back. So hopefully we can get here this year and have better memories as far as the tournament goes. But what I can remember and what happens every year, running on every show of March Madness, and I called our point guard and I said, can you remember me telling you not to go up because they're going to pass the ball behind you? So for the last however many years it's been, my point guard gets a call, Jason Flanigan, every year, about this time because I tell him, man, my heart still hurts. But I've also been here and coached at OU for a year, and I love Oklahoma, love Oklahoma City. So I'm just glad to be back here and be in the tournament. Q. You mentioned that the strength of Oklahoma is their shooting, but, in turn, Coach is probably thinking he's going to work more in the post and work Aly down. Just talk about what you were kind of talking to him about and preparing him for in this physical game. COACH BARNES: Well, we can't get away. They've got a good team. It's like I told our guys, they're not a No. 2 seed because only of Buddy Hield. They've got a lot of good players on their team, especially in their starting rotation. All those guys are capable of having a really good game. So we can't just go to sleep and focus all on Buddy. But also, with Aly, we've got to try to protect him like we always do. I thought we stretched him in our last game, playing him 40 minutes against New Mexico State. We know how important he is to us offensively. We're a good defensive team, but we've got to score tomorrow also. I mean, they're a good team. So, you know, just talking to him and basically the way it's been most of the year, especially in games that we're playing at this kind of level, he's got to stay in the game. We've got to protect him and he's got to stay, whether we have to go zone or put him on someone else that we think may not be as effective offensively. But we can't play this game for an extended period of time tomorrow without Aly. Q. The stat sheet's going to say this is a neutral site. It's probably not going to feel like a neutral site. Kevin would prefer to play road games. You know there's going to be a lot of OU fans in there. What is your reaction to playing what is basically going to amount to a road game here in the NCAA Tournament? COACH BARNES: Well, it is a road game obviously. The thing is it's the NCAA Tournament. Definitely if I could play Oklahoma in Fresno or San Jose, I would feel better about tomorrow, but obviously, that's what you do. That's why it's so much Madness. That's why this tournament is so great because you take a team like Bakersfield that gets in as a 15 seed and a 2 seed that's close to home, and everybody's got Oklahoma. Most people got them going to the Final Four. But until we play tomorrow night, I mean tomorrow afternoon, who knows what may happen. But we've got a respect for their team and for their program, for Coach. We realize this is a task for us. We're going to have to really do a great job and play well tomorrow. So we understand that. But, again, I think I have a group of guys. What we do, we don't depend on three-pointers or we don't depend on scoring at a high level. We depend on defense, and that's why we're here. Because we think we can do that every day, 365 days out of a year. So we feel comfortable being in this position because, again, we don't need a crowd to play defense. Obviously we're going to be at a disadvantage, and hopefully our guys -- we've never been in this position, so hopefully our players they handle it well. We won't know that until tomorrow. Q. How have you seen your guys react to being here in this moment? You've obviously been here in the past. But how do you think they're handling the situation? COACH BARNES: I think they're handling it great. Obviously, the thing about this team and the reason why I continue to call them a special team, from the day that we started working out, back in September, they have followed pretty much to the "T" what I've asked them to do. So we're not here by surprise. We're not here and shocked that we're here. I can say this, and it doesn't happen with a lot of coaches, this team trusts me and I trust them, and I've talked to them about what's going to happen. So I told them enjoy. We had Sunday and Monday, and I said, hey, man, have as much fun as you can. When we get to Oklahoma, we better get ready to play, and I think that's what I've seen in the last couple days. We had a great workout yesterday. I think it will work out well today. If you want to say it, I guess they trust me and follow instructions. So I feel comfortable with this team and confident about playing tomorrow. Q. Coach, you haven't been back to the tournament in 15 years now, and you haven't been here as a 15 seed, as an underdog. How is this experience different from what you've had in the past? COACH BARNES: Not any different at all. I mean, I've been here several times at different seeds and it doesn't matter. I mean, tomorrow -- like today, there are teams that are going to play and lose and go home. If you play well, you advance. So I don't see it any different. I've been here as an underdog and I've been here as a favorite, so it's just part of it. Q. A lot has been written over the years about the Okie influence on Bakersfield, California from the Dust Bowl migration. You lived in both places, short time in Oklahoma and now longer in Bakersfield. Have you seen any of that in Bakersfield, any of the cultural impact of Oklahoma in Bakersfield? COACH BARNES: There is no question about it. To be honest with you, that was one of the reasons why I took the job. When I got there, first of all, I loved my time here. It was short spent, but I loved my time here in Oklahoma. But also when I got there, the people there were like the people here in Oklahoma. They were so nice, hospitality was great, they care about each other, close-knit, and it's like family. So immediately, when I got a call about the job, I thought California. So I obviously think about beaches and all those kind of things. But once I got there to Bakersfield, the culture was different, and it fit what me and my family were looking for. Q. You guys don't really have a lot of size other than Aly. They've got Ryan Spangler, a big who can stretch the floor, whereas your big is more traditional. How difficult does that make matching up with Ryan Spangler? COACH BARNES: Obviously he's a good player. Again, he's someone that we've got to be concerned about, and obviously, like you said, he can stretch the floor. But we play guys similar to him. We're going to have to make sure that we're obviously focused on him as the second part of what they do, because he's kind of an inside-outside guy. But I think our guys feel comfortable, because Aly, pretty much most of the year has guarded guys. Because of Aly he can out-competition most guys we play against, face-up kind of guys in our league. So I don't think he'll feel out of place with any of the other guys. Q. Point blank, how do you win tomorrow's game? What do you guys have to do? COACH BARNES: Well, I think, first of all, we've got to try to contain Buddy. Then I think we've got to let everybody else play where they are. Their numbers are good enough, but if we can just contain him. Then we've got to score. I mean, it's not going to be just the defense, but we've got to be able to score the basketball and not have mini droughts. We can't let them go on huge runs. Q. Obviously you have to go through 40 minutes tomorrow and wait till the clock hits triple zero. But it seems like, in following you throughout the season, the stars have kind of aligned for you. You talk about how special this team is. Coach of the Year, beating New Mexico State, getting the championship, do you feel anything in your gut that something very special could happen for you tomorrow? COACH BARNES: Yes. I mean, again, we respect OU. I mean, they're a great team. They've proven that. But we didn't come here, as we said last week. We didn't fly all the way across the country. We haven't gone through what we've gone through this season -- for me, this team is so special. I told someone I wish I could coach them all the time for the rest of my life, that's the kind of season it's been, not just on the court but off the court. I know we've got to play well. But do I believe we can win the game? Surely I do. This is March. We're a team that I think we play the right kind of way to be an upset-type of team. So in my gut, I feel like tomorrow we're going to win, but I'm not going to go out on a limb and say we can win playing the way we've played, some guys over the past couple of weeks. But if we're at our best, and that's what we're going to have to be. If we're at our best, we'll have a shot to win the game. Anything but our best, it will be a great season. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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