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

March 19, 2016

St. Louis, Missouri

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Wisconsin student-athletes Zak Showalter and Ethan Happ. Questions.

Q. Ethan, after your first game, Coach Ryan was awfully critical of your footwork and your feet. How much have you improved that since November 13th up to this point?
ETHAN HAPP: I think it's been a big improvement, because I was a liability to my team at times. And like you said, Coach Ryan was very critical of me. And so you feel like you lose a game for your team and after that happens you just want to improve upon that every day. And I think I've done that.

Q. Wisconsin and Xavier have contrasting styles of play. They're very much up and down where your team is a bit more grind-it-out. Do you feel like tomorrow's a case where whoever controls the pace controls the game?
ZAK SHOWALTER: Yeah, we want to play at our pace. I think we've done a good job this year not playing too much out of our style. So I think that's definitely an advantage to our team, and we want to probably look forward to do that come tomorrow.

ETHAN HAPP: I mean, people say our style of play throughout the season, on average we do play kind of slow. But it's not like we're trying to walk the ball up the court. If we have something available in transition, we're definitely going to take that. And we need to get back on defense and stop their transition.

Q. Ethan, you were a redshirt last year and you sat and watched this team make a run to the national championship. Talk about this experience for you, and does last year motivate you to succeed in this year's tournament?
ETHAN HAPP: Definitely. Just because how much fun it was being with this group of guys last year and seeing how much success we had. And then, you take that times two, if you're actually playing and contributing to it. So seeing what the guys did last year, we really wanted to try and emulate that this year.

Q. Ethan, you talked about working on your feet. But how much did game experience and experience on the court in games help you improve on a daily basis?
ETHAN HAPP: That's the biggest thing, definitely. In practice you can do as much you would like to. But once you get in the game and then you watch yourself on film and you see the flaws that you have. Mine were a lot defensively. Then I can really watch that over and over again and learn from it and improve.

Q. What are the challenges you see in Xavier, what are your impressions of the team?
ZAK SHOWALTER: They're another team with physical presence inside. I think we saw it in Pitt last night. But I think this team takes it up to another level. So we're going to have to stop that, take them out of it, and they've got a lot more shooters. They've got shot-makers, and we can't let them get any open looks. We'll try to do both of those things tomorrow night.

ETHAN HAPP: They're a solid team. Obviously. They've only lost five games. For any team to lose five games regardless what conference they play in. They play in a good conference, too. So to only lose five games means they're a good team and we'll have to play our best ball to beat them.

Q. Zak, you've been one of the leaders on this team. How do you and Bronson and Nigel and some of the others, Vitto as well, how do you help lead this team, especially when you're down like last night and lead the team in general?
ZAK SHOWALTER: We just make sure everyone's on the same page. When shots aren't going in, make sure people have confidence to keep taking those shots. It starts on defense, just making sure we get stops, and when you get stops it often leads to some transition buckets we got last night. And then just keeping everyone on the same page, like I said, and it will work out in our favor in the end.

Q. Ethan, that spin move on the block last night in the second half, where do those moves come from? How did you put that thing together?
ETHAN HAPP: I don't want them to see this, but I guess I have to give some credit to Nigel, just watching him last year. We always go back and forth about who steals whose move. And he did a great job of helping me mentally throughout this year, but I learned a lot from him last year. And even his freshman year when I was watching at home.

Q. A win is a win last night but what did you learn from last night that can help you tomorrow?
ETHAN HAPP: I mean, just regardless of the score, the time, just know that we're always in the game. There might be runs for Xavier. There might be runs for us. Regardless, we've got to play like it's 0-0 and keep fighting.

ZAK SHOWALTER: I think it showed a lot about our team how far we've come this year. Early in the season I don't know if we would have been able to pull out a win if we didn't shoot the ball that well. So for us to see that we can shoot it as poorly as we did and still come out on the right end of the scoreboard, I think that says a lot about our progress this season.

Q. Ethan, you talk about never being satisfied, always being motivated. But are you at least happy with the progression that you've made this season from where you stood after that Western Illinois loss to where you stand right now heading into the Xavier game?
ETHAN HAPP: I would say I'm happy with how far I've come, but I still have so much room to improve. My coaches tell me that every day. When I watch it on film, when you think you have a good game, you still know on film there's 15 things you could have done better that game. So until I have an actual perfect game I'll never be satisfied.

Q. Ethan, you live not too far away at Illinois. What have your friends and family said about your success this year and this weekend?
ETHAN HAPP: It was great that I could have some of my AAU teammates up and my parents and my brother. And they're just really excited in the same sense that I am that this is my first time playing in an NCAA Tournament. And I mean we've been watching it and filling out brackets since we were little. So to be able to contribute in this type of atmosphere, they've been happy for me. And I'm just glad they were able to come up and watch.

Q. Zak, your dad and brother are at Lindenwood; is that correct?
ZAK SHOWALTER: Yes, sir.

Q. Have you been able to see them this weekend get any home cooking anything like that?
ZAK SHOWALTER: Not too much home cooking from dad. That's more the mom thing. No, it was good to see them. They're excited that we got a regional game that they could get to. It worked out perfectly for my family. Like I said, they were here last night and it was good to see them, to catch up a little bit.

Q. Do you follow their scores at all or talk to your dad about how that team's going?
ZAK SHOWALTER: I do. I call him pretty much after all of our games, he calls me after his games just to check in, critique me on some things I need to improve on. He gives me an update about how he's doing. So we keep in good contact.

Q. Do you critique him?
ZAK SHOWALTER: Unfortunately, I don't watch too many of his games so I can't see the decisions he's making behind the scenes. But if I knew what was going on I would definitely have some words of advice for him.

Q. Do you all know any of the Xavier players personally from AAU or just crossing paths before college?
ETHAN HAPP: No, ma'am.

ZAK SHOWALTER: I do not. But I think some of our Ohio guys have some relationships, but don't quote me on that.

Q. Saw some spots of red in the crowd last night. Could you hear them last night, and are you looking forward to seeing them again tomorrow?
ZAK SHOWALTER: Yeah, I don't think it was as extreme as playing at the Bradley Center a couple of years ago. But it had a good feel. I definitely think we had the advantage in that area. And whenever you got -- I mean, Grateful Red travels so well. We've got fans all around the country. So to have support like that, it says a lot about Wisconsin University and it was awesome last night.

ETHAN HAPP: I said it last night, it kind of felt like a home game just because our fans outnumbered the Pitt fans. And I'm hoping it's going to be the same way tomorrow. But regardless, I'm just thankful for sticking with us this whole year not just postseason but they've been great all year.

Q. Zak, I believe you have three common opponents with Xavier this year with Michigan, Georgetown and Marquette. Are there things you can take away from those opponents or games that can help you prepare for Xavier tomorrow?
ZAK SHOWALTER: Yeah, our coaches did a good job. They already watched all those films and got us the scouting report this morning. I can't give you details about what we're going to try to do, but we've watched those games. It's good when you share opponents. The Big Ten, when you play against teams in the Big Ten it's kind of relatable to what we're trying to do. So we saw what they're trying to do and what teams have done to take them out of what they're comfortable doing, and I think we'll be ready to go.

Q. The Big Ten is known for its physical style and as you saw last night Xavier has some big physical guys. Is it playing in the Big Ten? How does that help you for an opponent like this?
ZAK SHOWALTER: Yeah, I think one of the similarities of teams that kind of plays like Xavier is Purdue. They've got Haas and Hammons, some seven-foot big men. And we've prepared for a couple times this year and got a good look. So I think having that for preparation in this game really helps us in that area.

ETHAN HAPP: Yeah, definitely playing in the Big Ten, it doesn't matter where you go, what teams you play, it's always physical. And that's how it was last night. And I'm sure that's how it will be tomorrow. So it's just pretty much the same style that we're going to keep trying to play with.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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