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

March 19, 2016

Chris Mack

St. Louis, Missouri

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Xavier head coach Chris Mack. Coach, an opening statement.

CHRIS MACK: Anytime you can advance in tournament play, you know, you count your blessings. We played particularly well, I thought, in the last eight minutes of the game. Our rebounding against Weber State was really good from start to finish.

So we have a tough opponent on our hands, a team that's battle-tested, a team with veterans from a year ago and their championship game run. So we know what we're up against and we have to be up for the challenge.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. James Farr seemed like a bit of a project for you guys when he first got there. Could talk about his development to this point, especially since he's almost a go-to scorer?
CHRIS MACK: It's been incredible. I don't know if people that don't follow our program very closely can appreciate how far he's come. When he first arrived at Xavier, he tied everything into how he shot the ball from the three-point line. He fancied himself as a pick-and-pop jump shooter. If that wasn't falling he just hung his head. Whether it's how terrific a rebounder he's become at both ends of the floor, his ability to score in the low post. Even a year ago he wasn't very comfortable scoring with his back to the basket. We just asked him to sort of check himself and figure out ways where he could be effective around the basket. He worked night and day with Mike Pegues, our assistant coach.

I think he gained a lot of confidence in our first scrimmage, our first and only scrimmage against Illinois earlier this year. They have Mike Thorne, who is a terrific fifth-year guy, and James scored I think on back-to-back-to-back possessions in that scrimmage, at the time where the scrimmage was sort of nip and tuck. I think from that point forward he really felt he could score in the low block. I've seen his confidence grow and grow and grow. He's taken the jump shot and has put it deep in his back pocket. Really our team has benefited because of his ability to rebound, score in the low post and just be a presence underneath.

Q. Coach, how much does pace matter in a game like tomorrow's game where you guys obviously play up and down and as indicated by their last game they're more grind-it-out?
CHRIS MACK: Hopefully that plays into our big guys' hands. Because from what I understand they're really slow. So since the pace is going to be what it is, we're just going to have to play that way. You try to speed teams up. Wisconsin isn't as slow as one may think. They're going to be opportunistic in transition. But it's a basketball game. Whether there's 30 possessions or 70 possessions, we have to put the ball in the basket more than they do.

Q. What have the last 12 hours been for like you in terms of regrouping and starting to study Wisconsin and getting the team ready for the next game?
CHRIS MACK: A little hectic. But I have a great coaching staff. Our assistant coaches, probably like every other team in the tournament, have done advanced scouting. Also had CliffsNotes version of what Wisconsin or Pittsburgh presented. So we met in my room last night, watched film for a couple hours, and then started back up this morning. And then started to feed some of that information to our players around breakfast time.

Q. Do you know Greg Gard at all? Do you have an appreciation for the job he's done for Coach Ryan?
CHRIS MACK: He's done a terrific job. I don't have to know Greg that well to see that. I know that a lot was made of all the pieces that Wisconsin lost from a year ago, and they didn't have necessarily the nonconference start that Badger fans were probably used to or even expecting because of so much success that Coach Ryan's had. But it's been really impressive to see the growth of this year's team with some younger players.

Obviously Greg earning the job before the season was over says a lot about the job he did. So from afar, you know, I'm happy because anytime you have an assistant coach in a program that has dedicated their entire professional life for that program -- I mean, he's been there for such a long time, it's really good to see. Because a lot of times assistant coaches, all they need is a shot, they just need a chance. A lot of times what keeps them back is that experience. It's hard. If you don't get a shot, how do you get experience? So I'm really happy for him. Obviously a big-time job. But he's proven so far that he's certainly more than able.

Q. Are there programs that you have modeled yours after? We're talking about Wisconsin, they've obviously had a long run of success, I think. New guy steps in, just kind of keeps it going. Are there programs in the country that you have looked at and said, this is how kind of we want to do things?
CHRIS MACK: Honestly, on the defensive side of the ball, years ago we decided to implement more of a pack-line system. There are some wrinkles between what Wisconsin traditionally did under Coach Bennett, what Tony Bennett does at Virginia, and maybe what we do at Xavier.

But I think as a coach you're a little bit of everybody you come across that you either work with or play for. There's not necessarily a program that we model ourselves after, I wouldn't say. But we're all stealers, so to speak, in this business. And we steal little things from one another.

Q. Coach, general question for you, I don't know how many other scores you look at over the weekend, but any idea why there seems to be so many upsets this year?
CHRIS MACK: I think there's upsets every year. I think maybe the gap between 2 and 15, 3 and 14, maybe isn't as drastic as it once was. There's a lot of one-and-dones. I also think you have college players for years, because of AAU basketball, that have competed against one another since they were in third grade all the way up to entering college. A lot of these guys at this stage know one another.

There are a lot of players that in my locker room, when we go over to another scouting team's report, I'll look out there and say, well, Myles Davis, he played with Derrick Gordon at Seton Hall, for instance. He played against Isaiah Whitehead. And it's like all these kids who have become young men know one another and grow up against one another. And the more familiarity you have, the more often that you've played against players around the country, the more you know you belong. It's like when you play basketball with your older brother growing up. You can beat your older brother. He's your older brother. You just punch him in the stomach a couple times, so you're used to him.

Q. But there was definitely a sea of red when Wisconsin was playing. Do you guys plan to treat this game like a road game? And how do you plan to counteract what could be a very pro-Wisconsin crowd?
CHRIS MACK: We can't worry about the crowd. I mean I don't know how we would counteract it anyway other than stopping them from coming into the building somehow. Our contingent will be very loud. I think we'll have more fans on Sunday than maybe we did Friday. But it's business as usual. We've just got to get off to a good start, play our brand of basketball and not worry about the crowd. We've been pretty good on the road all year.

Q. Nigel Hayes didn't have maybe a game yesterday that's indicative of how he's been all season. But can you speak about him and maybe some of the other challenges that Wisconsin presents?
CHRIS MACK: Well, first of all, he's very experienced. You know, they've utilized him a little bit more at the 3 this year as opposed to the 4 a year ago. But it hasn't made him any less effective. They certainly at times will play him at the 4. In their offense they have multiple players that will post. He's a terrific passer. Besides his passing ability, his an ability to draw fouls concerns us. So we have to do a great job defending him both on the perimeter and post without fouling.

His shooting performance yesterday was probably one he'd like to forget. But you are who you are on the back of your baseball card. We know what his percentage is. We know the amount of times he shoots the ball from the 3-point line and gets to the foul line. So he's a big challenge. He's an All-Big Ten performer. We understand that.

And Ethan Happ is a guy that maybe not a lot of people knew about coming into the year because he redshirted. Big Ten Freshman of the Year. He's got incredible footwork for such a young player at this level. He can go right hand, left hand. He has a great feel for how to use his body and his positioning. So he's a challenge.

When you play against a Big Ten opponent you're not going to have stiffs at the 2 guard, the small forward. You're going to go against players that are very, very high caliber, high quality. And, again, a really disciplined system, a disciplined style of play on both ends of the floor.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much.

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