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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: ST. LOUISMarch 20, 2016Greg GardVitto BrownEthan HappBronson KoenigSt. Louis, Missouri Wisconsin - 66, Xavier - 63 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the Wisconsin Badgers. Coach, an opening statement. GREG GARD: As I told the team in the locker room, the last -- this game was kind of a microcosm of our season from the standpoint of November, December, January, it was like three minutes to go being down seven or eight, whatever we were, and this group would not quit, would not give in. We knew we had some fight left in us and eventually the ball was going to go in. We were able to get some stops and key rebounds at opportune times. I can't be more proud of a group of young men that have withstood every challenge that's come at them, every adversity piece that's been thrown their way, they're an unbelievable group to coach. They listen. They respond. They work. It's not always perfect. Tonight wasn't perfect. But it's a group that has really bonded together and when you have a group that's this tight and growing tighter by the day, I think you are going to have some special things happen. And like I said the resiliency of this group is second to none in terms of their will to work for each other and try to find a way. And that's what they did tonight. With that, I think we'll take your questions. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Coach, how cool was it that it was a Wisconsin player that sank the winning shot? GREG GARD: Well, they're all Wisconsin players. I know what you mean. Bronson's from the state, from La Crosse. But everybody else, the other 16 that were on the trip with us here, have contributed and helped us. This was a team win, and obviously Bronson hit two big shots there at the end. And that was the thing I've tried to tell him to keep shooting. I know the last couple of games the ball hasn't gone in the way he's wanted it to, but he's too good of a shooter and we've got too good of offensive players at spots. I've seen him do enough things that you just can't lose confidence in him, and tell him to keep working and it will turn out okay. And he did. I mean those two he hit at the end, it was a busted play in that possession with about 11 to go. And he was able to make a play and obviously tie it. We weren't looking to tie. We were looking to just get a quick 2 and then play from there. But obviously the shot there at the end. Just how we drew it up, right, guys? Ethan made the pass and we have two options on it. Obviously it always looks good when the ball goes in. But, like I said, he's a big-time player and he's hit a lot of big shots for us through his career, and hopefully he's got a lot more in him. Q. Bronson, two quick questions here. First, did you know the shot, the winning shot was good when it left your hand? Secondly, what's going through your head when the ball's gone through the net and your teammates are dog piling on top of you? BRONSON KOENIG: I told Ethan before the play even started, I knew I wanted the ball. So I went up to him and told him, pass to me if I'm open. And I got open. He did a great job of hitting me. And to answer your question, I knew it was going in before it even left my hand because that's a shot I practice quite a bit pregame with Nigel Hayes one-on-one and I do a lot of step-backs in the corner. I let it fly and I knew it was going in. I can't really explain the feeling after I hit it. I think it was my first real game-winner -- well, kind of like that. So, yeah, it was a lot of excitement. Q. Ethan, you said last week, you know, the excitement of playing in the NCAA Tournament, you watched it your entire life. What's it mean to be part of what now will be an NCAA lore, that winning shot and being on the floor with that? ETHAN HAPP: I mean, it's something really special to be with this group of guys that you care for just like family. And I mean credit to Coach for drawing up the play. Credit to all the guys on the floor. I mean, Vitto took some guys with him. Nigel took some guys with him and left Bronson open to create a shot. And credit Bronson for making the shot. Q. I don't know if you expected to get the ball back with four seconds, or with any time left. What's the process there of letting it play out or advancing it and taking a timeout? How far in advance were you thinking of it or was it just a gut feel? GREG GARD: Well, the first thing was the play Showalter made to get the charge was huge. That's why the kid's on the floor and why he is in the program. The toughness he brings, the glue that he is in between the other bricks in our team, so to speak. That was a big-time play, that one won't be talked about as much. It should be. It was a huge defensive play. But then to get back to the play, I actually contemplated -- I was going to take a timeout, but Nigel came running over to me and said, hey, let's advance it and then take it. I said, all right, we'll do that. And that's what we decided to do. And fortunately we were able to get far enough down the floor to be able to get to that timeout. And, like I said, then it's a matter of -- you at least want to have a chance, give yourself a chance. And they ran what we wanted, what we talked about to perfection. So it always, like I said, it looks good when the ball goes in, it looks good when you can advance it as far as you can. They did it very well in terms of the time we had to talk about it, how we wanted to do it. They executed it perfectly. Q. Ethan, there's a lot of pressure on you in that situation, inbound the basketball. Were there any nerves to make sure that you got it in the right hand and made sure you got it in to give your teammates an opportunity to get a shot off? ETHAN HAPP: A little bit. I mean, obviously you gotta make a smart decision. We didn't have any timeouts left. But, I mean, I knew my personnel. I knew I was just going to hit the open guy. And when Coach trusts you to take the ball out, that puts confidence behind you as well. So that was an easy pass for me to make and Bronson just knocked it down. Q. Can you really go back to Northwestern on January 12th and think about this moment right now? VITTO BROWN: Yes, it's definitely nice to see how far we've come from that moment. And I think that was the most pivotal moment that we had as a team. That was the time we really stepped back and reevaluated ourselves and really had to look in the mirror, each one of us individually, and see what we could do better. So now, this is just an example of how it's paid off for us. ETHAN HAPP: Yeah, we had the players-only meeting. And we knew we were in danger of not making the NCAA Tournament if we kept up the poor play. And I mean we believed we would be in the tournament. It was just a matter of when we turned the season around. BRONSON KOENIG: Just like Ethan said, we knew we were at risk for not making the tournament, we didn't want to be that, the only Wisconsin team in however many years not to make the tournament. So as leaders we knew we all had to step up and call a team meeting and let all our feelings and emotions out, being such a new team with new guys that haven't had as much experience. So I thought that was very good for us. And after that obviously the results should speak for themselves. And we banded together really closely. And that's what we've been doing the past couple of games, too. That's why we've been successful. So we just need to keep doing that. GREG GARD: I've always had confidence in them even when we were 1-4 and 9-9. And the thing that I've talked about, and they're probably tired of me hearing the word process, to stick to the process and not deviate from the plan. And I saw a lot of good things when we were 1-4, that we were headed in the right direction. Couple of those came down to the last minute of the game like this, and we didn't come out on top. We have Melo Trimble hit a shot against us, very similar situation, tie game. He hits one to win it. But I saw a lot of good things happening in that part of that process that we were getting better every day. And rather than focus on the last 30 seconds or a minute of a game, I tried to focus on the main -- the other 50, 60, 70 possessions, and what could we do better and how can we get better in those areas. And that's where they've grown so much. And if you can get yourself in the right frame of mind and work through those things. And they practiced better. They worked harder, became closer off the floor. The locker room chemistry got better, and eventually all those things started to show on a more consistent basis on the floor and then results started coming from that. So, like I said, I wasn't too concerned about it. I just tried to focus on every day and make sure they were in the same frame of mind -- don't worry about February or March; we've got to take care of December and January and it's one day at a time, and that's what they've done. Q. Bronson, your pregame ritual with Nigel, when you work on that how much are you consciously thinking about that exact type of scenario there? BRONSON KOENIG: I mean, I'm not really thinking too much about game-winners or anything like that. I'm just thinking, the rule is we can't drive to the basket, so my only thought is how am I going to get the ball over 6'8" Nigel Hayes. So, you know, stepbacks, and watching Steph Curry, trying to emulate him. Yeah, I mean, nothing really more to it, really. Q. Coach, how long do you guys enjoy this until you start preparing for Notre Dame? GREG GARD: We'll enjoy it tonight and the flight back home. And then we'll start to put together a plan with our staff on how we're going to approach the week. These guys have had two toe-to-toe battles with Pittsburgh and now Xavier, two very physical games. They earned the right to get here in this tournament. They obviously earned their way through Friday and this one here tonight. So I always make sure that they get a chance to enjoy it. We'll work on that with the staff, with Notre Dame, maybe starting already on the flight home. But we'll enjoy this for at least through tonight for sure. Q. Ethan, what's it like to experience a game like this after having to sit out all last year and know how your high school career ended? How is it like to celebrate a win like this? ETHAN HAPP: Yeah, going back to high school, obviously I had a tough out. We were undefeated and we lost that game. But like you said, Vitto and I were talking about where obviously he contributed more than I did last year, but it wasn't as much as he wanted to and obviously it wasn't as much as I wanted to. But I saw how fun it was and experienced how fun it was making a trip to the Final Four and the national championship. And I thought, how special it would be if I was contributing more in another run like that. Q. Coach, since you were named the permanent head coach of Wisconsin and you're offered an extension, how do you feel about your job security right now? GREG GARD: Did I get offered an extension already? Q. Well, there's things wafting around this room. GREG GARD: Check the guy in the red sweater. He's in control of the contract (laughter). Is the ink dry on it, Justin? The ink is dry. Okay. I've never worried about that. I didn't worry about the interim tag. I waited for it to come out in the media because I knew they were going to say the word audition; this was my audition for the job. And I told them the first day it came out in the media: Guys, this is not an audition. I'm not going to allow the next three, four months, whatever it is, impact what has happened in my career over the previous 26 years. You're not going to allow that to creep into your mind, too. You're not playing for my job. We're going to work for each other. I want these guys to have the best experience possible. We only have one senior. Let's have Jordan Smith have the best senior year, the best experience he can have, and whatever happens down the road, happens. But I was more focused on every single day and making sure these guys learned to work harder, practice harder, take care of the ball better, rebound better. That's what my focus was on, and they can attest to it, because I've been a pain in their butt a lot, in terms of trying to play the right way and didn't worry about what was going to happen down the road for me. Since that's happened, I've been very outwardly thankful to them for what they've done for me and my family. But that doesn't affect me. I've always had a one-year contract. They gave me a five now. Wow. But it doesn't change my approach. Like I said, I still can be just as boisterous in those timeout huddles as when I had an interim contract and now I have a five-year one. It won't change who I am and never will. Q. Bronson, in the locker room Zak said you had a flare for the dramatic. Is that an accurate assessment of your style and mentality? BRONSON KOENIG: I guess. I don't know. I don't really know how to answer that, I guess. I like to have the ball in my hands in those kind of situations because I believe in myself, and I know my coaches and teammates believe in me, and that's what they did. It turned out all right. Q. Coach, why do you have so much confidence in Ethan to inbound the ball, a freshman, in that situation? GREG GARD: Well, he's the biggest. He was the biggest on the floor. So he could see over guys. Also in terms of the other four, if you looked at stats, he hasn't attempted a three-point shot yet this year. So that's his offseason project he's going to work on, his perimeter shooting. But he inbounds the ball against pressure. He does that most of the time. With how we had our little set that I drew up in the timeout configured, that's where I wanted guys at. So had it been something different come to my mind at that point in time, I might have switched people around. But he's been in that position, and his size, I think, helped to be able to look over guys. Obviously they put a big guy on him, too. But he's been in that position, maybe not on the sideline, but in the full-court position. Just kind of the lineup I had at the time, that's where I wanted people at. Q. How does this compare with the win last year against Kentucky? BRONSON KOENIG: It's kind of hard to compare because it's two totally different teams and two totally kind of different games. But, I'm so proud of how far we've come, and no one really believed we'd get to this point. For us to all collectively just believe in each other and that's how we got this done. It feels great to get to this point with a group of guys that I can call my family. So, yeah, it's a great feeling. Q. Bronson, on that last play, I know you weren't the first option, but did you think you were going to get a clean look? And were you as aggressive tonight as you had talked about being yesterday? BRONSON KOENIG: Yeah, I mean I was pretty disappointed in myself, just the way I've been playing, not only the way I've been shooting, but I haven't been being the floor general, the facilitator that I can be. I'm way too good to not be a facilitator like I can be. But like you were saying before, I knew I was going to get the ball. What exactly was your question, again? What was the first part of that question. Q. You had two seconds, did you think you would get a clean look? GREG GARD: Yeah, I told Ethan if I'm open hit me, and I kind of preset what I was going to do in my head. Just a step-back corner three, and that's something I practice quite a bit. So felt great coming off my hands and I knew it was going in. Q. Coach, when you were down by nine with under six minutes left, what thoughts are going through your head? And what does it say about the resiliency of the team to come back and finish like they did? GREG GARD: It was only a three-possession game. And that's when I thought if we could get to where it was within five we could chip four off of that, that within the last minute and a half or so, we would have a chance. I was able to mix and match a little bit with a little pressure to stir the pot a little bit with two possessions. Even though we didn't turn them over, I thought we disrupted a little bit there. Then we have to make plays. We had to make plays and we got stops. I mean, to be able to hold this team that's been averaging 80 points a game to 17 below their average. Then obviously, individually, Bluiett is a heck of a player, to hold him almost 10 below his average. Defensively this team has grown so much in the last month, and really here this weekend. These are two, probably maybe two of the best defensive performances we've had all year. When you combine to get the ball to go in in the second half, even though we can shoot the free-throw line better, that's where you always want to give yourself a chance in the last four minutes. So that's where I thought this group has grown so much -- November, December, down nine, they might have wilted and waved the white flag. This time of year they're not doing that. They've grown and matured in a lot of ways. Obviously that's the result. Q. Ethan, when Bronson tells you to get him the ball, is it easier to inbound the ball when you know somebody wants it and somebody's ready to take a shot like that? ETHAN HAPP: Yeah, I mean Nigel and I were talking right before Bronson came up to me about where he wanted it. So I mean I was kind of waiting for Nigel to get open because he came up to me. Then when Bronson approached me and said that he wanted it, that's something special to have two leaders that want the ball when it's crunch time. I think that's a testament to both those guys in how much they've grown. Q. Greg, I'm curious, Showalter didn't do much offensively tonight in terms of points. How big was that charge he drew against a pretty good player who can get to the rack? GREG GARD: I wasn't asked about it, but I brought it up before you came in. That was as big a play, maybe, as the three. It doesn't get talked about and won't get talked about as much, but that was huge to be able to draw that charge. He even negated an attempt to try to get by him earlier in the possession and then to be able to get that. That's why that kid's in the program. He does a lot of things that don't show up in the stat sheet and that was an example of one of them. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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