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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: OKLAHOMA

March 20, 2016

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Texas A&M-92, UNI-88 (2OT)

THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by the Texas A&M Aggies, Head Coach Billy Kennedy, his student-athletes Jalen Jones, Alex Caruso and Danuel House. Coach, your thoughts?

COACH KENNEDY: First of all, unbelievable respect for Northern Iowa and their program and Coach Jacobson. First class all the way around. The way those kids competed at the end and the shots they made, we were really fortunate and blessed to win. I'm thankful.

Obviously we're excited we're moving on and I'm proud of my guys just hanging in there. They just kept hanging in there and didn't quit. That's what I'm proud of.

But I can't say enough, it's kind of bittersweet when you see Northern Iowa, their players and their coach, because I've got so much respect for them. But we've been blessed and we're moving on.

Q. Jalen, how do you put this into context what we just saw tonight?
JALEN JONES: First off, I'd like to give a lot of credit to Northern Iowa. They played their tails off and they're very well coached.

The game, man, I'm still at a loss for words. I'm still just shocked. I just know that my teammates and I just continued to fight throughout the game and we kept fighting and the coaching staff just kept telling us to fight. Our bench kept backing us up, the crowd kept backing us up. Man, it was just probably one of the best victories of my life.

ALEX CARUSO: Yeah, just reiterating what Jalen said, Northern Iowa is a heck of a team. They played really well. The stuff they run is really hard to guard. Well-coached too. They had a great season, hat's off to them.

Craziest game I've been a part of from beginning to end. How we played, how we came back, how they came back, how we tied it again, and then ultimately won in double overtime. Just an amazing game. This is what March is about.

DANUEL HOUSE: Like Coach Kennedy said, first class team, from the coaches to the players. I'm just grateful that we got a chance to play against such talented guys and well-coached guys.

Like Alex said, this is the craziest game I've been a part of in my life too. I'm just so excited right now. I can't talk.

Q. Guys, I guess somebody either before or after the game wrote in your locker room "believe" on the whiteboard. How do you believe down 12 with 30 seconds to go that you can still win the game?
ALEX CARUSO: Not ready to be done with our careers yet. That's the biggest thing. I mean, that's what we've done all year, whether we've been up 10, up 20, down 10, just make a play. And we kept saying that and saying that. Just fortunate and blessed that the ball bounced our way a couple times. It's just we weren't ready to be done playing yet.

JALEN JONES: I just think we faced so much adversity during the season that we were built for this. Even when we were down and out and thought it was over, we just kept telling ourselves keep fighting until the end and make sure we don't regret anything out there.

Got to give a lot of credit to my teammates. They played their hearts out, and I was glad to be a part of this. And I'm just happy we came out with a victory. This was a tough one.

DANUEL HOUSE: Yeah, like they said, I'm just happy to be a part of this. My teammates, they gave it their all. Coming back in the huddle with less than a minute left and seeing the freshman faces and Tavario and them guys' faces and the fight. They kept telling us, encouraging us to come on. We've still got a lot of time left. There is a lot of time left. Just for them themselves not to give up and us get a victory is huge. I'm just happy that I can be a part of this with my brothers up here and happy that we got the win.

Q. Alex, I'm sure your phones are blowing up. What do you think is going on back in College Station right now?
ALEX CARUSO: Mayhem. It's probably pandemonium back there. I mean, just glad to be part of such a great university and great city that I'm sure they'll be patting us on the back and ready to take the fight to Anaheim with us.

Q. For all three players, Jalen, Alex and Danuel. I don't know how much of Oklahoma you had a chance to watch the last couple days, but what have you seen from them and how do you feel you match-up with them?
JALEN JONES: I watched them a lot during their Big 12 play and know they have a lot of good players. We're going to enjoy this win tonight and recover tomorrow and we're going to focus on them later. But I know they're a good team, and that will be another tough game. We'll try to prepare ourselves as best as possible for them.

ALEX CARUSO: Yeah, like Jalen said, we've had chances to watch them on TV. They've got one of the best players in the country, if not the best. And the rest of their team is really good too. So they've been in the spotlight all year. We've had chances to catch them a couple times. But it's an extremely talented team. They're playing really well right now.

Just excited to move on.

Q. Danuel, first, was it the worst game you've ever played when you haven't made a shot for the first 35 minutes? And how did it turn around for you and you scored 20, whatever it was, 22 in the overtime in the last five minutes?
DANUEL HOUSE: No, it wasn't the worst game I've probably ever played. I'm pretty sure practice, I've had pretty bad moments at practice at times. But just scoring that many points, all the credit really belongs to my teammates and Coach Kennedy. He drew the plays up. My teammates got the ball where I was able to score, and I'm just grateful to be on the receiving end, and I'm grateful that I was able to finish the plays for them.

Q. Danuel, little more on that. What was Washpun doing, and how good was he on you? How much did it impact your offensive success when he fouled out?
DANUEL HOUSE: Washpun did a good job of smothering me. Obviously he's a little bit shorter than me, so he clawed at me a lot. But when he fouled out, I think Alex came to me and told me just take it to another gear and be aggressive and draw the ball. So when he fouled out, it opened up the lanes a little bit more.

I think I was able to find my flow throughout the course of the game when we were catching back up and getting deflections and everything.

Q. Which one of you guys will check Buddy Hield next Thursday?
ALEX CARUSO: Our team. It's going to take a team effort. There's not one guy. I'm not good enough to guard him by myself. I don't think anybody else on our team would say they were. We'll just be ready to take care of him and the rest of the guys that are shooting 50% from three too. We'll be ready to go, though. It will take a full team effort just like tonight.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Kennedy.

Q. How tough is it, you talk about believing and staying and fighting and all that, but when you're down 12 with 40 seconds left, we've seen teams in this tournament empty their bench. We've seen coaches quit fouling, even the ones that keep trying, it's sort of half-hearted. I mean, the die has been cast. How do you not let that happen?
COACH KENNEDY: Well, the one thing, we played the game the right way even at the end. We didn't have guys just coming down jacking up threes. We tried to drive the ball, and when Danuel couldn't get it to the hole, he kicked it to somebody else. We ate up more clock than I would have liked. But I thought we did a really good job of playing the game the right way, not just jacking shots and getting back.

Our defensive pressure, which we don't do a whole lot of, we went small. I mean, our guys just did a heck of a job turning our defense into offense.

But we gave ourselves a chance because we didn't selfishly start jacking up shots, which usually happens in that situation. A lot of it has to do -- we had seniors on the floor. And Alex Caruso, he plays that way every day, practice, games, that's how he plays. So Admon Gilder did a tremendous job as a young player. And Tonny came in. I mean, we made enough plays and it was just an amazing win.

Q. Billy, have you ever seen a game where a team comes back like that without having to foul in the last minute?
COACH KENNEDY: No, no. I mean, I've never been a part of a game like that. Never saw one. Still really don't know what happened when I heard we were down 12 with 34 or 43 seconds to play and won. I mean, come on, man. I don't know what Vegas' odds are on a situation like that, but people know about my faith, and all I can do is say I told them to God be the glory. That's all I can say. I'm just thankful for that moment, for this moment.

I'm not usually up or down. I'm pretty even keeled, and that's how I feel right now. I'm elated. It will soak in. I've got to go watch it. I still don't know what happened, to be honest with you.

Q. Same question I asked Danuel. He was scoreless until 5:14 left. Can you take us through what they were doing to limit him and how it flipped?
COACH KENNEDY: They did a great job defensively of trying to take him away, and he missed some good shots. He missed a lay-up in transition, and he missed some good shots. Fought the first half.

Tyler getting in foul trouble hurt us. It kind of broke our rhythm.

They hit some dagger threes. They're a tough team. They run their offense and they grind you, grind you. Being down 12 or 10 against a team like that is like being down 20.

It's just an amazing comeback. I mean, that's all. There is not a whole lot to say.

Q. Does it make you wish you had just pressed earlier in the game?
COACH KENNEDY: Yeah, you know, we went small. We went small and cut it to six. We played a lineup we've never played all year long when we went small with D.J. Hogg at the four and Jalen Jones at the five, Danuel at the three. We even played Danuel House at the four some. And we got back in it.

But, dang, Northern Iowa, man, they just hit big threes. I mean, the No. 2, Carlson kid hit some threes against Tonny Trocha that were deep at the end of the clock. I mean, we were doing the right things, but they were good. They made big plays.

Q. Coach, how do you feel like you match up with Oklahoma?
COACH KENNEDY: We've played Oklahoma a couple years ago. I know Buddy Hield. We recruited him. We know their roster. Coach Kruger is like a mentor to me. I've known him forever and look up to him in so many ways. A first class guy, great coach. I think they're a tough match-up because everybody they put on the floor can score, and it ought to be a heck of a game.

Whoever can play the best defense, obviously, and you've got to make shots against Oklahoma. You've got to score. We've got to do a much better job of scoring than we did tonight. But just the flow, the pace of the game that they play is kind of like we like to play a little bit. We've got to take advantage of Tyler Davis and get him the ball inside against a good Oklahoma team.

Q. I know you guys have defended against Ulis and Simmons and Niang over the course of the season. Does going through match-ups like that in any way, shape or form prepare you for defending a kid like Buddy?
COACH KENNEDY: I don't know if you shut Buddy down. I mean, nobody's been able to do it. You've got to guard the other guys too. It's a unique way. Coach has done an unbelievable job. Buddy looks like he's calling plays to Coach, and Coach says, okay, yeah, Buddy. I mean, they've got an unbelievable relationship, and he's been successful doing that all year.

But their other players are really good. Spangler, man, tough kid. We played Jordan Woodard, I think that's his first name. There are so many brothers we recruited, gave us fits when we played them in the Toyota Center just a couple years ago. Coach played a 1-3-1, and it was against most of these guys, Buddy Hield, Woodard and Cousins, so we're very familiar with them. Ought to be a heck of a game, but we're going to have to play a lot better against this team to march on.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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