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AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 10, 2017Johnny DawkinsMatt WilliamsB.J. TaylorHartford, Connecticut UCF - 84, Memphis - 54 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by UCF. Can we welcome Coach Johnny Dawkins; B.J. Taylor, sophomore; and senior, Matt Williams. Our format is we'll ask for an opening statement for coach Dawkins and take questions for student-athletes. Coach, your thoughts on the game. JOHNNY DAWKINS: I thought we played one of our best games of the year to be quite frank. From start to finish, I thought we defended. We've hung our hat there all year long, and I thought our guys really focused throughout most of the game and had a great defensive effort. Offensively, I thought it would be combined with really good execution, and especially during the middle portion of the game where we were able to opened up a lead after our guys made a lot of connecting plays. They played well together. They shared the basketball, and we're fortunate to get the win. THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the student-athletes. Raise your hand. Q. Question for Matt. Matt, in terms of the way you guys are playing right now, some of your best ball of the season, do you think you've put yourself in conversation for an NCAA bid, and do you follow that type of thing closely, where you are relative to the bubble, things like that? MATT WILLIAMS: As a team, we try not to focus on the future. We take one game at a time and go from there. THE MODERATOR: Other questions for the student-athletes? I'll throw one out. B.J., if you would, this is a tournament that UCF had not had a bit of success in in recent years. Won the opener in 2014, but have gone one-and-out the last couple. What was the difference today to get past a solid Memphis team. B.J. TAYLOR: I think like Coach said, we hang our hat on defense and we came out. They got some points early, but then we locked in on our defense. That's where we got all our momentum from is getting stops in. That's where we hang our half. As long as we get stops, we know we're going to be in ball games. Q. This is for both of you guys. When Tacko goes down with two fouls early in the game, is there any sense of pressure, added pressure when it goes down? Your big man, your defensive player, goes down or do you guys come together as a team and how do you make that rally? B.J. TAYLOR: Tacko is a huge part of what we do defensively, but we have a great belief in our team, and Chad Brown, he came in and give us great minutes like he always does. There's nobody that plays harder in the country than Chad Brown at the center position. We have a great belief in him. We know that he's going to do what he does, and he's going to help us get stops just like Tacko does. He just does it in different ways. THE MODERATOR: Matt, your thoughts same question? MATT WILLIAMS: Just to complement on what B.J. said, we play defense collectively. We have a group of guys. We all hang our hats on defense. We don't really worry about offense the much. When Tacko went down, we just look at it as next man up and keep going with our defense. THE MODERATOR: Other questions? Okay. We'll dismiss again the student-athletes. Thank you, gentlemen. JOHNNY DAWKINS: Am I dismissed also? THE MODERATOR: You can stay, Coach. Have a few more. JOHNNY DAWKINS: I thought I was dismissed, too. Hey, guy, remember what we talked about. Good job, boys. Q. Coach, similar question to your player, I'm curious whether you are following the bubble conversation and whether a win like this puts you in position on the bubble or you think you need to win tomorrow or is that not a focus for you? JOHNNY DAWKINS: That really hasn't been a focus for us as you can tell what our players just said. What we want to do was play our best basketball down the stretch of the season, and we think we're doing that. We think we're playing, you know, our best basketball when it matters the most, and that's something that we were working towards, and I'm happy to see our guys continuing to do that. THE MODERATOR: Coach, I'll ask you if you would preview tomorrow's match-up with SMU. I know you just got off the floor. What do you see when you see the Mustangs. JOHNNY DAWKINS: We played them one time this year. I saw a very talented team that's well-coached, and they're the champions in our league, so they are a very good team. Other than that, I hadn't really watched them too much since that game and that's been a while ago. I just know they have some talented kids, some talented young players and, like I said, they play the right way. They play to win. That's why I think they've been so successful. We're going to study them tonight. Try to learn as much as we can to compete against them tomorrow. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions for Coach? Congratulations, Coach, see you tomorrow. JOHNNY DAWKINS: Thanks, guys, take care. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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