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

March 15, 2017

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

THE MODERATOR: Joined by the Nevada student-athletes, D.J. Fenner, Cameron Oliver, Marcus Marshall, and Jordan Caroline. Questions, please.

Q. Marcus, going back to when you were looking at a school to transfer to, did you ever look at transferring close to home? What was that process like, and how did you end up choosing Nevada?
MARCUS MARSHALL: Yeah. Originally I was deciding on transferring closer to home, but Coach Musselman gave me a call a couple months after I decided to transfer and I just liked what he talked about. And he told me he was going to change the program around. And as you can see, it's heading in the right direction. So I'm glad I made my decision.

Q. What has your senior year been like with this team?
MARCUS MARSHALL: It's been great. Obviously, it's one of my best -- it is the best college year I had as far as playing. I kind of had an up-and-down college career. Just ending it on a good note and winning a couple championships and playing with these guys up here and having a chance to play in my first NCAA Tournament is great.

Q. Just lastly, what were some of the schools closer to home you were thinking of transferring to?
MARCUS MARSHALL: Minnesota, Iowa, Creighton. I actually looked at Iowa State, which is kind of weird. But yeah, I mean, I really don't think about it too much. I'm happy with my decision to come to Nevada.

Q. Maybe for D.J. and Cam, seems like these two teams are really similar in kind of how they like to play and what they want to do on the basketball court. What would you say is the biggest difference between you and Iowa State?
D.J. FENNER: I think the biggest difference -- I'm with these guys everyday so obviously I'm biased -- we work really hard. We're with each other all the time on the court and off the court. So I think we have a really high team chemistry. Not to say that Iowa State doesn't, they're a great team. But just knowing these guys I play with and all my brothers, we're really close on and off the court and we play really hard.

CAMERON OLIVER: Piggyback what D.J. said. We travel together every single today on the court and off the court. Our hard work is going to be -- we showcase that a lot. We never give up on anything we put our mind into. There's no knocking Iowa State, I'm pretty sure they work as hard was we do. I'm pretty sure we're a little bit harder workers than who they are.

Q. D.J., you guys are obviously the lower seed. Do you go into this with a nothing-to-lose kind of mindset, or is there a different approach you guys are taking for this game?
D.J. FENNER: We approach this game like we approach every game, expecting to win and go out and play hard and give it our all, regardless if it's Iowa State, Colorado State, North Carolina, doesn't matter, because we're on the same basketball court, dribble the same ball, and go out there to win and play hard.

Q. Fairly close to home for you, Jordan. Are you going to have a lot of family there? When you saw Milwaukee, what was your thought?
JORDAN CAROLINE: You know, I was excited. It's cold, but my family can travel. I have family here in Milwaukee, too. It's pretty cool -- we'll have a good fan base, at least from my family here.

Q. Marcus, will you have any friends or family make the trip out, or do you still have friends or family in the St. Paul area?
MARCUS MARSHALL: Obviously, that's where I'm from. I have a decent amount of family coming out.

THE MODERATOR: Any other questions? Guys, thank you. Good luck tomorrow night.

Questions for Nevada Head Coach, Eric Musselman, please.

Q. Coach, going back to Marcus's recruitment. As he was looking to transfer, he said he was looking to go back closer to home. How were you able to convince him to come back and join your program?
COACH MUSSELMAN: You don't think Nevada is that close to Minneapolis-St. Paul? You know, I think that Marcus was -- he might have wanted to stay closer to home, but I think he also was looking for certain things. He wanted to play in a system and a style that resembled the next level. His father was involved in the recruiting, and I think his father was familiar with, you know, my dad's past, so to speak.

And so once -- the more we started talking, the more there was a connection and he actually committed without coming on a visit, and then he committed verbally and then he came on the visit.

So, you know, just two people that the more we talked philosophically on what he was looking for and what we were looking for, it's unique with a sit one, play one, and it was -- he was our first guy that committed to us as a new staff.

Q. Must have been a heck of a phone call if he was able to --
COACH MUSSELMAN: It wasn't one phone call. It was several. The more we talked and his dad got involved, you know, he's a guy that, you know, to be able to score like he has and contribute like he has with just one year to play, because we centered a lot of what we do around him.

Q. You mentioned his dad sort of knowing your dad's past. Is that from a Minnesota connection, do you think?
COACH MUSSELMAN: Yup. Yes, sir.

Q. What has he brought to your team? Obviously the stats speak for themselves, but what as he been able to do in one year with you guys?
COACH MUSSELMAN: I think the big thing was last year, because our guys had to guard him everyday in practice, he helped our team last year being on the scout team. And I thought that all of our three sit-out guys really contributed to last year's success, just like the four guys we have sitting out now.

But our guys knew coming into the year, because they faced Marcus on a daily basis in practice, I think that they knew that they were going -- they were adding a new guy this year that was really going to score points for us. And the thing that makes Marcus really unique is he's an excellent passer, he's got great court vision, and he's really, really unselfish, almost to a fault.

In the Mountain West Tournament, we would go to him over and over and over. He defers a little too often at times. We talked to him about trying to be a little bit more selfish when we need buckets.

Q. You guys have defended the 3 well all year long. Obviously, that's a big aspect to their game. What is it about you guys that has been so successful there and how important will it be tomorrow?
COACH MUSSELMAN: We understand that Iowa State can really, really shoot the basketball and they do a great job of sharing the ball and it's almost like the ball has eyes for them. And so we're going to just do what we've always done all year, and we'll designate who we feel their top 3-point shooters are and try not to give up too much air space to those guys and contest the high hand. And, you know, I don't think we do anything special defending the 3. I think what we do do is we identify who we would like to try to pay special attention to.

But we have done a really good job of that all year, of identifying, getting the guys -- getting to guys as quick as we can before they release the ball.

Q. How crazy has the season already been for Hallice Cooke and what are you kind of expecting for him down the road?
COACH MUSSELMAN: Hallice -- he's gone through a lot. He's made the decision to come to Nevada. And then there was the, you know, the heart situation and through further tests and, you know, now he's playing and practicing and he's happy. But it was -- at one point he was basically a student coach/student manager and had a great attitude through that really difficult time until he was cleared to play again with his heart.

And, you know, he's a guy that's become close with our coaching staff because he's been around us a lot when he wasn't able to practice. And, you know, we're just so happy for him and his family that he's been cleared to play, and, you know, I think next year he's going to have a really big impact for us.

Q. Coach, how is Marcus approaching the opportunity to go head-to-head with Monte Morris who is widely known as one of the top point guards in the country?
COACH MUSSELMAN: Our whole program has great respect for what Monte has done as a basketball player, and, you know, they're on TV a lot, so our guys are overly familiar with some of the personnel at Iowa State, because, again, we watch them on our off nights and they're always on some network.

And, you know, having said that, I think Marcus gets up for every game. I don't think that tomorrow is any different. I mean, the one thing we've tried to pride ourselves on is just competing, doesn't matter who we play against. And Marcus is a guy who is a great competitor on both sides of the ball.

But, again, we understand Marcus as well as the other guys will have to defend Morris and what a special player he is.

Q. Speaking of Monte Morris, what kind of potential do you think he has?
COACH MUSSELMAN: I'll probably be able to give you a little bit better feel after tomorrow when I see him live. On film, great court vision, really unselfish, makes other players around him better, creates steals defensively. Can knock down the 3 ball. Excellent splitting pick-and-rolls. He's got the whole package. Rebounds for his position. He's got a really bright future because of he's able to do so many things well. Again, probably have a little bit better feel after seeing him live, but what I see on tape, one of the best point guards in the entire country.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Coach? Thank you. Good luck.

COACH MUSSELMAN: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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