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

March 16, 2017

Buffalo, New York

West Virginia - 86, Bucknell - 80

THE MODERATOR: Joined by West Virginia University head coach, Bob Huggins, as well as student-athletes, Nathan Adrian, Esa Ahmad, and Tarik Phillip. Game time Saturday, time to be announced, Coach decided to forego opening statements. We'll start with questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Nathan, how far have you come as a rebounder this season?
NATHAN ADRIAN: I've come a long way. We lost a lot of rebounding with John and Devin last year, so I knew someone had to step up and go get those, and I feel I've done a decent job at it.

TARIK PHILLIP: I agree.

ESA AHMAD: Me, too.

Q. Nate, obviously last year at this time it didn't go so well for you in this game. How much was it on your mind personally, not as a team?
NATHAN ADRIAN: Personally, it was on my mind a little bit through our practice. We didn't have great practices last year, but this year I thought we prepared a little better. We've got to play a little better defense, but we'll fix it.

Q. Esa, obviously you've had back issues in the last month or so. You looked like you were pretty good today. Did you feel healthy? Was there a bounce there? Did you say I have to take responsibility on my shoulders?
ESA AHMAD: My back felt great out there, got a couple rebounds, and I just tried to cut. My teammates found me and got the win, so --

Q. For both Tarik and Esa, obviously the foul shooting difficulties you had at times especially at Kansas is well-known. Tonight, two of you especially went to line at clutch moments and hit shots. Does any of the past come back to you in those moments? Do you think about it at all?
TARIK PHILLIP: Coach has been telling us for the longest while that turnovers and free throws are going to be the death of us, so if we limit turnovers and make free throws, you got a great chance of winning.

Q. Nate or anybody else. Nate, you mentioned your defense needs to get better. What were you guys maybe able to do to stem Bucknell's tide, and what do you want to do better Saturday?
NATHAN ADRIAN: I think switching on one-three-one today helped us a lot, kind of slowing down their drive a little bit. That's an effort thing. Between now and Saturday, we have to get our heads right and play defense like we know how to.

Q. Nate, can you just describe the play when were you on -- you scrapped for a loose ball, you were on your back, nice feed for a dunk there. It all happened so fast. I don't even know how you saw that.
NATHAN ADRIAN: Me either. Just kind of what we do. We see a ball on the ground, we get on the ground, we got to go get it. We have to get every 50/50 ball for us to win. I just grabbed it, try to get my head up, and look for the first open guy.

Q. Nate, could you talk about, and Tarik, too, maybe, what did Bucknell do that proved bothersome to you guys the most? I mean, what they were doing tonight?
NATHAN ADRIAN: They got their ball to their big man often, and he was very efficient, so I thought he played extremely well. Him and a few others played extremely well. They were tough to guard, so -- Kimbal had five threes, I heard.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations guys. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Okay. We'll open it up for questions for Coach Huggins.

Q. Now, how much pressure is on Nathan as a Morgantown native for this setting of the NCAA Tournament?
BOB HUGGINS: I don't think very much. He had a cyst in his wrist, his shooting wrist, his right wrist, his sophomore year and didn't shoot the ball very well, which nobody would have, and didn't tell anybody about it until the conference tournament. And I think he -- you know, people expected, you know, more, or making shots, and they had no idea he was hurt. I had no idea he was hurt. And he's banged up now, but he just -- you know, he fights through things. He's a great competitor and a great person.

Q. Along those same lines, could you talk about the play he made on the base diving and making the pass on his back, and then also his disruptiveness at the head of the press and half-court as well?
BOB HUGGINS: Well, we weren't very good today in pressure. He and J.C. were pretty good. The rest of our guys kind of called it off way too early. Nate makes plays like that every day, so when he makes a play like that that other people maybe think is a great play, we see him do it every day. So I don't think anybody thought it was anything out of the ordinary.

Q. First, Bob, just a couple questions. First, what did you think was most troublesome that Bucknell was doing and, second, could you comment on Tarik and what he did today?
BOB HUGGINS: What Bucknell did was make shots. They don't always, you know, nobody does, always make shots that well. McKenzie's 5 for 7 from three and Steven Brown hit some big threes. Seemed like every time we started to get away from them a little bit, they made a three. And like the guys said, Foulland is really a good player. He's a really good player in any league. He's athletic, and not just at the offensive end, he changed so many shots. He really disrupted us, I think, offensively, with the shot-blocking ability.

Q. How about Tarik, Coach?
BOB HUGGINS: That's what Tarik does. You know, Tarik went from being a poor free-throw shooter, and he's really put a lot of time in. I think he had a streak of maybe 28, 29 in a row, and then he missed a couple and then he's back on another streak. But Tarik puts an enormous amount of time in. And he's actually listened better. He's actually listened when we talk to him about how he could improve his shot.

Q. Bob, obviously offensive rebounds are always a big part of your game but tonight, did you know you sort of had to dominate in that area?
BOB HUGGINS: Well, I thought we had a chance to, because, you know, Esa's getting back to being Esa. And when you got a 6'7", 6'8" guy playing against 6'2", 6'3" guys, you ought to have an advantage. And I thought he was good, Nate's always good. Elijah has just gotten better and better. We have to get our guards to do a better job. But I thought those three guys were pretty good. We miss enough shots, you know, there's enough to go around.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thanks for your time. Congratulations, see you tomorrow.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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