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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: SALT LAKE CITYMarch 17, 2017Mark FewJosh PerkinsSilas MelsonSalt Lake City, Utah Q. Do you ever secretly wish you guys could face more teams from the Big Ten or the PAC 12 or anything like that? Just to mix it up a little bit. SILAS MELSON: Honest answer, yeah. But, I mean, we're totally fine with the competition we play. But watching on TV, the Big Ten games, PAC 12, we want to be among the best like that. JOSH PERKINS: He pretty much summed it up. We take on the teams that come in front of us. Q. What's the first thing you noticed about Northwestern's back court? SILAS MELSON: They're really aggressive. I was watching the game, McIntosh takes big shots, he's a big-time player. And pretty much all of them, they all have a lot of freedom to get the floaters and hit the open 3. Q. The first half yesterday sort of had an off half and you didn't shoot particularly well and you turned it on the end of the half and played well the second half. How do you avoid that the next game? JOSH PERKINS: The shots we took we usually make. We didn't focus on the misses. Those are shots we're going to take every time. We stuck with it. Our teammates, shout-out to our bench, told us to keep letting it fly, stay confident in our abilities. We put the reps in. And so keep letting it fly. And it's not going to happen again, hopefully not. Q. Based on the number of Northwestern fans that were here yesterday and the fact that you guys are the 1 seed I guess it's going to be a pretty hostile environment tomorrow. You have been good on the road, haven't lost. Is that something you embrace, you really look forward to? SILAS MELSON: You nailed it. We do look forward to that. Yesterday I noticed that Northwestern had a fan base, like they travel with their own arena. That's what we want. We like playing with our backs against the wall. We like playing when fans are against us. That brings more fun, brings more competitiveness to us, and brings out our best. Q. Have you guys had kind of a target on your back mentality all year long, and how have you handled being the favorite in a lot of games that you've played? JOSH PERKINS: Being the best team in our conference, we get teams' best every game. Going on the road it's a packed house. Like you said, the target is bigger and bigger on a bigger stage. But we embrace it and it brings out the best in us. Q. How important was it to have Zach coming off the bench to be able to hit shots, even one from the outside? How important is his presence off the bench? SILAS MELSON: Zach is a big-time player, obviously an NBA prospect. That's what we expect out of him. All year long he's been coming off the bench and giving us a spark, whether it's blocking shots, rebounding. He's really athletic. He brings different aspects to the game some starters might not be able to do. JOSH PERKINS: Not just yesterday but every game he's doing that. Him and Silas, they'd probably start on every other team in the country. To have these guys come off the bench and provide that spark for us is huge. I'm glad to have these two guys coming in for us. Q. Nigel didn't have his best game last night. But when he's played well, what does that help you do as well on the court? SILAS MELSON: He opens up a lot. Obviously he's a really efficient scorer, I've seen him score 30, missing four shots. He's really efficient. And he has a lot of attention on him, that opens up the floor for a lot of other players. The whole game plan gives me an open 3 or Josh an open drive, easy post moves. Q. I apologize if you've already been asked this question, but was there anything that you took from the BYU loss, you were undefeated, ranked No. 1 at the time. Was there any positive or negative or did that have any impact on you at all? JOSH PERKINS: Me personally I didn't take care of the ball down the stretch. That's huge. We've got to get shots on our terms and get a good shot on those possessions, and so we did that. Q. Could you speak to how you guys used today? Did you have enough time to get a scout on Northwestern or was it more of a shoot-around? JOSH PERKINS: No, today was a huge important day for us. Our coach did a great job watching film and putting out a great game plan. The game plan they put out for us we took seriously, and we focused out there and got the best out of the 90 minutes we had out there. We had to get the lid off the rim from yesterday. It was a good day for us. Q. If you guys could both answer this separately, obviously John Stockton played for Gonzaga and then came here and played in this arena. Have you thought about that at all and what it means to be playing in the same arena of one of the greats? SILAS MELSON: We see John Stockton every day. We have the pleasure of talking to him. It's really beneficial and to come into his house that he pretty much built in his playing days, it's kind of an honor. JOSH PERKINS: He's a huge reason why I'm here. Point guard at GU in John Stockton, Jeremy Pargo, the list goes on and on. To play for the same program he played in and live in his shoes and come here and see what he built, like Silas said, it's a small world, it's crazy. Q. Both teams are kind of playing for something special and Northwestern they just want to make sure they're not just here for the ride and you guys kind of have this target on your back. How have you been able to handle all the pressure this season? SILAS MELSON: We do have a little bit of pressure but we try to avoid thinking about all that and just play the game. Obviously we ended up 32-1 or something like it that. At the end of the day you've got to step out on court and play the game ahead of you. We know that Northwestern, it's their first tournament appearance in I don't know how many years. We know that they're going to be competitive and want to come out and play hard. So we're coming in there really focused. JOSH PERKINS: We hear about the pressure but we try not to focus on it, we focus on the things that we can control. Coming to work every day, executing the game plan, and really just playing for each other and making school history. Like I said, we don't focus on that. We have to come out and play a game at the end of the day, we try our best to do that. Q. Nigel didn't have his best game yesterday, but what does he bring to the team in the offense when he's playing well? COACH MARK FEW: He brings everything to the team. I don't know that he played that bad yesterday. I mean his leadership, his communication, his toughness, he's probably our best perimeter defender, probably the best rebounder at the guard spot, all that. I thought he got the pace of the game going. He was able to push it into the first half, into the second half, which really got the game going in our favor. Q. You've mentioned in the past that last time you were in Salt Lake City you weren't thrilled with the hostile fan base. But it seems to be the same case tomorrow. Are you expecting an away game atmosphere? COACH MARK FEW: I don't know if I used the word "hostile." I said it wasn't much of a home environment. That's to be expected, I think, when you're the 1 seed. And sure, I'm sure Northwestern, this being their first time here, and they have a great following. We've been really good on the road all year, so we told our guys actually coming down here to expect a road type environment and play like it. So that's kind of the mindset. Q. There's obviously been a ton of conference realignment over the last decade. Is there ever a day where Gonzaga looks at it and goes maybe we need to go somewhere? COACH MARK FEW: Sure. Absolutely. I think we're very aware of what's been going on. We've watched it. And certainly I think there's been discussions and even theories and things like that. We'll put ourselves in position to do whatever we have to do. If there's movement that is indeed going to happen, we're going to look out what's best for Gonzaga. Q. What do you think makes Northwestern a dangerous team? How do you see them? COACH MARK FEW: Oh, gosh, first of all, they're really, really well coached. Chris has done a great job like with this group instilling confidence in them and just the schemes and both defensively and offensively that they utilize. Those guards are really proactive as far as what you give them off any of their actions, either pin-downs or ball screens. And probably more so than any group we've seen this year, they can really hit that mid-range shot. They're good shooters at the 3 line but they can also do the pull-up jumper down the lane, like Nigel does for us, and utilize the floaters and things like that. Just really, really sound defensively and just guys in the right spots and making the right plays offensively. And a guy like McIntosh who seems really smart, really clutch, and really tough. Q. You've had so many different tournament seeds throughout your time here. What is the difference between the hunter versus hunted mentality? COACH MARK FEW: I think the key is just trying to be the hunter the whole time. It's not easy. I think you watch the way these games unfold, especially those 1-16's yesterday, but I think we ended up with as big a cushion as anybody at the end of it. Sometimes it just doesn't feel like that. And you're constantly reminding your guys, we're probably not going to blow these guys out in the first five minute or at the 12-minute timeout, you've got to keep sawing wood and do what we do. I think as you get deeper in the seeds get farther and farther in the past and you just focus in on matchups. I feel like we're past that now and now it's all about we've got to play, this is a really good team we're playing, and we have to play really good tomorrow or you don't advance. Q. In addition to the environment of playing here, John Stockton played for Gonzaga four or five years and then came -- COACH MARK FEW: Oh, no, I missed him by more than that. Just -- and we're good friends, but he is older than me, okay? Let's all make a point of that. We work out together in the mornings. It's readily apparent who the younger, spry guy is. (Laughter.) Q. Have you guys talked about coming here and playing where he played and as a motivation factor? COACH MARK FEW: Not so much with this group, but some of our other ones. Our guys get to see John all the time. He's literally immersed in our school, in our program, in our community. You could not have a greater role model, a greater ambassador, but yet our guys just see a normal guy. And basically he's known to all of our guys as David's dad. That's where it's at now. Because David played for us now, a great career. And John's daughter is a point guard on the women's team now. But I think they see the statue in the John Stockton Drive out there, and they think that's pretty cool they know that guy and can call him a friend. Q. Size-wise how do you expect Northwestern to match up with your guys inside? COACH MARK FEW: Northwestern has doubled the post all year. They bring a post double on every catch. We've seen that a lot this year, obviously, with Karnowski and even efficient as Zach Collins is, he's seen it, also. They'll be doubling the post I would expect from the jump tomorrow. Q. Collins yesterday was able to hit some shots, impact the game off the bench. What does he bring off the bench and how important is he going to be against kind of an undersized Northwestern? COACH MARK FEW: That's what Zach has done all year. It's like having another starter, basically, that's how we look at it. And we have no issue -- I have no issue playing him late in the games, playing him at crunch time, and finishing games with him. Great, great finisher around the hoop, very efficient. Can even pop out to 3 and hit some things. And then excellent rim protector with his athleticism. Q. I was curious, you played both Arizona and Saint Mary's, what would you tell Sean Miller about a scouting report? COACH MARK FEW: He knows that, his assistants and program understand. I believe they've scrimmaged two of the last three years or something. So -- but they're going to have to -- they're playing a team with a Ph.D. in ball screen execution. So ball screen coverages and they're going to have to deal with Landale. He's a heck of a low post player. Q. This year's team obviously a little more well rounded, five guys scoring in double figures. What is the biggest difference between this year's team and some of the ones you've had in the past as you make the quest to make it to the Final Four for the first time in school history? COACH MARK FEW: Those other teams were really, really good teams. Every team you have, every year, has a new identity and does some things better, maybe not some things quite as well. I think this team over the course of 34 games, I guess it's 34 now, has shown just defensively we can really, really protect the rim at a high level. We've got some great depth inside. We can absorb foul trouble, foul pressure, which maybe some of those teams couldn't do in the past. And it's probably a little more balanced. But you look back on the one team that had Pangos and Bell and Karnowski and Sabonis. There were a lot of guys that could score the ball on that team, as well. Byron Wesley. So I would probably say just those -- I think those other teams have been very solid defensively but the rim protection piece and the depth with the bigs is probably the biggest difference. Q. Just wondering, kind of a big picture, there's been a lot of talk about you and Sean Miller having teams that handily could be in the Final Four. This year, of course, maybe you meet each other, maybe you don't. Does it ever come up -- I know you're kind of friendly. Does it ever come up between you two guys that you will get there? COACH MARK FEW: We're good friends so we talk, we text. We root for each other. And I have total respect program to program and staff to staff. But, no, I think it's safe to say you guys talk about the both of us not making a Final Four more than we ever talk about it. We talk hoops. We talk family. We talk everything. He's a great guy. Funny guy. Q. If you could talk real quick, in the age of one and done, you guys have at least -- depending on the night, you have two or three seniors in the roster. How do you think that experience in that institutional knowledge and that starting five gives you -- what kind of advantage does it give you against a lot of teams that are starting a lot of sophomores, freshmen, guys that aren't as familiar with this stage, with playing in the NCAA tournament? COACH MARK FEW: Yeah, I'm not sure how much it affects you maybe in the NCAA tournament. It sure does affect you as you progress through the season, the start of the year just understanding what it's going to take. There's a real learning curve, especially with freshmen, learning just how hard they have to play, just how physical it's going to be, kind of the grind of the whole -- the practicing and practicing. We've got a game and then we've got to turn around and practice again. And taking the preparation, scouting plans and those things, understand the attention to detail. I think that's sometimes difficult for freshmen. And then obviously those first road games and the grind of the league season. By now I don't really -- I don't know that freshmen are freshmen anymore, they've got enough reps under their belt. And a lot of times they're playing kind of loose and free. Sometimes that can benefit them a little bit. But, again, it just -- the biggest thing it helps with is the culture and your program. I think that's something I'm most proud about. We've been able to maintain our culture and 19 straight NCAA's, I think the guys understand that. The guys understand I think this is our 9th straight time we've won our first game in the tournament. I think our team understands that and takes pride in it. So that gets handed down, definitely, from the upperclassmen. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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