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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: INDIANAPOLISMarch 19, 2017Gregg MarshallShaquille MorrisZach BrownLandry ShametIndianapolis, Indiana Kentucky - 65, Wichita State - 62 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Wichita State. And Coach, we'll ask you to make an opening statement and then take questions. COACH MARSHALL: We came up one possession short and got to execute better in the game, and that's on me. So I wish we had that over to do again, but we don't. Congratulations to Kentucky on a hard-fought win going to the Sweet 16. Q. Landry, can you talk about the game you played today and basically when it looked like the Shockers were at the end of their rope, you basically revived this team? LANDRY SHAMET: I just tried to stay aggressive and make my open looks and take advantage of whatever opportunity came. I didn't play very well in the first half. One thing I want to touch on, Coach said that that late-game execution was on him. It's on me. I'm the point guard. He called it. It was clear with what we were supposed to do. I just didn't do exactly what we needed to do there down the stretch on a few possessions. Q. Gregg, those last two shots, could you take us through those and how not having any timeouts obviously handicapped what you could do? COACH MARSHALL: Yeah, that's a rarity, as you know. I wish I had a couple. I don't really remember exactly what happened with Markis's shot. To be honest, I do not remember what we were doing, what quick or set we were in. I think we might have broken down into motion, and it's plenty of time on the clock. He just -- I think he just rushed things a little bit and settled for a very contested 3-point shot. I don't know if he thought he was going to get fouled. I don't know what he did, but he certainly did, and it was a great play defensively by them. I think we could have put more pressure on them by driving. There was plenty of time at that point to drive the ball. He elected to pull the trigger there so that wasn't great, to say the least. Then we had a place set up at the end, but it's hard -- Landry was ultimately going to be passing the ball, and there was some action. I'm not going to tell you exactly what we were going to do, but we had other play -- there were other options. We didn't run that play. He basically, as you said, he had willed us back in the game with some tremendous opportunities. So he elected to break off the play. I guess you'd have to ask him. I think he thought he might have an opening. Don't know if we had time to go to the rim for a quick two so we were trying to get a three to tie the game. Just didn't work out. Q. You guys looked like you were about out of it and then made the last comeback to get back. Can you describe the willpower you had to get back in the game? SHAQUILLE MORRIS: Just late-game situations, that type of stuff. Coach Marshall does a great job of preparing us for it in practice. So it was something that we were used to. We just tried to make plays, and that's what we did, kept fighting. There's not too much give-up in us at all. That's pretty much what it was. ZACH BROWN: Just what Shaquille said, we got guys who aren't going to give up no matter what. At the end of the day, we're going to continue to fight all the way to the last second. Wish things went different at the end, but that's how the game goes. You win some. You lose some. We'll be all right. LANDRY SHAMET: They touched on it. Q. Gregg, for most of the game, seems like Wichita State was able to contain Kentucky's athleticism. But how big of a factor was them kind of unleashing that in the final ten minutes or so? COACH MARSHALL: We obviously made some mistakes, which you can't do. We had a breakdown defensively on a ball screen. We didn't hedge, and that resulted in a dunk. And then we didn't have very good ball security. We had a couple of really bad passes that fuelled their transition. So we talked about ball security and shot selection keeps them out of transition. When you don't do those things, they're able to get out and gallop and run and finish. That's how they got the lead, whatever it was, six, seven, eight points. I don't even know what it got to. But to follow up on Pat's question, I mean, there's no quit for us. I mean, we have to grind for everything that we get. We know that. It's pretty evident. We thought we'd come back and win the game. We thought we were the better team. In our locker room, we believed we were the better team. Regardless of what whoever thinks, we thought we would and should win the game. So it's a 40-minute game. In the end, we didn't make the play to force overtime. Q. Landry, could you describe Fox and his quickness and the challenges that presents? LANDRY SHAMET: He's an NBA guard. They've got a couple of them. He's pretty versatile. Played him more as a driver, so you kind of knew when he wanted to get to the rim and play off the dribble. He does present some challenges. He's really quick. He's like a bigger, stronger Paris Lee, a good, heady player. We had a good game plan coming in on how to contain him and Monk and the rest of the guys, and I think we executed for the most part. But like Coach said, had a couple of breakdowns down the stretch. Q. Gregg, after that 2014 game, you said it took that effort and a loss for people to see what Wichita State was about. Do you have similar feelings after this game? COACH MARSHALL: I don't know, Paul. How many years do we have to do this to make people respect our program? I don't know. That's up to you guys. I mean, I know that we have the heart of a champion. I know these guys, how they work, how hard our staff works, how much time, energy, passion we put into this. This will just be more fuel for us. This will be a 3-point loss to Kentucky, a 2 seed. We know we can play much better. Basically, other than our two seniors who started as walk-ones, we've got everybody back. So we will -- it really doesn't matter what other people think, to be honest. It matters what we think. And we can't change people's perception of our program. We can't change people's preparation of the Missouri Valley Conference or the talent level. It's more important that we know what we're about, and we sleep really well at night knowing what we have and what we continue to prove and what we continue to do as a program. And if we get a break or two, and another shot goes down, maybe we're advancing, maybe we win the whole thing. I mean, that's possible. So that will be our goal next year. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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