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

March 15, 2018

Nashville, Tennessee

THE MODERATOR: The Georgia State university Panthers are first up. They're the No. 15 seed in the South Region. They're the Sun Belt Conference tournament champions. They'll play No. 2 Cincinnati in Friday's first game at 1:00. The men's basketball contact is Mike Holmes. The student-athletes we have here are Malik Benlevi, Jordan Session, D'Marcus Simonds and Devin Mitchell.

We will take questions.

Q. Jordan, I believe you were on that team three years ago that advanced in the tournament. If that is correct, just what confidence do you get out of that experience and what have you kind of told some of your younger teammates about what to expect?
JORDAN SESSION: It's an exciting time of the year. I told them that just enjoy the moment, really. We've got to take it one day at a time. We came here to win a game, so we're really looking forward to playing.

Q. Jordan, how do you compare D'Marcus with R.J.? Obviously, great players, great scorers. Maybe they do their thing in a different way, but could you kind of explain and contrast their games?
JORDAN SESSION: They're both good players, like you said. They both affect the game in a lot of ways. I feel like D'Marcus is a high energy guy where R.J. is a more high volume shooter. They both impact the game in a great way. The both have the ball in their hand a lot, and they both help everyone else get involved. They're both really good players. Obviously, I play with D'Marcus and R.J., but it's hard to compare two different guys. They're both just really great players.

Q. I saw a tweet, the stool from three years ago made the trip out to Nashville. What are you all doing with it? Is it in the locker room? Good luck charm? What are you all doing with that?
MALIK BENLEVI: To be honest, I don't know about the stool. I seen the tweet. We're looking for good luck. We're playing Cincinnati. We know they're a good team. I think we've got a good chance of beating them.

D'MARCUS SIMONDS: Yeah, I mean I guess it's just good luck for the school, but we really just came here to play basketball, you know. That's pretty much it.

Q. D'Marcus, can you just talk about what you see when you watch Cincinnati play, what concerns you, what you think their strengths are?
D'MARCUS SIMONDS: I mean, everybody that's watched Cincinnati knows they play really good defense. The press is really aggressive. But, you know, at the end of the day, basketball is basketball. So we're going to come ready to play. They're going to come ready to play and kind of let the cards fall.

Q. Congratulations to you guys. For Devin, can you talk about the shooting that you guys bring to the floor? And for all of you guys, how much fun has this week been so far as you guys get ready to play tomorrow?
DEVIN MITCHELL: We're a 3-point shooting team. We led the Sun Belt in 3-point shooting. Jeff Thomas is a good shooter, myself, Malik and the rest of the guys are really good at stretching floor. It's something we work on a lot.

As far as the weekend, it's just been great. My first experience, a lot of our guys' first experience, just having these guys to soak it all in and just really enjoy every moment and every second of it.

MALIK BENLEVI: I think 3-point shooting has been a huge strength for our team, being able to stretch the floor with a great player like D'Marcus getting to the cup, finding us. So that's been really the reason we won a lot of games this year.

This experience is truly a blessing. Most people don't get to live, go to March Madness, so I'm just appreciating the moment.

Q. You guys seem to play with a lot of freedom on the floor. Talk about what it's like to play with a coach that gives you that type of freedom and the enjoyment you seem to have on the floor.
JORDAN SESSION: Like you said, we kind of play with a lot of freedom. At the same time, we're playing for a guy that really loves basketball. He gives us a lot of freedom because he loves the game. We go out there, we have fun.

We mess up, he gets on it. We still bounce back and we play with a lot of energy. That's what we're here for. We're here to play with a lot of energy.

D'MARCUS SIMONDS: If you're watching, it looks real free, but it's a system. It's a system. We're running our offense through in and out. So, I mean, it's great playing for Coach Hunter because he really loves the game, he loves his players. So he's going to put us in the best spot to win.

Yeah, we're just going to keep playing free.

DEVIN MITCHELL: Yeah, kind of the same thing. What those two guys said. We play free, but I think everybody knows their role and everybody enjoys playing their role. So I think that's the biggest thing. We know who our best player is. We allow him to do what he does, and everybody just plays to their strengths around them and that's the biggest strength of our team.

Q. Devin, you mentioned your ability to stretch the floor. In particular, against Cincinnati, how do you think that will be effective? Will that be able to negate some of the things they do defensively?
DEVIN MITCHELL: I mean, we watched them. They're really an aggressive bunch, so I'm sure they're not afraid of our 3-point shooters. I'm pretty sure they're going to try to crowd us a lot, run us off that line.

At the end of the day, you know, we work on things and we'll be able to get our shot off. We're not worried about that at all.

Q. D'Marcus, I'm wondering what brought you to Georgia? What made you decide on Georgia State during the recruiting process? Were there other schools you considered? It's kind of nearby, but what was it about their program that appealed to you?
D'MARCUS SIMONDS: I got the best teammates in the country, in my opinion. I mean, I'm sure the guys from other teams say that, but I've got the best teammates in the country. I knew them before I even decided to make my trip to Georgia State.

And I got the best coach in Georgia, you know, Coach Ron Hunter. It's been a real blessing to play for him. It's been a blessing to play alongside these guys. So that's why I chose Georgia State.

THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you very much. Best of luck.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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