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

March 15, 2018

Nashville, Tennessee

THE MODERATOR: University of Texas Longhorns are the 10th seed in the South Region. They're out of the Big 12 Conference. They'll play No. 7, Nevada, in the Friday night's second game. The men's basketball contact is Scott McConnell. The student-athletes representing Texas are Matt Coleman and Mohamed Bamba.

Q. Mo, you said you're 100% healthy. How nice has it been to have a week off before the game?
MOHAMED BAMBA: It's been very nice. This week, we've taken care of my body, gotten better as far as, you know, putting in good deposits on the court as far as practice. And it's just, again, a good week to just decompress and start over.

Q. Mo or Matt, both, your coach talked earlier this week about some of the challenges Nevada presents in terms of having kind of a position-less offense and a position-less defense. Is there any team in the Big 12 you face or any other team that kind of gives you guys that same look offensively?
MATT COLEMAN: Not really. It is going to be a new challenge for us. Looking at the roster, five across the line, 6'7", standing 6'7", it would be a challenge to see how we can look for different ways to score and defend.

MOHAMED BAMBA: I'm not taking any questions from Nevada natives, sorry.

No. I think one team that we faced in the Big 12 that was kind of like position-less both offensively and defensively is probably Texas Tech. They played a lot of small ball and it was a pretty good matchup for us.

But I think Nevada will pose a different challenge, because a lot of those guys can really go offensively and we've just got to do our job and guard.

Q. Mo, for you personally, what is the importance of playing in the NCAA tournament for Texas and what would be the importance of winning a game in the NCAA tournament for Texas and potentially more than one game?
MOHAMED BAMBA: Oh, this is what we sign up for. This is what -- at the end of the day, this is what we imagine when we first sign our names and our initials on the Letter of Intent.

It will mean the world to us. We've got to do our job. Small victories lead to big victories, and hopefully we'll be cutting down nets.

Q. For Mo, I want to confirm, do you feel at 100 percent now? And just the way your toe, I mean, when did you start feeling a little bit better? I know you played late in the Big 12 tournament. When did it start feeling like you could play again?
MOHAMED BAMBA: Probably like a couple days prior to playing Texas Tech, it was close to 100 percent. I feel great in practice, feel good in practice. So just happy to be out there.

Q. Mo, can you describe what life is like when your name is on mock drafts all the time and, you know, just the whole -- do you look at them? Do you not look at them? Do you care? Do you not care? All of that.
MOHAMED BAMBA: It's like almost impossible to not know where you are in the mock draft because people always say Mo, they have you projected at so and so.

I'm like, Cool.

I try and not pay much attention to it because I'm just, you know, I'm here in the moment. I'm not quite there yet. I'm living the moment. I'm living in the NCAA tournament. And I think that's honestly the key to success, because when you start thinking about things long-term and down the road, that's when your mind gets clouded with just things that don't help the team. So I try to live in the moment as much as possible.

Q. Mo, if you had to identify one area of your game that you feel like you've developed the most since, I guess, during your time at Texas, or perhaps it's more than one area, what would those be?
MOHAMED BAMBA: Well, are you talking about intangibles or just like a game skill-wise?

Q. I would say both.
MOHAMED BAMBA: Okay. So I think I've improved, like, as far as the intangibles with just like leadership and just, you know, putting -- it seemed pretty comical at first when coach kind of told me in the summer, but putting that look on your face and showing that you care. Because when you have that look on your face, your affect on your teammates just rubs off. And the next thing you know, guys are flying around playing. Playing very hard.

Skill-wise, I think my game is night and day from June 1st. I'm just playing out there. I'm shooting with confidence. I'm getting into post moves, using my body more. It's just fun being out there imposing my will.

Q. Matt, you went to Oak Hill, same as the Martins. Did you fish out some information from your coach about him?
MATT COLEMAN: I don't know much about him, my two years at Oak Hill, they were long gone. They were at NC State. So I think I played pickup with them once or twice. That's all I know much on them.

Q. Mo, oftentimes college basketball players' careers are defined by what they do in the NCAA tournament. Is that something you have thought about or are thinking about as you head into this weekend?
MOHAMED BAMBA: Absolutely, you look at some of the Texas greats like K.D. and T.J. Ford and the legacy they left on the program is mainly based on what they did in March. The opportunity and the platform is there for me now. It's just my time to seize it.

Q. Texas hadn't been to a Final Four since 2003. What would that mean for you guys to take Texas back for the first time in, like, 15 years?
MATT COLEMAN: It would be an unbelievable feeling just to be a part of the team to actually -- to say, like, we made it to the Final Four and to do it -- it's bigger than just us. It's for Texas basketball, for the city of Austin. It would just bring a different dynamic to Texas in general.

Personally, I would love to have that feeling of being a freshman, going all the way to the Final Four. That's what you dream of. You dream of playing in March and having an opportunity to actually be here is why not make the best of it?

MOHAMED BAMBA: Well, that's all very nice, but I think you've got to take it one game at a time and not overlook any opponents. I didn't even -- normally, I make a bracket. I didn't make a bracket this year just because I didn't want to overlook anybody and I want to focus in on our task at hand. But it will be a great feeling, one of the best feelings in the world, I'm sure.

Q. Matt, they have some big guards, but overall up front, you guys are a lot bigger than them with Mo and Dylan and Jericho. How important will it be to establish the big guys early and often to try to take advantage of that size advantage?
MATT COLEMAN: As a point guard, I always want to find ways to get my big fellas involved here. So I'm going to do everything I can to always make sure their presence is felt offensively and defensively. If it's giving them the ball, making them run the floor, just getting them involved.

I've seen that we have very, very, very good bigs, and why not use them?

Q. Mo, are you ready to play 35 minutes? How's the toe?
MOHAMED BAMBA: I'm ready to play 40. I'm doing well. My wind is back from being out three or four games. I'm doing well, getting back into the flow of things. Real excited. Real excited.

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

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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