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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: CHARLOTTEMarch 15, 2018Ryan OdomJourdan GrantK.J. MauraJoe SherburneJairus LylesCharlotte, North Carolina THE MODERATOR: We welcome the student-athletes from UMBC. Senior Jourdan Grant, senior Jairus Lyles, senior K.J. Maura, and junior Joe Sherburne. Q. Jairus, I believe you started your career at VCU. Could you talk about your time there and what happened, the moves you made to eventually get to UMBC? JAIRUS LYLES: I played under a great coaching staff, Shaka Smart. I learned a lot from them. Lot of pros on that team that are currently in e NBA right now, one that plays on this team, Charlotte Hornets, Treveon Graham. I learned a lot. A great experience for me. It didn't work out unfortunately and that led me to Robert Morris where I stayed for a semester then I transferred to UMBC. Q. Jairus, you know, Virginia has done a really good job this season of just keying in on a team's best scorers, especially when the offense is keyed around one player. When you've watched tape this season -- or of their games this season, how do you feel like they've kind of defended teams' best scorers and how do you kind of plan to maybe get around that? JAIRUS LYLES: Got a great overall defense, number one defense if the country for a reason. I fully expect them to try to take me out of the game. I got to get my teammates involved and do a great job of moving the ball and making them chase us. Q. Jairus, you were there under the previous coach and then when Coach Odom in at UMBC, how quickly did you realize that things may change under his regime? JAIRUS LYLES: Immediately. He came in a with different mindset than our last coaches had. We immediately clicked as a team. What he wanted us to do we bought in immediately. So last year we learned a lot, lot of growing pains, but we eventually came together. So I think this year kind of like a testament to what him and his staff brought. Q. Jairus, were you surprised as you brought the ball up court for the last possession against Vermont that Coach Odom call timeout and when he didn't, did that give you confidence to know that he believed in you guys to execute it properly? JAIRUS LYLES: I wasn't surprised. I know how he trusts us as a team. We trust him as a coach. He knew that we would make the right play ultimately and that's what happened. We weren't really surprised. But yeah, just shows the trust we have in each other as the team and coaching staff. Q. For any of the players, I'm curious, you guys made a tremendous strides defensively this season improving. What is it that has made your defense better this season? THE MODERATOR: Joe. JOE SHERBURNE: I think right in the summer before this season that was our first focus. Last summer, their first time here, our coaches, the first thing we did all summer was work on our offensive fast break and plays. But this summer all we did was focus mainly on defense with some drills that just is basic as sliding and keeping your hands in the right position. Right from the bat this year they really set that tone. K.J. MAURA: Their point of emphasis was to play great defense and pressure the ball so we can get out and run and make our transition offense better. He talked to me a lot this summer about pressuring the ball full court no matter how quick is the guard so I can make him uncomfortable. JOURDAN GRANT: One of the biggest emphasis was just like Joe said, sliding and guarding without our hands, not putting our hands on guys and guarding them with the chest and keeping ourselves in front of the ball, keeping us in between the ball and the basket. Q. This can go to any player on the panel up there, I don't know if y'all are familiar, but there is a statistic out there that measures luck of a particular basketball. Basically it just kind of measures like how lucky you are to win a close game based on your winning percentage. I was just wondering if I could first off get your initial thoughts on there being a number that calls you guys like the luckiest team in the country or also talk about how your tournament journey has been, I guess, a little bit more than just about luck. THE MODERATOR: Jairus. JAIRUS LYLES: We don't think anything we've done this year has been luck. We put in the work since the coaching staff got here last year. The testament to our hard work. We had a great season last year coming from 7 wins two years ago, going to 21 and 24, 67, 89 working for our 25th win. We have a tough task on Friday and we have to go out and compete. THE MODERATOR: Jourdan, want to take a crack at that? JOURDAN GRANT: We've worked for everything we've earned. It's a tough task on Friday and ready to attack it. Q. Jairus, it's been made about how you're a grad transfer this year and had an opportunity to go play someplace else. When you hit that shot against Vermont, did you think in this moment or even in the moments after, you made the right choice if for nothing else because you sent the team to the tournament with that type of play? JAIRUS LYLES: I knew I made the right choice as soon as I made the choice. It was never really a choice with me. I knew I was going to stay all along. It just shows you that that's why I came back. I didn't came back to win the championship and we did that. I'm grateful for it. Q. I know that there's been a lot of talk about the shot and obviously it's gotten a lot of replays and everything. Have you guys sort of moved past it or something you're still thinking about and using as sort of motivation or anything else? JAIRUS LYLES: We definitely moved past it. Of course it will go down in history and we'll relive that moment forever, but we definitely moved past it because we know we got to play Virginia on Friday, not Vermont. It's Virginia. We got to prepare and focus up on that game. Q. Jairus, Coach Bennett mentioned the other day he had seen you at their camp. Was that a team camp? What do you remember about it, and did it show you much about their program? JAIRUS LYLES: I don't even remember. That was probably so long ago. It's funny because my mom and dad attended Virginia, so I'm kind of familiar with the campus but not that familiar. Q. Just want to ask you about the challenge of being a 16 seed and then ask if you watched any of Penn State with Kansas for a little bit earlier today? K.J. MAURA: We felt we could have been a higher seed an 16. We don't feel like the underdogs. We saw a little bit of the game of Penn and Kansas. They stayed in the game for a long time. We're here to compete and not afraid of the challenge. We think it's going to be a good game. JOE SHERBURNE: Coach emphasized they're just numbers, 16, 1, 15, 2. Either way it's going to be us playing a really good team, so take that for what it's worth, I guess. Q. I'm curious, because of your defensive focus this year, is there something special about playing Virginia since they lead the nation in defense? Is that a cool matchup for you guys because of that focus? K.J. MAURA: I think it's a good matchup for us. Their emphasis is getting stops. I think if we get a good game offensively we can subtract their defense a little bit. In our end we got the make sure we pressure the ball and keep them uncomfortable so they don't get good looks at the basket. JOE SHERBURNE: I don't know about any connection about your question but I think it's a cool to play them just because they're the number one seed overall. I think that's really cool. Q. Jairus, I'm curious, have you told your teammates what they might expect when they play against Virginia, specifically what they do? JAIRUS LYLES: We have actually sent them some film on how they guard a lot of ball screens and how we play. So I sent them some film. We watched some film together. Yeah, we definitely discussed that. Q. Anyone on the panel, what is it exactly, what do y'all believe it is about UMBC basketball style of play that could potentially give your team a run in the tournament? THE MODERATOR: Jordan. JOURDAN GRANT: This year Coach Odom had a big emphasize on finding a way to win games. Sometimes we don't shoot the ball well and sometimes we don't get as many stops as we need to. When it comes down to it, it's just finding a way to win. THE MODERATOR: Joe. JOE SHERBURNE: I think we're really unselfish and it doesn't matter who is scoring. Jairus scores most of the points a lot of time. So many guys on the team have led the team in scoring. We just play for each other all the time. Q. Jordan, what is it about Coach Odom? This is his third year as a head coach. He's won 20 games each place. What is it about him that makes him so successful? JOURDAN GRANT: He came in from day one and really implemented the offense that really gave us the freedom to shoot the ball at will, and he just really believes in us. We believe in him. When we step on the floor, he just says go have fun and believe in yourself. I think that's a big key to our team. THE MODERATOR: We have about four minutes left. Other questions? Front row. Q. Offensively Virginia, Kyle Guy, what do you see from their offense and their outside shooting for any of the guys? THE MODERATOR: K.J. K.J. MAURA: I think the emphasis for us is to stay attached to their man when they're coming out of pin downs and down screens. They run a lot of sets for -- to get him open especially for Guy and Jerome. We got to arrive on the catch and make sure he doesn't get a good look at the basket. JAIRUS LYLES: Like he said, they do a good job of making you work the whole shot clock. We've got to stay patient and be discipline and not try to rush it. Speed them up. Definitely make them uncomfortable, but just be patient. Q. Jordan, going off your last answer there, what does it do to you to have a coach like that that gives you the freedom to kind of be yourselves, I guess? JOURDAN GRANT: Man, with Coach Odom it just -- it really gives us the confidence to play the way we play and be ourselves out on the court is probably the best thing that he can do for us. I mean, we play a lot in transition and he trust us with the reads we make with our offense. Lot of our offense is based off of reads. He just says go out there and make the right play. We've won 24 games. We've made a lot of right reads this year. Q. Follow up on that. I guess that's why it's not a surprise when he let's Jairus dribble the ball up with the court with 20 seconds left and make a play? JOURDAN GRANT: Jairus is a big shot maker. He's been hitting those shots all summer on us in pickups. We just believed in him. He actually waved him off to -- Coach Odom was calling a play and waved off. I'll take it myself. We all believe in him. JOE SHERBURNE: I think a lot of us waved; him off. JOURDAN GRANT: All of us did wave him off. Q. As players who have had to probably go up against K.J. in practice, what is it about his style of defense that just makes him so great to the point where he can win Defense Player of the Year. JAIRUS LYLES: He's annoying. He's always in you. He makes you work for everything. Even if you can -- the height advantage we have, we can see over him. He's still up in you. It's making you uncomfortable whatever you do, wherever you go. He's always there, never not on you. That's kind of annoying when you're dribbling the ball and trying to get your shot off. THE MODERATOR: Jordan. JOURDAN GRANT: I can agree with that. Going against this guy everyday in practice has been a blessing and a curse because he's annoying, as Jairus said. But like he said, just being on his hip and ball pressure really gets to people sometimes. That's what he gets for being Defensive Player of the Year. THE MODERATOR: One final question. Anyone? Okay. Thanks, guys. Here we go with Coach Odom from UMBC. RYAN ODOM: How is everyone? Jim Miller. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. I'm curious, what was the play that you had called for Jairus that you called off? RYAN ODOM: It was a play actually for him to get the ball back eventually, but he would have to give it up to get it back. And his call was the right one. Let's just keep it. We got it in our best player's hands. And you know, kind of the rest is history. My total focus at that point was -- you got to think quick. I wasn't calling a time out. You got two seconds to decide okay, what am I going to do here? My goal was to make sure that everybody was kind of out of his way and get guys in position in position so he could do what he did. What an amazing shot for him. What an amazing moment. His moment became our moment and just really, really special. For him to come back to school as a graduate student and have the ball in his hands on the last possession, to go to the NCAA Tournament. That's what it's all about. Q. Ryan, can you talk about your early days in Charlottesville and growing up sort of with the UVA program and what that meant to you? RYAN ODOM: Just a special time, you know, in our lives. We moved there I'd say I was in third grade, something like that. Stayed there, you know until about you know, 10th grade, going into 10th grade. We left that summer when dad went back to Wake Forest. Just around so many highly successful people. And everything started with Coach Holland and how he created that family atmosphere around his program. And I just think about it, you know, and how lucky -- I didn't realize it at the time, obviously when you're going through it sometimes you don't really recognize it until you're out of it, but I'd get home from school, ride my bike across that bridge, we lived two doors down from the Hollands, and I'd go over there and watch practice. I would sit on the side with Jeff Jones who had just graduated. He was just out of college a couple years and wasn't allowed to be on the court at that time. So he and I would sit on the side and dribble the ball between our legs and watch these great players and coaches go at it. You think about Coach Holland and all of his assistants that he had that have all been successful in their own way and gone out and done amazing things. The players that have gone on, you know, to be successful in life. Just I feel very blessed to have been a part of it. Q. Seth Greenberg described you the other day as his roommate. Were you ever -- RYAN ODOM: I was. I was. That was right when we moved there. And so I guess Ralph graduated was that '82? Right, '82, '83? Okay. So that next year Final Four year obviously Coach Greenberg was on the staff. When he first came on staff, he stayed with us a little bit and so we had two little twin beds and so he was in the room with me for a bit. I guess, you know, he was forced to hire me at the end, you know, when I got into coaching at South Florida. Q. It seems like from talking to the players that if you had of called a timeout and kind of told Jairus what to run, that goes against everything you've done there for two years with just letting the players be themselves. Give you a chance to elaborate on that. RYAN ODOM: Absolutely. I knew I was not calling timeout. As soon as I looked up at the clock and we had the ball, you know, and the shot clock was off, I was not going to give them the opportunity to set up what they wanted to do defensively. You know, it played out right for us and obviously I'd be remiss if I didn't say Vermont has had two exceptional years. I mean unreal. Not covered enough nationally. To go undefeated las t year, go into the NCAA Tournament and then -- yup -- I'm sorry. Were you lifting your hand there. And then this year only lose one game and then lose to us in the finals. Just an amazing, amazing job by John Becker and his staff and players. But yeah. Q. I was wondering, as you look at the players that are on your team that are reaching the end of their collegiate career, if you could talk about what exactly they have done to embody what UMBC basketball is all about and how they've liked translated that on to the court. RYAN ODOM: First and foremost, they're high character kids. Everybody on our team is like that. They're all great students. They're there for a reason. UMBC is a tremendous academic institution and you have to be really, really good in that area to succeed there and they understand the importance of it. It's not just about basketball, it's about the whole experience while they're there. This particular senior crew, they've been there from day one when I first got there and they've been very, very coachable. The one word I would use you know, to describe our team is they're very unselfish. I don't know how we'll play tomorrow but I know that they'll pass the ball to one another, they'll look out for one another, love each other while they're out there and give their best. That's what they've done for two years for me. My comfy blanket will be gone at the end of this year. I'll have to find a new one. Q. Ryan, continuing with the throwback Thursday theme, we've been told today that you were officially a ballboy at UVA. RYAN ODOM: I was. Q. What do you remember from being on the floor and could you have forecast down the road coaching against this team you saw growing up? RYAN ODOM: Definitely couldn't have forecasted coaching against this team because when I was growing up I didn't want to coach. I actually wanted to -- wanted to get into banking world and that's kind of what was my focus. I love playing the game and I was fortunate to go on to Hampden Sydney and played for an amazing Coach with Tony Shavers, got the Carolina ties with Dean Smith. Had amazing friends there. It wasn't until I got out of college that it was time get the air was out of the ball at that point, to try to decide what I wanted to do. That's where Coach Greenberg came into play and my brother was coaching at the time, dad was kind of at the height of his tenure at Wake Forest. Seemed like the right thing to do. I wasn't ready to give it up. Going back to Charlottesville in the early days, I was on the basket. I was sitting on the basket when Ralph was shooting his last free throw and the ball bounced off, I think, and he gets the rebound and puts it back in. That was the last shot he made, I think in U Hall. So, that's where I started, I was on the basket and run out on the court when the team was on the other side and wipe it, wipe up the sweat and get off the court. Try to stay out there a little bit longer, you know, so everybody could see the little kid. And then I graduated to honestly sitting behind the opposing team's bench and so I would hand the opposing team's players water behind the bench. I saw them all come through there, I saw Dean come through, and Coach K and Jim Valvano, Bobby Cremins, Lefty Driesell. I sat right behind all of them. I would rebound with our players prior to the game, sometimes go in the other end and passing it back to MJ on occasion when they were in town. Just -- it's some amazing memories. Just very, very fortunate. Q. Your father the other day said that you're much more like your mother than you are like him. What have you gotten from him? RYAN ODOM: Well, probably that long-winded answers right there (laughter). That's the first thing. We don't speak in very are sucise (sic) statements. Patience, I would say. My players will probably tell you I have a pretty easy way, laid back, you know, style when I coach. Hopefully that gives them some calmness when they're in tough and tight situations. But, you know, what do I get from my dad? I think it's the passion, you know, for the game to do things the right way. The game is meant so much to our family and you know we just want -- each group that comes through, each player that we're fortunate enough to coach, you know, that's their moment and their time in college and so our job as coaches is to make it the best that it can possibly be and that's the way he approached his job each and everyday and that's the way I try to do it. THE MODERATOR: Five more minutes. Next question. Q. Your dad also said that in the situation you were in against Vermont he would have called two timeouts, drawn up the wrong play twice Jairus still would have made the shot. Do you feel it's come full circle because he said when he comes to Baltimore to visit he comes to your practices now and he watches. RYAN ODOM: Yeah. I was crazy watching his game. I'll be dead honest with you. I used to throw stuff watching his teams play when I was watching it on TV. When you're out of control, like it's not within your control, so much harder to watch a loved one do this and I remember last year watching, you know, Chris Collins and his father and his reactions and that just struck a cord with me because I used to do it as a kid watching dad and now he's definitely doing it watching me and mom just has to sit there and, of course, calm him down or get away from him. Q. We asked you back up on campus a couple days ago if you were going to show your players footage of the Chaminade victory? It might come out. I don't know if you plan to show that as kind of motivation at all? RYAN ODOM: It hasn't yet. That was certainly an amazing game for Chaminade. I was actually a part of that because dad was there so probably steer clear of that one. Q. You talked about how amazing that shot was and how historic it was and sort of has become this team's moment. Has there been any difficulty at all with sort of getting the team to refocus and say, okay, we do have a game tomorrow, we're playing Virginia and what are you expecting out of the game tomorrow? RYAN ODOM: Yeah. I mean I gave them two days off, know so Sunday was kind of a celebration day for us and our campus and community. Then I gave them the next day as well. We had a meeting, you know, at noon or so, that's about the time we practice. My whole focus there was just to try to get the focus off of the shot and kind of what had happened and we've got to prepare for the next opponent. It's a tremendous opponent, the best in the country, most disciplined team on both sides of the ball. We're going to have to play lights out basketball just to be in the game. Our guys understand that but, at the same time, I want them to be confident because they haven't won 24 games for a reason. I want them to go in there freed up and follow exactly what the game plan is and we're trying to win. Q. Building off of what were you talking about of the day dedicated to celebrate with the campus and facility, what does it mean to the team, the campus and community to be the representative from the State of Maryland for the national tournament? RYAN ODOM: It's huge. Certainly we'd love to have more teams in the tournament from the State of Maryland. We're obviously the last team remaining and we're excited about that. But, you know, I think most important for me is seeing these kids smile. The experience that they're having right now, you know, is unlike any. The greatest show on earth. They're getting excited about we got Cokes in the locker room. They got everything. They're not used to that. They're certainly not used to this and I want them to soak everything in and enjoy every moment because it literally is, it's hard to win -- if you're a one bid league it's hard to win that tournament. Everything has got to go right for you to be able to experience this. And these kids, you know, worked tirelessly to make this happen. We have a saying that's up in our locker room, "The work you do in the dark will reveal itself in the light." They've worked extremely hard the last two years to make this a reality. THE MODERATOR: Couple more. Q. Ryan, you mentioned that your father is a little high-strung watching games. Can you imagine him in the NIT Selection Committee room when Lyles's shot goes in and his reaction and he's screaming and high-fiving everyone in the room? RYAN ODOM: Oh, yeah, I can definitely imagine that. He was probably crying. He probably had plenty of tears there, when you're able to watch your son. I have a hard time watching my son play. Now, obviously, I know what that feels like and it's a special feeling to watch your young one do something like this. I'm sure he's taken a lot of pride, as is mom. My wife -- I would be remiss if I didn't mention her. She's the rock of everything in our family. She's amazing. The two boys. Had a great moment with my son right after the game when we won. Somehow he just found his way to me. That it was literally the first guy I saw. I had a great hug with Conner. THE MODERATOR: Anyone else? Take one more. Last question. Q. So I brought this up to your players but I don't know if you're aware that there is a Ken Pom statistic that mentions luck for a team, basically. RYAN ODOM: We're the luckiest. Q. Yeah. I was wondering if you kind of share your thoughts on there being a quantifiable fact that your team is supposedly lucky to be here at this tournament. RYAN ODOM: Yeah. I mean for sure. We follow Ken Pom, obviously, and take pride in moving Ken Pom's work when he choosing somebody else or the numbers choose somebody else. But our guys are excited about the opportunity. Absolutely we feel lucky, for sure. We're very fortunate to be here and our guys understand that and they're going to do their best. THE MODERATOR: Okay. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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