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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: WICHITAMarch 16, 2018Mitch LightfootSviatoslav MykhailiukWichita, Kansas Q. When you look at Seton Hall on film, what players jump out as you as priorities for you guys to defend? MITCH LIGHTFOOT: For the big guys I think Delgado and the other front men. They're very active and they're good on the block, so we gotta figure out a game plan for them. SVIATOSLAV MYKHAILIUK: Like Mitch said, Delgado and all their guards are really good players. I think all of them average from 14 to 18 points a game and everybody can shoot, and I would say it's going to be hard to guard them. Q. Svi, this team is very physical. These kind of teams have caused problems from time to time throughout the year. Can you just talk about being ready to take on a physical team that gets on the offensive glass? MITCH LIGHTFOOT: I think it just starts on defense. Gotta lock in on defense, understand the scouting report. The coaches give us a great plan on how to defend them and how to guard them. Just gotta come out there, be confident. It's kind of like a West Virginia team where they're really physical. They get after you on defense. Gotta be under control and know what to do and when to do it. SVIATOSLAV MYKHAILIUK: Yeah, definitely gotta be ready on the defensive end, especially on the boards. So we gotta just come prepared for the game, be tough and just show what we can do. Q. For both of you guys, Seton Hall talked about how they've seen a lot of your guys on TV. Some of them even said they sort of had a scouting report on you guys before they got here. I'm just curious how much you knew about Seton Hall before you got here, and if you had seen them on television? MITCH LIGHTFOOT: Yeah. I've seen them before. They played Tech. I've seen that game and they played Villanova. They played both those games very well, beat Tech, and we're watching a lot of film with the coaches right now and becoming even more familiar with them. So that's a priority of ours. SVIATOSLAV MYKHAILIUK: Yeah, like Mitch said, they beat Tech early in the year and I think they lost to Villanova in overtime. So we've been watching the games, and especially the game they played yesterday. So they're a really good team. And during the year we watched some games on TV. It's not like we don't really know who they are. Like we know, but -- Q. Mitch, yesterday in the second half you really seemed to go after it on the glass. Can you just talk a little bit about what was going through your mind and maybe what led to that? MITCH LIGHTFOOT: I think we just needed that presence the first half. I didn't do it as well as I wanted to. So I got out there, realized every ball that comes off the rim is an opportunity for me to get it. So tried to get as many as I could and help us win. Q. Mitch, on the same thing, can we pull back just a little bit and look at the larger picture. And would you tell us about what you've faced this season, perhaps unexpected responsibilities at times with roster situations and late with an injury? What have you dealt with and what's your self-assessment about how you've done it? MITCH LIGHTFOOT: I think it's been a blessing in disguise for me, opportunity for me to come into a bigger role and play a bigger part of this team. Helping out replace Dok, obviously being the only one two bigs there for a little bit until we got Silvio. So it was a big opportunity and I think I've done a pretty good job of embracing it. Q. Mitch, without the obvious physical presence of Dok in for all but three minutes yesterday, you've played four games now without him, how much is KU a different team without him? MITCH LIGHTFOOT: Obviously he's a huge part of our team. It's a different look when he's not out there. He's a low post presence. He's a beast. So having him in there more is obviously a priority of ours. I know he's working super hard to get back as fast as he can. But when he's not out there, we try to set more ball screens and get our guards going downhill, and me and Silvio try to clean up the glass and get easy points here and there. Q. Svi, can I ask to follow up on the question that I asked Mitch about his assessment, what's his teammates' assessment? Would you guys be in this position if he hadn't stepped up like he did when you guys needed him to? SVIATOSLAV MYKHAILIUK: He did great especially in the Big 12 tournament. Him and Villanova came up really big and helped us win games. Like you say, it's different without Dok. But we just have to adjust and right now I think we're playing pretty good. Like all the guards are aggressive and I think it's pretty hard to guard if all the guards are aggressive and we just move the ball pretty fast, get open shots. Q. What do you think about Seton Hall makes them dangerous and what makes them a threat to you guys tomorrow? SVIATOSLAV MYKHAILIUK: I would say they're shooting the ball pretty good. And like I say all, the starting five average from like 13 to 18 points. So definitely everybody can score. And everybody can shoot, all the guards. So I would say they're kind of like us, like all the guards can shoot, all the guards are aggressive and it's going to be a pretty fun matchup for us. MITCH LIGHTFOOT: Like Svi said, they have great guard play and they also have great big guys. So it's a combination. We gotta really lock in and understand the scouting report because they're a great team. Q. Svi, you and Devonte' have been pretty consistent hitting the three-point shot, but recently Lagerald and Malik have really come along. Can you just talk about potentially how good that can make you and what it's like when you have those other guys joining in with you and Devonte' knocking them down? SVIATOSLAV MYKHAILIUK: I would say just making the game easier, because if everybody can shoot on the floor, we just need to beat our own man and try to find the open man, because when you beat your man, you pass it to an open guy and they gotta help. So we just gotta move the ball to the open man. If everybody shoot like everybody's shooting right now, it's going to be really hard to guard, because you gotta help. And he's going to be an open shot no matter what. Q. With their offensive rebounding, how much of a focus is that for you guys, and do they remind you of any other team you've faced in that regard? SVIATOSLAV MYKHAILIUK: I think Mitch was saying earlier that they remind us of West Virginia and they really rebound the ball really good. They have a big guy, I think he averages like 13 rebounds. So we just gotta show how tough we are and box out every time. And like the guards gotta help Mitch and Silvio and just to box out because I don't think everybody's on the glass like the point guards, so they just gotta come inside and just help him to rebound. MITCH LIGHTFOOT: Yeah, West Virginia. They do a great job getting to the glass, and that's a focus of ours. Everyone's gotta box out. We just gotta find a guy to box out. And I think if we do that, we can do pretty good on the boards. Q. Mitch, you and Dok and Silvio seem to really cheer for one another, which isn't that uncommon, but you seem to have a genuine, you know, supporting cast with each other. Can you just talk about that? MITCH LIGHTFOOT: I think with us three it's not who does good, but if we do good as big guys, I think we each want to see each other do well. When you see Silvio do so good against West Virginia in the tournament game, me and Dok sitting there cheering him on, and then I played pretty good last night, and they were both sitting there cheering me on. And I think we all really care about each other and want to see each other do well. So if the big guys are doing good, the Jayhawks are winning and we're all happy. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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