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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: DALLASMarch 16, 2018Mike WhiteKevarrius HayesChris ChiozzaJalen HudsonDallas, Texas Q. Chris and Kevarrius, your memories of Brandone Francis, do you have a -- just going up against him, what did you think of him as a teammate, and how ironic is it for him to be on the other bench when you guys are going to play to go to the Sweet 16? KEVARRIUS HAYES: I didn't really know him that long. When I first got here, he seemed like very energetic. He was always excited. Whether he was on the court or not, he seemed like a very good team player. I'm excited to see how well we do matching up against him. CHRIS CHIOZZA: Yeah, like he said, he always had a lot of energy. He's one of those guys that always had something different to him. He was always amped up. You could tell, he loved the game, and it meant a lot to him, and he was always excited to be out there on the court, and he wanted to do whatever he could as a teammate to help us and better himself, as well. Q. Chris, not sure how much you've gotten to see of Texas Tech or how much you saw of the game last night, but how are you excited for the opportunity to go against Keenan Evans? CHRIS CHIOZZA: I mean, he's another great point guard and a great player, so any time you get to go up against a great player, it helps you elevate your game. But you know, I'm not going to make too much out of that, play like any other game, just go out there, run the team, do what coaches ask me to do, and just make sure that everybody is focused and doing what they've got to do. Q. Chris, you being a senior, the point guard, and it sort of being, quote-unquote, your team, how much like responsibility and maybe angst have you had when it's been so much of a roller coaster, when the team has had periods of struggling? How much did you feel like it was kind of up to you to maybe get things back on course? CHRIS CHIOZZA: With this team, we don't have just one person that's the guy, you would say. We try to collectively come together as a team and lead each other. But being the older guy, when we do have those times, I do feel like I have a little bit more responsibility, you know, to try to figure out what's going on and keep guys focused and get our focus back when we lose it. But like I said, it's on everybody. We try to hold each other accountable. It's not just one person. Q. Kevarrius or Chris, obviously you're in Texas, there are going to be a lot of Red Raider fans here. They kind of filled up the arena last night. Just the challenge of going through a road environment, and how much can you draw from maybe some of your experiences in the SEC beating Kentucky at Rupp Arena in terms of dealing with that? KEVARRIUS HAYES: I feel like we've played better in our away games. We come together knowing it's all of us on the court, the coaches, and everybody else on the staff. So it's going to feel like pretty comfortable playing against a crowd that has their fans backing them. It's going to be a good game for us. I feel like it's going to be. Q. Jalen, kind of a similar question to what I asked Chris, which he didn't want to answer that much about, it being about him, how much have you seen him be kind of the leader of the team? He kind of deflected that, but is he kind of the guy that keeps everybody together and your chance to play with him this year, what's that been like for you, and if you answer nicely, he'll probably give you a lot of passes tomorrow? JALEN HUDSON: Yeah, definitely. He's definitely been one of our leaders. Like he mentioned, it's been a lot of us leading. I feel like he does a lot of leading by example, bringing his own energy, playing defense, picking up full court, making extra pass, things like that, know what I mean? So yeah, he's definitely been very helpful for us, a big part of our success. Q. Back to the question about the crowd. A lot of Red Raider fans there yesterday. Did you get to see the crowd before you guys got in there before your game at all, and what are your thoughts on this basically being a home game for them because they've got six guys on their team from Dallas? JALEN HUDSON: I didn't really get a chance to see the crowd. I could definitely hear it. It seems like they'll have a lot of people there. The fans really can't do anything for them on the court. We'll have to bring our own energy. I still feel really good about it. We played some really good, tough teams at their place and were able to come out with a W. So I feel really good about it. Like I said before, I don't think their fans can do anything to help them on the floor, so I think we'll be fine. Q. Chris, Texas Tech sort of all season has been slowing the other team down, getting them fatigued and crashing at the end and finishing the game off. How do you guys not let them set the tempo and play your transition offense that you like to play? What's your strategy in setting the place early four your team? CHRIS CHIOZZA: We've played teams like that before that want to slow us down. We're just going to start on the defensive end and get our offense going and get some stops and get out in transition. That's the main thing, just we're not really worried about the offense too much, just we're focused on the defensive end, and that's where it's going to get us baskets on the other end. Q. Any one of you can answer this if you want. The SEC is off to a pretty good start in the tournament. You did very well yesterday. You've got you and Tennessee both here. I wonder if you could give your thoughts about the league, maybe its national reputation, how much you think it improved this season, any other thoughts that you have? Let's start with Jalen. JALEN HUDSON: Yeah, the SEC is really tough. I don't really think they get a lot of credit. It's a very physical league, and the way they've been calling the games have been very physical, and I don't think a lot of teams in their conference have even been used to it. That's one thing I noticed coming from the ACC. It was like a completely different game, and I think the SEC teams were more adjusted to it. CHRIS CHIOZZA: Yeah, like he said, the SEC is a very tough league. It's shown that the last couple years. Every year has gotten better, and they put more and more teams in the tournament and more and more teams are going deeper and made longer runs than they've done in the past. It just goes to show you how good that conference is from top to bottom. A lot of it has to do with the physicality and the athleticism and a lot of that goes with the coaches that are in the league. They don't get a lot of credit, as much credit as they should, as good a job as they do with the teams that they have. Q. Do you take a little pride in that, with what's happening right now? CHRIS CHIOZZA: Yeah, I mean, a little bit. Just a little bit. MIKE WHITE: Anxious to get after it a little bit, and first and foremost, get a good long stretch, have our guys feeling a little bit better about their bodies. Competitive game last night, of course. Anxious to move on. It's an honor to be here. It's an unbelievable tournament. It's a great experience for our guys. Really pleased with the way that we played last night for about 36 minutes, and not necessarily the way that we finished, but beat a good team, and we've got a huge test in front of us against a Texas Tech team that's had a great, great year. Q. Mike, in addition to dealing with all their talent and their guards, they're going to have a sea of red in here, probably 14,000, 15,000. You've dealt with road environments before in the SEC, but kind of the challenge of that and having to deal with the crowd, and how do you think you can respond to that and draw from what you went through in the SEC? MIKE WHITE: Well, definitely there's no advantage to it for us, obviously. But we've just got to deal with it, and we've done it before. I don't think any team in the country is more battle-tested than we are over the last two years, considering what we had to go through last year with the renovations to Exactech Arena. We've played a ton of games away from home. We've played a ton of neutral site games, of course, and in this one I thought Chris Chiozza made a good point last night, this will be comparable to the Gonzaga game, which we didn't get any computer favorability for, unfortunately, but that was a road game, and tomorrow will be a road game, as well. It will be a great environment. It will be a great environment. But I'm more concerned with defending them and finding a way to score against the third-ranked defense in the country. Q. It's not like a Florida and Texas Tech have any recent history. The last time they played, Bill Koss was actually a freshman -- MIKE WHITE: Wow, a couple years ago. Q. What was your immediate impression of Texas Tech's backcourt from the film you saw? MIKE WHITE: It's funny, I hadn't had a chance to see them play. You follow scores, and of course you know Coach Beard has a role in it. Of course, they have had a great year. I just hadn't seen them live a bunch during the season. If I'm not watching an SEC game, I'm probably tuned in to the Blue Devils and a couple other teams. More than anything, Keenan Evans is terrific. Their freshmen, where do they come from? My goodness, the years that they've had, their freshman class is big-time. They've got a good mix of those guys, along with Keenan and some older guys, some good seniors. Athletically, they've got good pieces of some big, physical guys, some good guards, some length, athleticism. I think their team speed is as good as we've played all year, which helps them in transition offense and defense. The way they changed ends of the floor is top-notch. And then overall, as I mentioned, figuring out a way to score against these guys could be our biggest test, third ranked in Kenpom.com. They don't have any deficiencies defensively. They're good offensively. They're going to be hard to guard. But man, do they lock you up. Chris has got these guys really defending and playing really, really hard. Q. How have you seen Chris evolve since obviously he was there when you got there? This year with the team sort of being up and down, do you think he's felt more responsibility when things were struggling? He mentioned that he thinks there's a lot of leaders on this team, but is he really kind of the key guy, and do you think he's felt the burden maybe of trying to get things right when things were not going right? MIKE WHITE: I think to a certain extent. Chris is a quiet leader. He's a leader by example, and we have a few of those guys. Our most demonstrative guy, our biggest communicator, is Kevarrius Hayes. We just have a bunch of really introverted, quiet guys. Kev and Jay have heard it all year, and they know it. It's a unique group in that regard. We've got really, really good guys just -- we've lacked that overall edge. And Chris has been challenged by myself and our staff all year, and he's been challenged by his teammates, as well. He's become a little bit more vocal. He's trying to get out of his comfort zone a little bit. He's just not a big extroverted guy. That said, though, when he says something, our guys lock in, and they continue to challenge him to step up and be more and more vocal because they want it and they've expressed that to him in team meetings. What he says goes a long way, especially with our younger guys. Q. As far as this team, this was kind of a team in transition with the lineup, I guess, some new guys kind of getting mixed in. How much was Chris kind of involved with trying to make everything fit together? MIKE WHITE: He's been great in that regard. I mean, it's such a luxury to have a point guard, like last night, he gets 11 assists and zero turnovers. He's our best defender. He's on the all-SEC defensive team. He's held it all together. And I would say if he is 1, 1A would be Egor Koulechov. Those guys have been constants for us, and Chris has helped it all come together to a certain extent. And we were -- we added a couple pieces, of course, in Egor and Jalen and some freshmen, and then we were without a few pieces that we thought we'd have. And to be able to count on Chris night in and night out has been given us a chance on most occasions, of course. I know the narrative with us is that we've been up and down, and I've been open and honest about that all year. We're not hiding from that. We've been -- we've looked like a top ten team at times, and we've looked like an NIT team at times. But Chris also has -- the year he's had has allowed this team to -- despite the inconsistencies, to do a lot of really good things, too. I beat these guys up all year, but at the end of the day, Chris and his teammates led the country in top 25 wins with six. I think we finished sixth in the quad one runs. And here we are in the second round of the NCAA Tournament again. I'm really proud of Chris. I'm so happy he's my point guard. He's had a great career, and I'm most excited that his legacy will forever be that he had a good career, and he had a really good senior year in addition to the shot. It wasn't just about the one shot. Q. The SEC started 5-0 in the NCAA Tournament this year. There's been a lot of talk about how the conference has improved, but what does it mean to prove it in the tournament, too? MIKE WHITE: Yeah, I just think it -- I just think it proves it a little bit more. Hopefully it sinks in nationally what this league is capable of, how this league has grown from top to bottom. And there's teams that aren't in this tournament that are really good. It's a talented league. It's a deep league. A bunch of really good players, a bunch of really proud fan bases, and I think it'll only continue to grow. I'm anxious to see how we finish with this tournament. I think that the league night in and night out in this tournament is going to continue to show people how good we are. Q. You discussed their defense; what in particular stands out about Texas Tech's defense that makes them hard to score on? MIKE WHITE: Team speed, length, athleticism, and we've played a lot of teams this year that you watch on film, and you say, guys, in talking to your team, this guy is really athletic. They've got like five of those guys, and they've got veteran guards. They play really hard. Again, their team speed -- and their interchangeability, they've got versatile defenders that they move really well, and so they do more switching in their man-to-man probably than any team we've seen this year, and they're able to not only get away with it, but they're able to flourish in it, making teams stagnant at times, taking teams out of their actions at times, because they've got front court guys that can lock up guards, and they've got guards that can defend in the post. And they wreak some havoc, too, with getting in passing lanes and having active hands and turning it over, and that's where they're incredibly dangerous is those pick sixes, getting out in transition offense off of turnovers. Q. Texas Tech try and slow you down, wear you out and kill you at the end. How do you keep it from getting into one of those half-court games? MIKE WHITE: Yeah, and transition offense. We'd like to get quick, open shots or late open shots. We want open shots, but we want them to -- we don't want them to be out on transition offense, either. That transition game, we'd like to win. I don't know that we can plan on definitely winning it because of the team speed factor. That's where they're really, really good. But our floor balance has got to be great. We've got to set our half-court defense to have a chance, and they grind you out offensively, too, àla Arkansas and Tennessee and South Carolina, where they're in constant movement, and some of their defensive numbers probably are helped by the fact that they wear you out a little bit with the ball in their hands. They've got five guys cutting, and they can all pass, dribble, shoot, and they're all screening, so they're going to test our discipline defensively, as well. And if we can get stops, hopefully we can get out in transition. And if we've got something early, we'd like to take it, but again, we've been there before. Loyola Chicago did it to us to start, and it seemed like a bunch of people figured that out. We don't want to play defense for 80 percent of the game. We'd like early quick ones, but we've got to be choosey. We've got to make good decisions in transition offense, as well. Q. Keith yesterday nine, eight rebounds, three blocks. He was obviously the premier scorer last year, but how has he developed into being a tougher player that you kind of need inside? MIKE WHITE: Yeah, I agree with you. I think he's gotten a little tougher. He's still really young with understanding how big and strong he is. I'm hopeful that a couple more off-seasons you'll see a finished product where he can be more of a balance inside out guy, or outside in or however you want to term it. But 90 percent of his game right now is facing up. But he's got such a gifted body in strength, and I liked him attacking the rim a little bit last night, of course. It was a little bit different matchup, a little bit less length in there, and he was able to have a little bit of success. So he's still growing in that regard. Q. We talked about how this is kind of a quiet group of guys, but you have Kevarrius Hayes who's very outgoing. How valuable is that to the locker room culture? What's he bring to the team in that element? MIKE WHITE: You know, when I talk about us being so quiet, I'm more so talking about in-between the lines. Kevarrius might be our most extroverted guy in the locker room and at the apartment or what have you, social settings, team dinners. We have four or five guys other than him that'll cut it up a little bit, too. Our guys got strong personalities, and they're fun to be around. He, though, more so than anybody else has become the guy that challenges others. When his team loses a drill in practice, we try to make everything competitive, of course, every day in practice. And he's the one guy that has learned to hate losing, and he makes it known, and he'll call a guy out, hey, that's not acceptable. Even when he maybe has messed a play up or he hasn't played to his ability, he's our most competitive guy on a daily basis, and that I think overall has made us a little bit more competitive. Again, we're not the most competitive team. We're not the toughest team. But this team has really grown in those regards. I've talked a lot about that, how much better we are defensively today than we were four months ago and on the glass and how much grittier we are, and without Kevarrius bringing that presence, I don't think we grow nearly as much in that area. Q. Staying with Kevarrius, in the half-court defensive set, they like to penetrate, 36 points in the paint last night, what kind of challenge does that present for Kevarrius? MIKE WHITE: A lot, a lot, Kevarrius, Dontay Bassett and Gorjok Gak, Keith Stone and Egor Koulechov, there's going to be a lot of pressure on those guys to defend without fouling. Texas Tech lives at the foul line, lives at the rim, not only with penetration and with post touches, but they're one of the best cutting teams that we've played this year. Good passing team, to be able to facilitate to those cuts, I think the speed and quickness allow them to be a good cutting team, as well. So our anchors on the interior have got to be good. Positionally we've got to be really sound, and then we've got to play physical, but legal at the same time. I know our guards got to help them by trying to do the best they can, by not getting face cut, back cut, and then of course containing penetration. Q. I know you were telling Deaundrae not to dunk at the end of the game last night, but what's the value of the experience of the freshmen getting in the games at this stage? MIKE WHITE: Yeah, I talked to Drae today, and he had no idea. He hadn't been told that before. He hadn't been in that situation. He told me that he had seen a clip that somebody maybe had Tweeted where I was going crazy when he was about to dunk it, but I say, hey, I'm not mad at you, you're a freshman, you'll figure that out, but in terms of sportsmanship, we don't need that one. But he said the dunk felt good. Happy that he got his name on the scoreboard. But it's a great experience. It's great experience. I thought he provided some decent minutes. I thought Mike Okauru was really good, really good. He made some timely baskets for us, and I thought he was really good defensively, as well. We're not playing as many freshmen as Texas Tech, but I think any of these type experiences, especially NCAA Tournament experiences, for your younger guys can only help continue to grow your culture as a program. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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