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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: CHARLOTTEMarch 16, 2018Jairus LylesK.J. MauraRyan OdomJoe SherburneCharlotte, North Carolina UMBC - 74 Virginia - 54 RYAN ODOM: Obviously historic game, you know, for UMBC. Unbelievable. So proud of these kids. I take so much joy in watching them smile and not just at the end there but throughout the game. You know, I think it's pretty easy to tell, everybody in the arena, these guys have passion, these guys love to play this game. This game means a lot to them and, you know, just a special, special effort. You know, particularly the game, I thought our defense, you know, in the first half really helped us out to go in 21- 21 at halftime after not really shooting it particularly well, you know. Obviously Virginia has a lot to do with that. You know, was tremendous. Gave our guys some life there. They felt like they could play, you know, with them. Then the second half, you know, we continued to get stops, and then all of a sudden we began to run much better than we did in the first half and our spacing was tremendous and we were able to get some shots off in transition that would not normally happen had we not been able to get a stop. You know, obviously, you know, these guys right here, Arkel was tremendous, Jordan was tremendous. Throughout the game, our big guys came in and did what they typically do and defending, you know, really well and rebounded. But, you know, I'm so happy for the three seniors. Obviously Joe is getting ready to be a graduate here soon, too. He's getting ready to be a senior. But the other thing I would say is Virginia, an amazing year. Coach Bennett, amazing Coach. Their staff unbelievable. You know, I love Orlando Vandross like he's my brother. And obviously you could see the pain, you know, after the game once it settled in there. You know, you feel for them. But, certainly doesn't take away the happiness that I have for these guys right here. These guys have worked extremely hard to earn a moment like this, and to have two back-to-back moments, you know, America East championship with our backs against the wall, down 9, to come back and win that game and then, you know, just to go toe to toe with the number 1 team in the country, I mean, unbelievable is all you can say. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Jairus, we were having discussion before, are your parents UA graduates? JAIRUS LYLES: Yes. Q. Lester Lyles, is that correct? JAIRUS LYLES: Lester Lyles and Carol Motley. Q. Will that be any subject of conversation in your family? JAIRUS LYLES: I think they wanted us to get the win most importantly, but it probably will be a topic of discussion for a little while. Q. Coach mentioned being tied at halftime as giving you kind of some confidence. Was there a moment for each of you where you felt like hey, this was going to be your night? THE MODERATOR: K.J. K.J. MAURA: We started getting stopped on a constant in the first half and that give us the confidence to get going on offense. The first half was low scoring game, but we knew it was getting the shots we wanted. We wasn't making it the first half, but the second half we shot the ball with more confidence and that gave us a win. THE MODERATOR: Joe. JOE SHERBURNE: I think at halftime when we were tied at 21 and we hadn't shot particularly well, we made some silly turnovers, then we felt there's no way we're not going to win this game. All we have to do is start hitting shots. JAIRUS LYLES: I think we had the confidence coming into the game. I don't think there was any point in the game that we thought we couldn't play with them. We knew we could play with them before the game. Tying up with them at halftime definitely gave us more confidence. And like Joe said, like K.J. said, we didn't have a lot of shots, we had a lot of turnovers, me myself included. We definitely went into the second half with a lot of confidence. Q. I saw you checking your phone on the way in. Are you already starting to get texts from friends about this? Second part of the question is, can you put in perspective the magnitude of this upset, number 16 seeds have been 0-135 in the NCAA Tournament. JAIRUS LYLES: Of course we just made history tonight. It's always exciting to make history. It's a very exciting moment for us in UMBC especially. Q. It seemed like at some point in the second half you couldn't miss. You had that running one-handed 3-pointer. When did you realize that this was a night you just sort of had to take over? JAIRUS LYLES: They did a really good job of me in the first half, but I had to be patient and slow down, read the plays better. And I did that in the second half and my shot was falling. So, credit to my teammates for finding me. Q. I know that you came back to UMBC with a goal to win an America East title. Could you ever envision yourself in the position you are right now when you came back? JAIRUS LYLES: Definitely moments you dream of. We didn't know what seed we would be when we won America East championships. Once we saw that 16 seed we knew we had a chance to make history. It's a very surreal moment. Q. Jairus, you and Jourdan were there in the final seconds drilling out the clock. Just what was that like as you looked around and saw all of this finishing? JAIRUS LYLES: I just wanted to give credit to our fans. They traveled a long way to come here and support us. They were in the game the whole time. It really helped us throughout the game. Credit to them. We were just having a moment saying we did it. We knew we could do it. It's a special moment we shared right there. Q. This question is for K.J. Just for a point of clarification, was that your family holding the large head of you and the Puerto Rican flag as well? K.J. MAURA: Yes, that's my family. They've been watching the last couple games, especially the championship game of the America East. Q. So my question for you on that is, I guess how much significance does the Puerto Rican flag or heritage and the family being here for this tournament run mean to you, not just in this win but in all you've accomplished in your career so far? K.J. MAURA: Yeah, I carry Puerto Rico in my heart. It's a very special moment for them right now, making history as a team, but I'm also making history for my country. I play for them, especially after what happened with the hurricane and all that stuff. We've been hurting lately. This moment give them a little bit of life to my country, and I'm very proud and happy for that. Q. Any of the players, to beat the number 1 team overall seed, I know you said it hasn't totally sunk in yet. Does that change or alter maybe your outlook of what you can get done in this tournament? THE MODERATOR: Joe. JOE SHERBURNE: I don't think so. We go into every game thinking we have a chance to win. Kansas State won, right? They're a really good team too. We have another big challenge ahead of us on Sunday. JAIRUS LYLES: Yeah, like he said, a big challenge on Sunday. Kansas State, very good team. But beating the number 1 team definitely gives us confidence going into that game. We've got to stay level-headed and focus us, execute the coach's plan read the scouting report, go from there. Q. This question is for Joe. You had the first 6 points in the second half to give the team the lead. What was going through your mind and the team's mind when you knocked down those shots? JOE SHERBURNE: In the first half I passed up a couple 3s and that really angered my teammates. So in the second half, I made sure I got some off. And there was one I missed and Arkel got the rebound, passed it right back to me. I thought about doing an extra pass over to K.J., but I knew everybody was going to yell at me if I didn't shoot that one, too. I just let it go. Q. This is for all three of you guys. Could you sense at any point in the game like was there a shift where could you feel like Virginia knew what was going to happen? Did you ever feel like you sort of took the spirit away from them? K.J. MAURA: I think the first media time out we took 7-point lead. I think at that moment we started believing more in ourselves and gave us confidence to keep getting the shot selection we needed and put them in. THE MODERATOR: Joe. JOE SHERBURNE: I think we were up 6 right away early in the second half and -- 7 right away in the second half, and we were getting real excited on the bench but there was still like 16 minutes left in the second half. I personally was trying to stay really level-headed and you know that they can come right back right away real quick because they're the number 1 team in the country for a reason. Q. All three of you guys, you guys realize you've just inked your names in college basketball history forever, right? JAIRUS LYLES: Yeah, definitely. We were talking about it before the game, just trying to go out here and make history, doing it for our program, our teammates, our coaching staff. We just wanted to make history today. JOE SHERBURNE: I think we kind of all wanted to be in the One Shiny Moment video. We were all in the locker room singing the first line because that's all we know, but I think we're going to have to learn the rest of the song, too. K.J. MAURA: I haven't seen it actually yet. It's still an undescribable feeling. Maybe it will sink it when I get back to the locker room. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, guys. Congratulations. You can head out to the locker room. Questions for Coach Odom. Q. Yesterday the players described going up against K.J. in practice as very annoying. Clearly his defensive style is good enough to make him Defensive Player of the Year in the Conference. So what you saw from K.J. today, was that same old K.J. or do you think he just went up another level during this game? RYAN ODOM: To me it was pretty much same old K.J. He's a pest. That's what we encourage him to do each and every night. Obviously he's giving up a ton of size, ton of weight, but his heart is as big as there is in this country and he's not afraid of anything and -- or anyone and he just attacks. We felt like from a pressure standpoint, that was the key to the game for us going in. We had to try to wear them down and pressure their guards. And they're really good at getting under the basket and coming off of screens, and their big guys are very good as timing when to screen. And that can wear you down, and we felt like we had to wear them down more in the full court, you know, before they got to half court, and K.J. is a big reason why we were able to do that. Q. Can you put this win in perspective given your family's history with Virginia, the way you're feeling right now? RYAN ODOM: Obviously Virginia is a special place. I mean, it's a special place. It was a special time for the Odom family when we were there. You know, so many high level people, so many high character people, so many successful people, and we were just fortunate to be a part of it. And, you know, for us to be able to beat a Virginia basketball team that's had an amazing season. I know that they just lost one of their best players, so that is a factor as well. You know, they probably will not say that because that's who they are, but Hunter is a big, big player for them and -- but, you know, take nothing away from our guys. Our guys just battled throughout. Q. You've expressed kind of your respect for Coach Bennett. I'm curious if you'd share, what did he say to you after the game? RYAN ODOM: Yeah, he just said "Congratulations." He said, "You guys did an unbelievable job." That was pretty much it. Q. Kind of the mirror image of that earlier question, but given your many connections to Charlotte, was it special to do that here? RYAN ODOM: Yeah. I mean certainly, you know, my family and I, we had an unbelievable experience here in Charlotte because so many friends and family here, not just at the university obviously at UNC Charlotte, but just in general. My brother still lives here. My parents live in Winston-Salem. My two best high school friends live here. You know, so absolutely it's special to win here for sure. Q. Coach, against the best defensive team in the country, talk to us about how your basketball team was able to shoot 19 for 28 from the floor, almost 68 percent and score 53 points against the best defensive team in America. RYAN ODOM: I think it starts with our defense. We were able to get stops, and when we're able to get stops, our guys are able to run and push the ball. And K.J. and Jairus are very, very good in transition, and we're hard to match up with, you know, when the guys -- they're sprinting it up the court. He's a little wizard with the ball and finding guys and, you know, our guys are in sync, you know, right now. They know where each other are going to be on the court. And we knew going into the game, you know, a big key was going to be the 3-point line. For us, we had to dominate that stat right there in order to even have a chance and, you know, certainly that proved to be true. Our defense, while the shots were great, our defense was magnificent. Q. Coach, you've had some stints at UNC Charlotte with Nolan Ryan. Can you talk about your coaching journey and your stints. RYAN ODOM: It's a blessing, you know. My time at Charlotte was tremendous. We had great family-type atmosphere that was created there. Judy is right here and Ken, just great people. And, you know, it started with them. And Allen obviously got sick in the middle of that year, and that was our main concern was his health. And that certainly helped me -- you know, the confidence that Allen had in me, the confidence that Judy had in me, to finish the year there was tremendous and it gave me on-the-job training. You know, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Neil Mackey (phonetic) who passed away this year. He took a shot on me at Lenoir Rhyne. And the kids that I coached there, I've talked about it ad nauseam to my guys at UMBC. I had some of them in the stands tonight from LR, quite a few people came to support. And, you know, that season was magical. It really was. The amount of passion that those kids had, you know, for the game was unbelievable. Then to get the opportunity at UMBC, Tim Hall who is here, you know, gave me an opportunity there or here. And, you know, these kids have been equally unbelievable and, you know, from day one. They've just bought in and, you know, they believe in themselves. We've taken our lumps, but at the same time, we've just persevered and we have a very resilient group. Q. Coach, I wanted to know when Jairus Lyles in the first half had 5 points and then in the second half scored over 20 plus, when he gets on a roll like that, that he did in the second half, do you just let him play it or do you call any plays? RYAN ODOM: I always let him play. I never try to hold him back at all. With Jairus it's all about just reading the plays. He's got an amazing nose to score the ball. He's unbelievable. But his teammates have so much confidence in him, and when he gets going like that, it breeds confidence into the other guys and I think you saw that tonight. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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