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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: CHARLOTTEMarch 17, 2018Ryan OdomJoe SherburneK.J. MauraJairus LylesCharlotte, North Carolina THE MODERATOR: We welcome the student-athletes from UMBC. We have from left to right, Joe Sherbourn, junior; Jairus Lyles, a senior; and to my mediate left, K.J. Maury. Q. Gentlemen, how was the party? What did you do last night after that victory? K.J. MAURA: We got back to the hotel and all our fans were waiting in the lobby, a great feeling. After that, coaches encouraged us to go back to the room and I couldn't sleep. I was up until like 5:00 in the morning. JAIRUS LYLES: Yeah, like K.J. said, our fans and family were waiting for us. We shared a little moment with them. Then our coaches told us to go upstairs and get some rest. We tried to go to sleep, but I don't think anybody really got to sleep until about 4:00 a.m. JOE SHERBURNE: Exact same answer (laughter). Q. With that in mind, is there any chance of a let-down? Have you achieved your goal at this point? Are you satisfied or is there a chance for a let-down? JOE SHERBURNE: Of course not. We want to win every game we're playing, and we think we have just as good a chance at winning this game as the last game and the game before that. JAIRUS LYLES: Yeah, like Joe said, we don't really want to get too high on ourselves. We made history but we -- I encourage my teammates to try to block out everything. We've got a tough team we have to play on Sunday. We're preparing for that right now. I think we'll be ready. K.J. MAURA: Yeah, we're not satisfied. We go in tomorrow with the mentality we're going to win another game. Yeah, we never satisfied. We hungry for more. Q. Jairus, this would be for you. I'm curious how much you have looked at Kansas State, what your initial thoughts are of their team? JAIRUS LYLES: I haven't really -- we haven't really watched film on them yet. Our coaching staff has. We saw them playing yesterday for a little bit, about three minutes. They're pretty big. Their guards like to attack the rim. We get back to the hotel and watch film. I'm probably go back the my room and watch more film when I'm by myself. Q. I was just going to ask one more. I got to see you guys play for the first time last night. Do you play like that all the time? JAIRUS LYLES: Yeah (laughter). Q. Two different questions. You guys just got a new arena February 3rd, 5,000 seats. It's a really big deal for you guys. What is that like? And then getting out here on the Hornets arena against the No. 1 seed, is it a totally different world? THE MODERATOR: K.J. K.J. MAURA: I think it got us a little bit prepared because it definitely is not compared to all this. But it was a great experience for us to have that new arena and feel the environment we needed to feel coming up to March. This is a whole different world to me. JAIRUS LYLES: I think playing Arizona in the beginning of the year, they got a really big arena. Playing SMU and going to Maryland. We were kind of prepared coming into this. Most of our team has been in big games like this. Wasn't really that new to us. JOE SHERBURNE: The new arena helps helped us a lot because of the of adjusting to the shooting background when we came into that arena is big background with seats, big giant wall. We come from the small field house. So it helped us get used to shooting in big open spaces. Q. Completely unrelated. Of the most of the guys that come through this room prepared for this moment, been on this stage before. This is your guys' first time on this stage. You're now America's sweethearts. This is your party. What do each of you want America to know about you? How did you get to this school? Do you guys play chess? Sport night? Tell us about you guys. JOE SHERBURNE: We're the Chesapeake Bay Retrievers, not Golden Retrievers. I saw that on Sports Center. They had that. That's the state dog of Maryland. That's what you should know (laughter). After I hit my first 3 of the second half, I did a big championship belt for Aaron Rogers because I'm his biggest fan. I want him to see it on TV. They didn't get the shot. I was just out of frame. If anybody knows him, I've been trying to tag him. Q. I know them very well. JOE SHERBURNE: You talk to her. JAIRUS LYLES: One thing, I think everybody on our team can probably have a job at being a comedian. We're a really funny team. That's all I got right now. K.J. MAURA: I think we probably the funniest team in the country. We Top 10 for sure. I always have a smile on me. You see me in the court, I'm always smiling. I think that comes from where I'm from, Puerto Rico. I play for them and my guys. I want to make everybody proud. Q. K.J., when you see guys listed and you see their heights and weights, it's usually a little fabricated, 6'2" guys suddenly become 6'4". You're listed at 5'8", 140, are you that or even smaller than that, just curious. And Coach Weber just referred to you as -- affectionately, I guess -- a little pest that he would never want to play in a playground because you're the type of guy, stealing the ball away from him. Tell me about your style of play, and if you can answer the first question as well. K.J. MAURA: I'm 5'5" on a good day, but I'm 5'7" most of the time. Yeah. I took a lot of notes on short players like Muggsey Bogues, JJ Barea, one of my heroes, of course. I had to play like that. If I want to be successful in the court, I got to be a pest. I got to bother the ball and make them uncomfortable. I think my size is an advantage because a lot of guys are taller than me and they don't expect me to be pressuring the ball at that high level. So, I think I use my size as an advantage. Q. I wonder if each of you could sort of describe the thing or things that stood out to you in terms of reaction, what it seems to mean to people, whether it's your fans or even nationally, media, social media. K.J. MAURA: I think this is the biggest win in school history. Our president went to the locker room and said it's the biggest moment in school history. I think this is a very special moment for the country and for our school, most likely. JAIRUS LYLES: Like K.J. said, very special moment for UMBC, our team, our coaching staff, the players, our families. We're just trying to soak it all in right now. JOE SHERBURNE: What got to me the most, like my friends who are telling me back home in Wisconsin they have entire bars rooting for you in BC, entire houses rooting for us and nobody believes them when they're wearing my UMBC practice jersey that they know me or that have a connection to the school. I think for now people -- I never heard of UMBC before I came here. Nobody in Wisconsin knows what it is. So now everybody knows, I hope. Q. You were very specific about the Chesapeake Bay Retrievers. What distinguishes the Chesapeake Bay Retriever? What is it that stands out about that as opposed to the Golden? JOE SHERBURNE: They are a dark brown. They have a thick waterproof coat of fur. And I'm not sure about what else. Q. Last night Coach Bennett said that your 4 guard lineup really messed with them. Kansas State plays a 4 guard lineup. How do you see that matchup? K.J. MAURA: I think it's a hard matchup for us, but I think we're going to use our size in the 3 guard and in the 4 position. We going to run our stuff and it's going to be a fun matchup. Q. Jairus, after you guys knocked off Virginia, Virginia Tech is out, no other D.C. teams have made the tournament. As someone who went to high school De Matha, how much does that mean to you to go forward? JAIRUS LYLES: I know everybody on the team from Maryland. We have a lot of guys from the area. It means a lot. We've been getting texts, social media posts, just people we don't even know from Maryland just saying how excited they are for us, how they're rooting for us. It's very special. Q. I know you said you're trying to block everything out now and not let the moment get too much for you. How do you actually do that? Y'all seem really calm and composed right now, considering how historic last night was. JOE SHERBURNE: Luckily for some people like K.J., they're getting so many notifications, their phone doesn't work. That's a good thing, I guess. K.J. MAURA: Like Joe say, my phone is not working so I put that past me already. Q. What happened to your phone? K.J. MAURA: I'm getting so many notifications that my phone froze. And it does that every time I open an application, so I just can text. Q. For any of you. Last night you took apart one of the best defenses in college basketball and tomorrow night you'll face another team that likes to play really good defense, takes a lot of pride in it. What exactly did you do to Virginia and at what point in the game did you know these guys can't stop us? JAIRUS LYLES: I think it started on the defensive end for us. We pressured their guards a lot of. Didn't give them any open looks. We made their bigs work and they got frustrated and it helped us on our offensive end because they kind of got distracted, got inside them so they're not hitting shots and running their offense like they usually do. They had defensive breakdowns and we kind of took advantage of that. K.J. MAURA: I think we studied them well. Our preparation was the best we had all year and we had good tips to what to do on offense against their defense. And Jairus sent us a video the night before the game how to beat Virginia, what we got to do against their defense. And I think we have the guards to beat almost everybody off the dribble and create plays for our teammates. JOE SHERBURNE: Once we started hitting 3s, we were able to get inside past them even more and kick it right back out for 3 again. So we know we were going to have the make a lot of 3s. We were 12 for 24 in 3s. That was really huge. Q. Jairus, for those of us who don't know your complete background story, you have graduated, correct? And did you have chances to go other places to play? And I guess you have a relationship, pretty close relationship, with the president. I wonder if you can take us through why you ended up staying there and who else was interested in you and why did you stay at UMBC? JAIRUS LYLES: Well, I won't get into too much of who else was interested in me, but I kind of made a quick decision of staying at UMBC. Wasn't really a decision for me. I knew I was going to stay there all along. This is my family. I created a legacy here. I knew we could do things like this. This is one of the reasons I came back. I have a great relationship with our president. Last year I got to spend a day with him. The first time I met him, I got to spend one -- like a whole day with him. It was very special to see how he operates on the campus, just follow him around. Q. What is it you like about him? JAIRUS LYLES: Authentic he was. He was honest with me. We got to talk about more than basketball. We weren't just talking about basketball, talked about life after basketball, his story, my story. So we kind of connected real quick. Q. Question is all three of you. So many teams come through here and they say we just have to be better for 40 minutes and we can win this and nobody really believes them. You guys believe that you can do this and you are only here because of a late basket in your conference championships. What makes all three of you and your whole team believe that you can and will win? JOE SHERBURNE: Go ahead. K.J. MAURA: I think the trust we got in each other is what gives us that little boost. Play for 40 minutes or to hit a game-winning basket. We trust each other so much that Coach called a play against Vermont, me and Jairus waived him off. We said we got this. We know what to do. So I think yeah, the confidence we got in each other and the trust is a key for our success right now. JAIRUS LYLES: Yeah, like K.J. said, we're very connected as a team. We're very close with our coaching staff. The players on and off the court very close. We just trust each other. Every decision we make on the court, we're encouraging guys to shoot the ball like we don't really ever want him to pass when he gets it. We're just very connected as a team. Q. This is for Jairus or K.J. I was talking with one of your assistant coaches outside and I was talking about your head coach, Coach Odom. He stated he's very even-keeled and as you guys were going on that run, his kind of demeanor helps keep you guys calm. Can you talk about him and that and going into this game and how he's helping you guys manage kind of the emotion and how big this moment is for y'all? JAIRUS LYLES: Well, he has a great role model in his dad who coached at the biggest stage on this level. So he does a great job of bringing to us what his dad brought to him. He keeps us even-keeled. We keep him even-keeled. He never really gets too angry with us. He doesn't really yell at us like that. He's a player's coach. We kind of like that as players. K.J. MAURA: I think he brings a winning mentality to our team. Since he touched campus, he told us we're not underdogs, we step on the court to win a game. Even when we was up 16-14 with four minutes left, he kept us on track, like don't get too confident. Finish the game the right way. THE MODERATOR: Who has the next question? Q. The call against Vermont that you guys waved off, it wasn't the game winning shot, was it? K.J. MAURA: Yes, it was. Q. So what was the call? You guys just waved it off and you two just knew what to do. K.J. MAURA: He looked at me and said run -- I can't say the play. Run a handoff play. And it was like no, we wanted to isolate Jairus and let him take him. Then he called another play and we also said no, we don't want to screen. Jairus one-on-one. We knew he was going the take the shot and make it. Q. It was a 3, right? K.J. MAURA: Yeah. THE MODERATOR: Other questions. Okay, guys. Thank you. RYAN ODOM: I'll just take questions. Q. Ryan, your dad outside said that when you started your coaching career, he did not want to put you on his coaching staff, wanted to sort of let you find your own way. What were sort of the good things and the bad things for you about that path and what impact do you think it might have had on where you are now? RYAN ODOM: Yeah, I think it's only negative I would say is that we didn't have that experience together, father and son, you know, coaching together. I think that could be -- it has been for others a special, special thing. But, you know, I think it was best for me, you know, without a doubt. Dad, you know how it is, your dad knows best. For me, it allowed me to experience basketball and allowed me to experience coaching under other great coaches. And I've worked for some great coaches along the way and to gain new experience and new ideas, new styles, which has helped me in this moment right now for sure. Q. Players said that they didn't get to sleep until 5:00 or 6:00. It's certainly understandable. How concerned are you there will be a let-down that maybe they accomplished everything and be a let-down against Kansas State? RYAN ODOM: It's always a concern. This is a historic event. And our guys, we knew that would be an issue. I'm not the type guy that's going to take their phone. That's just not how I do things. It's more about they've got do the right thing, learn how to do the right thing. And, you know, for us, we experienced this on a much smaller scale when Jairus hit the shot at Vermont. You know, there was a ton of focus, you know, on us at that point that we weren't really used to, mostly within the UMBC community, greater Baltimore area, everybody was excited about going to the dance. Now this is a little bit different story here. We've got to encourage our guys, and I already have, you know, to kind of turn the page and we got to focus here. The biggest thing is, do you want to be done now or do you want to try to put your best foot forward and continue on? We're playing an excellent team, all right, that easily could dismantle us. We've got to do a great job of focusing, just like we have every other game that we've played this season to put our best foot forward to have a chance. Q. This is really oversimplification. But do you ever a sense of being America's team right now and just the idea of the country getting behind this? RYAN ODOM: Yeah, when you see Sports Center talking about other events and comparing the game yesterday to other historic events in sports, it's pretty special, it really is. We certainly understand that. I want our guys to soak that in, without a doubt. But there are two sides to it, too, for me. It's obviously a bittersweet moment because I have so much respect for Tony Bennett, his staff and team, you know. We've got this major emotional high and obviously they've got this emotional low, you know, at this point. And it's two different things going on and it's life, you know, it is. It's life. Q. I did want to ask you about Tony. He was so gracious after really a rotten situation for him last night. I wonder if you could elaborate on your sense of him and your appreciation of how he handled it? RYAN ODOM: To me he's the best coach in the country. He's a great father figure, great mentor to his team, not only his players but his staff. He's a great representative of the university and college basketball in general. I said it before we played them. They're what college basketball should be all about and they have high character kids, they have great students, they compete, you know, to the bitter end in every game, and they don't pat themselves on the back after they get a win and they do special things. You know, they understand that they're in this situation for a reason and, you know, there should be a lot of programs modeling themselves after what he's been able to do. Q. Ryan, obviously a few years ago you were put in a difficult situation here taking over for Allen. What did you learn from that experience? And then kind of looking back on it, obviously I would imagine there's disappointment in how it ended. How would you characterize what you learned and where you went from here? RYAN ODOM: Just to be ready at all times, you know. There's going to be -- life is going to throw you some things, you know, that you have to adjust to. And certainly that was the situation where our primary concern was Allen's health. And thankfully he's good to go now, and I spoke to him prior to the NCAA Tournament and he's doing really well. But, I mean what I did learn most? It was faith. That's what I learned most during that time. It was a dark moment, certainly for me and others. And, you know, if you don't have faith you're not going to be able to get through it. If you don't have your family to help you through those tough times, you're not going to get through it. I'm fortunate that I have both and, you know, the good Lord looked out for me and my family. My son was sick at the time, and so we had a lot of stuff going on. And, you know, to be sitting in this situation right now, I mean it's a blessing. It's not me, it's a blessing. Q. Coach, you played a team last night that prides itself on defense and you're going to run into that again tomorrow night. Give me how these two teams are similar defensively and how much they're differently, do this different? RYAN ODOM: Repeat that. Q. How are these two teams similar defensively and how are they different? RYAN ODOM: I think they are very similar. I think they're very balanced on both sides of the ball. You know, I think Virginia in terms of ball screens when they're facing ball screens is very aggressive and they know exactly what they're doing. They step out hard. Kansas State does it a little bit differently, but it's a similar effect in that they don't let you inside of the 3-point line and we're going to have to find ways to still get in there. That's what we do. We kind of are who we are. We drive the ball. We try to get inside the defense to be able to kick the ball out or finish at the rim like Jairus was able to do last night. They are very similar in that they're very stingy in the half court. I think offensively they're a little bit different. That's where the major differences are between the two teams. Q. I know you said you're trying to get your guys to turn the page. Roy Williams was in here earlier. He said if it was him, he would have to scream at some point last night to sort of acknowledge it all happened. What was your night like last night? Did you ever have any sort of release and how are you trying to get the guys to turn the next page and really focus? RYAN ODOM: Yeah. I mean, obviously it's a tremendous moment, you know, for basketball in general, tremendous moment for UMBC. We have a great university, you know. I'm so excited for our kids to be in this moment, but I'm so excited -- I'm equally excited for UMBC. And we've got a great institution. We have great leadership, starting from Dr. Hrabowshi to my AD sitting in the room here, Tim Hall. So many great people. And, you know, for UMBC to be able to tell its own story now across the world is really, really exciting for me. What was your other question? Q. How do you keep the kids focused? RYAN ODOM: It's just -- we got to do what we got to do at this point. We're going to turn the page to Kansas State and that's what we're going to do. Q. Some of the Virginia players were saying last night that the way you defended them reminded them in some ways of what Virginia Tech did to them in their only ACC loss of the season. Was that part of the preparation footage of that, and if so, what did you take from that? RYAN ODOM: I watched the last five or six ACC games, plus the conference tournament. We felt like our only chance was to pressure their guards. We had to outplay their guards in order to have a chance and we had to hold our own inside. And we felt like if we allowed them -- whoever had the ball up top to just direct. Like I would equate it to like a quarterback. If you don't put any pressure on the quarterback, then he's going the see wherever he needs to see. And guy comes open on the wing, oop, he can make the pass. So our focus was totally on disrupt the ball handler up top, disrupt their timing, and that was kind of our focus throughout. And I thought it put us in position. Our guys were tremendously tough getting through screens. They set a ton of screens and really hard to guard. And they tire you out, you know, with that screening. I thought our guys played really, really tough and the rebounding was critical for us. Q. Offbeat question, but you had mentioned UMBC and kind of getting your brand out there worldwide and certainly nationwide. In the niche community of chess, you guys have been known for a long time. When did you become familiar with the program history with chess and that niche community and have you had any overlap at all in the past? RYAN ODOM: They won a national championship. We're obviously equally proud of them, you know, as we are of winning this game. That's the great thing about UMBC. Everybody cheers for one another across campus. There's so many different things going on on campus that, you know, it creates a great environment, you know to learn in. Lot of great mentors. None better than our president. His relationship with Jairus is -- he's the best president in the country. I've been fortunate that I've been around lot of different places and he's -- to be as active as he is and within our teams and not just men's basketball, it's all the teams, you know, is really, really special. And it's not just -- obviously athletics. He's so -- and STEM is huge and they're patterning programs, copying programs that UMBC is doing across the country. Q. Ryan, for many coaches who pull big upsets in the tournament it's a life-changing, career-changing type of moment. Have you had a sense in the last 18 hours how maybe -- how your life is going to change going forward based on what happened last night? RYAN ODOM: No. I'm just totally focused right now on our team, you know, and where we're at in this moment. This is such a special moment. I'm so excited for them to be able to play, you know, for an opportunity to go to the Sweet 16. That's mind-boggling to me. I'm going to do my best to help coach them and mentor them through this, and hopefully we'll put our best foot forward and have a chance. Q. Ryan, great first name. My question is, it's obvious that all the casual viewers who tune in tomorrow's game on TV will be cheering for you. How much does it mean to you, knowing anyone in here that's not wearing K-State colors, who maybe only heard about you in the last 48 hours are going to be on your side the whole time? RYAN ODOM: It's huge. I think Jairus mentioned it last night. He was so excited about all the UMBC folks that traveled down here for the game. We had a pretty big contingent here. And to hear them cheering for the guys and -- gave them a lot of energy and that's what March Madness is all about, and we're just happy that we're a part of it. Q. Ryan, I've had the pleasure of meeting your father, and when this conversation started, you talked about not coaching with him. But I am curious as to even though you didn't, what you've learned the most about the game from your dad? RYAN ODOM: Yeah. Certainly just to be passionate and to be all for these kids. That's what he did. His entire career was never about him, you know. His focus was totally on his players and helping them become the best that they could be, both on and off the court. That's why I do this. And I'm very fortunate that I'm able to do it at UMBC with these tremendous kids. Q. Coach, the challenge of preparing for Kansas State when most of their film has Dean Wade on it as a traditional big 4 and now they're having to play small without him. How much does that change them offensively and defensively? RYAN ODOM: I haven't watched them a ton with him at this point. Yeah, I think it definitely changes. They're certainly very athletic when they play that smaller lineup. Their ability to get inside of the defense worries me. Their athleticism, their bodies against our guards. We're going to have to do a tremendous job of trying to keep them out of the paint. Our big guys are going to have to really fight. They're very opportunistic in transition. So when their defense is really going and they're knocking balls loose, they're excellent at finishing ahead. I watched the Kansas game this morning, and that was a knockdown, drag-out, closer than the final score indicated at the end there, but, you know, we're excited for the opportunity. Q. As a follow-up with that, Dean Wade is a first team all Big 12 guy. In some strange way, losing him, does that make them pair better against you now that their 4 guards are very similar to what you do? RYAN ODOM: We'll see. I don't know. I think certainly bigger guys can sometimes struggle against us. I think that's what you're saying there in terms of spacing and having to guard the line, you know, but 40 minutes. You got to play it. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions? Okay. Thank you. RYAN ODOM: Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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