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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: PITTSBURGHMarch 17, 2018Grayson AllenMike KrzyzewskiMarvin Bagley, IIIPittsburgh, Pennsylvania Duke - 87, Rhode Island - 62 COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Well, we played really well today. I mean, you know, from start to finish. It was one of our best games. And I thought we played in a very mature manner, because we're playing a championship team, a program that has great maturity and toughness, and we showed that today, too. And I'm just glad a lot more of our shots went in than theirs. It was an honor to coach against them and play against them. That was -- they're an outstanding team, and we were an outstanding team today. I thought we shared the ball real well. We were patient. The big guys were not getting the ball early, perimeter scored, and the big guys started getting the ball. That's the maturity that you like to see and guys making the extra pass, what Wendell did for about three or four exchanges to pass the ball to Javin was beautiful basketball. And our defense was good. Defense was really good. And we're excited and honored to be going to Omaha, you know? That's such a good thing for our team and we're proud of it, and have a week to get ready. Any questions for them, right. Q. Marvin, I think for the first 11 minutes or more, you didn't have a shot. I'm just curious, Coach talked about your patience, but how nice is it to have the supporting cast that you do? MARVIN BAGLEY, III: Everybody was on, so I wasn't really focused on getting my shot. You know, everybody was on -- clicking on all cylinders, and was scoring in different positions. And as long as it says two points with Duke -- going forward, that's all that matters. That's all that I was worried about. I just tried to stay in the game mentally, still trying to talk on defense, communicate, and, you know, it started to come in the second half and everybody was on in the second half. We got a big lead and we won the game. So at the end of the day, that's all that matters. Q. Grayson, how would you describe how Marvin played today? GRAYSON ALLEN: He played really well. Yeah. He ran -- he runs the court so well, and that's -- it really opens up a lot for us in transition, whether he gets the ball or not. Because someone has to get down there and guard him, and that's why we get threes. That's why he gets early posts. That's why we're able to throw it ahead to him and it really opens up our transition. I mean, when he does get the ball, he was shooting 8 for 10, that's 80 percent, so it's a pretty good percentage to just throw it down there to him. And then he's always on the board, so, another great game from him like we've had from him all year. Q. Going into the game, what was your game plan defensively as a team and how are you guys able to execute it so well today? GRAYSON ALLEN: We knew they had two really good scorers in Terrell and Matthews, they are really good shooters, and we didn't want to let them get hot from the three-point. Wanted to try to take away their threes as a team and be more active and try to keep that ball off the middle, two in the zone. We came out and gave up a three early, but after that I thought defensively we were very active getting our hands on a lot of passes. And Wendell did an amazing job protecting the rim. He's contesting shots and then getting back up and grabbing the rebound, too. When he does that, our zone is a lot better. Q. Marvin, this being your first two games in the NCAA Tournament environment, just what have you learned going through this first weekend about what the tournament is kind of all about? MARVIN BAGLEY, III: Our biggest takeaway from just watching and being involved, is that anything can happen. You know, every team is here for a reason and every game is -- anybody could win it. So if we go out, we just got to play hard. We can't assume anything, got to worry about that one game. Have your minds focused on that one thing, take it one day at a time because tomorrow's never promised in this tournament. That's one thing that I, myself and the rest of my teammates talk about and understand, is that we don't want any game to be our last one together unless it's the last one. So we got to keep continuing to get on this roll and lock in more. Q. Mike, I'm wondering, having been the number 1 seed as many times as you have, if you had maybe a twinge of empathy for what Virginia went through having the whole arena kind of turn for the underdog and just the pressure that goes with those games? COACH KRZYZEWSKI: No, I mean, what Marvin just said really applies. And we as coaches know -- I thought Tony did such a great job after the game in expressing his feelings, and really the feelings of what you should feel as a coach. And that is, we all understand that when we go into that arena, some great things can happen. And -- but also, some really difficult things can happen. And for them, only great things happened this year, so the -- the difference of feeling for them, not just losing, but they've been so damn good, they've been the best team in the country. And then they have an injury, and then you don't have much time to prepare. You don't have any games to prepare for what you're going to do when you have that injury. So, my heart goes out to him. We've lost in the first round a couple of times, and we've lost to teams that were deserving of winning. You know, like UMBC was deserving of winning, just like when we lost, C.J. McCollum was pretty good and Lehigh deserved to win. Mercer was really good and they deserved to win. So, I just thought he handled it so well, and what a great example for all coaches to not just handle victory well, but to handle defeat, because you're going to experience both. Hopefully you experience the other guy more than the last guy, so -- Q. They were up, Rhode Island was, after the second media and you go on the 16-3 run which forces the time-out. What was the catalyst for that and what was said that maybe prompted that run? COACH KRZYZEWSKI: I don't think anything that was said. I thought we were a little bit nervous at the start of the game, and we didn't have the looks that we then had for 36 minutes. And I thought we made this one sub, Javin for Tre. And then when Tre got back in the game the second time, then he was who he's been for the last couple of weeks. And we were playing the zone pretty well. Terrell didn't get many open looks, and then that helped us focus a lit bit more on Matthews. And the thing that's happened in the zone is we don't give up many free throws, and then we didn't -- we only had that one live ball turnover in the first half, so we were able to set up our defense each time. Our offense always has to help our defense and sometimes it doesn't when we turn it over too much. Anybody want to hear about the trapezoid lane in international ball? Just -- I've actually, you know, had more to say about it. It was pretty boring, wasn't it? When I walked out of there, I said, all right, I got to tell some jokes or do something. Q. Mike, can you tell a joke, please? COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Yeah. John Feinstein's my friend, just -- no, he is. Q. You may or may not be aware of this, you passed Pat Summitt. COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Yeah, you know what? I wasn't aware of it until yesterday when somebody told me we tied that, and I don't -- you know. I'm not paying attention to that. And, one, it's Pat -- Pat would have won hundreds of more games if health had not taken her from us. And so that -- someone will have more eventually. You know? Q. It's still a lot? COACH KRZYZEWSKI: It's a lot. It means I've been at a good place. I've had great players and have had good health for the most part. I got so many new body parts right now. Two knees, two hips. That's all I'm talking about, but, yeah. It's an honor because she was a pioneer in her sport. Her sport, women's college basketball, took off because of her. And her -- her ability to understand that there needed to be another program, and what Gino established at Connecticut was helped by Pat, because Pat played the games that gave the exposure. And it became then the two of them and it would still be the two of them if she was alive because she wasn't giving anything up to him. So, anyway, it's an honor. Oh, by the way, I would like to thank all of the volunteers. Pittsburgh was a great site. People were great. Funny thing, they're all dressed in green this morning. By the way, Monday is St. Joseph's day. Dress in red. That's the Polish day. All right? We'll see if they have a parade. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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