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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: CHARLOTTEMarch 18, 2018Ryan OdomK.J. MauraJairus LylesCharlotte, North Carolina Kansas State - 50 UMBC - 43 RYAN ODOM: Obviously congratulations to Coach Weber and Kansas State. I thought they played excellent defense, you know, throughout the game. Their athleticism bothered us at times and their switching certainly early in the game in the first half throughout the first half. I thought we were kind of a little bit stagnant on the offensive end. We were standing a little bit too much and they had a lot to do with that. They were switching and staying -- keeping their bodies in front of us. In the second half we were fortunate to be down 5 actually at half and we felt like we hadn't played very well, you know, amongst us in the locker room and, you know, we came out in the second half. We felt like we had a pressure a little bit more. Obviously we had some success there. We felt like we had to move the ball and move our bodies a whole lot more than we did in the first half on offense, and our guys certainly did that. We tried to get multiple drives into the paint, felt like we did that. And felt like we got some good shots, you know. When it was 38-37 Jairus went down the lane and got a shot that he's made a zillion times for us all year and just didn't go down. Wasn't meant to be there. But, you know, nothing can take away this -- this loss can't away what these kids, these two in particular and obviously the rest of our team has been able to accomplish, you know, throughout this entire season. Certainly in the NCAA Tournament, just to be here is a blessing for sure. I wrote one word on the board for these guys, you know, once we got into the locker room at the end about how I felt about them and just proud, you know, just very proud of these kids and what they've been able to do as the representatives that they are for our university and just captured our country and beyond, to be honest, from a sporting perspective and it's really, really neat to see. THE MODERATOR: Questions first for Jairus and K.J. Q. Jairus, can you talk about what K-State's defense did to slow you down, both you personally and the team. JAIRUS LYLES: I think they did a good job of speeding us up. We had a lot of turnovers. But for the most part I felt like we got open shots. We didn't make any shots today. It happens some games. Unfortunately it happened today. I felt like for the most part we got open shots. Q. Either student. Despite this loss, do you guys still see the win in all of this with the shoes from Steph Curry, like your coach said, the world fell in love you and everyone was really cheering for you. So even though you lost a really tough game, do you still see the bright spot in this? K.J. MAURA: Yeah, I think we do. We put our name on the map. We giving hope to teams that come to the tournament with lower seeds. I think we're giving hope to guys that are not even that tall like me. So, people that feel like they underdogs in their life, I think we given the hope to everything they want to do in life. JAIRUS LYLES: Yeah. Of course we had a great season. We made history the other night. But we wanted to win tonight. We felt like we had a good chance of winning, but unfortunately we lost. But I felt like overall we understand that what we did the other night, we understand we had a great season. We did the unexpected. So, we're proud of each other for that. Q. I'm curious if there's any fatigue maybe in the second half? I think you guys missed some free throws that you typically would make, some open looks. Did that contribute to it at all? JAIRUS LYLES: I'm not going to make any excuses. I got to hit those free throws. I missed a couple shots I usually make. Just, you know, just one of those days. Q. The world was looking at you as Cinderella, but I don't think you guys looked at yourself that way. How did you -- when did you figure out that it wasn't going to happen? Looked like you were mentally into it the whole game. K.J. MAURA: I think we never lost confidence in ourselves even when they had a little run and 5-point lead. Still the mentality we're going to win the game. We didn't execute it down the stretch. JAIRUS LYLES: Like he said, we didn't execute enough. We didn't make enough plays down the stretch to win. We had a couple chances to take the lead with about I think two minutes left, or two, three minutes left. But we didn't make shots, like I said before. And they made shots, timely shots. I think they hit two buzzer-beaters basically at the end of the shot clock and put them up about 4 points or 5 points. Q. How would you describe how different your preparation was the past 48 hours given everything you guys had to deal with from anything you've experienced before? And secondly, did maybe some of that take a little bit out of you heading into the game? JAIRUS LYLES: I mean we knew coming into this tournament that every team we were going to play was going to be a high major given our seed. So we knew we had to prepare for bigger people, bigger players, bigger guards, bigger big men. We knew it was going to be a tough task anytime we stepped on the floor. Q. K.J., looked like it was about 9 seconds left when y'all got subbed out of the game. Not only hugging your reserves but hugging the K-State players. What went into that moment and kind of what that meant to you? K.J. MAURA: I think it was mutual respect. It was a good game. We played hard, both teams played hard. The guard from Kansas State came out, good people from Baltimore, too. So we had a good relationship. We was talking during the whole game. They good kids, good guys. I think we got a little emotional, but it was just encouraging them to make it happy and make a run in the tournament. Q. I know it's currently Spring Break, but eventually you'll go back to campus and everyone else will be there. What kind of reception do you hope for and what kind of reception do you anticipate? JAIRUS LYLES: Well, our fans traveled a long way these past few days to come support us. We've had a tremendous support from our fans all year, people at the school. I expect them to be very happy with us when we get back, proud of us. But, you know, of course we wanted to go into the next round. It didn't happen that way. I expect a warm welcome. K.J. MAURA: Yeah, I expect them to be really proud for what we've done. I expect a lot of happiness, lot of smiles around campus. I think we've been given that from the support of the fans came here a long way to see us. That means a lot for us, and I really expect a lot of smiles when we come back. Q. Coach, the guys in the locker room were saying -- THE MODERATOR: Student-athletes first. Q. I'm sorry. I missed the opening. When you guys look back on your time at UMBC and in five years from now, is this going to be the thing that stands out the most to you or what will you think about the most? JAIRUS LYLES: I got here, when I got here first we were a 4-win team that year, and then the next year we went on to win 7 games. And then Coach Odom and his staff came in, we won 21 games and this year we had a tremendous season. This is definitely one of the biggest memories we remember for life. So, yeah. K.J. MAURA: I think the biggest moment for us was Jairus Lyles's shot against Vermont. Nothing can top that. But we really enjoyed ourselves after the Virginia game. I think it was something that nobody expected. Just us inside the locker room, we expected to win. Outside of ourselves nobody thought we were going to win. I think both moments are really big for us and it's going to live forever for UMBC. Q. Jairus, a lot of people have been comparing you to C.J. McCollum as far as his play with Lehigh and what he had done with Duke. How do you feel about that comparison? JAIRUS LYLES: Anytime you can compare it to a NBA player as great as he is, it's a blessing. There's more work to be done. Hopefully I can play in that league one day. So, you know, it's always a blessing to be compared to a great NBA player. THE MODERATOR: You can head back to the locker room. Congratulations on a great year and great career. We'll take questions for Coach. Q. The guys were saying that you told them after the game about friend of yours in Rome and another in Korea that couldn't stop talking about UMBC. Obviously the upset win puts you guys on the map. Why do you think that people resonated with this team or fell in love with them? RYAN ODOM: Certainly we were picked -- we were a 16 seed. I think that's where it all started. When you began to watch this team and how they played, they play with passion, they play with heart, they play together, you know, which what is we say when we put our hands in the huddle every time. We do things together for one another, and obviously when you have a big win like that and it's so shocking, you know, people love to see that. They love to see the upset. And our guys handled it with grace and understood the circumstances. They weren't pounding their chests or anything. They expected to be here and expected to compete, no different than they did tonight. And just didn't go our way tonight and Kansas State deserved to win. But, I'm just really proud of the way these guys handled themselves, you know, on a daily basis. And from the moment we stepped on campus to now, you know, the growth that I've seen in each one of them, you know, is monumental, really special. I mean from a leadership standpoint, from just everything, how they handle their business. I don't have to worry about very much with this crew. Q. Coach, obviously these guys hate to lose. You know them as well as anyone. Do you think it will be easy for them to focus more on the good of the season, what they did Friday, what they did against Vermont, versus what they might feel as a missed opportunity by not having a good shooting night tonight? RYAN ODOM: Absolutely. That's what we talked about in the locker room. We couldn't really talk about that after the Virginia game because we had to play Kansas State, you know, tonight. And but once your season ends, you know, you can kind of reflect and look back at all things that happen throughout. I go back at the Albany game where we got pounded up there and the way -- like it takes true character to come back from that and, you know, our guys were able to do that collectively. Wasn't just one person. One person it wouldn't have happened. You know, my staff, you know, was unbelievable. I have a great staff and, you know, I'm just so proud of everybody involved in the program. Because it could have gone down at that moment, and true character is determined at moments like that when it's, you know, you're at your worst and you got to answer the bell. These guys did that throughout the year. Q. As your starters left the game with 20 seconds to go or something, lot of K-State players came over and talked to them. What did you see in that moment? And I mean you don't see that a lot. RYAN ODOM: Yeah. I think exactly what K.J. said. You know, just a mutual respect. I mean, I think I've heard from so many coaches around the country that have texted and just been so excited for what has happened for these kids and seeing them play the way that they played and, you know, over this tournament and in our conference tournament. And, you know, I think the Kansas State guys respected how hard our guys tried to win, and likewise we respected how hard they tried to win and they got it done. Q. Coach, if you had a message to your fan base or just the whole country about what you did here this weekend, what would that be? RYAN ODOM: Yeah, I mean just believe in yourself, you know. I think that's the first thing, you know. People will tell you in life you can't do something and if you believe them, then you won't. And these kids never wavered, you know, throughout, and they believed that they could do this and they got it done. Q. Where do you feel like you lost of this game here tonight? RYAN ODOM: Yeah. I think it certainly was the turnovers. We had way too many turnovers. I couldn't tell you the last time we had 17 turnovers in a game. K.J. having -- I think he had 6. He's immaculate with the ball. He had 6 turnovers in this game and credit Kansas State for knocking balls away and having active hands and putting us in some positions that we didn't want to be in. So I think it was there. Certainly the free-throw shooting was not what it needed to be. This is really the first game that that's kind of really hurt us. We have not been a good free-throw shooting team all year, not from lack of working on it. But, you know, usually when Jairus gets up there or K.J. gets up there, those guys shoot the ball really well from the free-throw line. Even Jairus missed a few in the game today. Q. The wins obviously have been great, but when you kind of look back on this particular group what are you going the take away the most from what they gave you this season? RYAN ODOM: How much they gave for one another. Again, it's unselfish. That's how I describe them. And, you know, Jairus really grew this year from a leadership standpoint, him coming back. They had a goal. They wanted to win the championships. They accomplished that. That's what I'm going to remember most about them. They set out, you know, to win it and they got it done and they did it through hard work. They did it through loving one another. They did it through unselfishness and believing in one another. And, you know, that shot will go down in history at Vermont. Lot of tears that day, everybody was crying after that win. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions? Q. So there's a lot of talk around campus about Jairus Lyles being perhaps the best player in UMBC basketball history. What are your thoughts on that? RYAN ODOM: Yeah. He's obviously right there. I mean all time -- the most wins in school history, you know, he broke the single season scoring record. You know, he's just been an amazing being, amazing player. And, you know, credit to -- I think Thomas needs credit for this, too, the previous coach and his staff. I didn't recruit Jairus and they got him to campus. They got him to come to UMBC and the rest is history. THE MODERATOR: Back of the room. Q. Does your job in recruiting and getting people to know about UMBC become any easier after this weekend? RYAN ODOM: Oh, no. We'll see. We have to -- we all have to go out and recruit, all the universities, and try to get the best student-athletes that we can get. UMBC is a unique place, you know. Lot of high achieving kids on campus, and, you know, that's what we want. We want guys that want to be great, you know, from a basketball perspective and want to play after college. But, at the same time, we want folks that, you know, are highly motivated academically that can -- you know, want to do great things past basketball. Because the air goes out of the ball at some point for everybody and you don't want to have the "oh boy, what now moment?" That's why UMBC is so great, you know. It transforms lives, you know. Our president is right in there with the students. And it's not just the athletes, it's everybody and, you know, it's a really neat thing to see. Q. Coach, your dad was telling a story last week about leading up to the Virginia game, how were you a ball boy. He could remember you riding your bike to John Paul Jones Arena as a kid when he was coaching. You talked about sharing this with your team. But being around your parents over the last couple of days, is there anything that you'll just kind of take with you forever, whether it was a conversation or just a few minutes together? Is there anything that stands out from just being able to share this with them? RYAN ODOM: Yeah. Certainly I love my mom and my dad to death. They're so supportive. They believe in their sons, you know, obviously Lane and myself. And, you know, they're just so supportive, but the hug after beating UVA was very, very special. I'll say this, having dad at practice, you know, the last couple of days has been really neat. He's so good around the kids, you know. He jokes with them and they love having him around. Back in October they sang happy birthday to him at one of the practices because he happened to be there on his birthday and they were messing with his hair and all that. He's a funny, funny guy. He loves the game and he loves kids. He loves to help kids and see them, you know, really, really do well. And my mom is, as anybody will tell you, is the nicest lady on the entire plan net. THE MODERATOR: Last question. Q. Ryan, while we're on the subject of connections like that, I'm curious if you were able to look into the UMBC teammates of yours and what that meant to you? RYAN ODOM: I wasn't able to pick everybody out. I had so many friends, guys from Hampden-Sydney, guys from RJR that came to the game. It was really, really special. Colleague teammates of mine and, you know, it's amazing that we were this close, you know, that all of my close friends could be able to come to the game and my wife's friends as well and my kids's friends, my parents' friends, my brother's friends. It was a special, special weekend here for us. THE MODERATOR: Okay, thank you, Coach. RYAN ODOM: Okay. Thanks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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