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NCAA MEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: BOSTON

March 22, 2018

Boston, Massachusetts

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Purdue University Boilermakers representing Big Ten Conference. They have a record of 30-6. We will get started with student-athletes we have with us, senior Vincent Edwards, senior Dakota Mathias. Welcome to Boston. If each of you would give us your thoughts on advancing thus far and your thoughts on the upcoming game against Texas Tech, please.

VINCENT EDWARDS: First of all, it's a blessing to be here, being able to play in such a prestigious place as the TD Garden. We're really grateful to be here. Playing against a team like Texas Tech is really good. They're really getting at it defensively. They're very athletic too, and they play really hard. It will be a good game for us.

DAKOTA MATHIAS: I agree. We're definitely excited to be here. It's a privilege to play in such a prestigious place like this. Texas Tech is a great team. They play hard for 40 minutes. Coach Chris Beard, that's what all his teams do, and I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Q. How does playing Little Rock two years ago help you guys prepare for this game? Or is it just too completely different because the rosters are completely different?
DAKOTA MATHIAS: I think it's pretty different. Obviously, it's the same coach and the same style of play, but their roster makeup is very different. We're a lot older and a lot more experienced. I don't think there's too much you can read into that.

VINCENT EDWARDS: I have to agree. I think he hit it right on the nose. It's two totally different teams, two totally different situations for both teams as well.

Q. How do you guys approach the game knowing that you're the higher seed but you've seen a lot of higher seeds fail so far? Was that a wake-up call? Did you even need one?
VINCENT EDWARDS: No, I don't think we need a wake-up call at all. We're not overlooking any opponent that we have, and we're not going to overlook the game. It can show you from the start of this tournament it doesn't even matter. We're just going to come out and be ready to play. We respect all of our opponents with the same amount of respect.

Q. Vince, this is for you: I know you're close with Carsen. I'm wondering how you've seen him grow, both on and off the court, in the time you've known him at Purdue.
VINCENT EDWARDS: Carsen's done a good job understanding the game a little bit better. He's matured. This is his second year. He's gotten better of knowing when to get his shots and knowing when to take his time and moving the ball. He's also grown on the defensive end and that's what's really helped elevate his game. He's always been able to get his own shot, even as a freshman. Now that he's added his defensive side to it and he gets out on the defensive end, it really makes his game that much better.

Q. Did you guys have any travel issues? Did you change your travel plans or anything because the snow which wound up not coming at all?
DAKOTA MATHIAS: Yeah, we had to move up a flight like four or five hours on Wednesday. It's been pretty good so far. We got here early. We had a little more downtime.

Q. What did you do with the downtime?
DAKOTA MATHIAS: Just kind of relaxed and slept a little bit.

VINCENT EDWARDS: Definitely took a nap. That was on the list for sure.

Q. Dakota, now that you've had a few extra days to prepare for playing without Isaac Haas, has that helped you guys get ready to not having the short turnaround?
DAKOTA MATHIAS: Yeah, definitely. Any time you lose such an important piece of your offense like Isaac, it takes time to adjust. We had a quick turnaround playing Butler like we did, but getting in the gym, having a few more days of practice, getting some different sets in, some designs, it definitely helped that timing.

Q. What have you seen from Texas Tech's perimeter defense?
DAKOTA MATHIAS: They're very aggressive. That's the main thing we noticed. For 40 minutes, they don't let up. They make it tough on you and try to push you out of your comfort zone as much as possible. That's the biggest thing. They're so physical and tough, and they rebound the ball. If you're not strong with the ball, they're going to take it from you. If you don't go to the glass hard or box out, they're going to get the rebound. Just physicality and how tough they are the entire game.

Q. How about Keenan Evans? Are one of you guys going to defend him tomorrow?
VINCENT EDWARDS: I mean, I'm pretty sure we'll both get on him a little bit throughout the game, the way our defense plays. But I think it's going to be a tough challenge. He's a good player. He really gets them going, and he creates plays for them down the stretch. They really look to go to him. He's their leader and their floor general.

He's a great player. He picks his spots. He knows what he's doing. He's a veteran guy, so he's a good guy.

Q. How has Isaac been? I know it seems like maybe he's hoping against hope that he will be able to play, but has he been taking it pretty hard that he might miss this?
VINCENT EDWARDS: He's been high-spirited, honestly. People have really been asking us that question all week. He's not been down about it. He was down when he first found out, and it was devastating for all of us to have one of our fellow classmates to go down and possibly end his career the way it's been taking a toll on him.

He's been high-spirited. He's been in practice cheering hard. He cheered his butt off in the Butler game. He's our biggest cheerleader. And he's always been there talking on the sidelines, supporting and keeping a smile on his face. We've got to do the same thing and help keeping his spirits high.

Q. Just saw the brace designed by the engineering students in the locker room. Did you think it was a joke that engineering students were taking on that task?
DAKOTA MATHIAS: I wasn't surprised. We have some very smart people at Purdue. That was pretty cool to see and hopefully one of those will work for him.

VINCENT EDWARDS: I want to know where these engineering people were at my freshman year when my car broke down. I tweeted it, and nobody got back.

Going to a school like Purdue, you have these students like that, and people working in those departments and know what they're doing. I was in the training room when they talked about it, facilitating it out. And I walked over to shake their hands to thank them. To try to give him an opportunity to play again, that was huge on their part. I know Isaac was grateful and I told them I was thankful for them doing that for him as well.

Q. Your best Coach Painter story?
VINCENT EDWARDS: Whew, I don't know if we got one that we can air out there.

DAKOTA MATHIAS: I don't know about that one.

VINCENT EDWARDS: But, no, Coach Painter is a great coach. You can tell so many stories. I don't feel like we have one that's appropriate for the time being right now.

Q. What was the recruiting process like? How did you get to know him through that?
VINCENT EDWARDS: I mean, it was huge. Dakota was kind of the upstarter in that, and he did a really good job of doing a little bit of recruiting of his own after Coach Painter sold the pitch of helping rebuild a culture and rebuild a program. Dakota is the first guy in our class to commit, and he kind of worked on me a little bit. It showed me a lot from him because he came to my official visit as an unofficial, and we were there together. That was the day I made a commitment to the school.

So I think, you know, him, as well as Coach Painter, Coach Shrews who eventually ended up with the Boston Celtics, they all did a great job of selling me on that sales pitch.

DAKOTA MATHIAS: What worked for me was how honest he was. In college basketball today, you don't see that a lot anymore. He was honest. He knew he made mistakes and knew he wanted to change the culture. So seeing that and other guys he was recruiting like Vince, P.J., Isaac, they were high-character guys, so we knew we had a chance to change the culture at Purdue, and we've done a great job of doing that the last four years.

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