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NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT

March 28, 2018

Larry Krystkowiak

New York, New York

HEAD COACH LARRY KRYSTKOWIAK: We're thrilled to be a part of the final. We certainly didn't out of the gates in a positive fashion. We had a number of mistake, mental mistakes, physical mistakes early in the ballgame and dug ourselves a pretty significant hole and then I think once we were able to make a few shots and kind of get the jitters out, did a much better job from a defensive standpoint holding that team to I think it's 38 percent, and then winning the rebound game was huge.

Got tremendous leadership I think, again, from Justin Bibbins, able to make all 12 of his free throws. We did a nice job sharing the ball, and as a lot of the games, when you get to maybe the 16 of the NIT, NCAA Tournament, whatever tournament you're in, when you get to this point, it really has gotten down to one or two possessions in a lot of our ballgames and Western Kentucky's ballgames, we've managed in the St. Mary's game and then last night to make plays at the right time.

It's something we've preached all season is that there are no little things. We took a couple big charges late in the game and managed to hit our free throws. So proud of the guys, but we're going to have to be significantly better.

Penn State is a really good team. I have a lot of respect; I sat and watched last night's game and we're getting after some film, and they are playing real well and firing on all cylinders. We've got to be markedly better tomorrow night to be competitive.

Q. Your feelings to being in the finals at the Garden and what is your feelings about that?
HEAD COACH LARRY KRYSTKOWIAK: It's an unbelievable experience for our guys. We have four seniors who have played an awful lot of college basketball, and each step of the way in this NIT process, from the opening game against U.C. Davis at home where you still -- there's a little bit of, you know, residual disappointment from not being in the NCAA Tournament.

You get through that game, you take care of LSU, and the closer you get to New York, the more exciting it becomes, and then obviously when you're able to get the win in the semifinal game and you're one game from being an NIT champion, I think it's a tremendous feeling.

But at the same time, you know, looking ahead at our opponent, you've got a little bit of time for prep. It's an uneasy feeling at the same time but we're really proud of our guys and we're having the time of our life, and we need to try to be that team that's cutting the nets down at the end of this thing.

Q. You said you saw Penn State last night. What did you think of No. 10, Tony Carr?
HEAD COACH LARRY KRYSTKOWIAK: Well, you know, I happened to see him live last night but I've watched some of the teams, Marquette game was one of the ones I remember seeing. Reminds me of Damian Lillard to be honest with you, who was at Weaver State in our home state of Utah, watched him kind of grow up.

You know, a big guard, tremendous passer, tremendous scorer, three-point range. It's a little eerie, really, when you look at him and you see the kid live to make that comparison. But he's certainly the head of the snake, and a leader on that team and quite a playmaker. So we're going to have our hands full.

You know, he's got the rare combination I think of the three point range. He's shooting about 44 percent from three. You know, the mid-range game is there, and then his assist to turnover ratio is tremendous, as well. Plus he guards. He guards and they control the ball in the post, so extremely versatile and can see why they are where they are at.

Q. Looking at Penn State, what kind of challenge does Lamar Stevens present as you're getting ready for tomorrow night?
HEAD COACH LARRY KRYSTKOWIAK: It's not just Stevens. It's a handful. They have so many weapons. You look at their team and they have so many guys scoring in double figures. You know, he's a physical presence, I think at 4-man, 3-man, slasher. Been playing really well.

Been playing as well for them in the NIT as anybody, and that's one of the things you look at is the last five, the conference, as a player, that has gotten better as the season has gone along. He got in a little bit of foul trouble last night but you know, it's a little bit of a mismatch.

He can shoot threes, but I think his physical presence, his rebounding ability, blocking shots, you know, blocking over a shot a game. So he's kind of the prototypical Big Ten player that you think of, you know, and when I walked out on the court last night and was watching the game, it looked like an NBA style team. There's some big bodies and they spend a lot of time in the weight room and he's definitely a physical presence that sets that tone for them.

Q. You mentioned at the top of this call that you think if you guys want to compete tomorrow night, you have to be remarkably better. What are the things that you kind of want to see from your team tomorrow night that you know you've got to do against this Penn State team?
HEAD COACH LARRY KRYSTKOWIAK: There's just so many facet in the scouting report, and we had ample time last night. We had four days plus to get ready for Western Kentucky and we've always taken a great amount of pride in the detail we put into a scouting report and trying to get tendencies and actions and different things to give ourselves a fighting chance.

You know, the game is a lot of the physical side of it as much as anything, but especially at this time of year is your mental preparation. Let's face it, us and Penn State aren't going to be able to go into the gym today and practice for two hours, so it's a little bit like an NBA season where you've got to digest as much of the preparation, the film work, the walk-through as you can, and I was extremely disappointed with our guys last night with the way that game started. We.

Made a number of errors in how we guarded Johnson on the perimeter. We gave him two threes where nobody was within distance on him. We were out on the perimeter guarding slashers, drivers, real close and letting them beat us and when we did get them to miss shots early, we didn't rebound.

So it was a disaster, and that would have been the message. If we don't win that game, it really wasn't about anything physical as much as it was mental, and when you play this Penn State team, it's such a challenge from a physical point of view, you know, that if you don't have the mental side in preparation, I think that's probably my biggest point is, you know, here we are, now we've got a shorter amount of time to prep. We're going to give them some stuff in the cliff note form, and if we don't digest that, we're going to be in big trouble. That's going to be a key for us.

Q. Pat Chambers was asked this last night, a hypothetical: Would you rather be winning the NIT or going to the NCAA and losing in the first round?
HEAD COACH LARRY KRYSTKOWIAK: I'd rather be where we are. I've thought about that a lot. Some of it, it's easy to talk about in a hypothetical, because we sign up for this, No. 1, to compete and to play, and I've been on the other end of it where you lose the first round. And there's so much emotion built up into a season.

The goal is getting to the NCAA Tournament -- and you lose a first round game. You know, it's great, but that's really not the feeling you want to have, either. There's a lot of failure built into that. This is about experiences. This is about competing.

And for us, you know, to get the additional five or six -- I think it's five games, and have an opportunity to win and continue to bond; I love this team and this team loves playing with each other, so I get it where a basketball purist junk key would say, gee, we should fire our coach is he says that because this is the consolation prize; how dare he say that.

Until you're in our shoes, coming to New York City and being in the Final Four in the NIT in a city with so much history and tradition -- look, I got an e-mail from Arnie Ferrin who played on Utah's team in 1947 when they won the NIT Championship, and there's still three living members on that team and we were all on a big thread.

When he says to me, "Coach, one more, man, bring home the trophy" and the pride in all of that, to me, that is much more significant than getting to the NCAA Tournament and losing your first game.

You know, if people want to run me out of town for that answer, I guess I'm going to live with it but they are not in our shoes and this has just been a great experience for us, and I don't think we'd trade it for anything in the world to be honest with you.

Q. Coach Chambers said basically the same thing.
HEAD COACH LARRY KRYSTKOWIAK: Yeah, you know, it's a little bit of a loaded question, but I do know this: I know there's two coaches, two teams, that finish their season without any disappointment, right. In my mind, it's the NCAA national champion, and if we are fortunate enough to cut the net down tomorrow night, nobody is going to take that away from us. There's going to be far more disappointment in any of those other situations than having an opportunity to do that.

So you know, I just love the fact that we've got a chance and we've got a lot of respect for Pat, and I think as coaches and players, we're all kind of wired the same way.

Q. Do you have an update on Jayse Johnson and his ankle, if you think he'll be ready to play tomorrow?
HEAD COACH LARRY KRYSTKOWIAK: I don't yet. We've been meeting as a coaching staff and I know our training staff, I tell you, I'll put them up against anybody at the country, having a chance to get him back. He unfortunately sprained his ankle in our shootaround practice Monday.

It wasn't a severe-grade ankle sprain, but so much of that is kind of dependent on how the first 48 hours go and we're almost to that point, so we should know a little bit more here in the next hour or so. I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful.

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