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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: HARTFORDMarch 20, 2019Jordan FordJordan HunterMalik FittsHartford, Connecticut Q. It's a question for all three of you. You beat a good Gonzaga team in the WCC Finals. What do you need to keep up that momentum against the reigning National Champions. JORDAN HUNTER: Just got to keep building what we accomplished towards the end of the season. We grew a lot as a team especially down the stretch, so we just need to keep getting better even this late in the season. MALIK FITTS: To piggyback what he said, just keep our intensity on the defensive end. Lately, we've been doing a pretty good job of defending. And I think these guys, every one of our coaching staff, our players, have a good mindset of coming to the game defending as well. JORDAN FORD: Pretty much what Malik said. On the defensive end, we've gotten a lot better. It always starts right there for us. We'll able to beat good teams when we're good on the defensive end, and the offense will take care of itself. Q. Can you guys talk a little about having to play Villanova right off the bat, the National Champions. Obviously in the past -- not that you were on the team -- but you had success against Villanova in the Tournament, but getting them right off the bat. JORDAN HUNTER: There's no bad teams in this tournament. We were ready for whoever they threw at us and were excited to play a great program, two out of last three National Champs. We couldn't want it any other way. Q. Malik, you played prep ball at Brewster. I talked to Coach Smith earlier this week. He speaks quite highly of you and was very excited to see you this weekend. How did your time at brewster prepare you to become a top scorer for a team like St. Mary's. MALIK FITTS: I always say -- you know, it was college-like, there were 20-minute halves. I would say just like the intensity, like the guys you were playing against. I played against a lot of really good guys. I just think it got me prepared by -- you know, mentally and physically. I would say that when I graduated -- before I did my prep year, I would say I wasn't ready for college yet, so that year helped me get a better experience. It helped me to get stronger, and also just to prepare for moments like this, and then just to get ready for the big stage. Q. You've been very solid defensively, particularly I think seven of the last eight games you really shut teams down. You are really good at shutting down three-point shooters. Why has that been? Obviously you are going up against Villanova who likes to shoot the three a lot. JORDAN HUNTER: We took it pretty bad after Gonzaga a few weeks back, and we got in the film room and on the court as well, and it was a real conscientious effort to just lift intensity. A lot of the defensive end for us, it's just effort-based, so we had to switch on and lock in. And we were able to translate that to games down the stretch run. MALIK FITTS: To go off what he said, at the start of the year, we were in pretty well defensively. Like he said, I would say after the Gonzaga game -- they got us pretty well. I would say, after that, a lot of guys went back into the film room. Practice was heavy defense. A lot of guys locked in, everyone was locked in, and then the hard work paid off. I would say that it paid off at the right time. A lot of guys started defending well. And, like he said, we've been holding teams to a really low percentage on the three-point percentage, on the three-point line. Sorry about that. Q. 21 percent? MALIK FITTS: Huh-uh. JORDAN FORD: Yeah, our team has a lot of pride. Our team is full of competitors. We weren't okay with losing by 48 to Gonzaga. We took it very seriously to get better on the defensive end, and it's really paid off for us. Q. How have you guys been acclimating to the time change? JORDAN FORD: I got a good nap on the plane, so I'm doing all right. But we just try to get to sleep early, and try to hydrate ourselves as best we can and I think we're getting acclimated pretty well. Q. Can you guys just talk about, did you think the NCAA fans will be watching you in a different way now after you beat Gonzaga in the championship game, and what is it like being in their shadow. I don't know how you perceive that. Can you address that? JORDAN HUNTER: We're still going with that underdog mentality. Gonzaga is a great program. We have no shame being in their league with their dominance. So we're coming into this tournament. People think we're the fluke, us beating Gonzaga. We have to prove that we're capable of just more than one great win. MALIK FITTS: Like he said, that was a great win for us. I don't -- I know me personally and a lot of these guys really aren't satisfied for that win. It was a great win and now it's time to, I would say, turn it up a notch. We can't like let -- we, everyone on our coaching staff, you know, we don't -- we don't really, what do you call it, listen to the gas, as they would say. So we know that's in the past now, but we play tomorrow, so the only thing we can focus on is just tomorrow. JORDAN FORD: Yeah. I don't think we're living in anybody's shadows. We're just going to try to go out there and play the best game we can and compete against Villanova and hopefully come out with a win. Q. Malik, who has the best facial hair on the team? MALIK FITTS: Come on now, you're looking at him. I don't know. JORDAN FORD: Come on, man. MALIK FITTS: I would say one of them isn't here right now, but probably our big man, Jock Perry. Between everyone. He has a nice little facial hair going on. Don't sleep on me. I'm coming up. Don't worry. THE MODERATOR: Any facial hair responses by any of the Jordans? JORDAN HUNTER: He's just being a bit ignorant. The lights are on and he's just panicking. Q. Can you guys just talk about what it's like to play for Coach Bennett, and kind of what I just asked a minute ago about reputation and everything. Do you think he's well known at all nationally? Do you think people give him respect for what he's accomplished? JORDAN HUNTER: Coach has a fantastic basketball mind. He expects and demands the best out of us, and he brings the best effort out of us every game. And whether he's nationally recognized or not, I don't think that's his concern, but we're just doing our part over in little Moraga making sure we're winning games. If it's on the big stage, we're ready. MALIK FITTS: If he doesn't have the recognition, I believe he should. I mean, he's one of the best coaches. As far as I remember, he's one of the top ten coaches or one of the coaches with like 400 wins or something like that. No, he's really big on character and a lot of our guys on our team are, you know, I will say really good about that. And that's what brought us to this moment right here. Everyone stayed together. JORDAN FORD: Yeah. Piggybacking off that. The great thing about Coach Bennett, he's not worried about what other people think about him, he's worried about what's going on in that locker room with our guys. And like Jordy said, he demands the best out of us every single night that we step on the floor and that make sure I bring my best effort which I've gotten better since I came in as a freshman. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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