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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: DES MOINES

March 20, 2019

Des Moines, Iowa

THE MODERATOR: We would like to welcome the Montana Grizzlies. We have Bobby Moorehead, Michael Oguine and Ahmaad Rorie. Questions for our student-athletes?

Q. What are your thoughts being in Des Moines, and how does it feel this time around as opposed to last year in Wichita?
AHMAAD RORIE: It feels real good. Travel was good. It's a blessing just being able to be out here again for a second year in a row. We're coming out here prepared so we had a good practice today and just been trying to get a lot of rest. So it feels good having some downtime and be able to have some fun.

MICHAEL OGUINE: It feels similar to Wichita, the last site we were at. I'm sure there are going to be a lot of fans here, neutral fans enjoying a good game. So I'm looking forward to that and having a good time with my teammates.

BOBBY MOOREHEAD: Excited to be here, second year in a row making the NCAA Tournament. It's a dream come true. I think we're more focused, more locked in and ready to get after it.

Q. Guys, part of the winningest two-year stretch in school history. What are you most proud of in your Grizzly career?
AHMAAD RORIE: Just being able to make it to the tournament twice in a row, win two championships, and we have a group that has worked hard each year. With that being said, just having this group that's, you know, been through a lot of adversity but been able to achieve a lot as well.

MICHAEL OGUINE: Just like Ahmaad said, getting to the tournament two years that's been a big part of it, but also building something we could be proud of, the people in the state are proud of and putting a product on the floor people can enjoy and bringing enjoyment to the community is a special thing, and I feel like we've been able to do that in our time.

BOBBY MOOREHEAD: I'm proud of how much we've grown as a team over the last two years. Like Ahmaad said, all the adversity, the championships are amazing, and just going through everything with your brothers. Just to have these guys as life-long friends is awesome.

Q. You guys have grown up watching the tournament and watched upsets and all that. What would it mean for you guys to be that darling, that upset team?
AHMAAD RORIE: It would mean a lot, you know, and I feel like we honestly have the team with the potential to do that this year. We have a very old veteran team and we've all been through a lot, prepared a lot. So I think just having a good game plan, you know, and not really playing with pressure. I feel like if we do that then we will be good. Just growing up watching a lot of games it's been great to see teams go far that probably weren't supposed to go far.

MICHAEL OGUINE: It would be a dream come true. Like Ahmaad said, growing up, it's always fun to root for the underdogs, to pull off an upset is obviously our goal. To do that it would mean a lot, for ourselves, for the team, for the city, for everyone that supported us along the way that would mean a lot. So that's the goal.

BOBBY MOOREHEAD: We know there are going to be upsets every year, so why not us? I believe and the rest of the guys on our team believe. So it would be a dream come true. It would be awesome.

Q. Ahmaad, this team is a strong defensive team and they're bigger than you guys sizewise. When you approach the game, how do you look at the way to run your offense against this team? They defend ball screens very well and defend the three ball well. How do you approach this offensively?
AHMAAD RORIE: I feel like we need to get out in transition. We don't do that enough and when we do we score at a high rate and moving the ball side-to-side, and I know all the shooters are going to be ready to shoot and getting offensive rebounds. We have guys that are capable of getting rebounds. So if we do those two things we'll be good.

Q. Bobby, along those lines, matching up with their size, something you're going to have to do personally. So what do you think about that match-up going up against them?
BOBBY MOOREHEAD: It's going to be tough. We've dealt with size issues a lot this year, and it's going to be nothing new. I know their center is over 7 foot, so it's going to be a tough match-up. But it's been tough the whole year, so we gotta get mentally prepared for it and do our best and I think when we have played our hardest and our best this year things usually work out. So that's what we're going to do. Just play our hardest.

Q. What do you guys remember just from before tip-off as far as the jitters of last year and being on this experience and the scene? How much do you think it will be not as big this go-round?
AHMAAD RORIE: Well, it was my second time going to the tournament. I went with Oregon before, so I was familiar with it a little bit. But obviously playing a different role on this team. But I kinda had a little bit of jitters but try to relax, know that my team was well-prepared, and I think this year will be my third time and everyone else's second. We'll just come out here and be focused and try to win the game. I don't think it will be too big of a deal being nervous.

MICHAEL OGUINE: Last year the game got delayed a little bit, the game before went to overtime. So that helped out with nerves. You had pregame nerves, but watching that game going extended time, kind of were able to relax a little bit and go out and play our game. Experience definitely helps with that, so I don't anticipate that we will be as nervous. So it will be more like let's take care of business and get this thing going and go from there.

BOBBY MOOREHEAD: There were jitters last year all around. You're traveling on a charter flight which we're not used to with a lot of people who aren't normally in our normal travel crew. So there is a lot of different things going on, a lot of hype going on. This is different. This year we expected it, prepared for it and I think this year are more focused. So I don't think the jitters will be there as much. Obviously, you're still playing on the biggest stage in the country. But when one year under our belt and we truly believe that's the difference.

Q. Michael, Coach John Beilein mentioned how much better of a shooting team you were last year missing shots being the difference in that game. What do you think about the shooting team you have this year?
MICHAEL OGUINE: It definitely makes us stronger, a better team, sustaining dry spells. We had a really big dry spell last year against these guys that put us in a deep hole. The improved shooting this year is definitely going to help us stay in the game more. We're going to rely auto that and get open looks and have confidence to knock 'em down when the time comes. So it's definitely great to have this year as compared to last year.

Q. You guys face plenty of adversity as you mentioned, couple low points when you fall to Eastern Washington before the Northern Colorado game and you were able to regroup. How much did this motivate you guys to get back to the tournament although you had things going against you? How much did this moment fuel you guys behind those closed door meetings?
BOBBY MOOREHEAD: We have a one-game mentality, throughout the year we're not looking toward March Madness, so for a small school like us it's tough to get there. So you have to get through those losses and we believe what we are capable of and we got away from those things we do, and once we got back on track I believe that's when we started to believe we could do this again.

MICHAEL OGUINE: We knew it wouldn't come down to a regular conference loss and we had a bigger picture at hand and we said let's get through this point, let's regroup, get better and be the best we can be when it's time for our conference tournament so we can win three games in a row and get back here. So that's what motivated us.

AHMAAD RORIE: At that point we weren't playing that good of basketball. We were able to regroup like they said and just knew that it would come back to the three games in the tournament and we knew that we would be fine.

THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, best of luck. Thank you.

Pleased to have with us the head coach of the Montana Grizzlies, Travis DeCuire. Coach, welcome to Des Moines.

TRAVIS DeCUIRE: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. This is what it's all about for these young men is an opportunity to perform on the biggest stage. I'm sure they just expressed that to you. Kinda feels like Groundhog Day, a lot of familiar faces. Hopefully a different outcome. We've got a lot of work to do. This Michigan team is very good. I think a lot of people may expect to see the same thing as far as teams go. But I think we have evolved in a different direction. They're more wing dominant. We spread the floor and play a little faster and put a few more points on the board. Should be an exciting game tomorrow and once again just fortunate to be here.

Q. Coach, what's going to be the keys to beating Michigan, and do you have any ties to Iowa?
TRAVIS DeCUIRE: No ties to Iowa. Michigan is a tough team to beat. They're good on both sides of the ball, a lot like last year. I think John Beilein is one of the few coaches that spends a lot of time on both sides of the ball, most teams have an identity on either side. They defend as well as anyone in the country, 28% from three. It is common to look up to teams in the 30s, field goal percentage overall. We like to do the same thing. For us, it's going to be containing Zavier Simpson. I think he's the one that creates a lot of offense for the others, keeping him in the paint, slowing down the transition, containing him in ball screens and trying to force the others to make plays for each other.

If we can get them a little out of sync, slow down their timing in offense maybe we can force turnovers and see if we can get out in transition ourselves. We want to score in the high 70s, low 80s, they keep the game in the 60s. So I think the higher we can make the score the better off we will be.

Q. For your entire conference season, you were the ones at the top that everyone was chasing. The position has switched, you are now the underdogs going up against Michigan. How does that change your mentality for better or worse?
TRAVIS DeCUIRE: Well, we've had a few games like this year where. The bullseye wasn't on our backs and those were the ones that our guys performed best at, whether we were on the road or we found ourselves in the second or third in the standings and we tried our best to get back to the top. We played with a high level of desperation. I think for a rematch our guys will go into the game the same way. Hopefully we will be hungrier and focus on the details and play our best basketball.

Q. Coach, last year you had the same starting lineup all season long and this year it's been up and down, changes left and right. Going into this game knowing that this lineup you've done a lot of small ball this year, do you feel confident even though you've had so many changes this year?
TRAVIS DeCUIRE: I do. I believe in these guys. I've got veterans in this lineup. Sayeed Pridgett has played a lot of basketball as a junior. He's a senior now. We've got a lot of older guys going on the floor. So with our maturity we've been able to settle in through adversity. Right now I think we're playing our best basketball, and hopefully we can continue to do that.

Q. Coach, Coach Beilein said that compared to last year's team the way you guys are different as far as spreading you out and matching the pace, it's hard to defend. We've heard a lot of Big Sky coaches say those same things. So how do you think match-upwise it will be different than last year and maybe you can exploit some of that?
TRAVIS DeCUIRE: We ran into a brick wall last year. We were post dominant. We threw the ball inside. We played inside out basketball. Film doesn't tell the story in terms of how physical and how big a team is. I thought we would have some advantages at the four spot in the post and we couldn't get a shot off. Once the game settled down and it became a half court basketball game we struggled to get shots.

We're a different basketball team right now and I think the way we're built could be advantageous to how they defend. But on the flip side, they have advantages with size. We've got to find a way to keep that ball out of the paint and rebound. But we've done that with bigger teams this year and the question is if we can do it again tomorrow night.

Q. Coach, along those same lines, you missed some open shots last year. This team has been great at knocking those down. How confident are you with the shooting you have this year?
TRAVIS DeCUIRE: Doesn't matter how confident I am. Those guys you just talked to up here, they gotta believe, right? I think we're a very confident basketball team. I think we have found a way to grind and trust each other and play with a high level of confidence in each other, which means our shot selection is a lot better than it was a year ago. We will turn down an okay shot for a better shot. If we can be patient knowing that this is a good defense team that's going to take way first and second options and contest everything and just work and not panic at the end of shot clock we will get open shots. We've just got to be patient enough to wait for them. I think we will knock those shots down, but I think the key is always to get as many high percentage shots as you can. We are not going to settle and bomb away from three because that's the best shoot you're going to get. We're going to find a way to get two-point shots, and the more of those we get the better off we will be.

Q. You guys had a tough nonconference season at the beginning of this year. How did that prepare you to be here and playing tomorrow?
TRAVIS DeCUIRE: We played quite a few teams that either were built to be championship teams or actually did compete for championships, and it's a different feeling when you go on the floor and you match-up against someone who thinks they're good enough to hang a banner. That prepares you for March. I thought we did well. I thought we improved from the adversity that we dealt with during those stretches. I don't think we were ourselves when we played Creighton and I don't think we were ourselves when we played Arizona. Unfortunately we didn't perform many of those games the way I thought we would when I signed up for those games. But we had injuries right before or day of that kept us from putting our best product on the floor and we weren't able to play with what we prepared. This time around the guys we're putting on the floor we have been playing with for a long time, but I do think those games prepared us for this situation.

Q. Travis, your team pretty much everybody here has been to the tournament on this team. How has the feeling been? Have they been more calm or how have they approached this year as opposed to last year?
TRAVIS DeCUIRE: It's been more calm the last twelve hours. From the one big league you're going to celebrate. You can go ten years in a row. That Saturday night if you win you're going to celebrate like it's the first win in your life and that's what our guys did. They enjoyed the moment. Sunday they enjoyed Selection Sunday. We had an incredible crowd come and watch the show with us, enjoy the moment with us. Monday's practice high energy, probably not the most disciplined or detailed-oriented group that day. But then as time passed, Tuesday morning, 8 a.m. practice, hard to get up for. They were ready to go. As focused as any team could probably be at 8:15 in the morning, and today they were ready to go. I thought I was focused and ready to go and I had a couple of them on me making sure I was ready. So it turned into more of a business trip today.

Q. I think we asked the players what it's like stepping on the court and playing the game. What is it like for you getting going on this game and going up against a coach that I know you have a lot of respect for as well?
TRAVIS DeCUIRE: It's exciting. But I've built this team to treat every game the same. Whether you're playing Michigan or Eastern Washington or Idaho, you have to treat each game the same so that when one becomes more meaningful you can handle the rise in intensity in the moment. Right? But you also show up for a game that you might not pencil in on your calendar when the schedule comes out.

So, you know, for us it's more than just another game, obviously, your season either continues or ends tomorrow night. But our guys are excited and ready to go. I'm excited and ready to go. It's a big moment for me. This is what I dream of is coaching in the NCAA Tournament. As a head coach, it's my second time. I would love to be able to do this every year until I have that type of program. I'm going to enjoy the moment. So when I step on the floor I look at the bright lights, smile, enjoy the moment and when the ball goes in the air it's time to go to work.

Q. Something about Michigan is they can have spurts offensively where they don't score, five, six, seven minutes. You guys are a defensive-oriented team. How do you force them into those stretches and take advantage of them on the offensive end?
TRAVIS DeCUIRE: Hard to answer without giving up the scouting report! We just gotta do what we know how to do. We know where they're trying to get a shot for the most part and if we're in the right places at the right times that moment will happen. And that's what we're known for is holding teams scoreless for two, three, four minutes. We finished the season leading the conference for scoring and we held them for what, ten minutes? Hopefully we can do that again. Michigan is a better basketball team. There is no question about it. But if we're in the right places and we pick up the flow of their offense at some point in time we should be in all the right spots at the right time and hopefully it turns into one of those stretches.

Q. Coach, what are you most proud of during this two-year run to lead your Alma Mater to the tournament two years in a row, twenty six wins in each year?
TRAVIS DeCUIRE: You want me to answer that without bragging? Hard to do. I'm proud of my guys. Ahmaad Rorie, you are talking about a top-50 recruit in the country that's playing for a program that's in a one-bid league, transfers down from the Pac-12. He's been on the number one nationally ranked team in the country. He's got a lot of reasons to throw up 20 shots a game like a lot of guards we played against this year. He's taken a backseat not to anyone but just to the moment to benefit our team, our program, to give us an opportunity to sit here in front of you right now. I'm proud of him for that because that's hard to do.

When you dream of playing in the NBA you dream of playing for money, sometimes your stats, your accolades are important. And a lot of times those things are worth dollar signs. He put those in the backseat to get here to win a championship. I'm proud of him for that. Sayeed Pridgett, for two years he has wanted to be the guy and he has wanted to get shots and get the ball in his hands and he wanted to start and he waited his turn and he trusted me. Michael Oguine had his best year as the freshman in the history of Montana basketball and going into his sophomore year everyone had big expectations for him to be the best player to put on a jersey at Montana. But here comes Ahmaad Rorie and Sayeed Pridgett. He's got to share. Here comes Jamar Akoh. So he goes from expecting to score 25 a game himself to 12, 13. But he's had 30-point games. They've all had 30-point games, but none of them averaged 20. It's very difficult to do. So I'm proud of the selflessness that my group has expressed and shown together to build a championship program.

Q. What do you hope with the senior crew that you're going to play with for possibly the last time tomorrow night or maybe moving on? What do you hope for them?
TRAVIS DeCUIRE: I want to see them walk out of this arena with a smile on their face. That means either we won, or they're proud of the effort that they put forward and the product that they put out in representation of our community, our program, their families, their friends. I want them to walk out of here proud. That's not easy to do in defeat. We gotta find a way to win and play our best basketball.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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