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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: COLUMBIA

March 21, 2019

Columbia, South Carolina

THE MODERATOR: Our student-athletes from Virginia Commonwealth University, Marcus Evans, De'Riante Jenkins, Marcus Santos-Silva and Issac Vann. Please introduce yourself and let us know your affiliation.

Q. Marcus, can you give us an update on how the knee's feeling, what you've been able to do this week?
MARCUS EVANS: It's feeling better each day, still day-to-day. I got in practice today and got moving a lot. So it's starting to feel better. I'm looking forward to Friday.

Q. Marcus, how would you describe your evolution over the last year or so, especially as a defensive player? From your time at Rice now to your time with Coach Rhoades at VCU.
MARCUS EVANS: I think it's changed a lot. In the off-season, we all decided to buy in. We knew defensively, it was a thing we had to improve on. In practice especially, with a team as talented as this, you're going against guys every day who are just as good as you. As the season progressed, we knew that was going to be the key to our season. I just took it more personally as the season went on.

Q. This is for De'Riante. You're one of the few players on the team who was in the 2017 tournament with that team. What was it like last year not to be in the tournament, and what is it that you guys would like to accomplish and prove to people this year?
DE'RIANTE JENKINS: The feeling was strange to sit home watching the games on TV, wishing you were out there and knowing the things you've got to work on and improve just to get to this point in the season. We're just going to play our style of basketball, and that's going to take care of itself.

Q. De'Riante, you're one of the few that have played on this court in high school. What do you remember about those state championship games and the memories you have? Pretty good ones when you guys beat Newberry.
DE'RIANTE JENKINS: Yes, it was a great feeling. The second year we lost, so I just tried to redeem myself and get the good feeling in the crowd and in the locker room, and everyone just feeling that, and we have to go from there.

Q. Marcus, just talking about the knee, you say it's getting better every day. Do you feel limited in any way, in any activities you have to do? Do you feel limited, and are there still improvements you think you can make before game time?
MARCUS EVANS: Obviously, I'm still working each day rehabbing, but I haven't felt anything to hold me back so far, and everything I've been doing, obviously, it's hard to simulate a game situation until you're out there, but like I said, I've been feeling better each day, and we're all just looking forward to Friday.

Q. Marcus, as you look at the matchup with Tacko Fall and that, particularly the size difference, how do you prepare for something like that, and what do you see from him on film?
MARCUS SANTOS-SILVA: Just focus on what he's good at, and, of course, he's really tall, and just do what I've been doing the whole season. I feel like I'll be all right.

Q. Is there any matchup you can compare to that one?
MARCUS SANTOS-SILVA: No, not at all.

Q. De'Riante, what has Marcus brought to VCU basketball this year that perhaps you guys didn't have last season when he was sitting out and also hurt?
DE'RIANTE JENKINS: Competitive edge. He's a tough player. We know we get out of him every single night. He's going to heat the ball up and bring his energy. We feed off of him every single night.

Q. For anyone other than Marcus Evans, how important is having him in this game? And how difficult or challenging is it to have the uncertainty of maybe not knowing how full strength he might be?
ISSAC VANN: He's an important part of our offense and defense. It's huge. Whether he plays or not, we know if he plays, we know what he's going to bring. If not, we know he's going to be a huge supporter on the bench.

Q. Again for Marcus, you talked about Tacko Fall and how it's difficult -- you can't compare it to anything. Have you tried to simulate that in practice? You've got like broomsticks or ladders or something like that?
MARCUS SANTOS-SILVA: We've been simulating it in practice. One of our assistant coaches, Coach Scott, he's been practicing too because he's really tall and big. We've used like pads to simulate him blocking shots. But nothing really until you actually play the game.

Q. Question for I.V. We've heard a lot about Tacko, but what has Coach Rhoades stressed to you this week? What has Coach Rhoades stressed to you about what UCF does well?
ISSAC VANN: We've just got to move the ball. Once their defense is set, we know they're a solid defensive team. We can't play one-on-one basketball. We've got to get the ball hot and move from side to side, do what we do.

MARCUS SANTOS-SILVA: Also, pressuring them when they're on offense, and don't let them get comfortable at all and just deny everything. Then just do what we do, and we'll be fine.

DE'RIANTE JENKINS: He's big on style of play. It's a style of play game, he said. Their style of play versus our style of play, and which one is going to win over.

MARCUS EVANS: I mean, they said it all, yeah.

Q. Marcus Evans, we've never really heard what exactly happened that injured the knee. Did you just land awkwardly on it and something went out?
MARCUS EVANS: Yeah, when I came down, kind of hyperextended it. Obviously, with my history, I didn't know exactly what it was until we got in the back, and our trainer kind of informed me everything was still intact. Then like I said, just this whole week he's been great with me, just rehabbing, just trying to get me back to feeling 100 percent.

Q. Marcus, was there ever much doubt that you were going to have a reunion with Coach Rhoades after he left Rice for VCU and considering how close it is to home for you?
MARCUS EVANS: Yeah, when I left Rice, I obviously looked around, was looking for the best opportunity, but after talking to some coaches and narrowing down the list, having an opportunity to come home was huge for me. And then like I said, the familiarity of VCU and the coaching staff kind of just made sense.

Q. For all you guys, VCU sort of launched as a brand, as a big underdog story. Now all these years later, and you guys have been to a number of tournaments, do you still feel like you have any of that underdog persona when you think nationally? Or do you think you're more of an established brand at this point?
MARCUS SANTOS-SILVA: Definitely yes. I feel like people still doubt us of things we can do. I feel like this whole season we've been doubted a lot. We definitely feel like we're still the underdog and still need to prove to people who we are.

ISSAC VANN: Definitely. Going into each and every game, we've got an underdog mindset, even before the season, we were picked seventh and ninth. We've seen the disrespect all year. That's just a mindset we have every day.

THE MODERATOR: De'Riante or Marcus, you want to add to that?

DE'RIANTE JENKINS: No, they pretty much said it all. That's just who VCU is. That's what we feed off of, and that's how we built this from dudes in the past until now as the underdog.

Q. De'Riante, the NCAA's new metric this season ranks your nonconference schedule among the top five in the country. How did those games prepare you for not only the Atlantic 10 season, but perhaps this stage, as well?
DE'RIANTE JENKINS: We learned each game. We learned each game, and we use each game as a measuring stick and come back in practice and just learn. In conference play, it helped us. We seen ourself in those situations in conference play, and we just learned from it.

Q. For Marcus or De'Riante or both, BJ Taylor, their point guard, what do you see out of him? What type of player do you think he is?
MARCUS EVANS: He's a crafty guard. Obviously, he's strong. One of the things that we realize is he draws a lot of fouls. So the thing about it is just being disciplined when we guard him. Keep the ball in front. Any good player is going to make tough shots, so you can't be discouraged if he hits a few shots. You just try to make it tough for him, make him take tough shots every game, and we'll be fine.

THE MODERATOR: De'Riante?

DE'RIANTE JENKINS: Marcus said everything.

THE MODERATOR: Any more questions for our student-athletes? Thank you, gentlemen.

VCU head coach Mike Rhoades.

MIKE RHOADES: Just really excited to be here. Appreciate everyone and their hospitality. It's been great. Our guys are excited. They can't wait to play. We've got a long wait tomorrow, but we're looking forward to being a part of March Madness.

Q. Mike, can you talk about what you've done in practice to simulate Tacko Fall's size and height, and how you prepare the guys for that?
MIKE RHOADES: I wish we could say we got up on a chair with some broomsticks, but you can't really move very well that way. We've just did a couple drills like that, when we talk about awareness drills of teams we play who have a different style or a different player or somebody with great size or great quickness. We talk about breaking down parts of the game, and we call them awareness drills, to be aware of a really fast player like a Briante Weber guarding you or a guy like Tacko Fall around the rim that you're not just going to go in and shoot a finger roll. That's not going to happen.

So a couple of awareness drills for guys to understand it's got to be on the front of their mind when they're playing in the heat of the game, without a doubt. A lot of it is prepare for the opponent, but it's all about us and making sure we're ready to go.

Q. (No microphone).
MIKE RHOADES: We had a guy on our team like that, like Larry Sanders, where if you're going to attack somebody that big and they're waiting for you and ready for you, it's probably not a good decision. We've got to play they way we do with our style of play and move that ball and be fast and do what we always do, try to get our opponent chasing and being a step or two late. But if they're standing there waiting, it's not going to work.

Q. Larry Sanders is 6'11", and he's still seven inches shorter than Tacko Fall.
MIKE RHOADES: Right.

Q. Could you talk a moment about how you got Marcus Evans to Rice, how your relationship with him has grown over the years, and the defensive impact he's had on your team this year?
MIKE RHOADES: When I was an assistant with Coach Smart, of course, we always recruited that area of the 757, and Marcus was an underclassman at Great Bridge when I was recruiting Briante Weber. I knew of Marcus. I knew he played for the Boo Williams AAU program, which is one of the best in the country. I just kept an eye on him, kept a tag on him, and he kept getting better every year. He wasn't the shooter that he is now, but he was just a dynamic type of guard the way he moved, and stayed in touch with him and his coaches.

Then when the Rice -- we were recruiting him and staying in touch with him when I was an assistant at VCU, but when all that went down with Rice and I was going there, he was one of the first phone calls -- I think I called him before I called and offered some assistant coaches a job. I think it was a good move. And just the neat thing about Marcus is his competitive spirit, his competitive edge. I knew it would fit my personality really well, and I thought then, and I still feel it now, but probably his greatest strength is he just has a competitive spirit that his teammates catch, too. That's the biggest thing.

You see that when he plays defense ball. He can guard the ball different ways, but he can just constantly put pressure on the game with his defensive pressure and his knack. I guess there's something in the water at Great Bridge because on-the-ball defense, we've been very fortunate at VCU to have some guys from Great Bridge that can really guard the ball and pressure the game and impact the game just by his defensive presence.

Q. Obviously, forcing turnovers is big for you guys, so what are your impressions of their guards, BJ Taylor and Terrell Allen?
MIKE RHOADES: Very good players. You can't play in that conference with a really good team -- be a really good team and play against all those other guards if you can't hold your own and do more. BJ is a really talented player. I remember him for a number of years now. He can make plays. He's strong. He handles the ball. He's an upperclassman. Allen can really play and handle the ball. Everybody can handle the ball. Guards are really good when you get to this point in the year, without a doubt, and they've seen all types of defenses. It doesn't mean you're just going to turn somebody over and get a steal every time down the court, but that's just what we do. We play. We want to have great pressure and mess things up for the other team as best we can, but you're playing against really good players, too, so number one, you've got to respect them, and you've got to have a plan against them. But also, we're going to do what we do, and hopefully, that's enough.

Q. Coach, you spoke about this year being a learning experience. Is there any team that you can go back to in your nonconference schedule or regular conference season that has a style or tendency of UCF? Anything look similar or familiar?
MIKE RHOADES: I think Temple, playing Temple early in the year is similar with that, the way they play, and the two games that they played against each other. You saw some similar tendencies. And probably some of the teams in our league are similar with really strong guards, confident guards, and then really solid around the rim and guys that can make plays.

So we've played a really tough schedule, and I think all our games this year really helped us. We had some games where we got the style of play going. We had some games where we had to grind it out, some games we didn't shoot the ball well but our defense showed up. Hopefully, all those experiences help us. There are some teams similar. I would think Temple is one of them, for sure, and then I think it's more about preparing for whoever you play in the NCAA Tournament. You've got to make sure your team's right, more important than the plan itself.

Q. What did Marcus Evans' workload look like over the last day or so, and what will it look like over the next 24 hours for Friday night?
MIKE RHOADES: He's worked really hard. He's rehabbed. He's pretty much lived in the training room since Saturday. Each day has been a little bit better. Workload, probably more today than he has all week. Probably tomorrow, we'll move him around a little bit and shoot around. We'll see where he is. He's not 100, but he's going to give it a shot, and we'll see from there.

Q. Mike, how good does it feel to be here after not being here last year for the first time since 2011? And how tough is it to be in the 8-9 matchup where neither team is really favored, neither team is really an underdog? Since '85, it's 68-68 in those games. What do you want to prove, and what can you prove from that spot?
MIKE RHOADES: Just to be back here -- I said this numerous times throughout the year. We had to go through a year like last year for us to sort of recalibrate who we are. You have to go through some stuff to build your culture. You have to go through some stuff that you don't always like to build the program the way you want it. I'm not saying we got spoiled because this is something we want to do all the time, but we've got to make sure we're always doing it the right way on and off the court and that we're never taken it for granted.

I think this year everybody is very appreciative the position we're in, but I think it was -- the reason we're here is because of all the work these guys did in the spring of last year, the summer and the fall, when nobody was watching, when the lights weren't on. That's what I'm most proud about. That's building and working on our culture, which if you have that, then it gives you a better chance to get to the NCAA Tournament each year.

On top of that, I think the experience of this season, we probably surprised some people and then kept getting better and better. That gives us confidence to go in a tournament, whatever your seeding is. 8-9, you're exactly right, very similar teams, but it's about how we prepare and how we go about it. We played some really good teams. We played a bunch of teams that are in the NCAA Tournament. So I think our guys are going to be really excited, but I don't think they'll be nervous. I think they really want to play, and they deserve it for sure.

Q. If you're facing a team that's got a really dominant left-handed player -- and, obviously, you're going to go over that in the scouting report -- but do you find that still, sometimes guys in the heat of the battle, that kind of eludes them a little bit, and they might shade towards the right hand accidentally?
MIKE RHOADES: Yeah, absolutely. Sometimes you do all the scouting report, and then the ball goes up, the scouting report's out the window. We've all been there. If you coach long enough, you see it. But we talk about having awareness all the time. You might do it once because we shoot for a perfect game, but you're not playing a perfect game. But if you make a mistake, own it, have awareness, and move on. When you have a clear mind and clear head and your teammates are helping you, that's maybe when you don't make that mistake a second and third time. If you make it a second and third time this time of the year, your season's usually over.

So we talk about having great awareness, and when something doesn't go our way, own it, move on, and play with a clear head.

Q. Have you found in your experience that lefties tend to use both hands better than righties do?
MIKE RHOADES: We really talk -- in our scouting report, we really talk about personnel and who we're guarding and stuff like that, so our guys know. We're really big on talking about the scouting report and personnel. So it's just not a report that the coach gives because he's supposed to do that. We want to get to a point in our program where our juniors and seniors are pretty much running the scouting report and personnel and holding their teammates accountable. We're getting there. We saw that throughout the year.

So tendencies of players, I know a lot of good players that are righty but go better left because that's what the coaches tell you at a young age and vice versa. We've got to work on it. We show our guys a lot of tape. We do a lot of stuff on the court when it comes to personnel of other teams, and we want to make sure they own the scouting report from that way.

Q. Obviously, the NCAA Tournament is a goal for so many players. Once they get here, what is the mental preparation like both from an individual basis and as a team, especially for guys who haven't been here yet, to make sure they're focused and ready to go for tip-off?
MIKE RHOADES: You know what's greater than getting in the NCAA Tournament, winning a game in the NCAA Tournament. Look, their whole lives, these players, they're pushed. Their first goal is to be a Division I player and get a full scholarship to get a free education; check. Then the next thing, they want to go to a basketball school where they can win a championship; check. Then they want to make the NCAA Tournament; check. You know what's better than all that? Taking your teammates that you love to be with, your brothers that you're going to have for the rest of your life, and going in the NCAA Tournament and winning games. Why not go after that? That's the fun of it. I think you've got to get your team excited about being here, but go win. That's why we're here.

Q. Coach, obviously, it didn't result in a win, but losing Marcus last Friday night, but seeing Issac Vann, seeing De'Riante talk to the team, work those guys around, communication was key. What did your team -- what did you find out about your team in that moment on the fly last Friday?
MIKE RHOADES: Well, there was definitely a level of fight, and the guys were trying to figure it out. I think some of the guys were really nervous for Marcus because they thought it was like a career-ending injury. They're thinking of the worst, and that took some time for them to figure that out.

But we've been through some crazy battles, and some of these guys have been through some coaching changes, some players leaving. Last year Issac Vann played with a bad leg all year and then got surgery. We had another guy get surgery. We had some crazy things happen last year. We went through it, not the results we want in the end, and they've all matured. Now there's another thing that occurred in the A-10 Tournament last weekend. Figure it out, deal with it, move on. You saw that during the game.

Now, we didn't win the game and disappointed, but what more do we have? Now we're here in the NCAA Tournament. What more do we have to give each other?

Q. Probably more of a dilemma for your fans, but with a 9:40 tip tomorrow night, you guys have only had two or three 9:00 tips this year. How do you manage time, energy, and emotions tomorrow with the team?
MIKE RHOADES: We'll sleep in a little bit. We'll have -- we'll do a little stretching program that we usually do when we play a late game like that. We'll go shoot around. We'll have our shootaround and walkthrough. Guys will be watching games. What do you do? I know what some of you guys will do. We can't do that.

I think, as the day goes on, you watch games, they'll be fired up. 9:40 is a late start, but these guys have played AAU basketball since probably third grade, and there's some times you start games at 11:00. They'll be fine. They'll be raring to go.

Q. De'Riante mentioned the other day that it's kind of a style of play game. How much has that been kind of the message throughout the week? Obviously, you want to get the pace up in every game you play, but particularly, when going up against a player like Tacko, make sure you get the pace up to where you want it on Friday.
MIKE RHOADES: It doesn't matter who we play and what the other team has, we want to play that way because we're going to play a lot of guys. We want the pace -- I want our guys to play fast. I want them to play aggressive because that's the fun way to play. That's been successful for us. So we want to do that. Playing a team for the first time late in the season and you can get the style of play going, I think that's an advantage.

Now, there's going to be times where we're going to run plays and settle down here and there, but we definitely want to make sure we're being really aggressive. If you get beat in the NCAA Tournament, you don't want to have any we should have or could have. We don't want to say we were on our heels too much. If we're going to go down, it's because somebody's going to beat us at their best and us being close to our best, and I can live with that. We want to make sure that we're playing and the game is going the way we want.

Q. You guys are, I believe, seventh in the country in defensive efficiency. It's a team effort, I'm sure, but is there one guy you would say is the ring leader for you defensively?
MIKE RHOADES: I couldn't pick out one guy, but I will say this: Marcus Evans' pressure on the ball up the court starts our defense when we're not pressing or it turns into a half-court. Issac Vann's been guarding perimeter offensive players at a high level all year long. He should have been All Conference on the defensive end. I think around the rim, our guys are really versatile and they can really move, so that really helps our guards. Sometimes takes some chances, sometimes deny, push the offense out. I think our big guys really this year have done a great job of protecting the rim and scrambling because they can really move.

So it's a collective group, without a doubt, but I think certain guys are good at certain things that have really helped us.

Q. Mike, you said maybe sleep in a little tomorrow. I'm curious, going back to the preseason, can you remember the last time you slept in?
MIKE RHOADES: I got three kids, and I take them to school every morning. I don't sleep in at all. The players will. I mean, these guys would sleep till 2:00 if they could. We're not going to let them. But, no, the problem I have is I don't go to sleep, and then I go to sleep, and then you hear people waking up in the morning. So it's over for me. So sleep in May.

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