	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: SAN JOSE

March 21, 2019

Ritchie McKay

San Jose, California

MODERATOR: All right. We have coach Ritchie McKay joining us on the dais. We will have him give us an opening statement, and then we'll open it up to questions.

RITCHIE McKAY: Thank you. Certainly feel privileged and honored to have an opportunity to compete in the greatest spectacle in sports, and really excited about our opportunity. I have a ton of respect for Coach Howland and the Mississippi State Bulldogs. It will be an arduous task, but wouldn't put anything past our group.

Q. Ritchie, I was just in the locker room, and the guys were talking about several games throughout the season. Alabama was one, UCLA was the other that really helped shape the mindset that this group could go to anywhere, anyplace and not be overwhelmed by the magnitude of it. Do you feel that the nonconference schedule that you set up this year was intentional to get this team to this position and be in the right mindset for an NCAA Tournament game?
RITCHIE McKAY: Well, the origin behind upgrading our schedule was we were changing conference affiliations, moving to the ASUN, which is a terrific league and has really good players and really good coaching. We just felt like we had to make sure we prepped our guys in such a way that they would have a chance to be competitive for a conference championship.

So a couple of games were done, and then we had late opportunities that evolved that we took advantage of and felt like with the team that played last year, we were fairly competitive and we had a good group and felt like we would have a pretty competitive team this coming season, and that bore out to be true.

I think those games, without a doubt, they helped us. I mean, it was a tough venue when we lost at Vanderbilt with Darius Garland. Bryce is a really good coach, and he's a heck of a player. So that game helped us. And obviously Alabama and Georgetown to play that kind of size and athleticism. We'll see that again tomorrow. And not to mention UCLA. I think those were deposits in our bank.

Q. When Coach Howland was in here earlier, he talked about the influence the Bennett family has had on you. Can you just kind of touch on that in terms of how they influenced maybe your coaching philosophy or how you like to play?
RITCHIE McKAY: Well, Dick Bennett, Tony's dad, has been and still serves as a mentor of mine since I've been in the profession. Funny story, my younger brother got drafted by the Green Bay Packers, I think it was 1990, he played at the University of Washington football, and I asked Coach Bennett if I could come up and visit with him for 15 minutes. And that 15 minutes turned into about two hours.

And he's as humble as the day is long, just an incredible man, not just an incredible coach. So I struck up a friendship with Tony probably 20 years ago, and the six years I was at UVA, I would jokingly say: I got a Ph.D. in the pack-line defense, which I really needed, if you looked at any of our teams that we coached before coming back to Liberty.

But you know what, more than the defensive or the X and Os or the strategies that I got a chance to be a part of at UVA, I got to learn from a younger coach than myself in Tony Bennett. He's just fabulous. I think he's one of the neatest people that walk the planet, and you can tell he's got a deep faith and incredible integrity, and I think he's very influential to anyone that does life with him.

Q. What's the hardest thing about teaching that defense? I guess if it was easy to teach, everybody would be doing it since it's so successful. How much time does it take as opposed to teaching another type of defense, and what's the real essence of it?
RITCHIE McKAY: Yeah, Mark, you answered the question. I think the hardest thing about it is how much time you have to invest in it. And I think for us, what we've seen over the course of time, whether at UVA or at Liberty, the longer you're in the system, the better you get at it.

And that's true on both ends of the floor. The more you stay with an offensive system, I think the more guys will be able to stay in their line, if you will. So same is true on the defensive end. Why other people don't do it as much, I'm not sure. I think it's hard to play that way. Oftentimes we get critiqued for the tempo in which we play with. But if your defense is going right, you're usually a little more challenging to score against. Therefore, it shortens the game a little bit.

So we get criticized offensively, and I think I'm one of the most free-flowing guys. Like I want our guys to get a great shot. I'm not concerned when it comes in the shot clock. I think defensively it slows the game down a little bit if the opponent is not careful, and sometimes that bodes to our advantage.

Q. George was in Richmond for a little while. We got to know him there. Can you speak to his progression, a guy who had the language barrier and the basketball barrier and the development he's made?
RITCHIE McKAY: Yeah, we wouldn't be up here today without Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz. I think he's going to be the all-time winningest player in basketball if we have another decent next year. His coach, Curt Kassab, is here today, and I saw him in the hotel before we left, and I just thanked him again, because it was in Richmond after a game against VCU our first year in which I think we were down 40 or something, it may have been 30, in the final, but we were never in the game.

And we practiced the next day a deep run, and he reminded me again: Hey, I think Georgie might be able to help you. Well, being the savvy coach that I was, having lost my 13th straight Division I game, I said maybe he could. So we ended up going to -- I think their next game was in Richmond against Benedictine, and we went to the game and shortly after that I called Coach Kassab and said we're offering Georgie.

And three and a half plus years later, he's really one of the best point guards in our league. And although he's invisible to some, not to us. He's really had a great impact on our ascension, if you will.

Q. Speaking again about Georgie, this year shot selection is down quite a bit because of the scorers around him. But the presence that he has on the floor in terms of being a facilitator, improving defender, has that level of his game taken off where he knows his role may change but he's still just as important to this team?
RITCHIE McKAY: You said shot selection is down. Attempts are down, but his selection has been outstanding. He's very discerning when it comes to making the right read, and I'm just wondering, did he pay you to ask that question about defensive improvement? (Laughs.) No, he's gotten better. And that, again, is part of the system and part of our program's evolution.

We haven't arrived yet. We still have a ways to go before I think we're where we want to be. But, again, Georgie has had a great investment in what we're doing, and he's improved in a variety of aspects that have been really meaningful to us.

Q. What's it like coaching there as opposed to the other places you've coached? I know it's obviously a different place than a lot of universities, and, I mean, was it a place that you felt fit you from the beginning, and what's it been like as the years have gone on?
RITCHIE McKAY: Yeah, I am often asked that question, and I explain that I never left Liberty for what it wasn't the first time. We had won 23 games. I think our program was headed in the right direction. Seth Curry was in our program, although he decided to leave. About a week later Coach Bennett called me and asked me to be a part of his staff.

And just felt led to do that. My wife and I felt like it was something that was going to be important to our family, not just my career. And it didn't look anything like I thought it was going to look, but God, sometimes he has a way of doing that.

And I'd say coming back, I mean I wanted to come back. It's been incredible. Like just the things that you may take for granted when you're in a place, I think oftentimes we can inadvertently do that, and certainly I was a victim of that. Although I loved and appreciated my time at UVA and learned a great deal, having the opportunity to come back to Liberty has been really special for my family and I.

Jeff Barber hired me again along with Jerry Jr., our president, and Ian McCaw is our AD now and he's really one of the best leaders in the business.

So I just feel like there's a commitment to our program. I feel like there's an authenticity. And what's unique about Liberty is the relationships and the connectivity that is campus-wide. I don't know if there's a better place. I'm sure there's some as good, but the pursuit of excellence on that campus, whether you work in athletics or you're in the engineering school or you're on the custodial staff, the pursuit of excellence is phenomenal there. And I'm just privileged to be a small part of the body, a fingernail, if you will.

Q. How rewarding was it that Georgie got to be the one to take the shot last week that put you guys here?
RITCHIE McKAY: Well, it wasn't drawn up that way, but, again, that's to our team's credit. The most enjoyable thing about coaching this team is they really don't care who gets the shot or who sits in the limelight. They care about the process of getting better, and in that pursuit, I think we've seen some growth occur in our program.

But to see Georgie, I thought it was going in when it left his hand, but to see his reaction to it, he really doesn't show much emotion, and to see his reaction to it was fabulous. Like he put so much pressure on himself last year towards the end of the season when we lost at Radford for an opportunity to go to the NCAA Tournament. And he took it really hard, and he didn't play well in the postseason tournament we played in last year, the CIT, which was really good for us, by the way. We lost to UIC in the semifinals.

I think Georgie has had a commitment to not just being a better player, in better shape and eating better, all that, but he's really, really took on a leadership role of making sure everyone was following his example of self-sacrifice, and that selflessness has, again, propelled us in such a way that we're in the NCAA Tournament.

Q. I know you guys played a tough nonconference schedule that kind of has helped prepare you for this. The mindset from your team, even losing some of those games, was it's not good enough to play it close, we expect to win. How did you instill that mindset in this group?
RITCHIE McKAY: Yeah, I think when you're coach, if you're outcomes based, you're going to be in trouble. Like the rise and the fall, the highs and lows will be too significant for you to sustain a right mindset.

So I think one of the things that we've done decently is we've made sure that we've been process oriented. We did some shirts for our guys. Buzz Williams does about 12 shirts a year for his team, and I copied his idea. We've only done three. It's not budget, it's just Buzz thinks in a different way than I do.

But we have these shirts that say "Pursuit Over Perfection." And our guys came up with what they wanted on that shirt. And I think, again, what's been a day-by-day pursuit of trying to win the game, trying to get better, trying to be the conference representative, has evolved into a confidence where you can walk into Georgetown and think you got a chance.

It started about April 1st, four years ago, when we took the job, because I saw a team or program built at Virginia that was never scared to go on the road. They weren't intimidated by the number of a ranking next to an opponent's name.

And, again, we're not there. We do have a long way to go. This is a great step, and we're honored to be a part of it, but I do think we are headed in the right direction.

Q. After you beat UCLA, they made a coaching change. What was your initial gut reaction to that when you heard about it?
RITCHIE McKAY: Steve Alford is a really good friend of mine. I have a ton of respect for him. I love him. He's terrific. Great coach, great person. So there was a lot made, at least in Albuquerque, about Steve's departure and how ironic it was because he replaced me when I got let go at Mexico. But it never entered my mind whatsoever that that was never a motive to win the game against Steve. Duane Broussard is on their coaching staff. He was on our coaching staff at New Mexico. He's a close, personal friend, too. I didn't have any reaction other than I felt sorry for me and the circumstances, but I know how good a coach and how good a man Steve Alford is. I'm not worried about him returning to the profession.

And then I was just excited. It's hard to win in Pauley Pavilion. I've been there a few times and took my share of losses. But our group was really connected that game and I was happy to see their celebration in knocking out a Pac-12 opponent.

Q. Coach, first of all, congratulations for making it to an NCAA Tournament.
RITCHIE McKAY: Thank you.

Q. And to sort of piggyback off the relationship between you and Coach Bennett, obviously very close. We've talked about how you've taken the pack-line defense and used that. But what do you think the biggest thing you've learned from him professionally and personally? What do you feel is the one big thing in each category that you've taken from him?
RITCHIE McKAY: Professionally I think he's got a perseverance and a belief in his system that's unwavering. He really thinks differently than most people know. They think he's so dogmatic about the pack-line defense or his motion offense. He's really not. He's very open to ideas; that someone who's invested some time in their presentation, he will listen. But he's not good, he's great at maybe taking one of those ideas that someone brought to him and fitting it into his system.

What he's done at Virginia. And I don't have the stats or the numbers in front of me, but I lived it. It's amazing, the success he's had in the ACC, which is arguably the best conference in the country. It's phenomenal. But personally, as I alluded to earlier, he's a man of great faith. He really has the highest of integrity.

We were in a conference in which you had to get high major players to compete, and we were taking two- and three-star guys that had five-star character. And I think it speaks to him having the trust in the Lord and the process that if we were going to fail, we were going to fail doing it the way we were led, he was led, and I was a part of that. And that's what I love about him.

I just think he's a fabulous person. He's not very good at returning phone calls. But he will text. And I'm obviously rooting for them in the tournament, and I'll always be a fan of their family.

Q. You mentioned, I believe it was last week, about how being there for six years allowed you to regain a perspective in coaching, how prior to that I guess your coaching was rooted in success and the affirmation of being a coach who was successful. Was that something where you were just looking for wins, looking for championships and that was your driving force instead of the driving force of building a culture and a program that could have sustained success without having to search for that?
RITCHIE McKAY: Yeah. That's a great question. I think I operated out of a woundedness that I didn't even know I had for years of my professional life, and Galatians 1:10 asks the question would you rather please man or please God, and I certainly thought, even though I was a believer or I am a believer when I'm going through this, that I would always just try and please God. But I wanted to win. And look, anything that we choose to invest in, think about, object assess in can become an idol in our lives and for me it was winning, success, the approval of man. And I just think being able to go to UVA as the associate head coach and not have the responsibility of building a program or feel like you're responsible for so many different lives of the people that you do life with, I just think it allowed me to reshape my perspective and God was faithful in that and He taught me in that process just to keep Him on the throne of my life, and as a result I feel like not because we've won, but I feel like there's a lot less pressure and there's a lot more joy.

Q. When you mentioned the woundedness in your professional coaching life, was that the fact that you felt you were a good coach and you weren't getting the credit for that or is that where that was rooted in?
RITCHIE McKAY: I think playing Division II, not being from any kind of family tree in coaching, I just think I was a middle child. I was out to prove myself. So I don't think -- the attention doesn't really matter, especially the older you get, the more over yourself you get, or at least I hope you do. So, no, I think it was more rooted in just trying to find some kind of fulfillment or sustainability in something that the world has to offer. And I learned that it's not possible.

Q. Coach, you've been here many times before, but to watch this team, to watch this group, how much joy have you taken in watching your players since they got off the plane here?
RITCHIE McKAY: Yeah, this is actually only my second time as head coach up here. Lee, if you could get a picture of the NCAA brackets in the background. No, that's been the neatest thing about winning the game at Lipscomb, to win the ASUN conference championship because they had a fabulous environment. You were there. It was a really, really difficult game to win against a great opponent, who's tremendously well coached. So from the moment the buzzer sounded to this moment here it's been phenomenal in terms of its experience. Our guys are confident. They're jovial. It's been really fun. However, I've been watching tape since Sunday, and not so fun is the preparation for the Bulldogs. They have a lot of tremendous players and Ben Howland is terrific in himself. But I do love the experience that our guys are having. It's a great honor and privilege to be a part of this.

Q. Is Quinndary Weatherspoon the most talented offensive player that you guys have faced this year? What kind of challenge does he pose?
RITCHIE McKAY: I'm not sure if he's the most or the best. Darius Garland I thought was incredible. I haven't seen many guy dominate a game like that. But he's certainly in the conversation. The challenge is he's patient and potent. He can score behind the arc, not unlike Garrison Matthews could. He can get to the basket and finish with either hand, and his mid range is really good. So we have a number of guys that have defended that kind of size, and hopefully our defense, our collective effort against him is good, because if it's not, I won't be back up here on Saturday. Saturday. Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297