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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: HARTFORDMarch 22, 2019Ja MorantShaq BuchananHartford, Connecticut Q. For both guys, what kind of challenges does it bring playing such a big team? Obviously they start 7'4", 6'9", and their best player might be 6'10 off the bench. Have you seen teams that big and what kind of challenge is that? SHAQ BUCHANAN: It will be tough. We haven't matched up with the team with that type of size all year. We've seen bigs though, playing athletic teams. So we practice on things like that, but I don't think it will bother us. We're ready for the challenge. JA MORANT: They are a very long and athletic team. Like he said, we haven't seen a team like that before since Alabama. But we're just going to go into the game the same way we've been going into every game. Just try to play our game and just do what we do. Q. Obviously, Ja had a great game yesterday, but the team as a whole played tremendous. I think you had 30 field goals and 23 assists. What do you need to keep that up tomorrow night against Florida State? SHAQ BUCHANAN: We have a solid team. We know Ja will get all of the attention. Like it's amazing, but at the same time, we know how to handle that. And we know everybody's going to be keyed in on him tomorrow, so we just going to make plays for him like we did against Marquette. JA MORANT: I'll say we just have a very talented group. We have a lot of people who can score the basketball, and we are very unselfish. Like you said, we had 23 assists yesterday. It's just how we play the game, just try to instead of taking a good shot, get a great shot. So really just try to go out and make the best of every possession. Q. I guess I'm wondering what your offseason was like. You made such a big jump this season from very good freshman to to All-American sophomore. What were you working on? What was your process like this offseason to make this big improvement? JA MORANT: I really just worked on the same things I've been working on most of my life really, the fundamentals. I'd say I keyed in more on just shooting more game shots this year, coming off ball screens and such, and feel like I got way better at it. Q. Talk a little bit about the culture at Murray State that attracted each of you to want to come play basketball and go to school at Murray State. SHAQ BUCHANAN: We knew about the winning tradition, getting to the tournament, producing pros, and then the fan base, the family atmosphere. That's what I was looking for coming into -- my next school, me coming from JUCO, and Murray State brought me in, and I saw all those things. That's why I chose Murray State. JA MORANT: Murray State just has a great program. And really I'd say what brought me in was the family thing. I'm a big family person, and since day one, they made me family and they just made it their job just to get me to come here and I felt like I made a great decision. Q. For both you guys, can you just talk about what the whole deal is with the wrestling belts in the locker room? SHAQ BUCHANAN: Our Coach Matt, he a huge wrestling fan. One of our managers brought a wrestling best last year to the first OVC game. We just used it like our trophy, our motivation. This year we added two more. It's just something to look forward to. After a big win, we get to celebrate putting on our wrestling belts. JA MORANT: Like you said, Coach Matt is a big wrestling fan and we just kept it going since last year. And this year, obviously we won the regular season championship, won the OVC championship, and now we're looking forward to winning the National Championship and that's the three WWE belts. Q. Talk a little bit about each of you, the process that is so important to the Murray State basketball program and as Coach McMahon alludes to, getting ready for the next big thing that's there. How do you apply that to what you're doing now and preparing for Florida State? SHAQ BUCHANAN: It fit in well with this tournament right now because we play Thursday, more like we play Thursday/Saturday. We going through it the same as we would if it was in the conference, play that Thursday, celebrate that Thursday and move on after that, Friday, like today, and get prepared for Saturday. JA MORANT: Like he said, it's something we're used to playing on Thursday/Saturday. So we just take every game -- go into every game the same way. We been doing this really most of this second half of the season, playing Thursday, recovery Friday, focus on the team we got coming up Saturday, focus on them before the game and go out and just fight, try to get a win. Q. Guys, against Florida State tomorrow, what do you feel like will be the biggest challenge that you'll have to earmark going into the match-up? JA MORANT: I'd just say they're length. Like I said before, they are a very long and athletic team, can get after the ball some. So really I think our focus will just be taking care of the ball. On the defensive end, we try to play the same, just focus on trying to force the team to take tough shots. Don't give them any easy looks. I think really taking care of the ball is our main focus. SHAQ BUCHANAN: Like he was saying, taking care of the ball. Forcing them at like a terrible shot, limiting them to one shot, making sure we rebound. We know the taller and tougher they are, it's going to be a tough game. We know we have to box out. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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