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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP

March 22, 2019

Spencer Lee

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

125 Pounds

THE MODERATOR: Spencer Lee from Iowa. Talk a little bit about your match, heading to the national championship match tomorrow night.

SPENCER LEE: I'm just excited. It's an incredible opportunity to be able to compete to the best of my ability for my university, my family, my friends and those closest to me.

Q. When he cut the margin to 5 to 3, did it put any doubt in your mind, thinking back to your match when you wrestled him the last time?
SPENCER LEE: I just believed in my coaching staff, and my coaches told me to get one, to get that escape, to get out of the period. And he said, Just keep scoring. I think that resonated in my head. I got a couple more shots, and I wasn't backing up and focused on what he was doing, I was focused on my ability to score points and to continue to keep that action going.

Q. Spencer, talk about that match in Oklahoma State when you were able to -- when you got pinned. How did you come back from that?
SPENCER LEE: I think the last time I was pinned was the PGW state finals -- Colin Cronin, yeah, give him a shout-out. I was nine, I think, nine years old. So it was hard for me to be able to get over that. I mean, the coaches were -- they were trying to get me through it, but they knew that I hadn't felt that in a long time.

Props to Nick. He's a great opponent. He packed me in front of his home crowd. I think it was a record crowd for Oklahoma State. They have a great environment. It's electrical. Obviously it's not like the NCAA tournament, but they do a great job. And I know that I had to just focus on the next big thing, and that was Big Tens coming up, and that was the whole focus. I couldn't dwell upon what happened. I just had to learn from it and be better for it.

Q. Spencer, obviously a win in tonight's round is obviously meaningful, but to have it be in a rematch from earlier this year, does that give it any extra for you?
SPENCER LEE: Well, I mean, I really don't -- at this point, it's the national tournament. You can only wrestle who they put in front of you. It just so happened to be a rematch, but I just had to go out there, wrestle my hardest, and it just so happened that me and Nick wrestled here last year as well, so we've both wrestled on the big stage twice now. He's a great opponent. Props to him. We wrestled a good match and we put on a good show.

Q. It seems like the biggest opponent often is the mental aspect, particularly after taking some losses. What is it about tournament time and your mental state last year going into the NCAA tournament, had a couple losses, didn't affect you. This year coming into the NCAA tournament, thus far, it doesn't seem to be mentally affecting you at all. What does Spencer Lee do to get himself ready for tournaments like this, particularly after you've lost to some of the people?
SPENCER LEE: Well, you've just got to believe in your coaching staff. They believe in me. They tell me every day that I have the ability to do whatever I want to do as long as I believe in myself.

Besides Nick, all my losses have been I think last-second takedowns in the last maybe seven years now. So I think that's just -- I've just got to be able to go out there and do what I do, just focus on scoring points, and I think that's it. I have to score the next score. The next score is the most important score, and that's the mindset that my coaches have instilled upon me, and that's what's got to matter to me.

He got that reversal, but the next score was the most important score, and that was getting out on the bottom, and the next score was the takedown at the end, and that's all that matters and that's what I have to focus on.

Q. Obviously in the last match we talked about a pin, it was 0-0. Now, this time how important was it for you to get the early takedown and really kind of dictate the pace of the match leading, and then also that escape with one second left after a reverse? Those two sequences I thought were really big.
SPENCER LEE: I'd give the same answers as before. I just focused on the next score. I couldn't dwell upon how I felt or how he felt or what the clock was ticking down to or whatever. I didn't know how much time was left when I went out there. I didn't make a last-second explosion. I was working towards it the whole time because I knew I had to do something.

I had to listen to my coaching staff yelling at me to get that next point, and that's all I focused on, was just believing in myself. And now the next big thing will be tomorrow, and it's going to be hopefully put on a good show.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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