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

March 22, 2019

Columbia, South Carolina

UCF - 73, VCU - 58

THE MODERATOR: University of Central Florida head coach Johnny Dawkins with student-athletes Aubrey Dawkins, Tacko Fall, and B.J. Taylor. Coach will have a brief opening statement followed by questions to the student-athletes.

JOHNNY DAWKINS: We beat a very good basketball team. Of course everyone knows the tradition that VCU has. Coach Rhoades has done an amazing job with his group. And as you know, everyone in this room knows the tournament is very unforgiving. We're fortunate to be moving on.

I thought they made a great run in the second half, showed who they were down the stretch defensively, making threes. Hats off because they played for the full 40 minutes, and I'm just proud of our guys for staying focused and winning a very good basketball game.

Q. B.J., as you know, this program has waited a long time for a moment like this. It's part of the reason why you stayed in Orlando to go to UCF. Can you articulate on behalf of yourself and your teammates what this victory means to you and to the program tonight?
B.J. TAYLOR: It's great. It's a great step. It's hard for me to talk about it right now because we're in a moment, and we are already getting ready for the next one. But it's great for the program. It's a great win. But we'll reflect on that after the season's over. Right now we're not satisfied. We want to keep this thing going. So we're ready to get on to the next game.

Q. Tacko, kind of the same question. I wonder if you could talk about also the impact of being able to say that you were part of a team that notched the first tournament victory in this program's history.
TACKO FALL: It means a lot to us, to me, to the fans, finally being able to pull it off after all these years has meant a great deal to us. But as B.J. said, we're not satisfied. We want to keep going as far as we can, and we're going to bring it every night no matter who we play against.

Q. Tacko, you had your double-double tonight, UCF's first double-double in the NCAA Tournament. What did you see on the court tonight against VCU?
TACKO FALL: Obviously, we had the size advantage. I think we pretty much have the size advantage over anything we're going to play against. We took advantage of it, and my teammates trusted me. I was out there being aggressive, just like I'm supposed to do every night and just trying to make plays for us to win the ball game.

Q. Aubrey, B.J., when you guys were running into the locker room, it sounded like you guys were yelling Duke, Duke, Duke. What does this next matchup mean to you guys?
B.J. TAYLOR: First off, to answer the first part, I didn't hear nobody say that. I didn't hear that. But it was a great first win for us. Like Coach said, we beat a really good basketball team tonight. Duke is our next opponent, and we're going to treat them like every other opponent. We're going to prepare. They're a good team, and we have a lot of respect for them, but we're going to treat them just like we treated every other team we played this season and just try to go 1-0.

Q. This is for Aubrey and Tacko. What was going through your minds when VCU was making that run, and what did Coach say to you guys to maybe calm you down during that time-out?
AUBREY DAWKINS: Just got to lock them up defense and cut their water off. We knew they were going to make runs. Basketball is a game of runs. We were prepared for that, but like I said, we figured we've got to cut their water off and end it right there. Our defense is what did it.

TACKO FALL: Like Aubrey say, basketball is a game of runs. We know teams are going to make runs. They're a really good basketball team, so it's only right that those things happen. So we just have to lock in and just stick to our principles and just make plays.

Q. Aubrey, about 13 minutes ago in the first half, it seemed like you guys really started clicking into gear offensively. What changed? What was different just to kind of get you guys going out there after the slow start?
AUBREY DAWKINS: Just shake the nerves off. It's a big game. The biggest stage that UCF has been on. For us, we have to shake the nerves off and get in the flow of the game, and that's what we did. Once we got used to the flow, things started to click for us. We played good basketball, moved the ball, played unselfish, and good things usually happen when you do that.

Q. For Tacko, 18 boards tonight, 5 blocks. You altered a bunch of other shots. You talked about being aggressive. Being in the tournament, did that make you even more fired up?
TACKO FALL: I mean, I feel like I've been the same. You don't just turn it on and off. You got to do it every single night to prepare you for nights like this. But it's all credit to the guys and the coaches, just pushing me every day, trying to make me do my best out there, and it's paying off.

Q. B.J., I know you said you're in the moment, you guys are in the tournament, and you don't want to think about it. You talk about leave your legacy basically every week, and leaving your legacy on that. Is this at the head of that, this kind of win at the head of that statement?
B.J. TAYLOR: I mean, yeah, at the moment. Like I said, we want to see how far we can take this thing. We're not satisfied. I mean, yeah, we all came here to leave our legacy. That's why we came here, and that's why we stayed and played for Coach Dawkins. Like I said, right now, we're going to go to sleep tonight and wake up and get ready for our next game.

Q. Aubrey and B.J., how long does this win last? You guys talk about moving on, but how quickly does that actually happen?
AUBREY DAWKINS: Right away. We don't have the option. We don't have the luxury to think about this victory. We've got to keep winning. We're motivated. We're not satisfied with this. We've got to move on to the next one.

Q. Coach, a lot of firsts this year -- first NCAA Tournament win for this program. What's it mean for your building?
JOHNNY DAWKINS: Well, I think when I look back on it, it's going to be really meaningful. I think right now, we're in the moment, so we're still happy that we still have more basketball to play. So that's what we're excited about. I'm just really proud of our guys. They worked hard to put themselves in this position. I'm happy to see them take a first step in this tournament. I'll think about all the things about this season they've accomplished along the way when we finish, but right now, we just stand in the moment.

Q. From your vantage point, Marcus Evans, their point guard, how healthy did he look? What impact did he have on the game? Was he the player you prepared for?
JOHNNY DAWKINS: We felt he'd be ready to go tonight, and he was. I'm not saying he was 100 percent. I don't know that because I'm not in their locker room. But I thought he came out to compete. They're a very good defensive team, and so are we. I think we really did a good job of game planning for him to be at his best, and I thought our guys really were locked in in trying to take away the things we knew he liked to do.

He's a terrific player. He's a first team All Conference player in their league, and I think he's a terrific point guard. He has a bright future.

Q. What stood out to you most during the 19-0 run that you guys were able to really stretch the lead out? What stood out to you most during that run?
JOHNNY DAWKINS: I thought we played some of our best basketball both ends of the floor. I thought defensively, Tacko's presence down there was amazing. I thought we rebounded it well. We knew they were going to crash the glass hard. And then offensively, as Aubrey mentioned, I thought we made a lot of connecting plays. We shared the basketball. Guys found shots and rhythm shots they would normally take, and they were knocking them down tonight consistently, and I think that helped build the run for us.

Q. It's early, but do you have any impressions of Duke? Obviously, I'm sure you've seen a lot of them maybe this year.
JOHNNY DAWKINS: Actually, I haven't. When you're doing what we do for the last six months, we don't have much time to see anyone other than your opponents. I have seen them play bits and pieces, three minutes here, four minutes there throughout the season when you're taking a break from your scouts. I haven't seen much of them. I'm looking forward to seeing them this evening and tomorrow as we start to prepare.

But I know Coach. He's amazing, and I know the young men I've heard so much about like Zion Williamson, R.J. Barrett, Cam Reddish. Those guys are terrific, terrific players along with the point guard Jones and the rest of their players. I know they're really talented, and it's going to be a good challenge.

Q. Coach, can you elaborate on Tacko's play tonight, his performance? He seems to have really gotten better the last half of the season. Was tonight sort of the ultimate in that?
JOHNNY DAWKINS: We've been challenging Tacko all season long about really imposing his will on the game. I think probably the last six weeks, you started to see a turn in that. He started to see what he was capable of doing out there on the floor. So I'm excited for him. He gets 18 rebounds in an NCAA Tournament game, a double-double, that's having a huge impact on a game, and he's capable of doing that. So I'm just really happy for him. I'm happy he's realizing the type of impact he can have on both ends of the floor.

Q. What does it mean to you to be the coach of a team that gets the program's first NCAA Tournament victory?
JOHNNY DAWKINS: I'm proud of our guys. I'll always look at it as me being proud of my team, proud of my coaching staff. I look at the guys that really make this go, and we have terrific coaches. Tacko's improvement you've seen over the last three years is a result of how hard these guys have worked with him. B.J. doing the things you've seen him do, transitioning into the position he's in now. Again, our coaches. I think we have amazing coaches. They're very talented guys, and that's a huge factor in, I think, the development of our overall student-athletes.

And then you look at our strength and conditioning coach, and you look at our trainer. These guys have kept these guys going, kept them healthy all year, kept them playing at a high level. It takes a team to accomplish these things, and I'll always think about that. I'll think about all the contributions of the staff. I'll think about the contributions of each individual player that I've had a chance to coach.

Q. Duke has meant so much to you, obviously, as a player and an assistant coach. If you had your druthers, would you rather not -- would you rather play somebody else? I don't think Coach K likes playing his guys, does he?
JOHNNY DAWKINS: No, I feel the same way. I was like -- we'd rather not play each other, of course. We're friends. I played for him. I've worked for him for over a decade. It's not something you look forward to doing. We know in this type of setting -- and we're all competitors. We do what we have to do, but it's not something we would pick, let's play each other. That wouldn't happen under any other circumstance other than a tournament.

It is what it is with that. You've got to get ready to compete. They're going to do the same thing, and both teams will come out prepared.

Q. How did you feel like your guys handled their press?
JOHNNY DAWKINS: I thought for the most part we handled it well. I've watched so much tape of those guys and what they do. Their weapon is their depth. They just keep coming at you with body after body, playing at a high level. You're going to wear down. You're going to have some mishaps with the basketball. That's inevitable. I thought for the most part our guys handled it well. The turnovers we had, not a lot of them led to easy baskets for them, which was good, our guys were able to scramble and get back on "D" and make them set up or take a tough shot. I thought, all in all, we handled it fairly well.

We had 15 turns, and I'm disappointed, but I thought under the circumstances, that was a good number for us.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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