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

March 22, 2019

San Jose, California

Virginia Tech - 66, Saint Louis - 52

MODERATOR: Okay. We welcome Saint Louis to the dais. We're joined by Javon Bess, Hasahn French and coach Travis Ford. Coach, we'll turn it over to you.

TRAVIS FORD: First just want to congratulate Virginia Tech on a really good performance and a good win and wish them all the best as they move forward.

The rest of the time I'd like to talk about these guys. The guys in our locker room, I just told them, have made me a better person, a better coach. And it's not about winning. They've made me a better person, better coach through all the things that we've been through. And I told them, they've tested me on many occasions, and it's made me a better person and better coach hopefully going forward through all that we've been through.

And, you know, we've been through a lot in three years. Took over a program that was dead last out of 14 teams, and we were picked dead last our first year. And it's not always easy to get players to believe in a vision that's not there. You're trying to get them to believe in something that you're trying to do.

And hopefully they see that. And the guys in that locker room, these two guys believed in that vision. And we've come a long way in just three years. And I told them over the last three or four weeks how much -- I told them I'll go to war with these guys any day of the week. I'll go to war. I wouldn't trade them for anybody. And I'm just really proud.

I think the second half tonight was a true definition of who we are, and I told them I can go out that way. I can -- I can sleep good tonight, because this is a team that doesn't give up. This is a group of young men that really believed in each other, came from a lot of different places. And I'm so proud of them, and they've just -- they've taught me so much. And I thank them for that.

MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach. We'll open it up to questions for the student-athletes.

Q. For both you guys, Coach just talked about the resiliency you guys showed in the second half. Why do you think the game got away from you in the first half? What wasn't working for you guys?
JAVON BESS: We just came out too slow. We kind of just relied on knowing we didn't having big second halves the past four games in the conference tournament. You play a team that's as good as them, it hurts. It hurt us in the end.

HASAHN FRENCH: I agree with what Javon said, and I just feel like the first half we really weren't as aggressive as we were in the second half, as you guys could see. If we just did the little things in the first half and not rely on the second half, we would have been fine.

Q. Javon, can you just reflect on your time here as a SLU Billiken? I know it was a tough way to go out, but how would you rate your overall time here?
JAVON BESS: I feel like it was a good way to go out, to be honest with you. I got to be with guys that I love, this coach who helped me, gave me an opportunity to play at the next level. I love Coach Ford for that and I love my teammates for that, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I had a great experience here at SLU. Like Coach said, we set the foundation, Team Blue. We started that last year, and this is the standard now. That's what I told the freshmen and sophomores, this is the standard. Gotta get SLU back going. The tournament is nothing less. Anything less than making the tournament is a failure.

Q. Hasahn, moving forward next season, what do you want to see from the team, and what do you think you guys need to do in order to make that next step?
HASAHN FRENCH: As Javon said, this is the standard. So I believe that we set a great foundation this year for what we need next year. Coach has done great this year leading us. Even last year did a great job leading us. And I know he's going to do that next year, and I'm just going to try to follow his lead.

As a leader for this team next year, I'm just going to try to come back better, way better, work hard this summer. And the new guys that are coming in, try to show them the way. Also they can look up to guys like Javon Bess and see how much work he put into his game and look at those guys and think they can do something special like that.

MODERATOR: Anything else?

Q. Coach, I was just wonder if you could talk a little bit about that, especially the first 10, 12 minutes. And did you sense nerves, or just was Virginia Tech do you feel that good?
TRAVIS FORD: I thought we were very sluggish. Thought we had early fatigue. And I've seen that before. You know, these guys have been on such a roller coaster and on such a high to an extent. And a few things I was concerned about and I didn't address it with our team, we beat this team last year. And they knew that. Virginia Tech had been talking a lot about that. And we didn't talk a lot about it because I think that's, you know -- when you win the game and you're a different team, it doesn't do a whole lot of good. I know they did a lot of it to try to motivate their team, as well as I would have.

And they came out blazing, aggressively. And we were just sluggish and couldn't get anything going. And just felt like we were just in quicksand. And every stat went against everything that we're about, from offensive -- I think we had two offensive rebounds off 16 missed shots. I think we had 12 turnovers in the first half. I can go down the line. I think they shot whatever percentage, some crazy percentage. And as you know, that's not really common for us.

So we had a little talk at halftime, and we made some adjustments, some pretty big adjustments, and I think the guys found their second wind, found their second wind and kind of regrouped and made a run at it. And I thought we were a loose ball, couple of loose balls that we actually had, from really -- easy to say, but I thought it could have gotten really interesting, very interesting.

But Virginia Tech, give them credit. There's a reason they finished at the top of one of the best leagues -- the best league in America in the ACC, and they've beaten the likes of Duke and go down the line. That is an extremely veteran basketball team we just played, very veteran, very, very well coached.

How they play defense is -- kind of combats our style of play a little bit. And give them credit. It was a little bit of a tough matchup, but I'm just really proud of how our guys regrouped at halftime and went out and really played well the second half.

Q. Coach, I know it was a tough way to go out, but with the guys you have coming back and the recruits you have coming in, would you say that this is the expectation for your team moving forward, to be playing in the Big Dance?
TRAVIS FORD: Well, yeah. You know, it's hard to already start thinking ahead too much, but absolutely. You know, one thing I talked to our team about in the locker room after the game was I don't know how many teams -- there's 360-something teams in America, how many teams have improved as much as we have improved in three years, year after year, and just keep -- you know, gotten better every year.

And that's a testament to the guys in that locker room and sticking together through tough times. And as I told them, you learn so much through adversity. You learn so much, if you allow yourself. If you're humble enough to learn during tough times, and we've had some tough times, if you're humble enough to sit back and learn from it, then it can really benefit you down the road. It can really benefit you.

And I think we've used -- you know, we've been able to use some of that to help us grow and get better and continue to improve the program. But you know, we've had great support from the administration, from fans, to everybody. And this -- I said it from the first day of my press conference, in order to build a program and get it to where, it takes everybody. It takes everybody. Managers. You know, our guys gave our managers a round of applause in the locker room. Coaches. It takes everybody.

I mean, this is -- it's not easy. It's -- it's a lot of long hours and a lot of sacrifices and commitments from a lot of people. And when you get to experience something like this, it makes it all well worth it. And the relationships -- I told them, you know, winning is fun. Making it to the NCAA's a blast, memory of a lifetime. But the relationships that were built in that locker room that will last forever. In preparing these young men to leave SLU, that's what this is all about. And along the way you get to experience -- if you're lucky enough. Not every -- this is -- you know, you earn the right to be here. And this is just kind of a bonus.

Q. Coach, can you tell me what you hope Fred, Hasahn, and Jordan take away from this opportunity?
TRAVIS FORD: Yeah. Hopefully they learn from the seniors, they get a taste of this and see what all this is about, because they had no clue. They had no idea. They've always heard of the NCAA Tournament. They've always watched it on TV. But they didn't really grasp what this is all about. And I tried to explain it to them, you know. But until you experience it, you really don't know.

And I can remember the very first time I ever went to the NCAA Tournament as a player and as a coach. Boy, once you experience it, you just want it so much more.

You know, when you -- when you have a little success, it's interesting to see how people respond. Some people get very comfortable in success, and some people it makes them work that much harder to want more of it. And I'm anxious to see how they respond to this, and I think they'll respond that they want more of this and they want to even do more. And I think they gained a lot of valuable experience from this.

Q. Travis, you talked yesterday about how you had studied Buzz and kind of all along there. What was it about Buzz's defense today that made it such a tough shooting day for you guys?
TRAVIS FORD: Well, it's nothing new what they've done all year long. They do a great job of protecting the paint. They do a great job of getting in the gaps, and they're fast and quick. The biggest thing I was concerned about with their team is their speed. Compared to us, we're a physical team, they've got speed and quickness and they use that on defense and they use it on offense, from cutting to passing.

But they did a great job, especially in the first half, of keeping us off the glass. We got back to being us in the second half and were able to -- you know, they had us taking a lot of long shots in the first half, and long shots are harder to rebound than shots at the rim. And we made a special effort to get the ball where we wanted to get it in the second half, and we did a much better job of getting the ball where we wanted, offensive rebounding and playing kind of to our identity and the way we wanted the game to be played, and the way we had played it from the beginning.

But give them credit. They really did a great job of forcing us into turnovers and forcing us into tough shots in the first half. Tough shots are hard to rebound.

Q. Coach, can you talk a little bit about Javon Bess and what you think his future holds?
TRAVIS FORD: Javon is -- I've said it many times. He's a young man who's really made an impact on me and on this program because he's about all the right things. His mom and dad have really done a great job of raising a very, very, very impressive young man.

I've had the privilege to know Javon for three years. In those three years, I've never had to call him into my office for missing a class, missing an assignment, for being late, for anything. Nothing. He has set an example for our other players, and I use him all the time, to what it means to really make yourself a player.

I'll never forget, I told him sitting in my office with him and his father on a recruiting visit, and he talked about how he wanted to get better at shooting, talked about how he wanted to get better at the guard spot, because at Michigan State they had him playing a four, and he wanted to play a wing. And he wanted to learn.

Well, a lot of kids say it. A lot of players will talk a great game, talk about what they want and what they want to accomplish. But it's who's willing to do the extra. They all gotta show up for practice. They all gotta show up for weightlifting.

But what do you do in your spare time? What do you do extra? That's what he's about. He's made himself a player. He's going to have a chance to play at the next level. I don't think there's any question he'll have a great chance to play at the next level because of the tangible things he can do and the character that he has as a person.

And you know all these things are true because you could ask every single person in our locker room. They would all tell you the exact same thing about Javon Bess. There wouldn't be any hesitation of what people think about Javon Bess.

And I've just -- like I said, he's made me -- he's made me a better coach, a better person, and I've really, really enjoyed being around him every day. And, yes, coaching him, but I've just enjoyed being in his presence every day and watching a young man really do things the right way and put in the time and be humble about it. Be humble, be very humble about it. I could sit up here all night long talking about Javon Bess.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

TRAVIS FORD: Thank you.

MODERATOR: Thanks, folks.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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