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

March 23, 2019

San Jose, California

MODERATOR: All right. We welcome Liberty student-athletes to the dais. We have Myo Baxter-Bell, Elijah Cuffee, Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz as well. We'll open it up for questions.

Q. Could you guys just share what the last 24 hours have been like since getting the school's first win in history?
ELIJAH CUFFEE: I mean, I thought it was a fun experience. Can't really describe it. I mean, it was just out there having fun playing basketball for me.

MYO BAXTER-BELL: It's been a great experience. A lot of support from our family and fans here. So it's been great to do this for our university and kind of bring something back to Lynchburg. It's been great.

GEORGIE PACHECO-ORTIZ: Like they said, a lot of support for our school and family and friends.

Q. What do you guys remember about the exhibition game from earlier this year against Virginia Tech? How did that go for you guys?
MYO BAXTER-BELL: It was a good game. I remember, I mean we had some stuff that we could do -- we need to get better at. But it was a great experience for us as far as that's our next opponent. So we're excited that we get to have a chance to play them again. So we learned a lot about ourselves and about them.

Q. Guys, you were just asked about the exhibition game. Georgie, I guess for you, obviously it was a special moment for you with hurricane funds being raised, but is there anything that you can really take from that game being that it was that long ago as far as an Xs and Os thing, or how much better is this team since then?
GEORGIE PACHECO-ORTIZ: Yeah, I think that was our first -- kind of our first game playing together as a team. And I think we have gone through the season as the season goes along, so we learned from each other a lot, and we learned from that game, and I think, as you guys know, we got better throughout the season. And this is an opportunity for us to get better, tomorrow's game, and try to do what we didn't do at the exhibition game.

Q. How was the trip to In-N-Out Burger?
MYO BAXTER-BELL: That's always good. Big burger guy.

Q. What did you get?
MYO BAXTER-BELL: Double Double. Yeah. (Laughs.)

Q. Myo, describe that experience last night and what you were able to do to go out there and make yourself so effective from both ends of the floor.
MYO BAXTER-BELL: I mean, coming off the bench you get to see what the team is like and you get to see what you need to bring to the table or bring to the team to help us get over that hump. And like I said, Scottie didn't get off to as good of start as he wanted to, but like I said, that's what you have teammates for. He's a really good player and he has really good games, and he scores a lot of our points for us.

So I was glad I was able to come in and give us the lift that we needed to get over that hump so that we could come out and be successful.

Q. Georgie, what's it mean for you to be representing Puerto Rico as a player in this tournament?
GEORGIE PACHECO-ORTIZ: It means a lot, just because it's a lot of athletes from Puerto Rico, born and raised from Puerto Rico, and they don't have these opportunities just to be able to play in a tournament like this. It's pretty big. So it means a lot so I can serve as a role model for younger kids that want to be in my position. So, yeah, it just means a lot to represent my country and my family back home.

Q. Elijah, as good as their guards are for the Hokies, they like to shoot the three as well, they shoot it well. How much of a challenge is it going to be for you guys to keep them in check from that standpoint?
ELIJAH CUFFEE: It's going to be a big challenge. I think everybody on our team is ready to accept that challenge and take it on. It'll be fun to go up and compete with that big of names and that big of a team. I think it's just always a challenge and ready to accept it.

Q. How has this team evolved, your team, since that exhibition meeting back in November when you played them the first time?
MYO BAXTER-BELL: It's day and night. Like we've came so far. I mean, earlier in the year we let mistakes get to us, and I think we let mistakes bothers us and sometimes affect the outcome. But this team today, we've overcome a lot of mistakes. We're able to make mistakes and be able to rally and pull each other back together and just put ourselves in a great position to win.

Q. Obviously you won at UCLA this year. You beat Mississippi State last night. What's the mindset going into playing Virginia Tech? You kind of look at it like, so what, 4 seed, we've beaten big-name teams before? Or what's the confidence level going into this game?
MYO BAXTER-BELL: We like to talk about staying in our lane. So not getting too ahead of the moment and just doing what we do every day. We play defense, and we try to take good shots on offense, so we're going to stick to what we've been doing, playing good defense and trying to take good shots.

And, I mean, we're not getting too ahead of ourselves. We don't really look at the numbers. I think seeds don't matter. I think it's been proven that the numbers really don't matter. At the end of the day, we all have to go out there and lace up.

Q. With a quick-turnaround game like this, is it helpful that you played them in the exhibition game in November, or was that game so meaningless that you really can't get anything out of that this time around?
ELIJAH CUFFEE: I wouldn't say the game was meaningless. I think playing a team and seeing a team before is helpful, especially this late in the season, or knowing their personnel and how hard that they play. It helps us as far as preparing for them tomorrow.

Q. Has it set in yet what you accomplished last night in terms of big picture and biggest win in school history? Certainly it's been exciting over the last 24 hours, but how much have you thought about it?
GEORGIE PACHECO-ORTIZ: Yeah, of course, I mean, we've been thinking about last night after the game, but we just already enjoyed. We celebrate, but now we gotta worry about our next opponent. We know that we made history. We accomplished our goal, but we want more. So we don't want to end our season. So, yeah.

MODERATOR: Anything additional? Sounds like we're good. Thank you, gentlemen.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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