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

March 24, 2019

Columbus, Ohio

North Carolina - 81, Washington - 59

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Washington head coach Mike Hopkins and student-athletes Matisse Thybulle and Jaylen Nowell. Coach, an opening statement.

COACH HOPKINS: You know, you get a chance to play Carolina, it's a pretty incredible opportunity. And I felt in the first half, you know, we got down. We kept fighting back. Showed a lot of resiliency. Cut the lead to eight. Missed a couple of foul shots at the end.

And Coby White hit 4-for-5 from the 3-point line in the first half. We felt like in the second half if we could find him, do a better job on the glass we could be there.

And they're just a really big team, really good shooting team. It seemed like when they missed they got the rebound. And you're not going to win too many games getting outrebounded by 24. Our kids kept fighting. They battled like champions like they are. Unfortunately we ran into a tough Carolina team tonight.

Q. Matisse, how would you summarize your final season at Washington?
MATISSE THYBULLE: I mean, like everyone's going to come into college saying you want to play on this stage and be able to win your league and be able to say you're a champion, all those things. I was able to accomplish all that this year with three seniors, three of my senior teammates who we've been through it all together.

And even with these new guys, like Jaylen and the young guys, to be able to bond together and achieve so much in my last year, I couldn't have imagined it coming through, and I'm glad that I was able to do it with these guys.

Q. Jaylen, you've played some good teams, other tournament teams this season, including No. 1 Gonzaga. Could you compare and contrast North Carolina with what you've seen from other top teams?
JAYLEN NOWELL: Well, they're all really good teams. They all play very hard. One thing I can say about North Carolina is that they're really resilient. When we were up on them -- I gotta give them credit -- they kept playing and they kept going at us. And they're a really good team.

Q. Matisse, did you feel like there was a lot going on behind you for an inordinate amount of time on defense?
MATISSE THYBULLE: We flew around for the most part on defense, had some pretty good energy. But like Coach said, the rebounding killed us. And they're a big team, a strong team, a physical team. And we weren't able to get back and grab a lot of those rebounds from the missed shots that we forced.

Q. Jaylen, you had everyone on the team seemed like, especially in the second half, some very good looks and then things just didn't go for a roll.
JAYLEN NOWELL: Yeah, you know that's just how the game goes sometimes. So we just try to make sure that even though those shots were falling we were able to pick it up at least from the defensive end. That was really our main focus when our shots weren't falling.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.

Q. You obviously accomplished a lot in two years. I realize this is a disappointing conclusion. But how do you assess now what was done and what you've got to do?
COACH HOPKINS: I think at the end of the day you see what the best looks like, feels like, and Carolina's got a lot. They've got great guard play, great size and great shooting. They're physical. They're big. And you saw what it felt like.

Sometimes our best offense is a smaller team. And you see the size that you've got to have to get to be a top-level program. And that's our goal. That's our standard. That's what we're going to try to do.

And I learned a lot tonight. I think it was great for everybody. We always say it doesn't matter, get better, DMGB. At the end of the day we're frustrated we lost but really proud of the guys winning 29 games, winning the Pac-12 outright by three games, and played some really tough competition. Got into the tournament, which was a major goal for this program. And to win a game.

Unfortunately we didn't play our best tonight but that had a lot to do with North Carolina. And the younger guys got some minutes and they got a chance to feel what this is all about. And that's, I think, the greatest thing that could happen for our program as we build forward, is to feel it, see it and experience it, because that's a feeling playing in this tournament like no other in this sport. And it's what you want every year. So to be able to experience it with the young guys as well as what the seniors have accomplished, I'm really, really proud.

Q. What's the biggest positive you can take out of this experience with the whole tournament and everything?
COACH HOPKINS: The positive is for -- we're trying to build a program, and when you're building a program, you've got to -- you get a lot through experience. And to be able to win a game and to feel it, sometimes, you know, you walk out on that court, on that stage, it's pretty big. I've seen it a lot. But our guys haven't.

And it's a pretty cool thing. And I've learned so many things. But the most important was for our guys to understand that what it takes to get to this level. And then what it's going to take to win a national championship. And there's nothing like experience. And this experience is definitely going to elevate and push us forward.

Q. Noah was particularly impressed by how Carolina handled your guys' zone. What did you see out there in terms of their execution. And how much do you think them seeing it against Syracuse --
COACH HOPKINS: I think the biggest thing is our zone is active; it's been great all year. And I think the biggest thing is, when you're talking about like size, you talk about Syracuse at 6'6", 6'6" at the guards and 7'1", and guys holding hands from sideline to sideline.

And that's why I give our guys a lot of credit when we have Dickerson in the game, Noah, he's 6'6", 6'7". And you've got Jaylen at 6'3" in the back line. It can be disruptive.

We still had 12 takeaways, which was really good. But the rebounding aspect of it was just a little bit too overwhelming. And you've got to pick your poison. You can't defend everything.

And so when they started making those 3s with Coby White, and then they kind of spaced, pushed us out a little bit. And then when they got inside, you know, those guys are pretty darned good.

It's just one of those nights. Listen, they're one of the best teams in the country. We got to experience it. We didn't have our best game. I thought at the beginning of the second half we hit the 3 to cut it to five, and we didn't get back. And that's what they're known for, is their transition; they hit a 3.

So every time we kind of swung and hit them a little bit, they came back with a haymaker, but a great learning experience for our guys.

Q. You mentioned when they got it inside, just talk a little bit about Little and Maye, 20 points each, and most of it was just getting it right there in the lane and being able to do something with it.
COACH HOPKINS: You know what, they remind me of Gonzaga a lot. They have really good big guys that are great interior passers and guys that can operate in that high post area. And it's a hard cover for us. It's a hard matchup.

And I thought they got us everywhere. They got us in the high post. They got us on the 3. They got to the foul line. And, unfortunately, I thought we got some good looks. We just had one of those shooting nights: when you play against a team like this, almost everything has to go right; you don't have a large margin for error. And we just didn't have enough.

Q. Their transition after made baskets was, I guess, borderline astonishing. I'm sure you talked all about it yesterday. Why is that so hard to coach against?
COACH HOPKINS: You know, like I said before, the great thing about experience, we played Kansas last year who runs pretty good, not like this. Played Gonzaga, who I think really pushes the ball. It's just one of those things.

We had Noah playing the forward. So it was a little bit different. So we were going inside to him and Hameir is playing the center. One was a defensive breakdown, the first play of the second half, or the second play, he ran down the middle and Noah had (indiscernible) foul, they just sprinted down and we didn't recognize and helped the guy who had fell.

But it was something that we emphasized going in, when you play Carolina, it's very simple: transition defense and defensive rebound. And we did a decent -- the fastbreak points are off here, because it was four at halftime and they hit the 3. And then Coby went all the way for a layup. So there was more opportunities. But that's what they do. And we just didn't do a great job in those two areas.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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