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NCAA MEN'S REGIONAL SEMIFINALS AND FINALS: ANAHEIMMarch 28, 2019Mark FewZach Norvell, Jr.Brandon ClarkeAnaheim, California Gonzaga 72, Florida State 58 THE MODERATOR: We will open with a statement from Coach Few and then questions for student-athletes first, please. Coach, floor is yours. MARK FEW: Wow, what a battle like it always is when you play Florida State. It's just a great, great win. We're absolutely ecstatic to be moving on to the Elite Eight and be forty minutes away from the Final Four; but I mean, hats off to Florida State. They are really, really tough to score on. They're tough to get any rhythm, tough to keep off the glass, tough to stop in transition. We feel very of fortunate to move on, but we feel great about it, too, because we knew we battled our tails off. THE MODERATOR: Questions for our student-athletes? Q. Brandon, your team is 246-1 under Coach Few when your team is up by 10 or more at halftime. What does Coach Few do in your locker room at halftime to make that happen? BRANDON CLARKE: I would say he puts lots of focus on us and helps us focus even more on the court. After being up 10 in the first half there are always teams that kinda lose focus going into the second half. But, you know, Coach Few always does a really, really good job coming in and then, you know, giving us confidence and just, you know, reasons to be even more focused in the second half. Q. Zach, I know you didn't have the shooting game you wanted last year in this game. What did it feel like to hit that three-point shot when they were within four? ZACH NORVELL, JR.: Felt really good, actually, just trying to stay confident and poised through the situation. I was missing early shots early on. But Josh Perkins and other guys told me to keep my head up and next shot is going in, so credit to those guys. Q. Brandon, coming off your last game which I believe was a career high in points you had another double-double today and five blocks. Do you feel momentum coming in your game or what is it that's getting you on the boards so much? BRANDON CLARKE: It's just me trying to play physical but also it's like Josh and Zach, not finding me in the places that I'm really, really good at scoring in for the most part. I just try to not force up bad shots, too, mainly, even though I missed nine shots tonight it's not something that I'm really used to. But Florida State was really physical and I missed some shots because of that. But still my teammates did a really good job of giving me confidence when I did miss those shots. It's really because of the guards and my teammates finding me in places that I need to be in. Q. Mark, what did you guys do to get Koumadje in foul trouble and also defensively take Terance Mann out of it for most of the game? MARK FEW: First of all, he was having to guard this guy and having to guard Rui. Those are hard guards. We've been able to iso those guys all year and it's always been favorable to us. To be honest with you, watching them going into this game, was probably the first time myself and the staff kinda gave pause to that. We haven't ever paused on that all year, but I think we thought we would at least have some good opportunities and the one thing Brandon does, he always finds a way to get the ball up on the rim and his ball usually goes in. I would just say that. Q. Brandon, last year you watched this game from your couch. What you saw on TV on film, were they that athletic and that tough? What did you feel when you were out there? BRANDON CLARKE: Yeah, I mean, it's always tough when you're playing a player that's 7'4", so that just always kind of has you second guessing when you're driving in the lane, really. But I feel like this year we weren't really doing that and we were just, you know, going in strong and just playing the game that we always play, really. But, yes, they are really, really physical and it just kinda showed tonight. Q. Brandon, you had two put backs that felt like it stemmed the tide. I don't know if you felt it, too. But halfway through Terance Mann put one back and you put one back after and there was one at 7 minutes left where you put one in to keep the lead to 7. Did you feel you helped the momentum stay on your side with both of those in the second half? BRANDON CLARKE: I would say so, yeah. It's always big when you can get a put back dunk or like a layup. So that always helps easy points for the most part and it just kinda gets the team going. Q. Zach, I'm going to ask you first and then Brandon I would like you to weigh in on this, too. A game like this where you're getting in the stretch and it's a tight game and then you guys kinda draw out at the end. What's the attitude? Is there something that carries you through those situations like that where you kind of have that confidence that you know you're going to get it done? ZACH NORVELL, JR.: Confidence and belief in situations like that. You practice hard every day, you go hard in those situations every day and when you get in them you don't want the situations be too big. Stay level headed and coaches put us in that during practice three-minute games, four-minute games, when games like that are important and you don't want to get too wavered in that situation. BRANDON CLARKE: What Zach said. It's trust really in your teammates and knowing that if it's close we've been there before. So it's not something crazy to us, so it's trust in us and our teammates. Q. You guys held them to 58 points, below 40% shooting, 15% from three. What were the keys defensively to shut down a good offense like that? ZACH NORVELL, JR.: You know, they had a lot of offensive talent, trying to switch things up on 'em, contest every shot. Like Brandon said, early they were physical. We wanted to be more physical than them, take the fight to them both on offensive and defensive ends, trying to switch up schemes and don't let them get too comfortable. BRANDON CLARKE: Pretty much what Zach said. Just trying to be physical with them and trying to not let them bully us, pretty much, kind of like what they did last year, sort of. So it was us being physical and forcing them to take tough shots. Q. Brandon, couple years ago you were at San Jose State, happy to be in Division I, but on a team that's toward the bottom of Division I. What's this like for you? Now you're in the Elite Eight? Did you always dream of this or did you think this would ever happen? BRANDON CLARKE: Obviously at San Jose State I doubted that we could every make it here because of the talent around us. I'm really blessed to be here and be a Zag, really. It's something I didn't see coming, really. I'm just really glad to be here and the reason why I came here was to help us get here. I'm just glad I could help us be here right now. Q. Zach, you guys struggled early from three-point range but it seems like you hit three or four to gain the lead before the second half how big was that? ZACH NORVELL, JR.: It was really huge. It's something we practice every day, trust your mechanics, get something to fall, credit to the basketball gods believing in ourselves and being able to knock down a couple. Q. Zach, you guys played UNC, Duke, Tennessee. Do you feel that you were more well prepared this season to deal with that athleticism this time around? ZACH NORVELL, JR.: Yeah, for sure. We saw early on Tennessee and North Carolina who were physical and athletic in both the offensive and defensive end, and I think it prepared us a lot and also us taking those losses we understood what it took to come out with a game like that, you want to bring the fight to them and be more physical for forty minutes. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. Questions for Coach? Q. Seemed like Jeremy gave you some good minutes defensively. What's it been like to see him solidify a spot in the rotation? MARK FEW: It's been great. It's rewarding. It's heart warming. He's put a lot of time into the program. He's one of the most important guys off the floor with our leadership and culture and what we do. It's been a pleasure to be able to reward him on the floor and he's really helped us. You can see we go to him at critical times to usually guard the player that's hot or somebody that we're really having problems dealing with and once again he was there for us again tonight. Q. Coach, Geno only played 8 minutes. I think that was his lowest of the season. Was that a game flow thing? MARK FEW: Just kind of the way it goes. It would have been great to get him in there more. Perk was feeling good, and then he had cramps early on it was tough for Geno to figure out. They're a tough team. They speed you up with the press and most times you can take it to the basket and finish it. But this is not a team that you like your point guard driving in and finishing at the basket because there are usually two 7-footers chasing you down, one chasing you down and the other one waiting for you there. He needed to experience it, feel it. Obviously we have tons of confidence in him. We put him in with four minutes to go and he helped us there. Q. Kind of playing off what I asked the players about the way they respond late in games down the stretch. Is it sort of a thing in your program where the older guys kinda teach the newer guys how to handle those situations? MARK FEW: It's winning! It's winning, man! It's the culture of winning! And, oh, yeah, the older guys teach the younger guys. This is what you do at Gonzaga. You win! There are those times in the game where it's in the first half when we're making a run or somebody is making a run at us like Baylor did, like Florida State did, and the older guys, sometimes they say something and sometimes it's their actions. I think you saw Rui and Snacks and even Perk step up and make big shots; and B.C. gets it now. He's been in our culture for two years and he knows. That's just what winning does over the years. Q. Coach, you didn't have Brandon last year in this game against this type of team. What kind of things does he bring? How much does it change the game to have a guy who has five blocks, 6'8; and the second part of that, how does everybody miss on this guy? How does he end up at San Jose State? MARK FEW: The first part is it's an incredible luxury to have just such a talented high energy, high motor guy. You think about the one follow he had. I think he ran all the way from 94 feet to follow that. Most guys assume Rui is going to make that shot and he went flying in there to finish it. He's been unbelievable on the defensive end which we knew he was going to be. But he's worked diligently and just put in tons and tons of hours and he's been so coachable. Man, has he been coachable and so willing to learn. Those are great combinations when somebody is working hard and they're coachable and then he's around a great accepting group of guys who want to give him the ball and want to find him the ball and a point guard who can make those reads that has helped him, also. As far as people missing, this isn't an exact science and guys develop at different levels and at different times in their life. At that particular time I don't know that Brandon was quite looking like an elite-level prospect. But I think that's what makes basketball so special and this game so special that there are guys like him that, you know. One thing our program believes is we believe you can get better. You can get better while you're in the program. I think he's a walking example of that. Q. Mark, with the way you guys have played in the last three games. Was that loss in the West Coast Conference Final the best thing to happen to you guys? MARK FEW: You know, guys would tell you that and when you walk off the floor and you're back at the hotel room and your phone is blowing up, it didn't feel like it. But sometimes you have to go through. We hadn't had much adversity in a long, long time. I think we had kinda, you know, just started leaking a little oil and were kinda getting away from what and why we were so good. That gave us a great opportunity. It was not a fun week, waiting around for Selection Sunday, we had to show them film and get after them and we also showed them film from earlier in the year when we were playing great. At the time you didn't know how we were going to react. I'm happy we reacted the way we did because we're back playing the way we played most of this year. I know that's the last question. I just want to say, you know, from Gonzaga, our heart and prayers go out to Phil Cofer and his family. He's a heck of a player and I know they had to play without him and that was a big loss. It's was an honorable thing that he did and I think it's a great perspective giver for all of us. I know he was missed. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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