BIG EAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2021

Tyrese Martin

UConn Huskies

Madison Square Garden

Postgame Media Conference

UConn - 94, DePaul - 60

Q. What was it like to play in your first Big East Tournament game?

TYRESE MARTIN: It felt really good. It's something I wanted to do for my whole life, I dreamed of. That's why I came to UConn. This was a big thing, them coming to the Big East. Playing in the Big East Tournament today was something -- it was a dream come true and it felt good that we got the win.

Q. They beat you twice this year. What makes you think it will be different next time?

TYRESE MARTIN: We're a different team. We're at full strength. We're probably one of the hottest teams in the country right now. So to beat us, you're going to have to do a lot of things. And I don't think that there's a team right now that's going to do that.

Q. You played well against DePaul in the first two games of the season. Then you had 14 and 10 tonight. What do you think about this matchup suits you well? Is it just a game-by-game thing for you?

TYRESE MARTIN: Against them, it's just a smaller team. So I just used that to my strength, my size, and just get to my spots. That's really it.

Q. You guys dominated them on the boards tonight. How important was that to the result of the game?

TYRESE MARTIN: That was one of the key things we talked about before the game started was the rebounding. That's our identity. That's who we are. We're not here to switch anything up just because we're in the Big East Tournament now. So we stuck to who we are and the score showed itself. The rebound numbers showed themselves.

Q. One thing that people are saying a lot on the broadcast is that when James Bouknight went down earlier in the year everyone else had to step up and learn to elevate their game. And that's benefited the team since he's come back. Do you agree with that? And kind of how is the cast around Bouknight improved over the last few weeks?

TYRESE MARTIN: I definitely agree. Most of our players had to step up when he went down. When he came back looks like a different team. We have weapons all over. We're a bad team when we're just stuck watching him. And I feel like that's what we did before he got injured. Then we had to play without him. We all got our confidence, added more of a feel for the game. After that, we are the team that we are now.