NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - USC VS DRAKE

March 20, 2021

Joseph Yesufu

Bankers Life Fieldhouse

Drake Bulldogs

Postgame Media Conference

USC - 72, Drake - 56

Q. You tripled your scoring output from last season to this season. What did you work on in the extended off-season?

JOSEPH YESUFU: Just constantly worked out. I took advantage of the quarantine time with my trainer, Nick. He's definitely been a huge factor. Then working out with my teammates when I came back over the summer. So definitely everybody kept me hungry for this season.

Q. Joseph, what was the biggest difference for you guys between the first and second half? What did you see out there? Looked like you guys might have gotten a little tired?

JOSEPH YESUFU: Yeah, we got a little tired, playing like seven -- I don't know the rotation. We got tired, and their length really caught up to us in the zone. We just couldn't figure it out, and they got the "W."

Q. It seemed like USC's length was really tough, close-outs seemed to force a lot of really bad misses. Is that how you experienced it, particularly in the second half there, where the long arms were really causing you problems?

JOSEPH YESUFU: Yes, sir, the Mobley Twins, they're the real deal, credit to them. The long guard, their length is -- we talked about that yesterday when we were going through our matchups. We knew that was going to be a huge thing rebounding, but I feel like our team left it all out there. I couldn't be more proud of the guys.

Q. Hey, Joseph, Tank obviously missed four weeks, but he came back for the first four and then played again today. What does he add? How did he make you guys better in these two games he played once he returned?

JOSEPH YESUFU: Tank is a warrior, man. Coming back from having surgery, that is a huge thing, and he battled through it. He said from the beginning that he wanted to come back. So he definitely really helped us today, brought energy, rebounded for us. He did everything he could. So credit to Tank.

Q. Joseph, you guys got to play two games here on the biggest stage in your sport. What do you hope that does for you going forward as a team?

JOSEPH YESUFU: We're definitely more hungry. We tasted the NCAA Tournament since 2008, so we're definitely more hungry, definitely going to get back here again, and it's going to be a different story.

Q. I was just going to ask kind of the same thing. How do you build off of this? Particularly you guys are going to have a lot of pieces next year, with you, with Roman, with Tank -- I mean, all these guys have said they're coming back. How do you build? How fun are the practices going to be when everyone's healthy?

JOSEPH YESUFU: It's going to be really competitive. I know everybody, not just me, everybody's going to be hungry. Everybody's constantly going to be in the gym, like they already are, because we want to make it back here again. We will make it back here again.

THE MODERATOR: Joseph, thank you very much for joining us. Safe travels home.