NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - NORFOLK ST. VS GONZAGA

March 20, 2021

Kyonze Chavis

Bankers Life Fieldhouse

Norfolk State Spartans

Postgame Media Conference

Gonzaga 98, Norfolk State 55

THE MODERATOR: Kyonze, thank you for joining us. We'll open it up for questions.

Q. What did you see out there? Was it everything you saw in the scouting report, then all of a sudden what's the difference between seeing it and actually playing against it?

KYONZE CHAVIS: Yeah, like I was just telling my coach, the game speed was, like, a thousand miles per hour. They were moving a lot. The ball was moving. Never stick. They're a pretty good coached team. They do everything right. Limited mistakes.

It was just reality when you got out there on the court, playing against a bunch of pros actually.

Q. Didn't seem like you were overwhelmed. You were leading 7 minutes into the game. They scored 12 straight points at that point. What went wrong?

KYONZE CHAVIS: We just started to play a little stagnant. Got ahead of ourselves. Stopped playing like what got us here. We weren't playing as a team any more, it was a little one-on-one, things started moving slow. They were just hitting shots. We weren't the defensive team we usually were. As coach was saying, we're the number 17 team in the country for defensive percentage, and we didn't show that tonight. So that's what happened.

Q. Talk about what this particular season means to you personally and for the rest of your life you know you made it to the March Madness, to the dance, you played against one of the greatest teams in the country, No. 1 team.

KYONZE CHAVIS: The experience was great. Like coach said, we're one out of 30 people in NSU history that ever played in the tournament, yet even won a game. To be here with the guys today was a great experience. Coming where I come from, I started off as a walk-on, then I got the scholarship and became a starter, a key part of the team. It's just a great experience to be a part of this.

Q. Caught a moment on the sideline there late with you and coach and Carter. Looked like he was doing a little bit of coaching up. It ended pretty emotionally with a couple hugs. Do you mind sharing what that moment was like.

KYONZE CHAVIS: He was just letting me and Devante know we wouldn't have been to this point without us, to hold our heads high, walk out of here as men because we accomplished something that no one else has accomplished this year or in the past 23 years at Norfolk State history for Division I besides one other team.

He was telling us to keep our heads high, know that we were key to this year's success.

Q. I want to ask you about coach specifically. He's achieved a bunch of goals. We can tell how much this tournament run means to him. There's also reports that other programs are considering him. Can you speak to him as a coach, what he's meant to you, what he's meant to this program?

KYONZE CHAVIS: As a coach, he's actually made me better as a man outside of basketball because he gives life lessons all year round. It's more than basketball. He wants you to become a great young man and be able to live in this world doing something besides playing basketball if that isn't the route for you.

It's him leading me to this success was just an honor. I know he'll go on to do great things because he's a great guy. Much respect to him.

Q. You weren't here to look for moral victories. You look at the box score, you scored in double figures against the No. 1 team in the country. How do you think you'll think about that in 10 or 20 years?

KYONZE CHAVIS: That's a great story to tell my kids, future friends, all. Being on this stage was just amazing. Even the score, double-digit figures against them, which they're a pretty great defensive team. It's just an honor. Actually just feels amazing.

Q. I asked coach this, I'll ask you this. You guys had two games to play in the tournament. You've got more eyes watching your program. What do you tell a potential recruit who might have not thought about Norfolk State but now might consider it? What do you tell them about coming to this school?

KYONZE CHAVIS: As I was saying, Norfolk State isn't for everyone just because you see the success. We put in a lot of work behind closed doors. We do a lot of things that the high-level schools do that people don't notice, with limited resources we have. We're trying to be the best team possible. Coach always tries to go above and beyond to make us just as good, try to give us the resources of the high majors.

Trying to come to Norfolk State, yeah, there's glitter and gold, you're going to get rings if you work, but it's a lot of work you have to put in.