NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL SEMIFINAL: ORAL ROBERTS VS ARKANSAS

March 27, 2021

Paul Mills

Bankers Life Fieldhouse

Oral Roberts Golden Eagles

Sweet 16 Postgame Media Conference

Arkansas - 72, Oral Roberts - 70

THE MODERATOR: We have head coach Paul Mills. We're going to have an opening statement from Coach Mills, and then after he's done, we'll take questions.

PAUL MILLS: One, I am so proud of our players, who they are as men, for how they represented this university, for how they represented their families, for how they fought for one another. I'm just so thankful to be around those guys.

I've always felt that good players and good teams teach me more than I've ever had the opportunity to teach them, and that was obviously the case this year.

The game, losing is totally my fault. I've gotten three technical fouls, including tonight's, in my entire career. To get a technical when you lose by two, it's a tough pill to swallow.

Q. Paul, the last play, you guys got a great look. Could you please describe what you were hoping for and what you saw as the play unfolded.

PAUL MILLS: Exactly that. Putting the ball in Max's hands and allow him to make a decision. We gave him a pass option, and we gave him a dribble option. To his credit, he's super bright. He's just a terrific young man, picks up things really quickly.

And understood, had great court awareness, had great selection on the shot. Unfortunately, it didn't go in.

Q. Last time we spoke, it was in December, and we were discussing whether there was going to be a season amid all the cancellations in sports. How would you describe that point to where you took your team, going to the Sweet 16 and winning the conference tournament?

PAUL MILLS: Yeah, huge credit to the NCAA in the devotion and the commitment that it took in order to pull this tournament off. Everything has been fantastic. Just how we've been treated. The opportunity for your players to experience March Madness is great, and it's a huge credit to the people at the NCAA in order to make this happen this year, given the current conditions of COVID.

Q. Coach, I wanted to just ask about your guys' toughness on the defensive end. You guys held Moses Moody to 4-20 shooting and held them to 37% from the field and 11% from three. Could you describe the defensive effort and how were you guys able to slow down Arkansas today?

PAUL MILLS: You're breaking up, so I couldn't hear all of your question. I mean, defensively, I thought we were solid. I didn't think we were great. But there's a time and a place to go back and look at it, but it's not right now.

Q. Congratulations on a fantastic season. You guys were fun to watch. You talked about that last play earlier on. Did you think, when Max put up that shot, that it was going in when he released it?

PAUL MILLS: Yes.

Q. Paul, how do you kind of balance the emotion behind this? Obviously, disappointed with the outcome, but the pride that you guys have for this season.

PAUL MILLS: I think what you're proud of is your players. You're obviously disappointed in the game, but you're proud of your players and just how they rally and how they fight and going through the ups and downs that a year like this brings, especially with COVID. So what I'm most proud of is, one, who they are as people, but two, their resiliency throughout the course of the year.

I think any time you're around a group of young men like that you're really sad when it ends. So this will linger with me for a while. Usually postseason depression, if you talk to coaches, is real. This stuff takes a while in order to get over, but I'm just -- I'm so proud of who they are as men.

Q. This was an incredible run, one that will go down in history at ORU. What do you think this meant to the school and the alums, all the kids at the Mabee Center right now. What do you think this run meant everybody back home?

PAUL MILLS: I've gotten e-mails and letters and text messages from people all over the world, and I'll tell you that what I believe the game of basketball does, when you're cheering for a team that ends up winning, is it brings joy, right? People remember how you make them feel, and that's why it's important that you make people feel, regardless of who they are, you make them feel well.

I'm a big believer that people who are rude to the waiter are really rude people, and people who can treat others kindly are going to do it in all facets. So I say all of that to say -- I mean, the ones that always grab me are the little kids and the people who are in hospitals, and they say, man, I was having a bad day, and then I watched your guys fight, and because of that, it put a smile on my face. The next day I had an extra jump in my step, and I was a little bit quicker in order to do things.

I think that's what sports provide, and you can't lose sight of that, that what's happening here, who you are internally is going to get on display externally.

So it's important that we represent ourselves well, and our guys have done that.

Q. Coach, you were talking the other day about how you got to win from inside. You kind of just touched on it there at the end. Where does this team rank for you, even in this loss, not even counting this loss, just as a team that you've had as men, as guys you've been able to teach and coach in your career?

PAUL MILLS: I'll try to say this without crying, but it's my favorite team ever. They mean a lot to me.

Q. Coach, can you talk about how Max just had one of those insane performances this entire March run. Can you just talk about what he means to the program and what a joy it is to coach him during this time.

PAUL MILLS: I don't think it's insane to us. I mean, it may be insane to others, but it's actually not insane to us. I'm very much aware of his work ethic. I'm very much aware of his character. I'm very much aware of his diligence.

It may be an eye opener to the outside, and Max deserves every bit of it, but he's such a high character young man, and what was on display was what I've been fortunate to see since he arrived on campus, even before that.

He has absolutely wonderful parents. He has wonderful siblings, and he's supported from us and from obviously his family. So it's not insane to anybody in our locker room.

Q. I just simply wanted to ask how will you and the team remember this entire run maybe 10, 15, 20 years down the line looking back on it?

PAUL MILLS: Yeah, I don't know that answer. I'm proud, but you always think that you're capable of so much more. Not that I'm disappointed in this group at all, but you always think that a shot here, a shot there, if Coach Mills doesn't get a technical foul, how different this stuff could play out. I'll live with the technical foul for a minute, and that will help me down the road. It's hard to put in perspective just what's going to happen 10, 15, 20 years from now.

Q. Coach, was it the offensive foul that you got the technical over, and what did you say to get the technical?

PAUL MILLS: One, I don't curse, so I never cursed. There was a play earlier where Justin Smith ran over one of our guys, Kevin Obanor, and lowered the shoulder, and it was a no call. So when they -- when we got the same call, I just said, that's the same call. That's the same call. And they said, well, you can't yell. In my mind, it's the only way that you can overcome the noise. You have to raise your voice. I just told him, it's the same call. That was it. And they gave me a technical foul.