BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 9, 2022

Bob Huggins

Taz Sherman

Malik Curry

Sean McNeil

West Virginia Mountaineers

Postgame Press Conference

West Virginia 73 - Kansas State 67

THE MODERATOR: Okay, we have been joined by the Mountaineers from West Virginia. Coach Bob Huggins, and he has brought three student-athletes to the interview room, Malik Curry, Taz Sherman, and Sean McNeil.

We will go straight to questions and then come back for Coach. Who wants to go first? Anyone on the stage?

Guys, it's going to be on the TV platform in the back.

Q. Sean, you had a tough physical game. Second half what happened? Looked like you got poked in the eye. How do you fight through that last part?

SEAN McNEIL: I just got the wind knocked out of me. The first one I didn't think it was flagrant or intentional. Lost my breath for a minute and then they're such a physical team, good team, credit to them. We were just a little tougher tonight.

Q. Guys, each one of you, talk about the intensity of this game. You were fighting to try to advance and Kansas State is in the same spot. Do you feel like this is a fairly intense game?

TAZ SHERMAN: When two teams are playing for their season, some of them are playing for their lives, seniors, going to the next level, so it's going to be a hard, physical game, and the winner stays around.

They played great. They've got some good guards over there, good players over there. I felt like we came out ready to play and they made a run and we locked down defensively toward the end, made our free throws and big-time shots.

That was a really good game and a physical match-up.

MALIK CURRY: Um, these are the type of games that us seniors love to play in. The atmosphere was great. You know, if we had lost the game we would be headed home so just playing with my brothers, just playing on the road and having fun, I feel like Kansas State played a good game and we just came out with the W.

Q. Malik, seemed like down the stretch you wanted to be aggressive and take charge. Was that something that you were supposed to do?

MALIK CURRY: That's my game. That's what I do best, and especially when I feel like I haven't been able to -- I try to use that to my advantage for the team.

That's my game, get to the basket and making layups and just facilitating it.

Q. Coach, any thoughts about going up against Kansas tomorrow? It's going to happen pretty quickly.

COACH HUGGINS: Can I just think about this one for a while? You know, we have had great games with them over the years. This might be one of Bill's best teams.

Actually, I would like to say - make sure you write this - I think Bill ought to win the national championship. I think if he doesn't they probably ought to fire him.

No, they're good. We played the first half at their place and played really well, and they came out the second half and we didn't play so well and they played great.

I don't remember what happened at home. Seems like a long time ago.

Q. Bob, seems like you and Bruce had words at the end. What were you telling him there?

COACH HUGGINS: I've just got a lot of respect for Bruce. I've known Bruce for a long, long time, back to -- back to other days, and Gene was a good friend of mine and Bruce just -- Bruce is a heck of a basketball coach.

I don't think he gets near the credit he deserves for what he does, because he's -- his kids play extremely hard and they're very well coached. I just told him how much I appreciate him.

Q. Malik you mentioned you distribute the ball and you got comfortable with that as the season went along. What helped you get more comfortable with that as the season progressed?

MALIK CURRY: Just my coaches told me in the right situation since I'm left-handed, and I like going left, but they put me in situations where I would have to take the ball from half-court all the way to the basket, different actions where I could get available in different ways.

So the coaches helped me get to the basket easier and found ways for me to get to the basket.

Q. Taz, is this how y'all envisioned the offense working this year, that they couldn't cover you and Sean all the time?

TAZ SHERMAN: I just got some good shots, that's about it. I felt like I was playing pretty fast the first half. I had to slow down. I had a couple of bad shots, but I started taking good shots.

Once we got the ball movement and we all got shots, they can't guard both of us. Somebody is going to have to help out with one of us and one of us is going to go off, you know.

Sean had a great game today. Malik had a great game. (Away from mic.) We asked people to step up tonight. I had 9 points. People stepped up today on the offensive end.

Q. Sean, like Taz said, 21 points today. How encouraging was it to see those shots falling, especially from three after the type of games that you've been having?

SEAN McNEIL: It's been a while since I've seen a three go in, at least consistently. It's definitely refreshing. We came into this game it's a new season, so I looked at it that way as well.

Flushing my previous, whatever it was, where I was struggling, and just helped out wherever I could.

Q. Coach, just an overall question about having to turn back fans and all that. You guys were here a few years ago, 10, 12 hours, and last year without fans, what's it feel like to be back here with Kansas City?

COACH HUGGINS: We had just finished pregame and found out that it was being cancelled and we were told to go get our stuff and head back to Morgantown.

Kansas City is a great place. It's close enough that people could get here. Believe it or not, a lot of our people love coming here. Great restaurants. We like coming here, and I spent a year in Manhattan, and every other weekend people were like, hey, come on. We're going to go to Kansas City and have dinner.

And I was like, It's a long damn way to have dinner, but people in Manhattan love coming to Kansas City, and justifiably so. It's a great town. I spent a lot of time in Cincinnati and the facilities here are at least as good, probably better then at Cincinnati. That will get me in trouble with Cincinnati.

THE MODERATOR: Okay, gentlemen, we will see you tomorrow. Congratulations on the win.