NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - RICHMOND VS IOWA

March 16, 2022

Grant Golden

Jacob Gilyard

KeyBank Center

Richmond Spiders

Media Conference

Q. For both of you guys, obviously in 2020, you certainly had a résumé of an NCAA tournament team going into the conference tournaments and then COVID obviously postponed the tournament.

How much sweeter did that make this run to the Atlanta championship and then to the tournament this year?

GRANT GOLDEN: Like you said, it made it a lot sweeter. We thought that was the best record in school history that we had in 2020. Everything that we had set out to accomplish was right there in front of us. We were going to have an opportunity to go play up there in Brooklyn, so to have that all taken away certainly hurt a lot, and the fact that all of our guys decided to use that COVID year and come back this year and try to accomplish that goal and the fact that we got there really means a lot to all of us.

Q. This for Jacob, I think Grant just mentioned it, but the amount of six-year seniors that you have on this team, how important -- how, I guess, not valuable, but how cool is it to have the six of you together for so long and the bond that you have established and to be going out like this at this type of stage?

JACOB GILYARD: It's been really cool, the experience itself. These are guys that I've played with for five years now, so to be able to accomplish this with them is great. We're a pretty close team on the court. I think we all kind of feed off of each other and play well together, but we're extremely close off the court. The relationships that we have with each other are incredible, so to go out this way or to be able to be here with these guys means the world to me.

Q. Congratulations on your success. What are some of the lessons that you have learned from Coach Chris?

GRANT GOLDEN: Somebody asked me that question in an interview yesterday before we left campus, and I think the biggest thing for me is something he always preaches to us is you can never feel sorry for yourself. Just feeling sorry for yourself is the worst thing that you can do in life.

Obviously there's a lot of highs and lows throughout your life, but during the lows, if you feel sorry for yourself, there's no way that you can pull yourself out of that funk and get through those times. So the biggest thing for him is making sure that you never feel sorry for yourself so that you can always pull yourself through those times no matter how low they get.

With me in my life and the things that I've been through, that's certainly something that's resonated with me the most.

Q. What are your impressions of Iowa, and do they compare to anybody that you guys have faced this season?

JACOB GILYARD: I would say they don't really compare to anybody. I mean, they've got an All American. We haven't played anybody that has that type of player. It's going to be tough for us. They're a really good team. Offensively the numbers speak for themselves.

I think in the last two months, they've probably been one of the top five teams analytically. They're a really good team. We're excited to be able to play against a Big Ten team. Doesn't really matter who it is. To be in the tournament, all you have to do is win one game. We're going to take it one game at a time and see where we go.

Q. It's for Grant. You just talked about not feeling sorry for yourselves. How big of a message was that among you guys after last year and then to know that you are coming back for this extra season and the opportunity that brought? And to make it even more convoluted question, and I'm sorry, but to have Nick Sherod, what he went through and to be here as well?

GRANT GOLDEN: This group has been through a lot, like you mentioned. There's been a lot of downs. Guys with different injuries. The COVID thing happened in 2020. Last year, obviously, was a tough year for all teams, but I think us more so than a lot of teams got hit a little bit harder.

I know me personally, I probably spent over a month in hotel rooms and stuff for quarantine and everything like that, so we certainly had a lot. There are certainly a lot of times where we could have felt sorry for ourselves and sort of quit and sort of said, you know, maybe this just isn't it, but the fact that nobody did and everybody stuck with it and decided to come back, sort of like I said earlier, just made it all that much better on Sunday.

Q. How much did you get hit up by other schools? Maybe not directly, but indirectly, to transfer, and why did you guys end up staying at Richmond?

GRANT GOLDEN: During when the entire country was in quarantine, when COVID ended the season and everything, I certainly had a bunch of schools sort of reach out to my high school coach and try and figure out what I was going to do with the fifth year and everything, so I know that there were a lot of options out there, but I had always said if I was going to decide to come back and everything, this year, whatever it may be, that it was going to be at Richmond.

How Coach Mooney and his entire staff and how these guys have impacted my life is something that I can't even describe, so I couldn't even imagine taking the court with anybody besides them.

JACOB GILYARD: For me, it happened after my sophomore year. I'm not as old as Grant. I'm just a fifth year. He is an old guy. Once I decided to come back after the COVID year, I knew there wasn't -- there wasn't anywhere else I would rather be. Richmond was always what I was going to do.

Q. Because of Mooney?

JACOB GILYARD: Yeah. I would say -- my teammates are probably right there along with Coach, but, yeah, no, Coach Mooney played a big part in it, how he went about it. He didn't force anybody. He didn't try to put himself on anybody to make sure that we were going to come back or that one guy would come back. He let us make our own decisions, and he has done that throughout our whole career. He treats us as adults rather than kids in college.

Q. Jacob, just was that a collective decision, or was it maybe organic? Did you guys just come to realize that on one day, or --

JACOB GILYARD: When he first announced it that we would be able to, I think everybody was kind of like, no, we've been here long enough. As the season progressed, we had to go in quarantine a couple of times. Didn't make the tournament. Things didn't really look as promising as they were before the season, and I think it was kind of -- in the back of everybody's head, at the end of the day, it's a personal decision for everybody.

You know, you get guys saying they'll come back if you come back and vice versa, but I think at the end of the day, it was a personal decision for everybody, but I think everybody -- somebody else played a role in everybody's decision.

Q. During that COVID season, what are some of the things that you worked on during that time to elevate your games to make the team a little bit better?

JACOB GILYARD: I think for us, we played together for so long. We kind of know exactly what people like to do, you know, kind of where guys' spots are, when they want the ball, where they're going to get the ball.

Within our offense, you have an idea of what you want to do. For everybody, it was kind of personal. You know, how are you going to expand your own game to make this team even more dynamic? For me, it was working on shooting the ball better, shooting more off the dribble, trying to get in the lane, work on my floater. I'm sure Grant has his own things that I don't know too much about, but I think it was more personal for everybody.

Q. Keegan Murray, I'm sure you've been talking about him in the scouting report. What have you seen on film from him? Not to give your strategy here, but what types of things do you think you can do to stop him?

GRANT GOLDEN: He is an incredible player obviously. He can score at all three levels. I think that's one of the most impressive things and one of the things that stands out the most on his film, and I think another thing is he just plays really hard, runs the floor great, gets out in transition. The whole team gets out in transition really well, but sort of his energy, you can see just sort of ignites them a little bit.

I think with players like that, obviously, the saying is, I don't know if you can stop them, you can only hope to contain them, so hopefully we can just go out there and make everything tough for him and make him earn every basket that he gets.

Q. I was actually just going to ask about Keegan, but I guess since that's been taken care of, what other Iowa players have stood out to you when you've been watching film on them so far?

GRANT GOLDEN: Obviously, Bohannon, unbelievable shooting ability, really I think does a great job of controlling the pace for them. Like I sort of said there, getting them out in transition when they need to go and everything like that. Obviously, Keegan's brother, another one that really stands out on film. Shooting above 40% from three, really skilled off the dribble, but all of their guys, all of them, bring something to the table. It's going to be a tough game for us, but we're looking forward to it.