NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - LOYOLA CHICAGO VS OHIO STATE

March 17, 2022

Drew Valentine

Braden Norris

Lucas Williamson

Aher Uguak

PPG Paints Arena

Loyola Chicago Ramblers

Media Conference

Q. Braden, how much do you relish this opportunity to meet Ohio State? I know you had some recruitment by them. I talked to your dad this week. Just to be able to play the hometown school.

BRADEN NORRIS: It's really cool for my family and friends. I have a lot of friends that go to Ohio State. Yeah, it's cool to play the hometown school. I grew up watching them all the time. I'm 10 minutes away from campus.

Like I've been saying, this game has nothing to do with me personally. I have no personal agenda. It's about Loyola advancing to the round of 32.

Q. For any of the players, what spin has Coach put on the program now that he's in charge? Was it important as a program to show sort of the success that you guys had was not directly tied to what your former coach did?

LUCAS WILLIAMSON: You said spin? What do you mean by spin?

Q. How is it different with him in charge as opposed to when Porter was in charge. What has he brought to the program or the room? I know he's been in the program for a while but obviously in a different position now.

LUCAS WILLIAMSON: Yeah, I would just say his energy is a bit different, his coaching style, the way he communicates is just a bit different than Porter's. Not to say that that's necessarily a bad thing, they're just two different people. But yeah, him being able to come in and take this job and the success that we've had in the past. There was a lot of pressure on him to get back to this point, so just for him, it was just trying to maintain and keep that culture and keep that winning -- the success that we've had in the past and for him to go into the future.

Q. Lucas, as you've prepared for Ohio State, and I think a lot of us expect you and Malaki Branham will be matched up with each other. I wonder what it's been like preparing for him and what you've seen of that matchup on film.

LUCAS WILLIAMSON: Yeah, obviously he's a really good player. He's a really good young player. Yeah, he's got everything that a scout would look for. He's got the size. He's got the shooting ability. He can shoot, pass and dribble. I'm really looking forward to getting out there and competing against him and just seeing what happens tomorrow.

Q. Lucas and Braden, there's just something so different about playing in this tournament. What will the value be for you guys when you step on the court tomorrow of all the experience that you've had in the tournament?

BRADEN NORRIS: Yeah, I think it's huge whenever you're playing in this tournament. I've been able to play one year. This is my second time. Everything feels different. There's a different type of pressure, a different type of intensity.

I think you've just got to embrace and enjoy every opportunity, and I think our experience, experiencing that, these guys have been to a Final Four, and then most of our guys have been to a Sweet 16. That's super valuable experience, and you can't really do anything to replace that experience.

LUCAS WILLIAMSON: Yeah, I think for me, especially this being my last year, it means the world. Like Braden said, playing in the tournament, that's something that you grow up dreaming about, something that I always watched growing up. I remember like trying to sneak out after school to come watch some of the games with Mr. Roe in sixth grade. I'm just going to relish every moment, appreciate every single detail, especially since it's my last go-around.

Q. Braden, you sort of touched on how it's different for you guys a little bit in the tournament, but it is sort of different this time around, as well. A couple years ago when you make the run to the Final Four, you're a Cinderella. Now people sort of have expectations for you guys and you're almost like a favorite coming in here. Does it feel different coming back here knowing what you guys have already done and knowing you have a target on you?

AHER UGUAK: I think we have high expectations for ourselves now that everyone else in the country sees how good we are and also has that expectation for us. That gives us confidence for sure.

BRADEN NORRIS: Yeah, I think it's not really -- nothing has really changed from our perspective. Like Aher said, we have high expectations for ourselves and the way that we've prepared for every single game. It's like our Super Bowl. But it has been interesting seeing other people in the outside voice their expectations, like somebody asked me a question like how does it feel to be a different. I was like, what? How are we a favorite? But I didn't even know what all -- like the outside voices, what they're saying. That's just been interesting, an interesting little shift.

Q. Some of your class returns as graduates from the '16 year. What's it also like adding the transfers into the mix? What do each of them bring into the court?

BRADEN NORRIS: Yeah, Ryan and Chris have been huge for us. Getting all-conference honors, everyone sees what they bring on both ends of the floor. Super smart. They've played in big games at their respective universities before they came here. So yeah, they bring valuable experience and they have A different skill set that they brought to our team that's made us better.

AHER UGUAK: Like Braden was saying, they bring so much on the court with their experience. They have won games for themselves at their schools and here, and they've played big games for us. Even off the court they're two great guys and we love them to death. We've all became great friends.

Q. For Aher and Lucas, having Chicago roots, playing in high school, and I know Aher your route was more circuitous, but coming home and playing for Loyola and having an impact on the program, how much Chicago pride do you guys have in that?

AHER UGUAK: I'm not from Chicago, but I have family in Chicago. Just being here in Chicago, I feel like it was an easy transition for me because I used to come here a lot when I was younger. So just Chicago does feel like a second home for sure. I've been here for the past five years, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

LUCAS WILLIAMSON: I think any of these guys will tell you that I'm like the biggest Chicago advocate. But yeah, that was one of the main reasons why I came to Loyola, because I was from here. And just to see the way the city has rallied behind us and really supports us and wants us to do well, that means a lot to me. That really means the world to me. I could go on and on and on about Chicago because that is home to me. So I'm just so appreciative of the support that the city has for this team.

Q. Aher, I'm wondering what you thought of watching E.J. Liddell on film and what you think of that matchup?

AHER UGUAK: I think he's a great player. We've watched a lot of film on him. He's an All American, I believe, and I think he deserves that. I think what we've done on film, watching him with our scout, we're pretty confident that we'll have a good matchup against him.

Q. Aher, sticking with the Ohio State front court they've been without Zed Key and Kyle Young for a while. What's it like preparing for a team when you're not sure what their match-ups might look like down low?

AHER UGUAK: The way our coaches prepare, we prepare like they're going to play. They've been involved in the scout, Key and Young. We're preparing like they're going to play, and if they don't, then I think we'll be fine.

Q. You guys kind of carry a unique Missouri Valley banner. How do you weigh representing the Valley on your way out?

LUCAS WILLIAMSON: Yeah, even though our university is leaving the Valley, I know nothing but playing in the Valley, so I feel like I'm always going to be a representative of the Valley. We come from a very competitive conference, and night in and night out, it doesn't matter who you play, they can always beat you if you don't bring it.

I think that experience and coming from a conference like that only helps you in March, which is why I think to your point you saying that the Valley has a good record in the tournament, it's because of how competitive our conference is, how you have to scout, how you have to prepare for every single team night in and night out. Hopefully we can continue that, the success that the Valley has had in this tournament, so we'll just have to wait and see until tomorrow.

BRADEN NORRIS: Got nothing. That was a good answer.

Q. Lucas, you mentioned a couple minutes ago that you were surprised when somebody labeled you guys as a favorite. The success you guys have had the last five years, do you believe the perception of Loyola has changed and it's not just one nice story that one year with the nun and that one small school from Chicago. Do you think you've changed the perception of the program at large?

LUCAS WILLIAMSON: You know, from my perspective it's hard for me to answer that question because I've always had a certain type of feeling about our team. My freshman year when we made it to the Final Four, I always felt confident going into every single game that if we executed a game plan we were going to have the upper hand in every single game. From my perspective looking out, I've always been around people that had confidence in us winning.

Now it kind of just seems as if there's just more people that aren't in this inner circle that aren't necessarily even Rambler fans that didn't follow us for the rest of the year because they only hear about us in March from the past couple years, that start to even know who we are. So I guess from that perspective maybe a little bit, but from my perspective I feel like we've always had that type of feel, at least from Rambler fans in Rogers Park.

Q. Braden, with Keaton last night, what was it like watching him, and how would you describe how fun, exciting and crazy it is for your family what's going to happen tomorrow?

BRADEN NORRIS: Yeah, I mean, there's no words for what's happening within our family, with Keaton at Rice State, to be able to play in Dayton, the home state where we grew up. And then for Wright State to play 15 minutes away from campus, the atmosphere was crazy, at least that's what my parents said.

But yeah, I'm super proud, super happy for him to experience this, to experience the NCAA Tournament. There's no other feeling like it. I experienced this last year, and I wanted that feeling for him, and now he's advancing and he's in San Diego right now. I'm super proud, super happy for him.

I think it's a good problem to have when two of your kids are playing in the NCAA Tournament, but yeah, my dad will be in San Diego and my mom will be here.

Q. Braden, what is the mystique, the mojo that Sister Jean has, and what does she mean to the program?

BRADEN NORRIS: She means a lot. She's kind of our whole brand, especially when we get into March. We always kind of joke around when we advance it's kind of like Sister Jean advancing to the round of 32. No, but she's great. I mean, she means a ton to our university and to our team, and it's awesome to have her here.

Q. (Indiscernible)

BRADEN NORRIS: Yeah, no doubt. She's there every game. She sends us emails after every game. She's a huge part of our program. That's just the honest truth.

Q. Lucas, you touched on it a little bit earlier, but what does this one last run in the tournament mean to you?

LUCAS WILLIAMSON: Yeah, I mean, like I said earlier, this is something that you grow up wanting to be a part of, and just to do it for a third time and my last time means the absolute world to me. This is exactly where we wanted to be at this point. This is me, Aher, Tate, Keith -- this is why we came back. This is why Ryan and Chris came here. This is why people choose Loyola now, to be a part of something like this where we're playing in March Madness. It just means the world to me, and I'm happy to be here, and hopefully I'm excited to get out there and compete tomorrow.

DREW VALENTINE: It's tournament time. We're excited to be here. We talked to our team a lot this week about not being entitled because our program has had a recent history of getting to this point. I think you can kind of get to the point where you don't take advantage of the moment. Like this is what everybody that's a young man -- I was a college player one time before, and everybody wants to be in this moment. Like you have to embrace it and do everything you can to put yourself in position to be successful.

Obviously Ohio State is an incredibly talented opponent, two extremely high-level guys, and then they've got a ton of really good players around them, as well.

Obviously a ton of respect for them. Diebler is one of my good friends in this profession, so I watch them a ton, and excited about the matchup, and excited to get out there and compete.

Q. Your player was up here talking about the pressure you feel inheriting the program that you did. What kind of spin have you tried to bring to the room that maybe differs from what Porter brought?

DREW VALENTINE: Yeah, from a pressure standpoint, I just put pressure on myself to do good all the time. It's not necessarily -- obviously I'm here at Loyola and there's a certain standard that this program is starting to establish. But it's not necessarily like I'm the head coach at Loyola or Porter Moser set a certain level of standard and I have to do that.

I want to do good and do great myself. It's just I want my players to do great and I want this program to be great. I think we're just different people. At the end of the day I'm 30, I'm obviously a minority. We dress different. We listen to different music. I'm big into the sneakers. He loved throwing his jacket around. But obviously I wouldn't be here without him.

I'm so grateful that he gave me the opportunity. I'm beyond blessed that he thought I was prepared for this moment. And they obviously played a Missouri Valley Conference opponent the other day so I was tuned in and watching them in the NIT. That's my guy for life. We talk all the time. I think we just have a different presence. I haven't tried to change too much.

When I first got the job, all the guys were asking me what's going to be different. And I'm just like, we have a wall of culture in our locker room where we communicate and have certain verbiage to describe things that are out there on the court. I was like, guys, what if I started describing something a certain kind of a way. You'd be like, what the heck, why don't we just call it that? I haven't really tried to change much from that perspective, either.

Q. You talked about Ohio State and your respect. What is it specifically that concerns you in regard to the match-ups with Ohio State?

DREW VALENTINE: Yeah, I think, number one, Liddell is a mismatch problem. He's a mismatch problem for everybody in the country. He's an All American for a reason. I saw a ton of him in high school obviously with being from the state, so a lot of respect for him. Obviously depending on what their 5 situation is, all three of their 5s I feel like present different -- I guess E.J. plays the 5 some, too, but the three guys that are their bigs, whether it's Brunk with the great touch in the post; Zed Key, he just carves out so much space and is a killer on the offensive glass; and then Kyle Young, he can stretch it, play make, facilitate and also knock down a three.

I would say the combination of just Liddell -- everybody knows what he does from the outside, from the inside, draws fouls at a high rate, and then obviously their inside presence.

I don't want to disrespect Branham, either, but I think those two things I would say would be the biggest for us.

Q. Drew, this is your fifth year with the program. In that time going from that first Final Four run where it was sort of a Cinderella story to where you are now, how have you noticed the perception around your program change in those five years?

DREW VALENTINE: Yeah, it's just different. I think people understand the brand. I think people understand our style of play. I think people are familiar with obviously Sister Jean, number one, probably. But they're familiar with some of our players, whether it's Krutwig, Lucas, Marques Townes, some of the really good players we've had. I think they're familiar with us being a really high academic school. I just think there's more name brand recognition. I think we've played on more national TV games this year than ever before. Obviously we got invited to play in Battle for Atlantis. There's just a lot of big-time opportunities that have elevate the profile of the program.

Now when we call up somebody in recruiting process, I think they have an idea of where we're located, what we're about, and our style of play, maybe a couple of our players.

Q. Can you talk about maybe the similarities between the Final Four team attitude-wise, approach-wise and talent-wise compared to the group now?

DREW VALENTINE: Yeah, I think it's crazy like when you look up -- I think it was one of my assistants told me, I don't know if it was Ken Pom or something else, but you look up a team's profile, what teams are most similar to that. Obviously we looked at that for fun. We had a week off, so we were just trying to find projects to do, and we looked up what teams are most similar to in the history of NCAA basketball, and it's literally the 2018 Loyola team just from, I don't know, all the metrics.

A lot of similarities. I think this team has a little bit more depth from 1 to 10, whereas that team was really like seven deep and then that was kind of who we wanted on the floor. I think this team has a little bit more size. Obviously that team, I think, they're presence and their swagger -- this group has presence and swagger, but that group, those guys really had it. Maybe it was because it was my first year and I could feel it because it was so new to me, but guys like Donte, Marcus, they were loud. Krutwig is a loud person. This team is a little bit more reserved and a little bit more just quiet with how they go about approaching the game.

A lot of similarities, but I'm lucky to be a part of both of them.

Q. As you represent the Missouri Valley Conference for the final time in this tournament, how much has Valley play gotten Loyola to their success in the NCAA Tournament and is it at all awkward to represent the conference as you leave the conference?

DREW VALENTINE: Not at all. I think for me, we love being a part of the Valley. Like last night we were watching -- I was watching Northern Iowa for a little bit cheering them on wanting to do well even though we were playing an Atlantic 10 opponent. We're grateful for our time but we're also excited about the Atlantic 10, so it's kind of twofold.

I think the Valley play prepares you tremendously, the way that the coaches scout you, the way that you have to change your game plan up all the time, the way that you have to offensively put in new actions or different out of bounds plays, sideline out of bounds plays. And then just the mismatches that the Valley presents. There's different styles within the league. There's different styles within every league, but the Valley plays a lot of small ball as well as there's some bigs that can really score it in the post.

Like you guys saw Gaige Prim the other, Austin Fife too, two teams that are playing in the NIT. It got us ready to play a variety of styles of play, go against pressing, things like that. And then also there's five top-100 teams, top 10 league in the country this year, so high level of talent, as well.

Q. My question for you is you played under some different head coaches or worked under some different head coaches on your path to becoming a head coach yourself. What is the biggest lesson that you take from them going into your first March Madness as head coach?

DREW VALENTINE: Yeah, just trust your training and don't try to do anything completely different. Obviously we want to make some changes and do some new things and grow and evolve. Like you don't want to just be lazy and not prepare, but at the same time you want to -- I ask my players to trust and believe in their training and trust and believe in our style of play, the coaches, teammates, things like that. I feel like it's only right for me to do the same.

I was lucky to obviously work for some, like you said, really good head coaches. Just working for coaches, everybody talks about it, you know, January, February, and then Izzo and then April -- everybody talks about that.

Learning from him is just like, he doesn't do anything different. It's just the way you prepare every single day up to the point where you get to March, it just gets you ready for it. So that's what I've tried to do with this team. You guys have been in there. How many times did I say we want to treat every game like a Super Bowl? I said that every single time, you guys heard that, my Loyola student fam in here.

Yeah, I think that was probably the biggest takeaway.

Q. Not to put this on you, but 25 years ago a Jesuit school from outside the Power Five conference structure had some success in March, the coach left, and the guy that replaced him took it to another level. Gonzaga, you sort of fit the profile. I'm not trying to put that on you, but when you look at what they did, is that sort of the path -- when you big picture this thing, is that sort of the path that you guys for you guys? Do you feel like the success this year is sort of validating that what we have here goes beyond just the success of one guy?

DREW VALENTINE: Yeah, I think so. Obviously that's the path that we want to be on, 130 wins the past five years, I think that's pretty hard to do, sustained success is the number one hardest thing to do.

That's definitely the path. That's what our administration has given us the support to do.

I think our recruiting, our talent has gone up. I think if you look at the talent that was on the 2018 team, I love those guys to death, love them to death, but it's just at a different level right now.

Hopefully five years from now when we've got a couple -- I think we've got an NBA player on our team right now, but hopefully we've got multiple NBA guys and it's trending. Because when you have the combination of winning and pros, that's when you start elevating the program.

We've got the winning down, and we've got pros -- Milton Doyle made it to the NBA and we've got all of our seniors are pretty much playing overseas right now, and everybody that's graduating is going on to play pro. But we've got to start getting even more pros, and I think that's where we're heading.

Q. Because of how well Loyola has done, the expectations externally are for you guys to get to the program. That doesn't make it -- to the tournament, excuse me. That doesn't make it easy to do, so for you personally, what's the satisfaction you feel as a first-year head coach getting your team to the dance?

DREW VALENTINE: Yeah, I mean, it's hard to do. Like I said, from my opening statement, you don't want to feel entitled ever. Like you're just supposed to do it, and that's why I wanted to have the selection show in front of our fans, because this is a big deal. It's still a big deal here.

But for me, just like what I said, what I believe in and what I feel like it takes to make a tournament or to have -- what your roster needs to look like for you to get to the point where you can win a conference tournament, all those things that go into running a program, I think it just validates that. And I think it validates for the people around you that you've got an idea of what you're doing now.

Do I still have to grow and get better? I 1,000 percent believe I have to grow and get better as a head coach, but I think it says that we're on the right path and we're off to a pretty good start under my tenure here.

Q. You talked about sort of a more reserved approach for this team, not the swagger that the other group had, but you still sense a confidence in this group?

DREW VALENTINE: Oh, no doubt.

Q. How confident are you in this team that they know what it takes to win this time of year?

DREW VALENTINE: Yeah, they've proven it. We've played a pretty hard schedule, and it's the hardest schedule we've ever had here at Loyola. Losing an All American for most teams is really hard to do. But then you factor in the league that we're from and then you factor in just from my perspective, everybody for me -- I think it's great that everybody assumed all of our players were going to come back because I've got an impact coach.

Last year was the first year of one-time transfer. You mean to tell me if Lucas Williamson went in the transfer portal, where do you think he would have went? Anywhere he wanted. We've got to have good relationships with our players, and I think the fact they didn't want to go anywhere, I think that shows their confidence. I say all that to say in Loyola, and what we can do here. They made a Sweet 16 last year. Seven of our top eight scorers made a Sweet 16 last year.

They know what we can do, and we've talked about it all year that if we just do what we do from an edge standpoint, from how we approach the defensive side of the ball, if we do that and take care of the ball, then I think they believe that we can win as many games as possible in this tournament. The fact that those guys decided to come back here when they could have went anywhere else, I think that speaks volumes about how confident they are that we can advance in this tournament.

Q. The reason you guys win is often overlooked, but the defensive metrics are off the charts. How much of that is engrained from day one of camp in order to be the key to success? When you lost five games the last five months of the regular season, how much of that was the reason, and then that being the reason you won the Valley tournament?

DREW VALENTINE: Yeah, I mean, you could ask our freshmen. It's hilarious to me -- not hilarious, but it's fun for me to see as a coach where in the summer when those guys would come to workouts or we'd be doing a team practice and I'd be telling them, listen, if you don't communicate with the same intensity that you would with four minutes left of a Final Four game, it's not good enough for every single rep.

That's how I coach my team. That's the mentality and the standard that we want to uphold. I believe that's the championship standard, championship DNA that you build up.

Like you said, from day one, that's what we've been about. I thought, and the people -- you guys will all know, when you guys have heard me talk, I didn't think we've had that from a consistency standpoint in Valley play. Then when we got to the tournament, I thought we had an edge to us. I'm hoping that we come out with an edge defensively because I thought in our non-conference, I thought we really did. We held Auburn to 62 points, Michigan State 61, Vandy 58, DePaul 64, San Francisco 74, even though I don't know if that's great, but they're a tournament team. So I think we've shown that we can hold some high-level teams pretty good defensively. Northern Iowa is a top -- I think they're top 40 in Ken Pom and I think Missouri is top 20. I think we've done a good job on some of those teams. We're excited about where our defense could take us in March if we have the right approach.