NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - MIAMI (FL) VS USC

March 17, 2022

Kameron McGusty

Sam Waardenburg

Charlie Moore

Jim Larranaga

Bon Secours Wellness Arena

Miami (FL) Hurricanes

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're going to get started with the University of Miami press conference with our student-athletes. Kameron McGusty, Sam Waardenburg, and Charlie Moore.

Q. For each of you guys, you have a coach who's been deep in the NCAA tournament and has been around the game a while. How much do players -- I don't know if that's a comfort to know you're playing for a coach that's won in the postseason before when you get to a tournament like this.

KAMERON MCGUSTY: Of course it always gives you confidence. You've got a coach that's giving you a heads up. For example, he told us about the refs, how they get -- they're getting reviewed on every call they make, and the refs who make the best calls get to move on to the next round. So it's just having little information like that and little stuff like that that gives you confidence going into the tournament, knowing that your head coach that's leading you has experience and knows what he's talking about and knows what he's doing.

SAM WAARDENBURG: The experience that Coach L has is going to be beneficial to us, making a couple Final Four runs, Sweet 16 with this Miami team a few years ago. He's just been around the game so long, he's seen every scenario there could possibly be. He's well prepared for any moment that comes to us. The opponent we have is going to be an opponent we haven't faced so far. Four guys in the starting five at 6'9" plus is going to be new to us. Coach has been well prepared and the staff have given us a great game plan going into this one.

CHARLIE MOORE: Coach, the experience he's been through, he's been in the heat of the moment in these tournaments. When we're inside the heat of the moment, he knows how to calm us down because he's been through it. I feel like his experience is going to help us a lot.

Q. You guys just addressed your coach's experience, and I know you guys don't have a ton of experience as far as the NCAA tournament goes, but how about the fact -- all three of you guys, it seems like you've been around forever. You might be four or five years older than some of these opponents you're going to be playing against. Could you kind of address your age, your experience, you've been around for so long, how that is an advantage kind of in these win-or-go-home situations?

KAMERON MCGUSTY: Definitely been an advantage of ours all season. We've played in so many games, so many crunch time moments, so many games where it's one possession determines whether -- (Zoom froze).

Q. Was there ever a moment during that entire journey where you wondered if it would work out, if you would get to this point?

CHARLIE MOORE: No, I never wondered. I worked hard to get to this moment. I feel like I'm a good enough player to be here. I never wondered about anything. I never really tried to worry about anything. I just tried to take it one moment at a time. I feel like I did that.

Q. Any of those transfers that you just were like I can't believe I'm doing this again?

CHARLIE MOORE: No.

Q. Obviously, you guys are playing for yourselves, your teammates, your coaches. It's been a very down year as far as bids for the ACC. Is there any kind of, just even eighth down your list as far as playing for any kind of conference pride, since we're so used to seeing maybe two Number 1 seeds out of the ACC or eight, nine teams, and this year there's a very low representation. Does that play at all into your motivation in trying to make a deep run in this thing for any of you three?

CHARLIE MOORE: I feel like our conference is underrated. I feel like we had a lot of new players inside this conference. So it took a little while for teams to gain that chemistry during the nonconference. Our conference took some tough losses at the beginning of the season.

I feel like, as the season went along, teams were better and better. I feel like more teams from the ACC should have made the tournament.

Q. You've been excellent at creating turnovers this year, not as great in the rebounding department. How important is it for you guys to get out there, be aggressive defensively, and maybe create as many turnovers as you can to gain extra possessions because against especially a bigger team, you're maybe not going to see a lot of those extra possessions off the offensive glass?

KAMERON MCGUSTY: It's very important. That's our identity. That's what we pride ourselves on is traveling ball screens, turning teams over, making them play faster, playing in transition, easy layups, transition threes. That's all part of our game plan and what we do. We take a lot of pride in that, and we work on that in practice every day. As a team, mentally and physically, that's one of our goals every night. Just turn the team over and play in transition.

Q. Can you each, all three of you, talk about Coach L? I don't know if you've been asked this before, I hope not. Can you just each talk about the experience that Coach L has in the tournament and what he's been able to tell you guys as someone who's been to two Sweet 16s and a Final Four, just how that experience helps you guys? Thank you.

KAMERON MCGUSTY: Yeah, we already answered this question, but that's okay. I'll answer it again. He's a guy that's been around the game for so long, any time he brings up a player, a coach or anything, he either coached them, played against them or played with them. So he has a lot of experience under his belt.

He's been here before, and we trust him. He's a great leader. He always comes up with great game plans, and our coaching staff does a great job of relaying the message of what the other team is going to do. We're just ready for Friday, and I'm glad Coach L is able to lead us to this game.

Q. Coach L sometimes has unique motivational tactics, sayings or things he does, games he plays with you guys. Has he done anything in particular coming into this round?

KAMERON MCGUSTY: Not yet, but he'll definitely have something for us pregame for sure. A dance or something for us to do or something that he's going to say. He definitely is a coach that gets us pumped up and motivated before the games.

CHARLIE MOORE: He always has something to say before the game to get us going, but I don't know how.

Q. Can you tell me about the camaraderie of this team and just talk about this group and what it means to you guys?

SAM WAARDENBURG: This has been a special group. We have new young guys and new old guys and kind of a new mix where at the beginning we had to kind of get to know each other, but I felt like we gelled so well together so quickly. The locker room this year has been extremely fun.

You can really feel this sense of love in the locker room. Guys are always joking with one another. It's something really special, and it's helped us get to the point where we're at right now.

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Coach Larranaga. Coach, whenever you're ready, you can make an opening statement.

JIM LARRANAGA: Well, I'm very excited, and we are very excited to be here in Greenville and playing in the NCAA tournament. It's been a few years, but we are very, very happy to be back.

We're very respectful of our opponent, University of Southern California, and their head coach, Andy Enfield, who I've known and my staff has known for probably more than 30 years. He's done a great job of building his program there, and we're looking forward to great competition on Friday.

Q. Jim, what are some lessons you've learned in your -- you've had a long run of success at Miami and at George Mason and going deep in the tournament before. What are maybe lessons that stood out to you that you only could learn through coaching in the postseason?

JIM LARRANAGA: I think the biggest thing is for your players to really embrace the atmosphere, not to put a lot of pressure on themselves, but to really have fun playing basketball.

This is the culmination for them of all the hard work, all the dreams that they've had and the goals they've set for themselves and for the team, and when you get to that moment, if you all of a sudden start putting a lot of pressure on yourself, then you're not going to play nearly as well.

So what we've learned is we try to help our players to relax, to enjoy the moment, and be sure that they're having fun. If you heard our guys and you listened to Sam Waardenburg say how much the guys love each other, they really care about each other. To do that when you feel like you're surrounded by really good people, people you want to go to war with and you want to be at your best, and to win in this tournament, you're always going to play another great team.

I think we have a great team. I think our opponent has a great team. You have to play really, really well, and you can't play really well if you're uptight. You're putting a lot of pressure on yourself, and you're tightening up. You need to actually loosen up and enjoy the ride.

Q. I wanted to follow up, too, when you get in a game, you've spent a whole season preparing teams to be ready to play in this moment. How much of a factor can coaching experience be during a game, whether it's pushing the right buttons, the right lineup change? Can it make a big impact, or is it more you put the players out there and hope they can handle what you taught them?

JIM LARRANAGA: We use an expression poise down the stretch, meaning so many of these games are buzzer beaters, one-pointers, one shot, one stop to win the game. I was up late last night watching Notre Dame win their first round game against Rutgers, and both teams played tremendously, and they came down to just one more basket.

So I'll oftentimes at a time-out try to put our players in a position where they know the game is on the line, but they need to enjoy that moment. Recently we played Syracuse at Syracuse, and we were down seven with less than a minute to play, and it looked like we were probably going to lose the game. And the players looked over to me as they came down the court for one of our last offensive possessions, and I yelled to them, run 13 with Sam in the middle. Kam McGusty misunderstood me, and he thought I said Kam in the middle. So he went to the middle, Charlie Moore threw it to him, and he hit a shot and cut the seven-point lead down to five, and then we called an immediate time-out.

At the time-out, Sam said, Sam Waardenburg said, Coach, did you want me in the middle or Kam in the middle? And I said, well, I said Sam, but I must have meant Kam because he went there and buried the shot. So let's try that again. Now you laughed, and so did they. It helped them relax in the moment, and Kam McGusty made two more of those, and we ended up winning the game.

My point being that at some point the players have to execute whatever your play is, but they can't do it unless they're really, really confident and comfortable, and that means they're not feeling, I've got to make this shot or I've got to make this free-throw. They're playing with, hey, this is money in the bank. I know I'm making this shot.

Q. Two-part question, one kind of piggy-backing on that. When you say you guys try to help the players relax for this moment, for this round, for this game, what do you do? I mean, you just said what you did during the game. What do you do outside the game to try to get them to relax? Then the other question I had was you tend to have a lot of good success with teams that look a lot like this one, which is a veteran transfer point guard, older players. Does this team remind you of those other teams that you took deep into the tournament? Thank you.

JIM LARRANAGA: So from a motivational standpoint and trying to help our players be the best that they can be, that's a process. That doesn't happen overnight or in one situation. It's me developing a relationship with them, my coaching staff developing a relationship with the players so that they know we're a hundred percent behind them.

I've often said to them, look, I'm not going to be yelling and screaming and cursing you guys out for mistakes. I've been instructed by Dr. Bob Rotella, a world renowned sports psychologist, when players make mistakes, you should clap for mistakes. Let them know you're a cheerleader during the game. Let them know you're a hundred percent behind them. You're not their critic, and you're not actually trying to correct their mistakes because the mistake is behind them. What you're trying to do is help them be better on the next play.

So we do a lot of things during the course of the season. A couple of days this year, we played baseball in our practice facility, and the guys relaxed and really enjoyed themselves, just had a lot of fun together. I'll often tell stories to them. The other day, just prior to us leaving, I talked about how special it is to be in the NCAA tournament.

And for those of you who don't know this, you know there's 68 teams in the field, only 36 get an at-large bid. That's 36 out of 358 schools that started out competing for one of those spots. Less than 20 percent of college basketball teams make the NCAA tournament. There are a lot of great teams that are not playing in this event, teams that feel like they deserve to be in it, but because it's such a limited party, they call it the Big Dance, and there's a long line standing outside that can't get into the dance.

It reminds me of when I was in high school trying to get in the Friday night dance, and everybody wanted to be in there, and the school had the fire marshals there because you couldn't have too many people in.

The whole point is this is a very special thing for the University of Miami men's basketball program. It doesn't happen every year. Yet the players work just as hard. Teams that I've coached that didn't make it have worked just as hard as these guys. The difference is -- and this goes to the second part of your question -- we've got a unique squad this year. We're probably the smallest team in the ACC. We'll definitely be the smaller team tomorrow.

Our guys -- and you can check the rosters of the teams we have faced this year, but Charlie Moore weighs 180. Isaiah Wong, 180. Kam McGusty, like 185. Jordan Miller, 200. And Sam Waardenburg, I think he says 220, but he's probably closer to 215. That's a very skinny team. Yet we've been able to compete at the highest level of college basketball in what I consider the best conference in the country historically, the ACC, against bigger, stronger, more athletic teams, and they've done it through teamwork and chemistry and skill level. They make good decisions.

Basketball is about the fundamentals, and these guys execute that very, very well.

Q. Jim, you've got next to zero NCAA tournament experience on this team, but do you still maybe have an advantage in some ways as far as experience because you've got several sixth year players that are some of your best players? And also following up on that, is there an extra layer of satisfaction in a way that you've gotten back into the tournament, and you've got a bunch of six-year guys, several four-year guys that this is going to be their first appearance? Does that kind of add to the whole experience for you as a coach that they're going to get their shot finally?

JIM LARRANAGA: There are several different kinds of experiences, good experience, bad experience. There's one player on our team that played in the NCAA tournament, Sam Waardenburg, back when he was a freshman. We lost to Loyola Chicago. Do you remember it? They went to the Final Four. We were up two with five seconds to go. We were up two shooting a one-and-one to advance in the NCAA first round. Loyola came down and buried a three for the win.

What I'm saying is Sam knows what it's all about. He has shared his experiences with these younger guys. He'll often say I've got to apologize for talking so much on defense, but it really is what helps. They've got to communicate with each other. To me, this team has communicated so well with each other throughout the season. I expect them to do it tomorrow afternoon at 3:10. I think that's the key. Your experience of how you play the game. Are you comfortable and confident, and do you trust yourself, and do you trust your teammates? Because if you do, then good things can happen.

Q. How much did Mike Burgermaster help you guys out when he was with the program, and how much do you stay in contact with him now?

JIM LARRANAGA: Mike Burgermaster is with Auburn, right? And Mike Burgermaster was at Miami, five, six, seven years ago? Mike was one of my managers and grad assistants and did a fantastic job, and then when it got time to move on, Mike wanted to stick with the basketball. So we tried to help him find a good job, and Bruce Pearl was kind enough to offer Mike the job.

He's about as hard a worker as you're going to find, as good a guy you're going to find. I think Bruce is very happy with him, at least I hope he is.

We stay in touch. I have a list of about -- it's over 30 now, probably 32, 34 guys, who have worked in our Miami basketball program who are still in basketball in some capacity, some with the NBA, some with the G-league, some in Division I, some in Division II, but a lot of guys still associated with our program.

Q. I kind of want to keep going, I guess, down Nostalgia Lane a little bit.

JIM LARRANAGA: I'm having a hard time.

Q. Bob McKillop is also here. I know you guys have a relationship that goes back decades, right? What was that relationship like when you and Bob first met? Have you guys seen each other yet here?

JIM LARRANAGA: I kicked his butt for four years in high school. My team went 7-0 against his. That's how our relationship began. You know I'm joking about that, but I went to Archbishop Malloy High School. He went to Chaminade. There was tremendous rivalry between the two high schools. We've known each other since we were 13, 14 years old. I have followed his career as closely as anybody in college basketball.

When he was the head coach of Long Island Lutheran High School, Terry Holland, who I worked for for many years both at Davidson and Virginia, was looking for a new basketball coach at Davidson. I told him he should hire Coach McKillop. However, Coach Holland made the decision, he offered the job to Bob. He took it. That's like 32, 34 years ago. Not only is he the winningest coach in Davidson history, but I think in southern conference history, and now he's winning the A-10.

He's a fantastic guy, great family man, tremendous basketball coach. To give you how much I respect him, he and I, back in 2016, were sharing some thoughts with each other. I kept my notes, and I shared those notes with the team just before the ACC tournament began.

Five things, just the other day. We played Thursday, a week ago. It was on Wednesday night. The five things Coach McKillop said. First was run to daylight. The second is cut hard and never stop your cut. The third was constantly try to help a teammate get open. I can't think of the other two. Dribble with a purpose. Joe, you were there. There's one more. But it was about five things you do on offense to really attack the defense.

He's a great coach. He's going to do a great job. That's a tremendous matchup, Davidson versus Michigan State. I'm going to really look forward to seeing who comes out on top on that one.

Q. I'm wondering, what kind of environment are you expecting from the fans out there? Moreover, how does an environment like that compare with one where you're used to playing at home in front of your fans at home? What kind of environment are you expecting?

JIM LARRANAGA: One thing I felt is pretty consistent, that because there's no home court advantage. It's not all the fans being for one school. The fans tend to cheer for the underdog. In this case tomorrow, we'll be the underdog. We're the 10 seed. We're way down underdogs to the big, giant Southern Cal basketball program. I hope the fans will get behind our players and cheer them on to victory.

The environment in all NCAA games is tremendous. The excitement, the electricity, you can feel it because so much is at stake. There really is a lot of truism to the expression survive and advance, lose and go home. Everybody knows it; every coach, every player, every fan that's in the audience. They'll feel the level of intensity because they'll watch those players who are going to give it all they have at both ends of the court to try and advance. Thanks, everybody.