NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - CAL ST. FULLERTON VS DUKE

March 17, 2022

Tray Maddox Jr.

Damari Milstead

E.J Anosike

Dedrique Taylor

Bon Secours Wellness Arena

Cal St. Fullerton Titans

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: Joining us today is Tray Maddox Jr., Damari Milstead, E.J. Anosike, student-athletes from Cal State Fullerton. Time for questions.

Q. When you guys match up with Duke, what are the things that you guys can do to exploit some of the matchups you have there? They've been a little shaky defensively, and you guys have been playing great of late.

DAMARI MILSTEAD: Duke is an incredible program. I think some things that we can exploit, just our maturity. Duke is a super, super talented group, but they're inexperienced. They have a lot of good talent, but I think our maturity and poise and just our togetherness as a program and how long we've been together are some things we can really exploit.

Defensively, we're a pretty good methodical offense. We're going to control the pace and try our best to get good shots often.

Q. For all of you, what's been the key over the course of this last month or so as you guys have started to find a rhythm, especially through the conference tournament. What's been different?

E.J. ANOSIKE: I would definitely say our togetherness. This is our last go-around. Everyone you see up here, we've been in college for a quite a long time. Going into the conference tournament, we want to make history and build our legacy. To do that, we all have to be a team and one unit. I would definitely say over the course of the last month and a half, we've come together as a team. We believe in ourself. We believe in our mission, what we're trying to accomplish. Five individuals can turn into a fist. When you're a fist, you can deliver a hard punch. We realize that and go into the conference tournament with that mentality. We're gonna keep punching and keep fighting. Keep fighting for what we believe in, and we got the job done. And now we're here.

Q. Question for Tray. How would you describe the team's mindset this whole week heading into this game?

TRAY MADDOX JR.: I would say our mindset is staying confident. Also too what E.J. said, staying together, believing in ourselves. There's a lot of people that are doubting us right now, but we just know in our group and our space that we got this and we're going to take care of business.

Q. E.J., I've read how you embrace your Nigerian roots, obviously repping the flag. To have that support and also be able to represent on a stage like this, just what does this mean for you?

E.J. ANOSIKE: It means a lot for me. My mother immigrated to this country in 1978 and she wanted her kids to have a better opportunity in life, so she gave birth to eight children here. We're fortunate enough to go to school and had the opportunity to represent Nigeria. I have a lot of family and friends back home in Nigeria who wish they were in America to be able to go to school, be able to live here, and have the opportunity to work.

Just me, I'm just an example. I'm just the first of many. There's going to be many more coming after me. There's a lot of Nigerians all over college basketball. We all support each other. We're all friends. Soon pretty much we're all going to come together. That's just the beginning. We've got a lot of young ones coming up that we're mentoring and helping groom. So they can embrace where they come from because it's a journey and you've just got to embrace who you are.

Q. You guys talked about this kind of being your last ride. Obviously this is also Coach K's last ride through college basketball. Have you guys thought about that at all, what it would mean to maybe play spoiler to a situation like that?

TRAY MADDOX JR.: I would say obviously we all know that. Like E.J. said, we're a real mature group. We don't think about those types of things, you know what I'm saying? We're confident and focused on the basketball game. We know what's at stake. We just go into the game, not thinking about whose last ride it is. We just go in and play basketball because at the end of the day it's just basketball.

Q. Looking at Duke's guards, A.J. Griffin, Wendell Moore, Trevor Keels, what stands out when reviewing the film? What makes them good?

DAMARI MILSTEAD: They're extremely athletic. They're very, very good at getting downhill and just the physical physique of them. They're big. They're strong. They're athletic. They're good players. They wouldn't be at Duke if they wasn't talented, so the guards are good guards.

But I think we have good guards too. We have a good team. We have a mature team, and I think we're ready for the challenge, all the aspects that they're going to give us tomorrow night.

Q. You all mentioned how you have experience, but for you three in particular, this is your first year together. Just speak on how you all have connected and basically just carried this team up to this moment.

E.J. ANOSIKE: I would say it's been a journey. We've got a group of guys, a lot of underclassmen that came in, a couple transfers. So in the beginning it was kind of a bummer because we all come from different programs and philosophies and you've got to get to know each other pretty soon. But that's what makes this team special. We were able to do that and believe in each other, get to know each other, understand who we are because that's the biggest thing. If you understand your brother that's going to be to the left and the right of you, you can do anything you want. All you've got to do is believe in each other.

And that was something that we worked on constantly throughout the season. We faced some adversity, we overcame together, and that's what made us closer. Especially at the Big West tournament, going in there, we came in there with the mentality we have something to prove. We looked at each other and said we're going to do it together. The good, the bad, we're all in it to win it.

That was something I would definitely say throughout this year with our experience, just the maturity, understanding the sacrifice that had to be made. Roles had to be changed. People had to do things they weren't accustomed to doing before, but just believing in the common goal and the mission of winning, that's what brought us together.

Q. E.J., just wanted to follow up on that. You mentioned when the transfers come in together, it takes time for everything to click. Does the trust come first on the basketball side of things, or does it come on the personal side of things? Which comes first?

E.J. ANOSIKE: I would definitely say on the personal side of things. At the end of the day, basketball is just a fragment of who we are as people. If you know someone off the court, where they come from, they're history, you'll be able to relate on a much more intimate level, and that will carry over onto the court.

When teams face adversity, you can see how close they are together as brothers. That's what makes us a really special team because in a short amount of time, we were able to become brothers and always have each other's back. We didn't separate. We came together in tough times.

Q. You guys have talked a lot about coming together. Was there a turning point at all this season, maybe in the last month or so that maybe sticks out in your mind when you all came together as one?

DAMARI MILSTEAD: The season is a long season, as you know. You play a lot of games. You've got preseason. You've got conference. You've got postseason. I feel like we started to come together around a month and a half ago. We had a pretty bad loss at Hawaii on ESPN 2, and I felt like that was kind of a wakeup call for us.

Before that time, we actually won six in a row, feeling really, really good about ourselves, but it shows you how quick basketball can hit you in the face. We were going through a tough two-game losing streak, got embarrassed on national television, and it was kind of a time for us to look at ourselves in the mirror.

Coach Taylor had a very, very good quote he told us. It was February at the time. In February you either become a contender or you're a pretender. We have to really, really figure out what we want to be. I'm thankful for the guys. I'm thankful for everybody that we ended up becoming contenders.