NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - TCU VS SETON HALL

March 17, 2022

Kevin Willard

Jared Rhoden

Bryce Aiken

Myles Cale

Keon Ellis

Viejas Arena

Seton Hall Pirates

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Seton Hall's Jared Rhoden, Myles Cale and Jamir Harris.

Q. Jared, one of the things TCU was asked a lot about was your guys' defensive interior with Ike being 7'2". For the layperson what does he bring defensively to you guys?

JARED RHODEN: I feel it's indescribable. Many teams don't understand until they get out there with him. Ike's a one-of-a-kind player, just the way he can change a game defensively, his ability to block shots, his ability to alter shots is unlike no other. And you don't know what it's like until you go out there and you try to make a layup against him.

Q. Myles, you've played in 153 games, the most in school history, including a few NCAA tourney games. What do you tell your younger teammates about what to expect this weekend?

MYLES CALE: Just treat it like a regular basketball game. Just go out there, have fun, take everything in, enjoy the weather, enjoy the fans that's coming to support us. And just have fun out there. It's the same game you've been playing since you were a kid. So don't think about it too much and you'll excel.

Q. What's the trip aspect of it? Did you have a sendoff? Did you see Pirate fans along the way. I know a bunch are on their way. What's it like to be in this city, this environment? Give me the vibe of that aspect.

JAMIR HARRIS: It's been great. I've seen Seton Hall fans around, just being in Cali. I was in the jacuzzi last night chilling with the pep band. They were there. And everybody's out here for us that came down is very excited to watch us play. It's going to be special.

MYLES CALE: I saw a couple of people come in today. It's great for them traveling from New Jersey to California. That just proves how strong of a fan base that we have. So thank you to them. I can't wait to see them out there when we get on the floor.

Q. TCU obviously doesn't have a huge guy like Ike. But they really, really perform on the offensive rebound. Just what have you all seen from that on film and what's the key to slowing that down?

JARED RHODEN: They do a really good job of crashing every time. It's important to get the box out every time on every player. They do a really good job of cutting, whether it's behind you, whether it's in front of you. They all do a very good job moving without the ball. So I think finding a body when they're all moving around is important. So I think we've been practicing very, well watching a lot of film on it. So I'm excited.

Q. This is your biggest break since you had the 17-day COVID pause. How do you think this is going to come to affect your game? Do you think you'll be rejuvenated take a second to get back into it?

JAMIR HARRIS: We'll be very rejuvenated. Everybody's mindset coming into the game is full of excitement and energy. We're very, very ready to go out there and play against TCU. I feel we're excited, our mindset is in the right place. We'll show that on the court.

MYLES CALE: I would like to say coming off the COVID pause we didn't get a lot of practice in. That's one thing. And during this week we got a lot of practice in and got a lot of shots up, and a lot of time to be together with one another. So I think that helped us a lot, too.

Q. Do you get a chance to watch any other NCAA Tournament games? What's it like knowing you're going to participate to watch other teams in this win-and-go-home format?

JARED RHODEN: Like I say, it's a dream come true. I was watching games up here on my phone. Something I've done always as a kid. I remember being in the high school trying to sneak to watch the games on my phone as best as I could. And I'm still doing that to this day. So I'm a big fan of the tournament in itself. And being able to participate in it is a blessing.

JAMIR HARRIS: To piggyback, as a kid watching the NCAA Tournament back when I dreamed of being able to be in it. And now being here at Seton Hall, being a kid from New Jersey, to have the chance to play in it, it's a feeling like no other.

Q. Myles, do you remember what made you want to come to Seton Hall in the first place?

MYLES CALE: In 2016, I actually took my official visit during that Big East Tournament. And I got to experience the whole time of them practicing for Creighton, for all those big games they had. And I just remember like the day before, the day I committed, the next day after they won the whole thing. So just by that I was like, I've got to come to Seton Hall. They won the whole Big East Tournament. It was the whole thing. I've been here since a junior in high school.

Q. How much do those guys, that class, Delgado and Whitehead and Carrington, all those guys, how much do you think that changed Seton Hall? They started this run that you guys have continued?

MYLES CALE: They started the whole thing. They started how we play today. I try to take things from them and correlate it to what we have today. And little things like hustle, playing with some pride and defense, gritty basketball, all those things is what they play with and that's what we played with today.

Q. Myles, you do a lot that goes beyond the game of basketball actually. You run an organization, Cale Cares. Could you talk about what it means being part of something that's bigger than the game?

MYLES CALE: That's what it is. It's bigger than basketball. My mom, she's a really good person. She made it. She caught it to my eye to just use your platform and do what's best for the community. She's already a schoolteacher. And she loves kids and loves helping one another. And she's a people's person. And that part plays a big part of what I do off the court.

I thank her and love her from the bottom of my heart. And I just love giving back to the community, especially where I'm from, a small place, Middletown, Delaware, not a lot of people come from out of there. So going back and just giving back and just giving kids some hope, it plays a big part of my game.

Q. You were the recipient of the Walter Dukes Integrity and Impact Award. How special was that for you?

MYLES CALE: Really special. Getting noticed, that's just, I don't even know what to say. It feels good to just get noticed. My school, they do a good job of just reaching out and using my platform as well. They noticed that I was doing that. And it was a good idea for them.

Q. Mike Miles, obviously All-Big 12, a leader for TCU. From watching films, what makes him so hard to stop?

JARED RHODEN: We know he's a tremendous shooter. He has a good game off the bounce as well. I think his resilience like throughout the game is really important. He's real streaky, but he's someone that if he catches fire he can be dangerous. So, I think keep containing him and trying to make it difficult for him the whole night is important.

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement.

COACH WILLARD: It's great to be out here. Weather's beautiful. Looking forward to a good matchup with a very good TCU team.

Q. I was doing some research for the game tomorrow obviously, and TCU, a really strong rebounding team. One of the better rebounding teams in their conference. Now on the season Seton Hall was a solid team on the boards. But in the Big East Tournament, specifically, you struggled a little bit. What have you been working on in practice recently to attack the glass a little bit better?

COACH WILLARD: TCU's, they get 40 percent of all their misses which leads the country. So it's obviously a big concern. I think the biggest thing for us was having a little bit more rest. I thought the fact that we had to play the night before and had to play a very tough UConn team was a little bit of the reason why we got hurt on the boards so bad. But we definitely have been practicing our box-out drills.

Q. What do you tell your team in terms of balancing the focus that's needed obviously on the game at hand and enjoying the experience? Because this is an experience.

COACH WILLARD: I think, first and foremost, I think you always have to enjoy the experience. You never know when it's going to be your last. For these guys it's, for six of them it is their last time. What I've really enjoyed about this group over the last five days is the two days off that we took after UConn, they've been very focused on what they want to achieve.

And at the same time I think I've tried to let them understand that when you're an at-large team, I always say this, when you're an at-large team, it means you've had a good year all year long. And they've had a great year. And I want them to enjoy this as much as they can, because for six of them it's their last one.

Q. Your team's been getting killed at the free-throw line. Not that there's anything you can do about it but opponents shooting 77 percent. When you play a team shooting under 67 percent does it change your philosophy?

COACH WILLARD: I have to be nicer to referees because we were leading the country in free throw attempts taken up to January 12th. After that something changed. I don't know if I said something. I probably did. I have a bad habit of doing that.

But we went from being number, I think, number three in the country at free throw attempts to number 257 in free throw attempts. It's something that we've actually been trying to get to the line a little more. Trying to be a little bit more aggressive. But at this time of year you're kind of stuck with who you are.

Q. I asked this of your players before. But this is going to be your longest break since the COVID pause. Do you see something like that happening again where you enter a down streak again, or do you think this team is going to be rejuvenated?

COACH WILLARD: Coming out of a COVID pause is much different than a bye week. A COVID pause, we had four guys in quarantine for 14 days, then had two practices and had to play Providence and Villanova.

This has been a great break. We didn't have a bye week. Our last bye week was January 22nd. We went from January 22nd to the Big East Tournament. So these guys have been refreshed. I think it's been great for them mentally. I think it's really been good for our team. I think we're a little bit sharper -- guys like Kadary, who haven't practiced have been able to practice.

So much different talking about COVID pause than a bye week. So I like where our team's at. I like their attitude and I like the way we're playing.

Q. You talked about being nice to referees. Is there a certain Big East coach you could take pointers from?

COACH WILLARD: (Chuckling) next question.

Q. How is Kadary?

COACH WILLARD: Kadary is good. Kadary took three days off after the Big East Tournament, which I think really helped with the sprain in the thumb. He's gotten much better mobility. He's shooting the basketball much better, he's got more strength in it. I wouldn't say he's 100 percent, but he looks great.

Q. Another question about the officiating, philosophical question. Is there a big difference between the way games are officiated in the Big East and then you get the referees officials from around the country in a setting like this?

COACH WILLARD: I think the NCAA is -- it's funny, I was watching the Providence game and their first foul was at 11 minutes. They went nine minutes and 51 seconds of straight basketball without a foul called. So I've actually watched the games. I think they're being called really -- I think they're letting teams play physical and I think they're letting them play a little bit which is really nice.

I do think there's a little bit of an adjustment period early in the game. But we get the refs and we get their full bios, where they 've reffed, how many calls they make per game, how many technicals they've given out. We do that for every game. We do it for every NCAA Tournament game.

So you just don't get the refs that say, OK, this is who it is. He's from Idaho and this guy is from South Dakota and they're nice guys.

We really dig into who they are, who they've reffed where they've reffed, how many fouls they've called. For me, how many technicals they've called. It gets, it goes a lot deeper than most people think.

Q. Jamie Dixon said he's familiar with you, played against each other and coached against each other. He mentioned that he recruited Bryce and Ike. Can you talk about your relationship with Coach Dixon and how you guys have bonded over the years?

COACH WILLARD: Jamie, I went to Pitt and played at Pitt. My wife went to Pitt. So for 14 years he was unbelievable for my alma mater. He was terrific. He went to the tournament every year. He got them in the top five. So I was always a big fan of Jamie's for what he did at Pitt.

When I coached against him I became a huge fan of his because his teams are always consistently great at rebounding and great defending. No matter what type of talent they had, no matter what year it was, you knew when you played against Pitt or Jamie's teams that you were going to have to play a very physical rebounding team and an unbelievable defensive team.

So he's a good friend. I love what he did for my alma mater. I think his teams play -- I respect him so much for the way his teams play because that's the way pretty much we play.