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

March 18, 2022

Drew Valentine

Lucas Williamson

Braden Norris

PPG Paints Arena

Loyola Chicago Ramblers

Media Conference

Ohio State - 54, Loyola Chicago - 41

MODERATOR: Opening statement from Coach.

DREW VALENTINE: I don't want this game to define our season. I don't want this game to define a lot of these guys' career that have been part of our program that are now going to be obviously not playing college basketball anymore. Because where this program has been, where this program has came, and obviously it started with Coach Moser and his coaches, all the former players.

But these guys have been the latest edition of the players that have helped elevate this program. And so I don't want this -- obviously it needs to hurt. I was at a loss for words after coming into the locker room because there's so many different emotions.

But I think the main thing that I want to focus on is the program's in a lot better spot than it was when a lot of these guys got here five years ago.

So I'm proud of our group, but obviously today we really struggled offensively, making shots, free throws. Thought we had too many turnovers. I thought defensively we were solid at times, but probably fought a little too much.

But the main thing that I want to focus on obviously is just I think these guys had a great year, and I don't want this game to define this team.

MODERATOR: Questions for student-athletes.

Q. Lucas, Coach touched on it not defining your career. Can you put into words the disappointment of the performance today against what's obviously been an outstanding career for you?

LUCAS WILLIAMSON: I mean, I'm disappointed in myself. I don't feel like I played to the standard that I put myself at. But, yeah, I mean, like Drew said, kind of just at a loss for words. Kind of just stunned right now. Yeah.

Q. Braden, was this just kind of a day where things seemed to snowball? It was a case of having a bad day at the very worst time? And can you tell us also what you had to fight through there physically in the first half?

BRADEN NORRIS: Yeah, I mean, I think we played pretty well defensively for the majority of the game. They scored 54 points, and that was with us fouling at the end. It came down to us making and missing shots, and our offense just wasn't good enough.

And, I mean, I felt we were in it all the way to the end. Even when they got up 13, 14 points, I felt that we were a couple made shots away from getting right back in it. But we never did that.

Q. Lucas, maybe it's too soon, but have you had any chance to sort of think yet about the decision you made in the first place to go to Loyola, about how last five years has changed your life? Have you begun that at all yet?

LUCAS WILLIAMSON: No. But I can tell you that coming to Loyola, best decision of my life. The people that I've met here, the brotherhood that I've formed with some of these guys, it's going to last a lifetime without a doubt. The things that I've learned on the court, off the court, in the classroom, off the classroom will last me a lifetime.

So I'm just so incredibly blessed that I was recruited to come to this school, incredibly blessed that I've had the career since I've been here, and I'm even more incredibly blessed to be part of great teams and great people.

Q. Lucas, building on that a little bit, freshman year, go to the Final Four, last year, Sweet 16, this year, back to the tournament. For you, how do you put into words all that you were part of and accomplished on the basketball court as a Rambler?

LUCAS WILLIAMSON: It just goes back to it just being a blessing. You think about that like -- I never thought that this would be the type of career that I'd had. I would have had hoped for it, but it's really hard to get here. It's really hard to get and play in March Madness, especially when you play in a tough conference like the Missouri Valley.

So I can't even really put into words other than just being a blessing to meet these guys, to be part of these types of teams.

Q. Question for both players. Braden, start with you. Coach Holtmann was out here few minutes ago, and he called the game kind of a rock fight. The first five minutes were extremely physical, both teams playing incredibly tenacious defense. Did that throw you guys off your game a little bit, their physicality?

BRADEN NORRIS: That's what we expected. We expected them to be super physical, and we wanted to come out and match that and take it to another level. That's the type of game that we wanted to play, and we weren't surprised by that at all.

Q. Braden, yesterday you talked about the mojo that Sister Jean brings you guys in the emails that she sends after every game. Were you able to talk with her before this game? What kind of email did you expect to hit your inbox at some point?

BRADEN NORRIS: Yeah, she said our pregame prayer before the game. We spent a couple minutes with her prior to the game. And I expect her email to be super positive. She always thanks us and shows us a lot of gratitude for being who we are and how we play.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for coach.

Q. Drew, when the team's just not making shots, like your team was today, what can you do as coach? What do you try to do to get something going offensively?

DREW VALENTINE: We were trying to run different things. We were doing ball screens, we were trying to post up some, we were trying to come off staggers, we were trying to -- whenever we got a stop, we were trying to push the pace in transition.

We were trying a bunch of different things. And so you just -- we found some success with our -- I can say now -- our ball screen. Towards the end, they were kind of messing that up. So we were just trying a bunch of different things, and it was working. We just missed some open looks and then missed some free throws when we started going to that stuff.

Q. Coach, you're the youngest coach in the nation, and you had a stellar season. Just talk about what you can take away from this game today for the future of your coaching career.

DREW VALENTINE: Yeah. Great question. I feel like I just take so much from every game. This one in particular, maybe we were just trying to find -- find something or another way to come out victorious.

We tried to change -- we're not necessarily -- I think one thing maybe we could have did defensively was try to speed them up or turn them over, but when you look at their assists to turnover, I mean, they had 6 assists and 17 turnovers.

But we do a really good job with pressure in the half court. So I don't know, just -- maybe just coming up with some -- try to find an answer quicker.

Q. Lucas has been a pillar of this program, accomplished so much, and you guys came in together. How do you describe what he's accomplished and what he's meant to the program?

DREW VALENTINE: Yeah. Everything. It's tough. I feel so bad for him because, like, for that to be your last game, that should not define Lucas Williamson and who he is as a player, who he is as a person, what he means to this program.

Because like I told him after the game, I'll ride with you today, man. I mean, I've seen him go 0-fer in games and then, boom, make free throws, make a big drive to the basket, make a big defensive play, make a big three. I've seen him do that in his career.

And so he deserved to go out better, but I'm just proud of how much he's grown both -- like he said, both on and off the court.

Q. I know yesterday I asked you what have you learned from the head coaches that you've worked under. What have you learned this year from this specific team that you'll take with you?

DREW VALENTINE: So many things. I mean, first of all, what your roster needs to look like for you to have success to play the style of play that I want to play and what works here at Loyola. Communication. Continuing to find ways to effectively communicate to put your team in a position to have success.

Preparation. How much is too much, how much is too little, what I'm comfortable with as a coach so that I'm not on edge so that it doesn't transfer over to the players.

So many different things. I could go on and on and on. But one of the biggest things I guess would be like when you enjoy the kids that you coach -- student-athletes, sorry, young men, I don't want to say kids, but when you enjoy the young men that you coach, it just makes it so much better.

That's probably the number one thing. Obviously I knew that as an assistant coach, but in my position, when you thoroughly enjoy those young men and you have great relationships with them, it makes it a great vibe for you every day. And I think that creates an atmosphere where everybody wants to have success and everybody wants to be in.

Q. Did you expect this game to be such a defensive struggle, and do you feel like you can use your defensive skills going forward as you enter into the Atlantic 10 next season?

DREW VALENTINE: I sure hope we can play defense still next year in the Atlantic 10. One thing that I talked about with this team late in the season was that if we brought the right edge, the right approach to the -- and I talked about it a little bit yesterday, when we bring the right approach, people struggle to score 50 points on us per game. That was kind of -- that ended up being our goal, was to not let teams get to 50.

And I think in the first half today, I think when they saw, wow, they only had 23 points, our guys were like regardless of who you're playing, Coach, you might be right.

So it was just things like that that, really, that mental approach helped us all year.

But as far as what we can take from our defense, a lot of it started with the guys that we had. Obviously there's going to be different people in those positions next year. And so, you know, everybody talks about defense wins championships, and that's been what's made us so special here at Loyola, is those defensive numbers.

We're definitely looking and going to continue to add two-way wings to help replace Tate, Lucas, and Aher.

Q. Coach, you've been here seen the program rise, going to the Final Four, going to the Sweet 16, and now back becoming really a NCAA Tournament fixture. You're losing some great veteran leaders off this team. What's going to be the challenge for you trying to keep this program at that level where making the NCAA tournament is no longer a surprise for Loyola?

DREW VALENTINE: I think the first thing we gotta do, me and my staff gotta do a great job in the transfer portal this spring. You can see Twitter, we call -- we're working it. We were high motor with it. So we gotta crush that. We gotta get guys that are great fits for our program.

You see the success that we've had, six straight years in All-League transfer. Really hard to do. The Missouri Valley Conference, there's 15 guys make the All-League team. Six straight years there's been a transfer from Loyola Chicago on the Missouri Valley Conference team. So that's pretty hard to do. We've got some good stuff to sell, so we gotta crush that.

And then we gotta continue to get better, like the guys that have been here have gotten better. So like a Braden, I think he's way better this year than he was last year. Lucas obviously made a huge jump offensively. Aher got better, Tate got better, Ryan Schwieger got better. The guys that have been within our program have gotten better.

So we gotta get the right guys. We have to obviously continue with the culture piece off the court, on the court, the vibe, and then we gotta continue to get our guys better.

I think we've got some guys -- Ben Schwieger has been a guy that's gotten way better this year, and I'm really excited for his future.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.