NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - SAINT PETER'S VS MURRAY STATE

March 18, 2022

Shaheen Holloway

Daryl Banks, III

Fousseyni Drame

KC Ndefo

Hassan Drame

Matthew Lee

Doug Edert

Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Saint Peter's Peacocks

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We have six members of Saint Peter's University with us. Daryl Banks, Fousseyni Drame, KC Ndefo, Hassan Drame, Matthew Lee and Doug Edert.

Q. If could you tell me about your coach, how you describe him and what was the moment that you all bought into what he's selling, the vision or the style or whatever that he has tried to bring to the table?

DARYL BANKS, III: He's a coach who coaches and played with a lot of passion. He asks a lot from us just because he knows we're all capable of things and he believes in us. He gives us the confidence to do what we do. He's a hard-working coach. We bought in when we were recruited. When he was recruiting us, he told us the culture he wanted to set and we just bought in, and it's been history since.

FOUSSEYNI DRAME: Like Daryl said, he has the three Ds, which is desire, dedication and discipline. Since he started recruiting a player those are the three Ds he goes by.

KC NDEFO: Our coach is passionate and we strive off him and go off his emotions and that's what we do here.

Q. Doug and Daryl how have you guys soaked up the attention for the past 24 hours and preparing to play a game tomorrow? Have you tried to capitalize on this moment commercially? Have you had any brands reaching out to you with name, image and likeness students?

DARYL BANKS, III: You know, it's an amazing moment. Kind of let it sink in yesterday. But after yesterday, that's in the past. We have a game to play tomorrow so came in today with a focus on our game plan and walk-through for Murray State. They're a really good team. You have to stay locked in. In terms of brands a couple reached out but I didn't get to look into it yesterday.

DOUG EDERT: The attention is great and all, I love the support. I feel like it's a quick turn-around though, so we have to kind of forget the past and just focus on the task at hand, which is preparing for Murray State and trying to get the win over them.

Q. Guys, for everybody but Doug, could you speak to describing his personality and what you make of his shot?

FOUSSEYNI DRAME: Well, one of the amazing guys that I've ever played with. He's lovely. Just feel good to play alongside of him.

MATTHEW LEE: Doug is an amazing player as you guys can see, but he's an even more amazing person if you get to know him personally. He brings a lot of energy, fire, and fun.

DARYL BANKS, III: Doug is an amazing player. He has a crazy side to him, which we all love. He is funny, makes us laugh on and off the court. It's great to have him as a teammate.

KC NDEFO: I've been saying this the whole time, Doug is the funniest guy on the whole team. He's my Pisces brother. His birthday is a couple days after mine. We thrive and feed off Doug, he brings great energy and passion. That's what we do.

HASSAN DRAME: When it come to Doug, there is a lot to say about him. The one thing I can say he can be a really good role model off and on the court.

Q. Did you guys ever think this was possible at the beginning of this season knowing that you have an opportunity to go to the Sweet 16?

DOUG EDERT: Yeah, not just at the beginning of the season, coming in freshman year the twins were always saying we're going to make a run, and they said time will tell. It's cool to see they spoke that into existence and we're here now. We're going to make the most of it.

DARYL BANKS, III: We knew what we were capable of, the guys that he have with, we work hard, we put in the time. We just knew it was going to come to this moment and we're just living in it now.

Q. What have the last 10, 15 hours been like for you? Have you seen the images from everybody celebrating back home? What do you think of that?

FOUSSEYNI DRAME: It's been amazing, to be honest. We are not surprised of our success, because this is what we've been doing for three years.

MATTHEW LEE: We've seen a lot of pictures and videos of people back home celebrating. It's honestly a surreal feeling knowing that they're so proud of us. We've just got to keep on going.

HASSAN DRAME: It feels really amazing to see people in the country supporting you, even though they're not here physically, we knew they were here with us, like, spiritually.

Q. For Doug and Daryl, could you speak to what you see in Murray State and as a follow to that, what is it going to take to try to come off the high of last night? What's the challenge of that to try to refocus and get back to tomorrow night?

DARYL BANKS, III: They're a very good basketball team. They're physical, they're big. We know it's going to be a hard-nosed fought battle so we can't dwell on the past too much because this is a game we have to be locked in for. As long as we execute and follow our game plan for each game that we play it should take care of itself.

DOUG EDERT: Like Daryl said, Murray State is a great basketball program. They have a lot of really talented guys there. I feel like, again, off the high from yesterday we have to put it behind us. Even though it was a great accomplishment for us, we have to put it behind us. It's a quick turn-around and we have to be prepared and keep on rolling.

Q. Did you guys watch the end of the Murray State game? A lot of people thought it was the best in the tournament so far, and what do you think of the end of that game?

MATTHEW LEE: Yeah, I think we all watched the game. It was a hard-fought game. We know Murray State is a tough team. They went out there and they proved that. They had to play with a lot of toughness and tenacity.

KC NDEFO: We watched the game. That's the thing that we do here, a lot of scouting. It was definitely a tough game. It was a good game. We're just ready for the opponent.

Q. Any of you guys can answer this. Can you take me through -- like you guys leave the locker room yesterday. What was the rest of the evening like? When did you go to bed? Was it easy to fall asleep?

FOUSSEYNI DRAME: It was a normal day for us, but it was just the winning, beside that, nothing special. Went to bed like regular. We were happy, though.

DARYL BANKS, III: I made sure to get my sleep in because we knew we had to be rested. Really just my phone was blowing up a lot. A lot of notifications. That was a lot to go through. It took me a while to get through all that, but that was really it.

DOUG EDERT: Same thing. It was really great. I thought everyone left here with all smiles and we had a great time, but same thing as Daryl said, phone was blowing up and stuff, which is awesome. Got normal sleep and it's just another game.

THE MODERATOR: Guys, good luck tomorrow. We are joined by the coach of Saint Peter's University, Shaheen Holloway.

Q. Obvious question, what kind of sleep did you get last night? Is your voice mail full?

COACH HOLLOWAY: I haven't slept in nine days. Obviously last week was our conference tournament, three straight games there plus the championship game and I got food poison on Monday so I was down for the count on three days. The team came down before me, I just got down here. My voice mail, 791 texts.

Q. Kentucky was up with three minutes to play, you guys came back and won the game. What does that say about your grit and determination and what do you expect to do against Murray State?

COACH HOLLOWAY: All year my team has been doing that you know we got that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde team we don't know which team is gonna show up. Last night I told these guys, we've been here before. Let's guard them, get a couple of stops and try to get a couple of easy baskets and once we changed our defense up it helped us out a lot. As far as the next round I'm working on Murray State right now. Very good team. A little similar, they play pretty physical, big kid down low, good guards, well coached. It's going to be a big challenge for us.

Q. Shaheen, greetings from San Diego?

COACH HOLLOWAY: Jerry, what's up, buddy.

Q. Hey, it's Jerry. What is it like to put a university on the national map?

COACH HOLLOWAY: Like I keep telling everybody. This is for the kids, man. I'm so happy for them and happy for Jersey City and Saint Peter's University, not too many know about us, so for us to get the publicity, that's great. This is for them, this ain't for me, Jerry.

Q. Folks told you not to take the job at Saint Peter's University, what did you see when you arrived at campus and took inventory?

COACH HOLLOWAY: At the time the AD, Brian Felt, I knew him from Seton Hall, we worked together. He had a good vision of what he wanted the place to be. I had a vision of what I wanted to do and I thought at the time things clicked and now moving forward three years, we got a new administration in place, everybody is on the same goal. The goal is to make Saint Peter's University and the athletic department the best place possible.

Q. Curious about the journey to getting the twins here from Mali, how did that take place?

COACH HOLLOWAY: I recruited those guys when I first got the job, they were juniors. They were a package deal, I thought they were like the Champagnie twins, they didn't want to play each other, but these two guys were connected at the hip.

These guys have been a big part of our team since they've been here. Let me brag on them. First of all they're 4.0 students, they take education very seriously so that was a main attraction for me. Secondly, they play so hard. The littlest thing matters to them, loose ball, making a free throw, being the best teammates possible. They do all the things that don't show up on the basketball score to help us be very successful. So those guys have been instrumental to the program and where we're going.

Q. What was going through your mind last night? There is a lot of lower seeds that push the higher seeds but when it breaks down at the end sometimes it falls apart. As you get into crunch time what are you thinking as you're going into the huddles, about how do I need to talk to these guys and keep our hand on the steering wheel and pull this off?

COACH HOLLOWAY: You know what, I told a story today, I did an interview, I didn't ever tell this story. Three weeks ago we played at Fairfield, it was on ESPN U and toward the end of the game I thought they did a little edit on me and my facial expressions and my body language and stuff like that and then we played Sunday, the following Sunday against Siena and I didn't coach the way I was capable of coaching because I was worried about that. These guys understand me. They understand my fieriness, they understand my passion and they get it, especially the six guys that were up here, these guys have been with me for three years. So when we were in that timeout I said guys, we have been here before, all the pressure is on them, the pressure is not on us. Let's go out there, do what we do, play basketball, get a stop, let's get Doug a three and I knew we were going to get back in the game, that's what happened. Them understanding the moment and them understanding me and they allow me to be me and take it and that's what kind of got us here.

Q. Coach, last night after the game you were asked about nerves and you said it's just basketball. I wanted to see if you could add on to that. Is that the message you are sending to your team as well?

COACH HOLLOWAY: Yes. I don't look at this as pressure at all. Pressure is when you have a kid and you can't feed your kid, that's pressure. This is something that these kids love to do. They work all year-round for it, me I'm just in a position to help them to guide them through it. It's the game of basketball. That's how I played when I was a player. I didn't play with any pressure at all. If you can't get juiced off of this, playing in the NCAA Tournament against Kentucky, something is wrong.

Q. Coach you said you had hundreds of texts and haven't been able to sleep at all and Doug and Daryl said their phones have been blowing up too. What advice have you given the players on how to deal with the attention that's been coming their way over the past eighteen hours or so?

COACH HOLLOWAY: You just got Doug and Daryl in trouble. They're not supposed to have their phones. These guys understand it. They don't get too high or too low. We came down here on a mission, not a lot of people believed that we could come out here and do what we're doing. We came out here packed ready for Sunday. We said we were leaving on Sunday with two wins. Our mission is to try to come and play the best we can play and whatever happens, happens.

Q. Shaheen, Murray State has won 21 straight games. What have you seen from them on tape in the last 12, 14 hours? Do they remind you of a team you have you faced this season?

COACH HOLLOWAY: No. They are a very good team, very well coached. Great tradition, great history. Got good players. When you watch them, the thing I'm impressed the most about is their physicality, they get after you. They pressure you man to man, they get down low, they're athletic, they have multiple people that can score so you can't lock in on one person. They're a very good team. It's going to an a good chance for our guys, we have to go out there and do what Saint Peter's University do.

Q. This question is about Doug. He was one of the first guys you brought in. How would you describe his personality? And Do you recall the first time you really realized how good this guy was as a shooter?

COACH HOLLOWAY: Doug is one of the most outgoing guys on the team, you wouldn't really know that if you seen him. Great person, comes from a great family and that's one of the things I loved about him. When I first got on the job I went on a recruiting trip to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and he plays for an AAU team the same I used to play for. I said we've got to have him so I recruited and recruited and recruited him and he could have gone to a lot of Ivy league school but he choose to come to St. Peter's and play for me and I'm always grateful for that.

Q. A lot of the players have talked about the depth that you have and the three-hour practices. Just trying to get inside the program there. What is it about the challenges of those guys going up against each other that you think has led to the results in games this year?

COACH HOLLOWAY: Three-hour practices? Who practices for three hours? Nah, you know what? The vision and the goal was to get 12 guys to play double figure minutes. And the reason why I want to do that is because that way we have great competition. You can't have one or two guys holding you hostage. You got 12 guys going out there competing every single night and competing in practice, to us, our practice is harder than games so if you can get through the practice the game is easy.

Q. Obviously I think one of the cool things about March is a lot of people don't realize some of the stuff you guys go through in the regular season. They think of private jets and the glitz and the glamour of Kentucky and Duke. They don't realize -- can you tell us what it's like to be at Saint Peter's University with a small budget and the work you do every day?

COACH HOLLOWAY: It has challenges, right? There are challenges to it, but it also makes you humble and appreciate the little things. You appreciate the times on the bus with the guys and spending time and getting to know each other. I think that's the best thing about this group is they know me.

All right? They know what I expect. I know them. When you get a chance to travel like the way we travel, you know, on buses and our league is great, other than buffer low everything is an hour or two apart.

But as far as the other stuff, it's great. I did at Seton Hall, not to the Kentucky level, but we had it. But these guys are humble. Also that made those guys want to play against those teams and do that, because, like I said last night, some of the guys on my team think they're supposed to be at Kentucky. So when they get a chance to play against teams like that, they play with a chip on their shoulder; they got something to prove. I thought last night these guys came out to try to prove that.

Q. The food poisoning that you mentioned, any idea what it was from? Was there any chance at any point that you thought you not might not be able to make it to the sidelines to coach in this game?

COACH HOLLOWAY: No, it was a challenge. If I tell you guys where it was from, everybody will probably laugh at me. Monday night my son, Xavier, wanted McDonald's, so I had to go out and get McDonald's, and when you get McDonald's you have to get French fries. I got fries, and a shake and it didn't go well for me. There was no way I was missing the game. I didn't come down with the team. I tried to give myself a few days, tried to get myself together. Yesterday I had to go get an IV, just to make sure I was good. I came out and -- I didn't care what was happing, I wasn't missing this game for anything.

Q. Shaheen, before games you like to stand on the baseline in the corner there and take a few moments for yourself. What are you thinking about? Is it just relaxing, or getting ready for the game, energizing? Seems like you do it before each game. Just curious what your process is there.

COACH HOLLOWAY: I just go to the baseline. Until we score or get a stop on defense, I'm not done as a head coach. There's really nothing to it.