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

March 18, 2022

E.J. Anosike

Vincent Lee

Damari Milstead

Dedrique Taylor

Bon Secours Wellness Arena

Cal St. Fullerton Titans

Media Conference

Duke - 78, Cal State Fullerton - 61

THE MODERATOR: Coach, if you could give an opening statement, please.

DEDRIQUE TAYLOR: I can't say how proud I am of this group. Coming into this game and competing against Duke was a complete honor and privilege, but compete is exactly what our guys did. They came out, and they played extremely hard, and they didn't quit, and they have absolutely nothing to hang their heads about.

I thought this group stuck to it, and we found a way to get things done throughout the course of the year. We feel sad right now, but we'll look back upon this opportunity and appreciate each other and appreciate what each other has given to one another.

Again, your hat's office to Duke, and obviously being a part of history with Coach K and how important he is to college basketball and how impactful he has been to success and what he's meant to our game, you can't -- you can't put into words his overall impact. I wish him nothing but the best and expect him to make a run here that I know his group can deliver.

Q. This is for either one who wants to answer. Coach mentioned just this opportunity playing against Duke and just this big of a moment. What does this mean for you all, and what do you all take away from this?

E.J. ANOSIKE: I would definitely say we're very thankful, thankful to God just for putting us in this position. We worked hard. We sacrificed a lot all year to be in this position going into this to make history. We believed. We gave ourselves a chance. We competed, and we emptied our tank.

Just having the opportunity to compete against Duke, for us seniors, there's no better team we want to play in the NCAA Tournament. That alone, playing against Coach K, we gave it our all. We gave it everything we've got. The legacy continues because, like I said, I'm proud of these guys. We all came together, and we worked hard. We sacrificed. We got to know each other, and everyone committed to our team to put us in this position.

That alone I'm thankful for. I'm grateful for my teammates. I'm proud of everyone. I'm proud of this program that believed and gave us this chance and this opportunity.

Q. I know you guys talked about size and their athleticism and how that might be an advantage. E.J., I was wondering how much do you feel that kind of affected things tonight?

E.J. ANOSIKE: As you know, as you go into every game, there's advantages and disadvantages. I would definitely say they had a size advantage to their advantage, but like I said, we had heart, and we competed. A lot of teams, when they're down in tough times, they would have quit. We never quit. As long as our heart's still beating, we're going to keep going and still trying to play to win.

That alone is something that we're grateful for to give us a chance to win.

Q. E.J., you and Dedrique shared a moment there at the end of the game. What did that moment mean to you, and what has your ride here at Fullerton meant?

E.J. ANOSIKE: It meant a lot for me. I had a pretty long journey in college, and I'm very thankful to Coach for giving me an opportunity and believing in me. All I ever wanted was just to play for a coach that believed in me 110 percent and give it his all. For that alone I'm grateful for, to give me an opportunity and take a chance on a kid.

I didn't have much coming up. Last year I didn't have a good year, but he still took a chance and wanted me. He saw something in me that he believed could help the program. I'm very thankful for that, and for that I'll always be thankful. I'm glad to be part of history. I'm glad to have these brothers to the left and to the right of me, and I'm glad for everyone that put in and who sacrificed to put us in this position to say we made it to March Madness, to say we played against Duke, to win a Big West championship, to compete, win three games in a row. It was a long road, but we did it all together; the good, the bad, the ups and downs. We overcame a lot of adversity.

That alone I'm thankful for, to the coaching staff, to the players, athletic trainers, strength coaches. It's a family. And we are going to continue to build this legacy.

Q. For any of the guys, you had that run in the first half, you were keeping it close even after a slow start. What was the vibe in the locker room? How did you guys feel like you were in position for the game?

VINCENT LEE: I think in the locker room our main focus was to stay composed. I think it's a game of runs. It's basketball. Everybody gets up. Everybody gets down. I think our main focus was keeping our composure and putting ourselves in the best position to win.

Q. This is for any of the guys. When you look at this game and you look here coming up, either Michigan State or Davidson is going to play Duke. If one of those players on those teams asked you, what is the biggest advice for playing against Duke, what would you tell them they need to do?

DAMARI MILSTEAD: Advice? I mean, these coaching staffs are here for a reason. They've got their teams here, but one thing, I mean, Duke is a very, very talented, athletic group. So good luck.

Q. You guys got off to a 3 for 17, 3 for 18 start, and it put you in a hole. You guys responded well enough to stay in the game, but it seemed like you guys were chasing at that point. Did you like the shots you guys were getting early on that just weren't falling, or what was happening in that early stretch?

DEDRIQUE TAYLOR: I think the start is indicative of our season. That's the way we started all games. Unfortunately, you'd like to see us compete at a higher level. I thought the shots that we got, even in the time-outs, I said to the guys, the shots were getting are good shots. They just weren't falling. I think at the end of the day, Duke's size and athleticism and strength, those shots looked a little different than they did last Saturday.

But credit this group for continuing to believe and continuing to fight for Fullerton type shots. That's important because we could have easily splintered and started taking some wild and crazy shots, and I don't think we did that. We've stayed with what we've done all year. We dug ourselves in a hole, and we found a way to fight out of it. Again, we just ran up against Duke this year, or this game.

Q. Coach K just sat up here and talked about how good defensively you all have been historically. He felt like he certainly saw that tonight. I think Duke had 13 turnovers, 16 points off of turnovers for you guys. What did you think of your effort on that end of the floor?

DEDRIQUE TAYLOR: I was proud of this group's effort. Their energy and attention to detail in terms of doing things the right way. Our staff put them in position to do those things, and we showed them on film, not only the Duke guys, but we showed them previously ourselves, what that looks like. And they bought into that, and they believed that would give them a chance to win, and they did that tonight.

I think last Thursday, Friday, Saturday, again defensively guys started to -- they did. They understood the assignment. And they accomplished it in terms of defensively being able to defend, being able to run or rebound and then run. That's who we are. That's kind of our mantra.

Q. What were they able to do to just kind of limit E.J., especially early on? I guess just looking back on what has he meant, kind of, to this team this year?

DEDRIQUE TAYLOR: I'll answer your second question first. What he has meant has been everything. His impact has been huge in terms of his work ethic. The guys understand that this dude's working. He's not playing. He's working. And he plays so hard that you can't help but to try to join ranks and figure out, hey, how can I help this guy?

That's been his biggest impact. His leadership is verbally telling and instructing our guys from his experience. He's been to Sacred Heart. He's been to Tennessee. And he brought that with him, and I told him to bring those experiences with him -- good, bad, right, wrong, or indifferent.

And he shared that with those guys. He shared it with them publicly. He shared it with them privately. And this group of guys did a good job of buying into and understanding what he's been through. But the way that he works, I think they mimic that effort, especially the last four games, I would say Thursday -- starting last week, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and then even tonight. What most people would see or say is an insurmountable task, I thought our guys fought like -- I thought they fought and they gave themselves a chance down the stretch there.

Q. What did you want to tell E.J. there in that moment when you took him out for the last time?

DEDRIQUE TAYLOR: I just wanted to thank him because he was recruited by a lot of different schools, and there's a lot of different schools between East Orange, New Jersey and Fullerton, California. He literally could not have gone any further west than he did. So I appreciated the opportunity to be part of his success track.

We talked about this moment of time, believe it or not. We talked about winning a Big West Conference Championship. We talked about getting to the NCAA Tournament. That was a mission we both were on to continue to validate the work that both of us put in, and I just -- again, I just thanked him for giving me the opportunity to be a part of what he did. And what he did, I think, was nothing short of powerful for our program.

Even after the game, he's talking to the younger guys, the underclassmen, and telling them like, hey, man, the standard has been set. It's your job now to continue to move towards that standard. I mean, I don't know how you can thank the dude enough.

Q. Coach, like I asked Damari, similar question. What do you think are the one or two things that the teams out here will need to do to upset this Duke team on Sunday?

DEDRIQUE TAYLOR: I think they've got to keep them out of transition. I think I said this to our team, when we gamble a little bit on defensive assignments and kind of try to speed up the pace, Duke has an unbelievable ability to make you pay for it, whereas last Friday, last Thursday, last Saturday, it didn't look the same.

Duke's size at the front of the rim, there's a couple of 50-50 plays that could have gone either way. Duke winds up with the ball, and the next thing you know it's a dunk. Not only is it two points, but from a momentum standpoint, it carries them and creates an environment that our group, we just struggled to overcome, quite frankly.

Q. They were 50-50 plays, but with Duke is it more like a 75-25 because of what you said about the length?

DEDRIQUE TAYLOR: Yeah, I would probably say that, but I think we both had a chance at the ball. The ones that happened above the rim, those are 75-25. The ones that happen below the rim, I think they're 50-50 plays. But anything above the rim, especially from my angle. I don't remember when they were going that way. Number 12 was in the game, and he was like looking down in the rim, and he was like, hey, I think I'll dunk it now. You can't do anything about that except recruit better maybe. (Laughter).

THE MODERATOR: Thanks for your time, Coach. Congratulations on a great season.