NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - IOWA STATE VS. LSU

March 18, 2022

T.J. Otzelberger

Tyrese Hunter

Izaiah Brockington

Caleb Grill

Fiserv Forum

Iowa State Cyclones

Media Conference

Iowa State - 59, LSU - 54

MODERATOR: We'll hear from the coach with an opening statement and then questions from the student-athletes. We'll let them go and take questions from the coach.

Coach Otzelberger, opening statement, please.

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: Really -- excuse me, sorry about that. I'm really proud of our guys. Competitive spirit from the start was there, our defensive effort was terrific. We turned them over, we scored off turnovers. We knew that was going to be important for us to be successful, so I'm proud of our guys for putting that in play. Our ball toughness was off the charts. These guys did a great job guarding the basketball. We needed every possession. Playing against the press is really tough, but the ball toughness and our ability to disrupt them defensively was huge. And then man, these guys made some big shots, especially Tyrese there late. So all the credit to our players.

Q. Tyrese, over here. Go over that last shot you made, kind of the bail-out three kind of.

TYRESE HUNTER: Just started with the confidence I had throughout the game. I made a few, so just knowing that the guys around me trusted me too. Clock running down to get into the shot that I'd normally take, so the rest is history for it.

Q. At what point did you look up at the clock?

TYRESE HUNTER: I looked at it the whole possession. I was trying to make sure I managed the whole possession. So I really was trying to get it to Xa, but it came into my hands, so I shot the ball confidently.

Q. You're a freshman, haven't played like one obviously, but where do you get the moxie to come out here tonight and to dominate like you did?

TYRESE HUNTER: It's March Madness. Everybody got one goal and you've got to go out there and play hard. That's just me playing myself. Like people say, freshman this, freshman that, but at the end of the day I'm a basketball player that's out there with other basketball players that's going out there to compete and win. So I just go out there and do my thing.

Q. Izaiah and really any of you guys, it seemed like in those biggest moments when it got close, the defense would kind of lead to offense. It's been a theme like all season. What could you kind of say is the key to that tonight and how did it affect you down the stretch with those big shots?

IZAIAH BROCKINGTON: I feel like getting stops gives us momentum. We were focused on stringing stops together, really trying to shrink the floor for them. They got a bunch of athletes, a lot of guys that can really get downhill and drive the ball. So 0we just kind of tried to contain that, make them kick it out and get contests on their jumpers. But stops are huge for us. We get rebounds and we try to go.

Q. Tyrese, it looked like every time you hit a three you looked up at your family in the stands. What did it mean to have them there tonight?

TYRESE HUNTER: It felt good, but I was looking for my grandma. she was in there. You know, I know the whole family was there. It just felt good. I was trying to go out there and get the win.

Q. Caleb, can you walk us through the stretch where you hit the big three, you come down and get the steal? I think you guys had gone from having a 7-point lead and it got slung down. What happened on those two possessions?

CALEB GRILL: We just kind of ran a play for the 3-pointer. Obviously, I'm not even the first or second option on that, so luckily Tyrese found me, got the open three. Like Izaiah said, we were trying to play the gaps because of how good they were downhill and just sitting in the gap and just one of those times you lost the ball and I just was right there for it.

Q. Tyrese, was this something that you kind of envisioned, a night like this at home near your hometown, career high, all these sort of records? Was it something that you pictured or did it just happen that way?

TYRESE HUNTER: It just happened, but before the game, I'm pretty sure every player has a picture in their head what they want the game to look like. But I just let the game come to me and I got the shots presented to me and I just let them fly.

Q. Izaiah, talk about your guy up there. Talk about Tyrese for a moment, tonight, the stage and how he performed.

IZAIAH BROCKINGTON: He was one of the most excited guys in there before the game started. I mean, he's been like that all year. Like no matter the implications of the game, no matter how big the game is, he just ready to go out there, ready to be aggressive and just going out there and having fun. He really doesn't let the moment get too big for him. He's always poised, he's always on to the next play, always ready to make a big play when we need it.

Q. Tyrese, I don't know much about your recruitment or your growing up, but were you a Wisconsin fan at all and did -- what do you imagine it's going to be like -- I know they still have to win tonight, but what that would be like on Sunday?

TYRESE HUNTER: I wasn't a Wisconsin fan growing up. I always just looked at the big games really, and like I said, just playing them. It don't matter who we play, just going out there to try to get the W.

Q. Did they recruit you at all?

TYRESE HUNTER: No, sir.

MODERATOR: Questions for coach?

Q. What was going through your mind there as Tyrese was hitting those big threes?

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: Well, really proud of the time he puts in every day. He's a tremendous worker, he's got terrific character. He's put a lot into that shot and for it to show up tonight on the big stage at home for him is really special.

So we wanted the ball in his hands late. He stepped up and made shots, big shots and really fortunate. So excited to coach a great player like that who steps up in the big moment.

Q. Tyrese being as young as he is, being 18 and being able to kind of come in and lead a team in this moment, like what does it take for a player over the course of a season, especially as a freshman point guard, to build that trust up with his teammates to where they kind of got to let him rock out?

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: Yeah, his trust is built every day through his daily habits, how he works. You see his court demeanor, his body language. He carries himself like a veteran. That's why it surprises everybody that he's only 18. So he earns that every single day by his hard work, his effort, his energy. They see him coming early, they see him staying late, they see him playing through adversity. We put the ball in his hands to start the season and we trusted him because of his character and his work habits and his teammates saw those and they followed. They're easy to follow when you work like he works.

Q. T.J., programs like the one you took over a year ago usually have to wait years for a night like tonight. How were you guys able to get here so quickly?

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: All the credit goes to the young men in our program for how they bought into the work habits. We put a pretty demanding schedule in front of them on what we do every single day, what we demand in the classroom, how we demand that they go about doing everything and they've embraced that. So our confidence has grown throughout the course of the season based on doing simple things on a daily basis each and every day. You don't have the type of turnaround that we have had this season if the young men in your program don't bye in immediately, don't work extremely hard and don't fight through adversity and I'm really fortunate as a coach to have such great young men who embody everything you would want in a student-athlete.

Q. Jaž only scored three points tonight, but can you speak about the impact he made on the game defensively? It seemed like his activity level was even up a notch from what it is other games.

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: I felt like -- as soon as Jaž came in, we have a term in our program "instant impact," and you could feel that impact immediately. He was flying around, he was getting deflections around the rim, he made plays early, he was keeping rebounds alive, he was getting rebounds. So many hustles and energy plays. And then defensively he's really smart. He's always in the right spot. He communicates to his teammates. He did a terrific job. He had great energy out there. Even though the stats don't jump off the page, his effort and his energy was terrific.

Q. T.J., you touched on this before a little bit, but go over it again. It's more significant now than it's ever been. You're 14-0 against nonconference opponents. What's that say about the Big 12 and how well did the Big 12 prepare you for this stage?

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: The Big 12, it's the best conference in the country. Top to bottom every night is a battle. You've got to come, there's never a night off. It's a mental and physical challenge as you get ready to prepare for every game, and then you take that challenge.

For our guys, we've had stretches where you could see the adversity, you can see the confidence waiver where it's tested us. We've bent at times, but we've never broke. So I think that really prepares you.

When you move forward and you're playing outside the conference, when you have that demanding of a schedule and a league, you're just so much more prepared. So fortunate that we play in such a great league. Our guys compete and fight through adversity and we've done all right in the games outside of our league.

Q. T.J., I know they only -- it's unusual for a team to have a new head coach here in just -- at this point in the season and just with a few days to prepare for the tournament. Was there anything that you saw in LSU tonight that was different, even if it's little wrinkles, or was it just exactly what you saw on film?

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: Yeah, we were coming into this game, all of our energy and attention was focused on what we do and being the best version of ourselves and everyone's best effort. We knew that they're a team that likes to press and they did that. We know that with Days and Eason. They're terrific isolation players and they put them in great spots like they do. They were great on the offensive boards and getting to the foul line. To me, there wasn't really anything different than what we had seen leading up to the game on film. Felt like that was the type of game we thought it would be and we knew we were going to have to make enough shots and enough gritty defensive plays to come out with the victory. I'm proud of our guys for doing that job.

Q. You guys were stuck on 50 and 51 for a long time. How did you think you guys would get out of it and was it ultimately going to be Tyrese or someone like that that was going to deliver?

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: Tyrese and Izaiah both -- you know, Izaiah early in the game got us going and Tyrese certainly late was doing that job. We don't necessarily put that job or responsibility on one person. We've had multiple guys throughout the year step up and hit big shots, whether it's Kalscheur, Grill, Kunc or whoever it is. Tonight happened to be Tyrese's night and the ball found him, our guys knew he had the hot hand, and just proud of him that he had the confidence to step up and knock that shot down.

So, you know, our team at times goes through spells where we don't score consistently enough, but our defense carries us forward, keeps us in the game, and then our offense comes around. That's been our equation in most of our big wins and that's certainly the case here tonight.

Q. T.J., you kind of alluded to this, but for someone who hasn't watched you guys this year, is there something you could trace your defensive mentality to or the current that kind of powers the effort you have on defense?

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: For me, growing up in Wisconsin, Dick Bennett had a really big impact on me, and his son Tony, in how they defended. Now, I wasn't fortunate enough to be all that good of a player, so it was my only way to ever find myself on to the court. So for me, that's my background. That's how I approach every day.

We believe that the work that we put in defensively, the effort and energy can propel us to victories. That's more my background. Really proud of our guys because they've embraced that identity. We talk all the time about who we can be and that's who we can be. So for me, it's really personal, it's special and it goes back a lot of years.

Q. How important was that sequence of Caleb where he had those couple big plays after kind of a rough start?

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: Yeah, it was huge. I mean, to knock down the shot and then to get that steal and the dunk in transition, those are big energy plays. We knew we were going to have to make a lot of them. For Caleb, he's a very effort-based player, he cares and he wants to win. And when he gets going, our guys get really excited. As we came to that time-out, the energy was at a high. So proud of Caleb because he stayed the course when things didn't go his way. What an unbelievable life lesson, but paid off for him here tonight.