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

March 18, 2022

Jamie Dixon

Emanuel Miller

Mike Miles Jr.

Damion Baugh

Viejas Arena

TCU Horned Frogs

Media Conference

TCU - 69, Seton Hall - 42

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Coach Dixon, Mike Miles, Emanuel Miller and Damion Baugh.

COACH DIXON: I'm proud of our guys. I thought just how we prepared this week, how we grew, how we improved and how we made some adjustments, and they handled it well. So we took the two days, Sunday, Monday, and took Tuesday off. And I think the additional, what we added, what we emphasized, I think the guys really took to it.

I can't speak highly enough about our players and what they did. And we've been preaching what we could become, what we have been at times defensively. I think today you saw it for 40 minutes. I thought it was a special effort, special performance. And I'm just proud of, I don't know who you could have picked. You could have brought all 10 of them up, but who else is over there -- Damion, Emanuel, they're terrific.

I talked to some guys who stepped up defensively for us. And that's the team we can become. Excited about it. Thank you.

Q. Damion, for you, you guys had a lead obviously going into halftime, but you guys really pulled away. Knocked down that first 3. What was the key to just extending the lead there in the second half for you?

DAMION BAUGH: Just playing defense and taking care of the ball that was really it. Coach expressed that every day. That's what we went out there and did.

Q. Last summer you won a gold medal. Now a tournament game. Did you talk in the last nine months about if this was possible and how did it feel?

EMANUEL MILLER: We talked about it. I trust him always. I know he always put me and the entire team in a great position to win. And I know he has full trust in me, and that means the most coming from a coach, trusting his point guard. We always have to be on the same page. We talked about it, this is all we wanted to do. We won this first game but we got to look ahead and enjoy this and get ready for Sunday.

Q. Emanuel, a lot, with this team, was the fact that you hadn't been to a tournament for a lot of you guys. After the first couple of minutes it was a little slow start for both teams. You took off after that. How much did your confidence and comfort as a team grow throughout the game?

EMANUEL MILLER: It's been 35 years -- 35 years. That's crazy. It's crazy. It's been a long time coming, I think. This program is slowly shifting the culture of TCU basketball, I think. We're showing what TCU basketball is about right now.

And I think one through 12, the coaches are showing that we're capable of competing with anyone in the country. It was slow to start because it's like a lot of freshmen out there on the court, just because this is our first time in the tournament. But I think as a group we did an unbelievable job on defense. We dug deep. It was a gritty team. We fought for 40 minutes. Offensively we trusted one another. That played a huge role in the win.

Q. Emanuel, you guys were able to get their two, Rhoden and Obiagu, in foul trouble? How important was that?

EMANUEL MILLER: I think the biggest difference we saw in this game opposed to the regular season and conference was we took a lot of charges in this game. That was key. We got them in foul trouble early, which made them hesitant on the offensive end with their attack. I think going forward that's a huge thing in what we need to do because we realize how important it was to do that today.

Q. Mike, you tweeted I think two weeks ago that Micah was the best defender in the Big 12. The way he played on Rhoden today kind of demonstrated -- could you talk about how important he is for the team?

MIKE MILES JR.: He's super important. On the defensive end it starts with him. We put him on the best player. Every time he comes in he's going to try his hardest. That's the best attribute of the game. He really gets into the best players and makes them uncomfortable.

It gives us all energy. You saw tonight when he was in on Rhoden and got him a couple of fouls and took a charge. It really got us all up, made us crack down on defense.

Q. You guys played so many games down the stretch of the regular season, I think seven in 14 days. How much did that break help especially on the defensive end tonight?

DAMION BAUGH: To be honest, I was thinking on that, thinking about that when we got here. I kind of thought that prepared us for the tournament because we're here for five days and we were on the road for almost five days. It kind of prepared us and just helped out.

Q. Mike and Emanuel, you feel like people underestimate how athletic you guys are? You guys kind of showed your potential tonight, especially with 21 points, Mike?

MIKE MILES JR.: I don't really know. I don't feel everyone underestimates our athleticism. We obviously have great players, great athletes, E-man and Mike and everyone on the team. I don't know, maybe, but that's our biggest attribute. I feel like we can run the floor hard and go up and get rebounds on both ends.

And that really helps us. Our defense and rebounding is our calling card. Coach Dixon says it every day. And that's what we came out here and did.

Q. E-man, talking about Mike and the game he had, game high 21 points. Do you feel like some people because of wrist injury maybe some other things that happened, underestimate how good he is?

EMANUEL MILLER: I don't think anyone underestimates Mike. He's my boy, so I'll gas light him here a little bit. He can hoop. All the players in the country know he can hoop. I'm proud of what he did today. I'm proud of what DB did today. He facilitated the ball well. I'm proud of what Fran did, all of our point guards, down the line.

Every single player played a huge role in this win. We're such a versatile team that can do many things on the floor and I think every single player contributed in some way.

Q. I saw you guys watching Arizona before you went into the locker room. What did you see from them and what do you expect Sunday?

MIKE MILES JR.: They obviously have two good bigs starting that can score and rebound. They've obviously got Bennedict, the guard who's a projected lottery pick. We know what they have. Obviously we needed to know. That's why we were watching the game. We're going to prepare and scout them play but we gotta just play the same defense we did today. That will put us in a good position against them.

Q. Your school's won two tournament games in 53 years. You played in one, you coached in one. Did you think it would take another 35 years from '87? And can you admit you're the lucky charm?

COACH DIXON: Well, I can't do anything about the last 35, can't cut it, break it down. I've been saying that for a while.

We've got good players. And we've been to the tournament. We won NITs. So we've done good things since we've been back. Hopefully this is the start of more to come.

But I'm just proud of how these guys handled it. I'm not going to -- we've got good players. And it's taken a while to get it together because of having really 11 new players is really what we've taken on. But it's a good group, great group. They're very close. So I think that's the reason.

As you mentioned, I thought the preparation I mentioned earlier and I didn't answer, but the seven games in 15 days was an unbelievable challenge for us. And I thought we handled it tremendously. But I think it also prepared us and then these five days the rest -- I say rest but to focus on things and practice, because during that time there was no practice.

We were able to install some things, put new things in, make some adjustments and adapt to our team. But we really hadn't been able to do that for almost half the year, half the conference schedule. I think that was huge for us, too. I think all those things led to the win. And the last thing would be me.

Q. Big 12 ended up going 6-0 in the first round. Do you think that that is kind of a testament to what you mentioned about being battle tested and prepared for this?

COACH DIXON: We've been saying all along, and the numbers have seen it. Obviously everybody's going to pick their side, their group. But we've been doing it ever since I've been here, six years. Every year we've been ranked the highest.

And it's an unbelievable challenge, it really is. And we've been moving up and getting better in it. But when you play all these great teams, you just gotta find the way to survive and that's what everybody has seen. We've got so many wins against ranked teams and you feel good. And then you've got a ranked one coming right after it. So I think -- I didn't even know. I didn't see the scores. But thanks for letting me know on that. I'm proud of our team.

We were, all of our group, the six guys that were in the tournament, we're all texting each other this week to win for the Big 12 and to promote that. So it's a close group of coaches for the most part. And a lot of respect amongst the group.

Q. You guys have had leads before and kind of let them, opponents come back and make it close. What do you think the key was today to sustaining it and extending it there in the second?

COACH DIXON: Probably our defense. I think we continued to stay with the defense. It was something really I preached. I was coaching them down the stretch, too, and pushing them. That's what I told them in the locker room. I was more proud of how we handled the last four minutes than we did in the first 30. Got away from us a little bit with, I thought we had a careless turnover, we got over our goal of 12 and that put us at 13.

Again, it was just a sign of us not being quite mature enough as a young group. If you look at our rosters, they've got six graduates. We don't have any. We're a young group. Our oldest guy is Chuck, and he's only played one year healthy, without COVID, if you can count that with us. We hardly practiced.

But I was really proud how they handled the last four minutes because that was growing up and obviously we had a big lead and position to win the game. But how we handled it with our walk-ons in there, with Harry in there, even that mattered to me. That was a good sign of us maturing.

We challenged them all year because we knew we brought in a group of guys that never played together, never been to the tournament except Micah, the one time. And we addressed that early. No one thinks you guys can come together.

And we had all kinds of adversity early, injuries, COVID, shutdown, the usual, which we all seem to get. But we battled through it, got better, and we're playing our best basketball now.

Q. E-man kind of mentioned this but you got everybody on your entire bench to play in an NCAA Tournament game. Do you feel like this is really the most complete game you guys have played all season?

COACH DIXON: I would say. This is a great team we played against, Seton Hall. And I thought -- I pointed out to the guys, I was so impressed with the three guys, we really pushed to get better defensively for us. I thought Chuck played tremendous defense, took the early charge, which was huge. I thought JaKobe played great defense. And Emanuel played great defense.

All those guys have had to adjust or get better. They played big inside and making judgment guarding the perimeter. The way we guard, they've got to be able to guard the smallest guy on the floor. They did a great job on that. I thought that was a real good indicator of us growing up and getting better.

Q. On offense, you guys still went to the rim. But seemed like maybe you made an extra pass in there. What did you see still able to score inside?

COACH DIXON: I was surprised -- I thought our assist numbers would be higher. And only had 15, I think that's what it says. But I thought -- we had some great passes. We got to the foul line on some of them. But it's a couple things. We've really worked on making decisions at the end of drives. So I think that led to a couple of passes, a couple of baskets. And also thought we made the extra pass a lot and did it at the right time, right place, but we got a lots of cuts and dives and cuts to the basket as well which we've been working on a lot getting better at the same time.

It's a combination of a lot of things. But to your point I think, I thought we had more assists based on how we played, but I guess probably some of them we got fouled on and didn't turn into an assist. But we were tremendous passing the basketball today.

Q. What do you remember about that night from 35 years ago? And tonight, aside from the scoreboard, anything reminiscent tonight take you back to that?

COACH DIXON: Not really. I hadn't really thought about it. I get asked about it all the time. So I always try to defer that question when we've gotten to the tournament before and won games, and they've been heading towards postseason. But no, I hadn't really.

I was thinking, before the game, I thought about my parents who couldn't be here today because of health issues, and then I thought -- we drove by University of San Diego. I thought of my sister tonight because she played there. So I thought of her. But I didn't think about myself or 35 years ago.