NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - TEXAS VS PURDUE

March 19, 2022

Chris Beard

Timmy Allen

Marcus Carr

Christian Bishop

Courtney Ramey

Andrew Jones

Fiserv Forum

Texas Longhorns

Media Conference

MODERATOR: Timmy Allen, Andrew Jones, Marcus Carr, Courtney Ramey and Christian Bishop. Questions, please.

Q. Timmy, wanted to ask you about what's happening with your brother and how that's going? Coach told us last night apparently there's some discrepancy over who rightly owns the name Buckets.

TIMMY ALLEN: First of all, it's great to see him rocking out. He's got an interesting story, a lot people got a lot of things to say a lot about him. But he's good, he's showing that none of that means nothing. So it's great to see him hooping.

The story is I was the original Timmy Buckets. It's been my Twitter handle since like seventh grade or something like that. Then he started going crazy and he just went to Teddy Buckets. So either/or, but we both get to the basket, for sure.

Q. First to follow up, when did he start -- when did your brother start doing the Buckets nickname? Also, for Marcus, you faced Purdue a number of times in the past. Any advantage of having that experience with them or does it work both ways, I imagine, with Purdue having seen you before?

TIMMY ALLEN: They kind of always called him a bucket, but now it's Teddy Buckets. I don't even know, but it fits.

MARCUS CARR: Yeah, I've had some great battles with Purdue and Coach Painter. They're a great team. Obviously it's nice to know an opponent, but me playing them, that was last year and two years ago and this is a whole new season. They're a great team. They do do a lot of similar things, so I'm sure they're going to be breaking out their old scouting report on me as well as what I've done this year. I'm going to try to help my team and the coaches with just some of their tendencies and stuff they liked to do in the past.

Q. Christian, I know you're very familiar with guarding David McCormack, who's like 6' 10", but you're going to be facing a mountain in Zach Edey, who's like 7' 4". How big a challenge is that going to be for you?

And also for Courtney, you've been adept at doubling down, dropping down and helping out. How is that going to be a team collective for you guys to help out?

CHRISTIAN BISHOP: Yeah, I mean, when you play against guys like that, you've just got to give a little bit more effort, so that's what I'm going to be doing.

COURTNEY RAMEY: I'm going to do the same thing Christian said, just give a little bit more effort.

Q. Christian, just to follow up on that, they also have another center in Trevion Williams who can pass the ball as well as score inside, which is very different compared to guarding Edey. Is that something you're also having to work on defending as well?

CHRISTIAN BISHOP: Yeah, I mean, they got both players that are very good and so do we, so yeah.

Q. Timmy, you seem a little more reserved than your brother. Is that a fair statement? And for the guys, do we not get to see the side of Timmy that's the more outgoing side? Courtney, give us a little of that.

TIMMY ALLEN: I wouldn't say reserved, I don't know. He's just a little more outspoken, but that's who he is, he like to have fun. Have you seen the interview of the game? That's exactly who he is all the time. I don't know, I'm definitely a fun guy.

COURTNEY RAMEY: Timmy has his own dance. You should see it some day. Big fun guy over here. Big fun guy.

Q. Courtney, obviously y'all are loose and confident and having fun right now. I know you came in with the thought that you could win this game and beat Virginia Tech and advance. What does it actually do for your collective psyche as a team? What does actually coming in and actually getting that first round win do for your collective psyche as a team?

COURTNEY RAMEY: The first game is always the hardest game and especially with a bunch of guys who haven't won a game in a tournament. I think that helped us out, getting that win in a tough-fought win. And then preparing for Purdue and trying to get the win tomorrow, we just have to prepare the right way and give it our all. it's going to be a great battle. Just want to win again.

Q. Courtney or Andrew, Marcus, whichever wants to answer this, you guys have played some really good guards this year, Agbaji and you go down the list in the Big 12. What makes Jaden Ivey such a special player from what you've seen from the scouting report so far?

MODERATOR: Why don't we start with Courtney, go down to Andrew and Marcus down the line, please.

COURTNEY RAMEY: He's a good player. He does a good job of playing the transition. He's very athletic.

ANDREW JONES: Like Courtney said, he's a good player. He's very highly regarded right now and we've got to do our best to try to shut him down. Anytime you get a good high-caliber guard like that, it's personal to us. We want to go out there and do our job.

MARCUS CARR: Same thing they said, he's a great player. Obviously you've seen what he's done this year. We're just going to do our best, take what the coaches give us from the scouting report, try to execute it.

Q. Timmy, what's this week like for your family with both of you guys playing, and what would it mean to continue going on with both you guys advancing in the tournament?

TIMMY ALLEN: It's special. Me and my brother think it's already written, whatever happens going to happen. For me, it's special to see him thrive because been through so much, and for him to see me hooping with Texas here in the tournament is special because this is my first time and it's the first time we've both been together. So it's really fun for us. We're just soaking it all up, just trying to live another day.

Q. For Courtney, I've still got to believe that you were offended or missed that you were left off the all defensive team based especially on the two performances against Kansas. So is that a fuel in your fire? Is that something that I'm sure your dad maybe throwing it in your face telling you got to go out there and prove them or what. How much does that motivate you tomorrow?

COURTNEY RAMEY: Being left off that team was a goal of mine to get at the beginning of the season and the other coaches didn't vote for me, so I took that personally and going into tomorrow, going to execute the game plan, do the best I can and just leave it at that.

MODERATOR: We'll be joined by Texas head coach Chris Beard in a few moments.

Q. Where do you start with 7' 4", trying to defend 7' 4" and if you can think back, who's the tallest player you've had to go up against?

COACH CHRIS BEARD: I think we start with just like all positions, all players in an NCAA Tournament, second-round game, one day to prepare, we try to draw comparisons with guys we played against this season. So there's some really big, massive players in the Big 12, so we tap into that. That's kind of where it starts.

Q. I know you guys have gone up against McCormack from Kansas, but rarely do you see like a 6' 10" and a 7-foot guy on the court at the same time. What problems does that possess for you? You've got Dylan at 6' 9" and Christian at 6' 7", so what does that do for the collective in trying to shut those guys down?

COACH CHRIS BEARD: Definitely, in my opinion, a part of Purdue's identity is their size. Coach Painter's teams always seem to have some of the biggest players in college basketball, so all sorts of challenges with that.

I think they show challenges on the other end too, though. It goes both ways.

Q. When this season is done, whenever that is and years from now when you look back, how much is Timmy Allen going to be in your mind as the guy who helped you lay down a foundation here?

COACH CHRIS BEARD: I think with every season you reflect back and the first thing I always think about is the players. Every team that I've been fortunate to coach, you think about the guys, so this will be no different, I think, when it comes reflection time.

And the question was about Timmy, and I'm on the record with my love and appreciation and respect for Timmy Allen, especially recruiting him during the COVID-19 portal where we never really had a chance to meet face to face, we didn't have a chance to do an official visit, we just did it on some phone calls. I don't even think me and Timmy did that FaceTime, Zoom stuff. It was just an old school couple phone calls and right to it. I don't want to speak for Timmy, but I think Timmy was everything we were looking for, what we're about and I think Timmy would tell you the same thing about us.

Q. Zach Edey's pick-and-roll defense has been a big talking point this year. What have you seen from him on that end and how does he handle pick and rolls, in your opinion?

COACH CHRIS BEARD: I think Matt does a great job setting it up. Obviously there's going to be some NBA drop coverage, stuff like that, but he does more than that. I think we're several hours into this and we obviously don't have a lot of time to prepare, but I would say that Coach Painter, he set up different ways for this team to play. It's not like we can just have one layered game plan against their pick-and-roll coverages. So I've been really impressed with that. And it's a concern for us. We're still trying to figure out kind of quite what our best strategy would be to play against them tomorrow night.

Q. Chris, the guys were up here before and they looked loose, they looked confidence, they looked like they were having fun. I know y'all come into this month thinking you can win games, but now you have proof you can win in this tournament what does that do for their psyche and how are you seeing that kind of manifest now?

COACH CHRIS BEARD: Yeah, I'm glad to hear that, I'm glad that's y'all's perception because that's the plan. I think the NCAA Tournament, just like any other great opportunity in life, it's important to me that you enjoy it.

So we have a twofold plan in March Madness and one is always to be us. So what that means is when it's time to works, we're going to work. When it's time to play, we're going to play. But when it's also time to enjoy ourselves, we're not going to act like we're a funeral line here. We're in March Madness, we're one of 32 teams left in the tournament and we want to enjoy it, whether that be a bus ride or pregame meal or press conference or evening snack. We definitely want to be us. The responsibility to do what we've done all year long to get to this point to be one of the last teams standing but also to enjoy the ride, not just the destination, just smell the rows is our vocabulary.

Q. I was just wondering, you touched on it a little bit, but your relationship with Matt Painter, how much has that kind of helped your own development and what's the biggest thing that has caught your attention about what he's done at Purdue?

COACH CHRIS BEARD: Coach Painter and I kind of came up in the business at the same time. I had a lot of respect for him when he was an assistant at Purdue working for one of the all-time greats. I had a similar experience working for Coach Knight, one of the all-time greats. It's great to see those two guys, too, Coach Knight and Coach Keady friends now, it's just awesome. When I see those pictures and tweets, it just makes me feel good.

So just watching Matt, how he handled himself as an assistant working for a Hall of Fame coach, I know his love of the university, his alma mater, and certainly what he did at Southern Illinois, if I'm not mistaken, it's looking up to him and the season he had there was special and a lot of the things we did years ago at Little Rock were based on what Matt and those guys did there. To see him get an opportunity quickly to go back to Purdue to follow the shadows of a Hall of Famer is tough to do. He walks that line of showing respect for the past but also putting his own stamp on a program perfectly, maybe never been executed better. That's always been a big part of what we do. I feel like we do a great job of showing respect the places we've coached, including Texas. But we also want to put our stamp on a program, so Matt's done that.

Our personal relationship, it means a lot to me. We're not quantity friends, I don't think we've ever vacationed together and we don't talk every week, but he is one of my kind of mentors in coaching. I've reached out to him before in coaching moves, on recruiting, just on advice. I've had probably a dozen really meaningful conversations with Matt over the years and he's somebody I really listen to and respect.

Then like I told you guys, what, yesterday, I don't know if this is a good thing or bad thing, but Matt was my pathway to the ABA.

Q. Given their far-flung locales, how rare is it to have all three daughters at one site and how often does that get to happen?

COACH CHRIS BEARD: Yeah, those opportunities are coming less and less as the girls get older and do their own thing, but to have them all here today means a lot. Avery from New York, Ella came in from college and then Margo skipping school again. Shout out to the public school districts out there allowing students to participate in March Madness.

But March Madness has been great to all of us. I'm sure you guys feel the same way. It's a special thing and I think there's a big family element in this, there really is. Certainly the teams that are families to this point have an advantage and I think ours is one of them. Our team's connected right now. I think a lot of teams, family on three and they don't mean it, you know. When we say family, it really is a family. It's been really impressive and one of my highlights of this first season at Texas, getting everything together as quickly as we have. We're playing the right way when it matters most and we look forward to tomorrow night's game. It's going to be a great challenge. I think we'll have to play our best game of the season, period. We have no backup plan for that. We're not going to get through this one unless we're hitting on all cylinders, but that's what the NCAA Tournament is. You've got to play your best game at some point and for us that's definitely tomorrow night.

Q. Chris, you've alluded to the quick turnaround. You have -- you have a really -- you have a large staff, I'm sure, the -- looking at tape of Purdue over the last week, but how does -- how does a quick turnaround impact kind of what you can give to your guys and just make sure that it's not too much?

COACH CHRIS BEARD: Yeah, definitely a balance. It's one of the many things I learned when I spent some time with Alabama football with coach and those guys, just the idea that you've got all this information, but the decisions on what you give the players and when is really important. So we obviously are going to watch hours and hours and hours of film and we've got to get this thing down to 12 to 15-minute segments for the players. I'm a big believer about attention span because I know I've got the same attention span, so we try to take hours and hours of information and try to get it to the players in an efficient way.

We draw back on experiences when we're fortunate enough to get to a second game here. In our league from time to time, we'll play a Saturday-Monday game, so that's a one-day prep. So we'll remind the guys we've been in this situation before.

In the nonconference we always like to put ourselves in different situations, a one-day prep, a two-day prep and sometimes even a zero-day prep because for us, if we're going to try to win the conference tournament in Kansas City in the Big 12, you've got to win back to back. We've got to work on that a little bit. We haven't been very good at that.

So we draw on experience and then we spend a lot of time trying to be as efficient as we can. I've got all sorts of great ideas, but I'm probably only going to have a chance to get about two or three across to the players.

Q. You mentioned what Timmy's meant to you. What do you think this week is like for him and his family with his brother playing and everything they've been through as a family?

COACH CHRIS BEARD: Yeah, it's been pretty cool. We had a lot of emotion watching Teddy play. Just watching Timmy enjoy that, our whole team was fired up. We delayed a couple of our film sessions to keep watching Chris James' New Mexico State team and Teddy play.

You guys might have to check on that, but I think Timmy was the original bucket, it's my understanding, and Teddy took it. I love Teddy, but I'm a Timmy guy.

So shout out to Chris James there, the job he's doing at Mexico State is special. And it's a family affair in the NCAA Tournament in a lot of ways. Also enjoying watching some of our former coaches, former assistant coaches that are still in the tournament. Al Pinkins is coaching Florida right now on an interim basis and just won his first NIT game the other day. Pulling for Al. And certainly Coach Adams and a lot of our guys are out there still playing. A lot of family parts in this tournament. You root for your guys and you feel bad for your guys when their time ends.

Q. Dylan gave y'all some good minutes yesterday, especially in the first half. Just given Purdue's size, he's probably going to have to give you some good minutes tomorrow. How important was it for you to just get him some substantial run in yesterday's game?

COACH CHRIS BEARD: Dylan's been great. I'm on the record there and I'll state it again, what Dylan's done this season is very difficult to do. There's only a few people that could do it. You've got to be elite to be playing the way he's playing. Dylan had a major surgery, he had no summer offseason, no weight room work, no fall practice. He starts practicing, he gets cleared to play only a certain amount of minutes.

I remember playing a big Stanford team. He's out there playing with courage, doesn't have his legs under him so he basically tried to get better and develop without an offseason and he's doing great. A lot of his minutes right now are based on matchups, but certainly we all know where Dylan's future's going. In my opinion, he's a future NBA player. He can really help us in this tournament. He has. I think he'll be a big part of our game plan tomorrow, it's no secret.

But I have a lot of respect for Dylan. While going through all this adversity, he's just stayed the course. He's been an unbelievable teammate. He's been poised. There's been no mood swings. He's a real pro and I think this adversity's only going to make him stronger.

I viewed him, from the date that we started talking to him on the phone in the recruiting process, as one of the best players in college basketball. I still see him that way and I think his time is coming. It could very well be tomorrow night, no doubt about it.

MODERATOR: Coach, thank you. Good luck tomorrow night.