NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - IOWA ST. VS WISCONSIN

March 19, 2022

T.J. Otzelberger

Gabe Kalscheur

Izaiah Brockington

Tyrese Hunter

Fiserv Forum

Iowa State Cyclones

Media Conference

MODERATOR: We are joined by Iowa State student-athletes, Izaiah Brockington, Tyrese Hunter from Racine St. Catherine and Gabe Kalscheur. Questions for these gentlemen, please.

Q. Gabe and Izaiah, you guys have played in the Big Ten, you're in the Big 12. What's the difference in the conferences?

GABE KALSCHEUR: I would say with the Big 12 it's a lot more up-paced. Big Ten is a lot more big oriented, slower pace. See, from Wisconsin they play a little more slow tempo, they don't like as much pressure, I would say. So I feel we're going to do a good job with pressure and making them very uncomfortable.

IZAIAH BROCKINGTON: Like Gabe said, they definitely seem to be more deliberate in their actions, run, running offense, just running through certain sets and playing to the post a lot.

Q. Question is also for Gabe and Izaiah. Did either one of you have any hesitation about coming to a place that had won two games the year before, even if it was under a different coaching staff? And also, is there a moment since both of you got here you realized this team could be pretty special?

GABE KALSCHEUR: I wouldn't say there wasn't much hesitation, there was a chance that I was giving myself, I took a chance and definitely succeeded. That's like in life you've got to take chances with it. Definitely succeeded, met a great group of players and coaches and individuals that I don't take for granted at all.

IZAIAH BROCKINGTON: Yeah, I didn't really have reservations. I mean, as far as I was concerned, it was a whole new team. We didn't have coaches there, we had new coaches, new players and I was ready to do something special. Like he said, took a chance.

Q. For Tyrese, take me back to last night. After you hit the 3, LSU calls the timeout and you head over to the Iowa State section with a lot of your family. What was your message to them?

TYRESE HUNTER: I just know that was a dagger 3, just to put them away. I'm pretty sure we felt more comfortable after that 3. Just get back and let them make a shot, just the excitement, you know, just in the moment. Everybody's out there just having fun out there.

Q. For any of you three guys, T.J. talked about after the game that a big key to your guys' turnaround from last year was that there was an immediate buy-in from the players. Is there something about T.J. that you think facilitated that, or what is it about him that allowed you guys to buy in almost from the start?

GABE KALSCHEUR: I would say just like everything was orchestrated and everything had like a deliberate point. We had a schedule for workouts, like early morning through the summer and through fall and to the rest of the season, so everything was the same orchestrated. So I just feel like that, just having discipline and orchestration through everything really just helped situate us through our whole season.

TYRESE HUNTER: Like he said, it was just a straight plan. He gave it to us straightforward, like this is the plan that goes throughout the whole season, what you want to do and the work you want to put in. Like you say, guys bought in 5 a.m. soccer field workouts every morning. We was doing a lot of sacrifices. So like I say, it was just a plan for us.

IZAIAH BROCKINGTON: Yeah, that was one of the first things I realized when I came, even in the summer everything is really organized, everything was fully planned out and he held us all to a high standard. The guys that were new and the guys that were there from the previous years, he let us know, like this is a whole new -- this is a whole new era, like this is not where you've been before. He didn't really give us an option. It was kind of like get with it or get left. This is how we're going to do it.

Q. Tyrese, you'll be matched up against another freshman point guard, Chucky Hepburn, tomorrow. First of all, have you ever played against Chucky, have you ever met him? And then second of all, what kind of stands out about Chucky Hepburn's game?

TYRESE HUNTER: First of all, I never met him or anything. First time I heard about him this season. Heard he's a pretty good player, capable player, super professional. He and I was going at it, we both leading our teams both in the second round right now and going to come out there and do the little things to win. So we going to go out there and battle.

Q. Tyrese, I mean, you hit a big shot yesterday and now the script kind of flips around, two Wisconsin guys going head to head. Obviously now even though you're in your home state, it kind of feels like -- do you feel like you're in enemy territory a little bit with tomorrow's matchup? Where you at with that?

TYRESE HUNTER: Honestly, I don't really pay attention to the crowd that much unless I like get going, get them involved. I don't really feel like I'm in enemy territory. This is my backyard right here. I don't really care if they've got thousands and thousands of people out there. That's motivation for me. I might shush the crowd a couple times if they got that much people out there, but it's all motivation for me.

Q. What's a soccer field workout?

TYRESE HUNTER: Just got to see it. Just got to see it.

IZAIAH BROCKINGTON: It was probably on our little season documentary. Yeah, a lot of cardio.

GABE KALSCHEUR: A lot of cardio.

Q. Was there any basketball stuff involved in it at all?

TYRESE HUNTER: Running's in basketball.

Q. Tyrese, I know the other day you said your phone was on do not disturb after the thousands of ticket requests that you received. Is that double now for this second game? And also, when you look up in the crowd, there's going to be a lot of read, but what does that group that's wearing your colors supporting you, that family and friends here mean to you?

TYRESE HUNTER: Like you said my phone's still on DND, first of all, but it is. My family means a lot to me. I know they're going to cheer as loud as they can. One of them's going to cheer like it's four of them. They going to cheer and I'm just going to go out there and do my thing so they got something to cheer for. So it's vice versa for both of us.

Q. Tyrese, I saw your interview on are ESPN this morning and I think you said your teammates call you Mr. Serious or something?

TYRESE HUNTER: Serious face.

Q. Does that match your personality pretty well or does your facial appearance differ from your real personality?

TYRESE HUNTER: For the outsiders, y'all see me serious, but these guys know I'm probably the goofiest on the team. I'm still 18, I'm young, so I've still got my childish ways.

Q. Tyrese, a lot's been made about your family and you being from here, but a couple times this week you've name dropped your grandmother. Could you just briefly outline why that is?

TYRESE HUNTER: She installed who Tyrese is today. She raised me since I was in elementary school, just making me become the man I am, teaching me a way from tying my shoes to -- my father passed early, so things just like riding my bike. So she was always there for me and I feel like this is my payback, just showing her, like showing the public, the media the man that I am today. So I feel that's my payback for her.

Q. For any of you guys, there is defensive effort and then there's kind of what you guys do on defense kind of almost another level. Is there a secret behind that? What is it about you guys that allows you or gives you so much energy and inserts so much effort on the defensive side?

GABE KALSCHEUR: I would just say we all bought in. We all bought into the little things. The coach has done a great job with putting us in the right direction and giving us principles to lock in on defense, but I would say we all bought in and we all care for each other and we all take pride in that area of the court.

IZAIAH BROCKINGTON: I feel like that was really instilled in the summer. That was the first principle we put in, we put in like our defensive concepts before any offense. We was running scrimmages and it was a whole lot of defense, we were really frustrating each other.

Q. Two-parter for you, Gabe. You and Davison both grew up in the Twin Cities and played against each other for four years in the Big Ten. I'm curious how much you played against each other before then and what kind of rivalry that is. And then the second part is, Wisconsin was looking for a grad transfer guard in the offseasonand I believe there was contact. Can you let us know how serious those talks were?

GABE KALSCHEUR: Yeah, Brad and I played high school basketball with each other and we played in the same AAU tournament at (indiscernible,) so we have a good relationship with each other. And when I was at Minnesota and he was at Wisconsin, we had a lot of good battles back and forth. So it's going to be fun to battle back and forth.

But yeah, they did reach out to me, but I chose Iowa State and I'm glad I chose to stay here.

Q. Tyrese, I know you said yesterday that you weren't a Wisconsin fan growing up, but was there ever any interest being a Wisconsin native and playing for the Badgers, and if so, were there any conversations during your recruiting process?

TYRESE HUNTER: No, ma'am, there really wasn't. Like honestly, when I first started playing basketball, I didn't even see myself really getting to this high a level. Not a kid from Racine get a lot of recognition like that. But I know the dedication and the work I had to put in and a lot of blessings came toward me, but Wisconsin was never really in my view.

Q. You got a look at Johnny Davis last year, right? Did you see this coming from him, this breakout?

GABE KALSCHEUR: No, uh-uh. Last year he didn't really stand out that much, but he broken out this year. Yeah, it's a big jump for him.

MODERATOR: Anything else for the student-athletes? All right, guys, thank you. Good luck. We'll have T.J. Otzelberger momentarily.

MODERATOR: Questions for Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger, please.

Q. T.J., it's been, I don't know, 18, 20-some hours since Tyrese kind of did what he did. Any leftover feelings or anything you saw on film that sticks out one day later?

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: Obviously it was a terrific performance by Tyrese, his shot-making ability. What stood out to me on film more than anything was his continued body language, how he commanded the game. People talk about how he doesn't look like a freshman out there, and so it's that level of confidence that he carries himself with and everything that continues to have him well-prepared for those big moments and those big shots. So that's where I was really proud of him is effort, his body language and how he commanded the game. Certainly made a lot of big shots, none bigger than the one at the end to put us up by five.

Q. T.J., did any part of you consider this might be a rebuild in your first season here, knowing that you had to overhaul the roster and this program was coming off a two win season? If not, why, what was your approach to changing things so quickly?

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: We wanted to immediately instill a work ethic that we knew would stand the test of time. It was important that we brought in players that were willing to work extremely hard, very low ego, high producing guys.

We didn't have a mindset of how many wins we might get this year or when would it all happen, when would that process lead to winning and having in-game success.

Based on how our schedule was set up, as we started to win games early in the year and build momentum, our guys' confidence was growing. They continued to work. We practice every day in the morning and so we really feel like we're teaching our guys time management and we're building out their days and we're very demanding. As they continued to build confidence in that process, they started to believe we can win more games and we can win immediately. But it wasn't because we skipped a step, it wasn't because we compromised in any way. It was more that their confidence was growing through the work they were doing and then all of them doing it together and building that unity. As that happened, it was like we were a boulder rolling downhill building that confidence as we went forward. We never wanted to approach it like it's a rebuild and we never wanted to approach it like it's win now. It was more I have a tremendous sense of pride in this program and I love Iowa State and I want us to do really well and we put a model in place that will withstand the test of time for us to be successful for many years moving forward.

Q. There aren't many freshmen point guards in Division I basketball that start, but two of them, Chucky Hepburn and Tyrese Hunter, will play tomorrow. Can you kind of compare and contrast the two and how they play?

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: Hepburn's a bigger physical guard, terrific shot maker, guy that can really knock down shots. He's got a physical imposing presence to his game.

Tyrese is more of a dynamic playmaker who is extremely athletic, has great defensive instincts, plays passing lanes. Both do not look like freshmen when they play. They are guys that play with a poise and a command well beyond their years.

So there's not many. We looked early in the year when we saw what we were asking of Tyrese, how realistic is what we're asking of him, and we saw that Hepburn was another that had a pretty formidable role. So credit to both of those guys. You don't take on that role unless you have terrific work habits before you already get to college. It's clear that both of those guys had those.

Q. T.J., before you were out here, the players alluded to early morning workouts on a soccer field after you got started. Can you tell us more about like what you had them doing early on, like what time of year and what the thought process was? And they kind of credited that as kind of laying the seeds for kind of the work ethic and stuff that's throughout your program.

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: We had a tremendous sense of urgency when they all got in in June. A lot of times in programs you'll have summer workouts, a couple guys. Within the rules, you get two hours a week at that point that you can do workouts with the team. We wanted to take advantage of those opportunities. and then obviously with our strength and conditioning coach, we wanted to make it an aggressive plan right away in the summer, so it set the tone for our whole program. We didn't want to ease into anything.

I also as a coach wanted to learn about the players, who could fight through adversity, who were the guys that were leaders, who already had the built-in work capacity in those situations. As we started our summer workouts in June, we wanted it to feel like we were getting ready to play right away. Oftentimes you wait until the fall to start that and we started it right away. So whether it was some of the team building things we did or that conditioning that they had mentioned, we just wanted a high level of intensity, so they were preparing to win in June and not waiting for September to see what that looked like or to feel that.

Q. When you do cut-ups with the team after victories, after losses, what do you want them to get out of them? Like I said, after victories and after losses.

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: Each game we try to decide what are the things that we can learn from and be better as we move forward certainly. And then there's also the part where you want to point out the positives and what those look like so they get the visual picture.

I think with young people, they're so glued to like their phone and social media that you've got to have quick hits of what that looks like so they have that imagery and that visual of what it needs to look like. So we really try to teach from the great things that we do in the games and use that, use those examples to move forward.

There's also times where -- excuse me, my voice. There's also times that you need to take opportunities to learn from things you didn't do as well.

So depending on where our team has been at in the year, there's been times we've been at a real high and maybe that's the time where you can get their attention more teaching things we're not doing well. There's been other times we've needed a confidence boost, and when we needed that we tried to show them the things we do do really well. I think as the season has played out, there's timing, different timing for different situations of how we utilize that information.

Q. (No microphone.)

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: I would say when we struggled, I don't think it's a secret, we've had some scoring droughts, whether it's shot-making, whether it's untimely turnovers. We're not this fun and gun, space and pace offensive team. And so like when we've struggled, it's usually been, you know, we're not seeing the ball go through the hoop, and those are the times we really tried to build their confidence, showed them what it's looked like when we've been effective, why we've been effective, what that ball movement playmaking looks like for our team when we have been successful. That's what we were really trying to teach when we were struggling to get that confidence back.

Q. What have you seen so far on tape from Johnny Davis?

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: Yeah, he's -- man, is he good. There may not be a more dynamic scorer in the country, a guy that can score it in transition, score it at all three levels, makes big shots, always aggressive. So what we've seen is he's a heck of a player. We're going to have a lot of attention on guarding him. It's going to be multiple guys, we're not going to be able to just put one guy on him and say, hey, you do the job mano a mano. Lot of respect for him. Came into this program here, I'm very familiar with him for being in the state and I've seen him play when he was younger. They've done a terrific job developing him and obviously he's got tremendous work habits. You don't play to that level if you don't work that hard both in practice and on your own. So huge credit to him.

Q. Going off of that, too, with the matchup of Johnny versus Tyrese, two guys from Wisconsin playing in Wisconsin for a shot at the Sweet 16. Obviously I know the game is much bigger than these two guys, but what is it about that specific matchup that you see coming tomorrow?

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: Well, Tyrese for us needs to command the game, needs to manage possessions, needs to pick spots when we want to push it in transition, when we need to execute in half court and he needs to set is the tone defensively with his ball pressure for us.

Davis for them is an electric scorer. You just have to put so much attention on him that it creates opportunities for others. He's also a very impactful rebounder from the guard position. Their strengths are entirely different and how they make their team successful is entirely different. Obviously both being here from the state and having this opportunity in front of them is the common ground, and both being really good players as well.

Q. Seems like this site has been the defensive bracket for whatever reason. You guys and LSU and even Wisconsin seems to have played one of their better defensive games last night. Can you kind of speak to the matchup on the defensive side of the ball and where you see the separation between your two squads?

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: Wisconsin has for many years, especially under Coach Gard, has been a very stingy defensive team. They're very fundamentally sound. They play with a lot of character and integrity defensively. They help each other out, you can tell they're connected. They don't let you score easy baskets, they get back in transition, they block out. So they're a tough team to score against.

For us, we're more of a pressure defensive team. I try to generate turnovers, speed our opponents up and utilize those as opportunities to score in transition. Both methods can be effective. Certainly they've had an identity over time. We're still trying to build ours, but I think both can be effective. It's just two different ways to go about it.

Q. T.J., you've talked about instilling the importance of time management and your players have credited that as a big part of their success. they said everything's been laid out for them from in the start when they got there in the summer. Can you elaborate on what that plan looked like? How did you manage that for them on the daily schedule to get them ready?

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: We wanted to bring in folks who could educate them about what their dietary habits need to be. Vick, our trainer, does a great job talking to them about sleep habits and the impact on sleep and how that plays into it. Nutrition, our strength coach Pete Link does a phenomenal job educating them on what they need to do to take care of their bodies. We integrate yoga into our process every week and feel like that's something that's really impactful for us.

Our guys understand the value of getting in and getting extra shots. I've been fortunate even at Iowa State to coach guys that have gone on to play at the next level and our players ask those questions, and so you can tell the stories and help educate them on if you want to be like such and such, this is how they work, this is how they handle adversity, this is how they eliminate distractions.

So we tried to spend a lot of time educating them on choices that they make when they're away from us and how that impacts their ability to be successful as student-athletes. And then with the hours that we're given, we try to really work with them to be efficient and make sure that we're maximizing the intensity that we go in the time that we are able to work with them.

Q. Coach, you mentioned Chucky Hepburn being on your radar pretty early in the season. How long and how closely have you been following him, and how did that help you prepare for tomorrow?

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: You know, being from the state, there's always a time when you get home at night and after your day and I'm spending my time with my kids and you might flip through a game in the background. So I've had games on from Wisconsin and just taking notice of what a great player he was right away. People talked about the players that Badgers lost last year. There's going to be inexperienced guys coming in, so just a natural curiosity to watch and see. Impressed with how quickly as the season got going he stepped into that role. I remember watching more around Christmas and just seeing even as they got into conference play how -- the poise and command he had as a freshman.

Q. We've talked a lot about Tyrese doing this in front of a lot of friends and family from Wisconsin, but of course this is your hometown, too. Have you heard from a lot of former friends and family this week and does getting your first career tournament victory take on a little bit more significance having it happen here in Milwaukee?

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: You said former friends, so are those people who are my enemies now?

No, we've heard from a lot of people. We're very grateful. I take a lot of pride in being from Milwaukee. It's helped shape me who I am. There's been so many coaches, mentors, leaders that I've looked up to that have helped shape my future and provide a life for my family. I'm really grateful. I've heard from a lot of those folks. My best friends are still guys I played with in high school and college and the AAU team I played on and those experiences we shared. Great to have them be a part of it. My high school coach, Coach Ross, came out and saw us play a game in Ames against Texas. We had a win, which is pretty cool. And my college coach at Whitewater, Dave Vander Meulen, was here last year and will be here again tomorrow.

So to have all these people that you care about, you love and your family to be part of that experience and opportunity and do it in your home city, it's pretty awesome. Right now everything's going so fast, so I'm sure I'll appreciate it more as time moves forward. Right now we feel like we're in the middle of a tornado that keeps spinning and we've got to figure out how to be at our best to get through it, but I'm sure when I look back, I'll really appreciate and enjoy what an awesome opportunity this has been up to this point, hopefully continues to be.

Q. T.J., Wisconsin's a little bit different now. They've kind of evolved where maybe they're a little more -- well, more than a little more offensively oriented. But you grew up in high school and in college at a time when the program really took a leap. Just wondering what influence watching them had on you at that age and just maybe if any of that has sort of stuck with you and is a big part of your coaching philosophy.

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: Coach Bennett, when he came to Wisconsin, he had a huge impact on me. I went -- when I was younger I would go to camps at Wisconsin Green Bay when he was the coach there. My high school coach really looked up to him and would take me up to camps there. So he had a big impact.

I had a few good friends, Mike Kelly and Andy Kowski, that played on the 2000 Final Four team. Those are guys that I played against in high school in the Metro conference in Milwaukee and guys that were friends of mine, so I took a lot of interest and pride in watching the program because Coach Bennett had been somebody I held in such regard as a coach and teacher and leader. And then I had buddies on the team as well. So it really -- it was that era that I took note of the program and developed a lot of respect. I really feel like those guys helped set the tone for the future of Wisconsin basketball because they've been on a heck of a ride of 20-some years now of a lot of sustained success, which says a lot about the integrity and character of their program.

Q. Tyrese sounds like he can be kind of a goofy guy off the court. What have you seen from him away from his time playing basketball?

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: What's funny is on the court he's always got a straight face, he takes everything very seriously, all the details are really important to him and it's almost like you can't -- you can't break him. Then off the court he's a jokester. He's always cracking jokes, he's somebody that is fun to -- he's just got that upbeat, jovial personality at all times. Off the court, doesn't take himself or anything too seriously. He's got a good way about him, he's fun to be around. Very charismatic young man, extremely smart, intelligent, but also just has a great sense of humor and really funny.

MODERATOR: Coach, thank you, good luck.

COACH T.J. OTZELBERGER: Thank you.