NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - MEMPHIS VS GONZAGA

March 19, 2022

Mark Few

Drew Timme

Andrew Nembhard

Moda Center

Gonzaga Bulldogs

Media Conference

Gonzaga 82, Memphis 78

THE MODERATOR: Gonzaga with the win over Memphis, joining us student-athletes Andrew Nembhard and Drew Timme along with head coach, Mark Few. Coach, congratulations, seventh straight Sweet 16.

COACH FEW: What a heck of a ball game, man. Both teams just competing their tails off and it's probably as physical of a game as we have been in all year. Man, just so proud. I just love the fight in these guys up here and the rest of them in the locker room because we had to dig very, very deep. The way we came out fighting in the second half I thought was more who we are, and then we just did a great job down the stretch, executing all our late game stuff to get it done.

Q. Drew, second strait game, slow first half, 11 points to start the second half. Had 20,000 fans in a frenzy. Talk about what's going through your veins and in your mind when you get in a zone like that, it's almost like you have a Timme-Time switch to turn on?

DREW TIMME: I would like to stop doing that. I would like to do a better job in the first half because that's not a recipe to go far and win a lot of games. Credit to Coach, Andrew, everyone believing in me and continuing to push me and keep having confidence in me. It's just so easy to get shots off from a guy like him who controls the whole flow of the game. This dude didn't come out of the game one time and he's getting picked up 94 feet. The amount of shape you have to be in to do that, control a game and ice the game with two free throws, it's crazy. A lot of emotions from that game for sure.

Q. Coach talk about how the team feeds off that and how big it is for your team when you have a guy in the zone like that?

COACH FEW: Look, these two are our leaders. It's their team. In big games, big moments and our backs were kind of at least pressed against the wall at that point, I don't know how firmly and they respond.

I think we've all seen Drew go on rolls like that and he's more than capable of doing that. I think sometimes he likes to feel his way into these games.

But he's right, for Andrew to play forty minutes of this game he was spectacular. I've watched multiple films on Memphis and they turn teams over and really demoralize them with their pressure and physicality, and we end up with seven turnovers, we played the game at our pace and that's all him.

And for him to step up and hit those free throws and literally everybody else on our team was smokin' 'em, was probably the most impressive thing of the night if you ask me.

Q. Andrew, you made some really big shots in the final couple minutes of that game to light a spark for you guys. How much do you enjoy the pressure and being able to shine in moments like that?

ANDREW NEMBHARD: I think I just want to step up for my team in those types of moments. I know they have ultimate confidence in me, coaching staff has ultimate confidence in me so I just want to step up and make those kinds of plays for us.

Q. Drew can you give us the G-rated version of what was said at halftime? We heard your post game speech was pretty funny because you told the truth about what was said?

DREW TIMME: I tried not to because there was a lot of emotions. I guess what I said was no matter what happens, no matter what the score is, win or lose, this could very well be the last 20 minutes of basketball you ever play and go out with no regrets.

As long as you put your all into something and you go down swinging and you put your full heart into something, at the end of the day you can live with the results and that's what I told them.

I said basically I love this group, we don't deserve this but, you know, we've worked on hard to get here. Let's not end this now and let's go out guns blazing. A little hard to get the G-rated version so sorry.

Q. (Away from mic.)

DREW TIMME: Something like that, yeah.

Q. Mark, you had a hard time getting Drew the ball in the first half. What did you adjust? Get him the ball earlier in the offense?

COACH FEW: I think he would agree that was a little bit of both. I don't know that he was being as assertive and posting as hard or looking for it as much and that's basically what we spent most of the half talking about is let's make sure we establish Drew and find him and see if we can run some stuff through him. Obviously once these guys get a feel that it's going in there and he's delivering, they're extremely high IQ basketball players so they kept finding him in different spots and different actions and he's best when he's in motion and on the move. He's not just a straight stand on the block post-up player. We changed some of the actions we put him in and guys did a great job with the adjustment.

Q. West coast basketball is under represented in the NCAA Tournament. 13 of the 68 teams that made the field are considered western schools on a map. What does it mean to you to represent this brand of basketball whether it be from the WCC or the entire western region?

COACH FEW: I'm going to let Andrew answer that. Otherwise he will sit up here and he won't say a word.

ANDREW NEMBHARD: I think the west coast is growing. I think the WCC is a super underrated confidence.

DREW TIMME: Facts.

ANDREW NEMBHARD: San Francisco and St. Mary's showed up this tournament. I think it's only growing, only getting better. Congrats to those 13 teams, it's probably going to be 20 next year.

COACH FEW: I would disagree with just how good we've been throughout this whole run. I mean we've done a great job representing the west. There's less teams out here but we've certainly done our part and pulled our weight.

Q. Coach a tough test like this early on, how do you think that helps you going forward for the rest of the tournament?

COACH FEW: Listen, these -- they're all tough in their own ways. That 1-16 is a real mental situation where you're trying not to play like this, because you don't want to be the one that gets upset by the 16. From here on out they're all tough. They're all physical, they're all great athletes or great defenses or great offenses or both.

I mean, certainly you have to have ones like this and then you also -- we've been in ones tighter than this where you have to hit a shot at the buzzer to advance. These guys are battle tested. These two have been through everything.

I'm just ecstatic for them and this whole group, that they get to go through this week. Last year we won and we went back to the hotel by ourselves and couldn't talk to anybody and sat in our ballroom by ourselves. And played Scrabble after the game I think or something. So this is so cool that they get to enjoy it. They will go home to a campus that's going to be going nuts and savor those memories and then we get back to work. I think that's the best thing for me through all this.

Q. Mark, you have spent a lot of time talking over the last 20 years about good leader championship within your program and you praised these two. At halftime of a game like that where you are "playing soft" do you go in there screaming and yelling or are they policing themselves at this point?"

COACH FEW: Those guys can answer that. I don't think I was radio screaming and yelling but I was somewhat mildly agitated that we just weren't -- that we were playing "soft" so that wasn't an original thought by Drew that was probably --

DREW TIMME: It was reiterated for sure. (Chuckles.)

COACH FEW: But, again, just imploring them that we're fine. We're fine. The way we started the game, we need to get back to playing that way. It was mostly our offense, they got up into us and we were running around on the three-point line and we weren't doing things with good thrust to the basket. Once we cleared that up and cleared up some of our defensive coverages, and, again, first half, also, we missed so many free throws. It didn't need to be as bad as it was. We talked about that, too.

Q. Coach, Rasir Bolton has been so good in the second half of games this year, how important is his ability to take over down the stretch during games like this?

COACH FEW: It's been great and I want these guys to talk about him because I can't believe how easily he's assimilated with our group, and it's been seamless, literally from day one. He's given up parts of his game, but I think he's so enjoyed being a part of this culture and, you know, around these guys, and around the staff. Sometimes we've been -- we try not to take it for granted, but I think he's really savoring winning basketball games. He won two games last year. That's why he came here.

He wanted to win. He wanted to win championships and he wanted to play in games like this on big stages, and he's been awesome

ANDREW NEMBHARD: He does so much for us on both sides of the ball, fits in so well with our group. Kind of defers a little bit and just helps our team flow in such a way that it helps us win. He's a winner at the highest level for sure.

Q. Mark, you mentioned the free throws, kind of one of the through lines through the last two games. Do you think it's a coincidence? What do you think of that performance?

COACH FEW: Total coincidence. We've shot thousands of them and these guys have all had, you know, better nights than they did at the free throw line. We didn't shoot 'em very well down here. I guess I would just say thank God we have Andrew.

DREW TIMME: Amen.

THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you very much. Best of luck in the Sweet 16.