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

March 20, 2022

T.J. Otzelberger

Kalscheur Gabe

Izaiah Brockington

Aljaz Kunc

Fiserv Forum

Iowa State Cyclones

Media Conference

Iowa State - 54, Wisconsin - 49

MODERATOR: Good evening. We'll start with an opening statement from victorious Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger.

T.J. OTZELBERGER: So proud of the young men in our program and everybody that came out to support us. Our guys have done a great job embracing the work habits that we've set in front of them. They started it in June, carried it on in September. We kept talking about it in our huddles over and over, let's trust our habits and trust each other, and tonight our guys certainly did that. So really proud of them from start to finish, great team win and excited for what's next.

MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes, please.

Q. Gabe, you and some of the team have kind of said this year how defense can lead to better offense, not just opportunities, but kind of intensity for you guys. How was that in play for you tonight?

GABE KALSCHEUR: Yeah, that was really in play for us. That's what our identity is, our defense. Our defense influences our offense and gets us going. We knew coming into the game that we just had to be who we are, who we've been this whole season and just ramp up our defense and ball pressure and they gave it to us, so that really just led our offense.

Q. What are the emotions like right now considering now you're about to go to the Sweet 16?

IZAIAH BROCKINGTON: I mean, it's unbelievable. I mean, just to think of where we started in June, like a group that was so new to each other and just was going out there with the object of turning things around, getting as many wins as we could, you know, to end up here, it's a blessing, man. I'm excited.

GABE KALSCHEUR: Yeah, like Izaiah said, I never been in this situation before, it's crazy. I'm super excited not just for myself and not just for my teammates, but for the whole city of Ames, I'd say.

ALJAZ KUNC: They both kind of said it. Obviously it feels great. The act of work we put in since we stepped foot on campus June 10, June 11th. To be rewarded for that and to get to continue playing basketball, it feels real amazing.

Q. Izaiah, no one's ever done this before, to go from two wins to the Sweet 16. That's never happened in college basketball history. What does that mean that you guys are the team able to make this historic turn around?

IZAIAH BROCKINGTON: Man, I don't know, it's crazy. It's like not even -- I couldn't say mission accomplished. We're still on a mission.

GABE KALSCHEUR: History, man.

IZAIAH BROCKINGTON: In the history books probably. That's crazy.

ALJAZ KUNC: What they said.

Q. You guys picked up a big chunk of your 11 offensive rebounds toward the final few minutes of the game. How critical was that given where the game was and how you guys were able to control the clock as a result of those rebounds?

IZAIAH BROCKINGTON: They were huge. Those are momentum builders for us, but that's deflating to a defense. To force a miss late in the game and want to get another shot attempt and stuff, just knowing that you have to guard again, you know, those are deflating for the defense.

GABE KALSCHEUR: Yeah, definitely. It was big rebounds and that just helped us milk the clock a little bit and just gave us control of the game at that point. It was kind of in our hands after those big rebounds, those big tap-outs.

ALJAZ KUNC: Yeah, I think those were huge throughout the whole game. George had three, Gabe had three probably for the first time in his career. When the shots don't fall to get that second-chance opportunity to get to milk the clock again when you're up five, six, whatever you are, those are huge plays, huge momentum plays.

Q. Gabe, was it just about playing a Big Ten team again that got you going? Like what got into you tonight?

GABE KALSCHEUR: I was just -- I don't know, I was just locked in. I mean, got to play someone that I know, Brad Davison, we've had history back and forth. I never liked Wisconsin, to be honest. I have family from there, but I'm a Minnesota-raised man, so I mean, it gives me a little more edge to play, exactly, you said Big Ten team, but also Wisconsin. It fueled my fire, for sure.

Q. To any of y'all, obviously you were playing good defense the whole game, but how much of a difference did you notice in Wisconsin after the injury? After Chucky Hepburn went down, how much of a difference would you say?

GABE KALSCHEUR: I saw that. I mean -- I mean, I feel bad for Chucky that that happened with an injury, but we just didn't see that aggressive point guard operation coming from them, so that's what I saw.

ALJAZ KUNC: It's very unfortunate. You hate to see that stuff happen on the floor, so hopefully he recovers quickly. I feel like we were more focused on us today and I guess LSU as well on them, so like whatever happens, we just kind of stayed our course and played our basketball.

MODERATOR: We'll take questions for coach, please.

Q. T.J., what are your feelings right now? This is a story that has obviously become a really big deal and you've taken it even further.

T.J. OTZELBERGER: We're thrilled, but like our guys said, we trust our habits and the work we've done. We didn't set out for a certain win total or to do anything based on what transpired in the past. What we did set out to do is restore pride to a program that I love so much, our players do and has a rich history.

So I'm really happy for everybody. I'm happy for our alums, our former players, these young men. It's just a team win across the board and just it's a surreal feeling and just thrilled to be part of it.

Q. T.J., you were on the bench the last time Iowa State went to the Sweet 16. That team had multiple NBA players, some of the best players that maybe ever played at Iowa State. This team maybe doesn't with have that. How are they able to get back to that stage now?

T.J. OTZELBERGER: These guys have gotten back to the stage by their work habits. Obviously the leadership that Brockington and Kalscheur brought in from the start was really important. To get here, you've got to have the work habits, but you've also got to have low ego, you've got to have guys that are production driven and that they buy in. What I saw out there today was a group of guys that believe in our defense, believe in our toughness, who are willing to take charges and we did a great job of turning them over and disrupting their offense, and then that leading to our opportunities to score. So never this year did our guys get away from what we could be and what our identity was.

As you mentioned, that team, the last team I was a part of when we went to the Sweet 16, they were a terrific offensive group, could really shoot the three well. That was their identity. We've embraced our identity pretty well and our guys have bought in, so we've just got to keep being who we can be and take a lot of pride in that.

Q. How important was it to keep Wisconsin to 2-22 from three, and will you have any voice left for the Sweet 16?

T.J. OTZELBERGER: Number one, it was really important. Our ball pressure took away the shots they normally get in the flow of their offense. They weren't the same shots, they weren't in rhythm, so that helped us. It caused them to take some really tough ones.

As far as my voice, I'm looking forward to resting it and hopefully my three young ones that are all under 7 can help cooperate with that. so If anybody can, make sure they're doing all the right things so their dad can save his voice a little bit and get better.

Q. How did you get these guys to buy into this style? Because it's grinding, it's defense, you guys aren't scoring 80 points a game. How do you get in this day and age a new group to buy into this way of winning?

T.J. OTZELBERGER: We evaluated guys in the transfer portal and guys that would return and those we wanted to bring in. We wanted to make sure they knew what we were going to be about, they knew what they were signing up for, they knew what our identity would be. We believe that if you play hard defensively and you dictate that, you can control the game. So again, I go back to these guys being very low ego, high producing guys, they're great teammates. So that's important that you bring in the right type of guys so they know what they're signing up for and they take pride in it. I think our guys understand how we do things.

Certainly, as we continue to move forward, it would be nice to not have such lulls offensively, but you know what, I'm proud of our guys. We're not going to apologize for how we have to win and we're not going to apologize for aesthetically how it may look. They're winners, I'm proud of them. We're just going to keep being who we can be.

Q. T.J., I wanted to ask you about Tyrese and the way he played. He didn't shoot the ball very well obviously, but he did a lot of other things. How do you think he handled just all the things that came with this game for him, of coming back home and playing against a team that didn't recruit him?

T.J. OTZELBERGER: Well, certainly, Tyrese was terrific, best game of the year against LSU, and we needed every one of those plays that he made the other night.

It would be almost super human for him to come back and do that here today. Obviously they also watched that game and they knew that he was hot and feeling good, so they did some things to disrupt his rhythm offensively as well.

In the end, to be handling the ball for the majority of the game, for 35 minutes, to have five assists, three turnovers, shows me that he's commanding the game. We talked a lot about rebounding, how important those plays were and he had six rebounds. Then he's one of the better defensive guards in the country in terms of getting steals. So even though his shooting numbers weren't what we would love for them to be tonight, he impacted winning in so many ways. And he comes into every timeout and every huddle with such a command and such poise that I get asked the question all the time about him being a freshman, because I think for all of us, it's something we're not used to seeing. So that's Tyrese Hunter and he's a leader, he's a winner and he impacted winning in a lot of ways here today.

Q. T.J., I was talking to your buddy Clint the other day and he was saying that in the practice gym no one -- he felt no one was going to be more prepared than you guys here at this site. Why is that and how do you keep that moving forward? Don't get mad at Clint that he told me that, by the way.

T.J. OTZELBERGER: You know, we're fortunate we have a really good coaching staff. Those guys put a lot of hours in, they're very skilled, they know our team, they know what our team can do well and they put them in great position to be successful.

Our players also have a tremendous amount of focus. You know, the ego part of it, we're asking our guys to do really hard things all the time and give multiple efforts. It's not just pressure the ball, it's pressure the ball, sprint to the gap, block out, rebound down continually. So we're asking of our guys to make four or five effort-based plays, a lot of times defensively in a possession. And you learn about your team when you come to practice and you see their level of focus.

So he probably made that comment watching us practice the other day because at this time of the year there can be many that get distracted. But our guys' energy, intent and focus, they were just really dialed in. This really mattered to them and those are the type of teams and players that have success and guys are fortunate they did that.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. Congratulations.