NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL SEMIFINAL - TEXAS TECH VS DUKE

March 23, 2022

Mark Adams

Kevin Obanor

Bryson Williams

Marcus Santos-Silva

Chase Center

Texas Tech Red Raiders

Sweet 16 Postgame Media Conference

MARK ADAMS: Well, obviously we are extremely excited to be in the Sweet 16, being less than 5% of the teams are still playing. Just for myself, I'm excited I get to continue to coach a group of guys I love and enjoy coaching each day has been a blessing. When I think back putting this team together with seven transfers and five back, I had no idea how special this team would be, so certainly exceeded all my expectations.

Q. Obviously, a tough match-up against Duke, Coach K's final team. I wonder when you look on paper at the Blue Devils what are the match-ups that keep you up the most at night or the things you're most concerned about?

MARK ADAMS: That's depressing. You know, they've just got a special team. They look great on paper. Even better when you watch them live. They're a big, physical, athletic team. We kind of boast about us having a team with length and athleticism, and they're bigger, more athletic maybe than we are. That's the first thing we think about.

Look at their skill set. They have a lot of -- four, five guys that can score 20 points, and obviously, I think much of them are in the draft. So we're going to go up against a team that has athleticism and length and a great skill set and the things NBA guys are looking for, and then along with that you've got a pretty good coach, too, over there.

Q. Kevin McCullar said with you coming back, that's what brought him back. I guess what were those kind of conversations right after you were officially offered the job with Kevin, and I guess how much appreciation when you talk about the blessing of filling this roster for guys like him?

MARK ADAMS: No doubt. When Coach Beard left to go to Austin, it was kind of a leap of faith because I love the game and wanted to continue coaching. Certainly this is my dream job. I think when I interviewed with Kirby, I said, look, I've been interviewing for this job for five years. I've been here working every day, and I think one of the things that Kirby said he didn't realize how much our players supported and appreciated me, and Kevin is one of those guys that did that.

We have a great relationship, and he is a great competitor, and I love the way he plays and the way he plays defense. It really meant a lot to me when he said, look, I want to come back along with Marcus and Clarence and T.J. and Buzo. We have a strong nucleus to build on.

Q. Just wanted to get your assessment of how practice went here today at the Chase Center, and the attitude of the guys as the magnitude of the games get even bigger.

MARK ADAMS: I think we had a really good practice. You're trying to gauge are guys too nervous, how they feel. We've got an experienced group.

I tell you, Davion Warren, who was walking in, he looked around, and I heard him say, well, I'm in here. I watched a game. I never thought I would get to play here. It's still such a great experience for these guys and we talked about these are -- you'll have memories that you'll have the rest of your life. Just soak it all in, and at the same time stay where your feet are because we have a game to play. But this is a special moment, and it's going to be a great experience for you.

Q. Average age of your team is, I believe, 22. Duke is 19. Do you feel like that gives you a considerable edge just with age and experience?

MARK ADAMS: I hope so. Of course, except for Coach K is a little older than I am, so I'm not sure about that. We've got to hope our experience means something, and these guys have been playing basketball for a long time, and they got a lot of scars. They got a lot of adversity they've gone through. Each one has a great story to tell, and they came to Texas Tech to play on this stage and be here. I'm hoping our maturity will help us somewhat.

Again, you watch that game against Michigan State, and they were down four, five points. I think they went on a 20-6 run, and so we're playing against a mentally-tough and physically-tough team that's here for a reason.

Q. Coach, have you had any interactions with Coach K over the years? And just what's it like going up against him knowing that it could be his final game and you could send him out?

MARK ADAMS: Ironically, he asked me to be on his podcast earlier. It's been about a month and a half, but I think he probably knew, he was scouting me out is what he was doing. He had me, and he was just great. It was A special moment for me. Just the timing of it, about four days ago I see this "thank you" card with "Duke" on it, and it's him thanking me for being on his show. Now here we are playing each other.

Just such a great individual, and I've said this many times, he has done so much for basketball and for young coaches and being a little bit younger than him, we started our journey at the same time as far as head coach. A little bit different. He was at Duke, and I was at a junior college, but I always looked up to him. Loved watching his teams play, how aggressive they were and so I've read a lot of his books. Been to his clinics. I've studied him a long time. He has helped so many younger coaches, and he has helped this game and given so much back.

Can't say enough about the respect I have for the man.

Q. In terms of the line-ups that you have been able to kind of put together, whether it was injury or just COVID protocols, I guess. How much has that helped or maybe throughout the year that you've seen guys together now that you have everyone healthy? How has that helped you figure out minutes and just roles for some of these guys?

MARK ADAMS: Each coach you have to play the hand that you're dealt, and we have some -- we've got a lot of good cards in our deck. We can play 10, 12 guys. All of them can contribute we've had injuries, and that's been next man up, and that's given a lot of these guys that would usually just sit on the bench a lot of playing time. I could go on and on. Each one of our guys has had a special game. And has impacted, and we won the game because of his contributions.

Q. You kind of mentioned already Davion and Bryson who back in San Diego was already playing in their first March Madness. As the games keep getting bigger and bigger and the opponents keep getting tougher and tougher, how do you make sure guys like that stay grounded?

MARK ADAMS: Bryson is a one guy you never have to worry about being grounded. He is just so level-headed and he comes to work every day, gets up at 6:00 every morning. When I have talked about him before maybe he is a perfect player that I've ever been around as far as with his work habits. Loves to be coached. Wants to be coached hard. He will be ready to play, and when you get in these big moments, you've got to have guys to make big plays, and he is one of those guys that can do that. He has done it in the past.

Q. Coach K, 99 tournament wins. Duke, a ton of experience in this tournament. What's it going to take for you to get the win, and also what would it mean to you to be able to potentially beat him in his last game of his career?

MARK ADAMS: Well, I'm more worried about him retiring me, so he is such a great coach.

Each team, everybody here has an identity, and they have to do what they do best. We don't have a lot of time to prepare, and so we've got to be us, and we've got to depend on our defense and playing together and being aggressive, and at the same time we have to play really, really well because this team we're playing is one of the best offensive teams in the country, and so it will be challenging enough for us on defense, but we're going to have to score some points to stay up with them. It will be important that we share the ball.

We played them earlier a few years ago, and it was a very close game in the Garden, and they were really aggressive. They turned us over. We'll have to do a much better job at taking care of the basketball, and then try to slow them down a little bit because they're so athletic.

Q. The last time I looked you guys were one-point favorites.

MARK ADAMS: That wasn't from me. (Laughing).

Q. My question is whether you are playing a program with the magnitude of a Duke, do you still come in with that underdog type mentality despite being a one-point favorite?

MARK ADAMS: I think we have to, and it's really been us. We've been blue collar guys, a bunch of guys that just -- we assemble a whole team back in early May, and well, even -- didn't even have it assembled. Even through the first couple of workouts in June.

Guys just want to be here that mesh together, but all are just hard-working guys. They weren't the four and five star players, and they have just had to prove game in and game out and every year that they deserve and belong right here. They've done that.

Yeah, I think we would like to think we're the underdogs and have that chip on our shoulder.

Q. Mark, again, just going back to the game, I know the focus is going to be on Duke with Coach K and everything, but from your perspective, I guess how do you keep your guys just in terms of we're still the underdog, and this does kind of play into that because everyone focused on Duke? How does that I guess help you kind of talk to the guys in terms of those things about being an underdog in a game like this?

MARK ADAMS: The magnitude of this game, I think it's pretty easy to get your guys ready to play, so I don't think that will necessarily be a factor. I think we'll be mentally and emotionally ready, but at the same time our guys -- we've all watched Duke play. They get a lot of exposure, and so our guys are familiar with their players and, again, have kept up with them. That may give us a little more incentive that we know something about those guys. It's one of those games I don't have to talk a lot about respecting our opponent.

God bless, y'all. Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Long season. You guys are finally here at the Sweet 16 in San Francisco. Just kind of describe how you are feeling about getting to this moment and also getting a chance to play at the Chase Center.

KEVIN OBANOR: For me personally it feels really good. I know I did my workouts here last year. Just to be back in this area is a blessing. Just the journey that we had is very fun to be with this group of guys and have a God-fearing coach and it's truly a blessing to be at the position that we're at.

BRYSON WILLIAMS: It's a blessing to be able to make it to the Sweet 16. We know the job is not finished. We know where we want to be, and this is a long road to the Final Four, and we're just ultimately blessing and honored to be able to be here and get this far.

MARCUS SANTOS-SILVA: Just real proud and happy for us that we're able to play around this time right now and just keep on staying focused. We're trying to do what we have to do here.

Q. Bryson, for you: Coach Adams was talking about how you guys kind of have the underdog, chip-on-your-shoulder mentality going into this. What do you know about Duke and can you talk about that why you have a chip on your shoulder?

BRYSON WILLIAMS: I mean, first off, we can start off, it's Duke. It's a historically great program. I mean, Coach K, Hall of Fame, legendary coach. Then with the team they got this year, they got a bunch of talent from the top to the bottom on their team.

We know that, and coming in, I mean, we heard we were a one-point favorite. We like to go into every game with the fear that we know we could lose, and we know that we could be sent home by anybody in this tournament because every team that's in this tournament is really good if they made it this far.

We just have to come in and play with a chip on our shoulder. We've been coming in like that all year. I mean, we got no five stars or no guys that were nationally recognized in high school going through recruitment. So we are coming in here and just ready to go out and fight as hard as we can.

Q. Hey, Marcus. I know you have talked about it, but you can you kind of just take us back to the origin of hey, I have to switch my free-throw shot from my left hand to right? What prompted it, and just the process of doing that?

MARCUS SANTOS-SILVA: I decided to switch five games left in the regular season because my free-throw percentage was already down, so I was just, like, all right, let me just try it because back when I was a freshman, I broke my left wrist, so I was just forced to do everything with my right, and then I just forced myself to shoot with my right hand over that summer.

I just decided this year, you know what, my free throws are already down where it is, so let me just change it and see what happens, and it's just been working. During the year I would mess around with the guys and just shoot with my right hand. They would always say, your shot looks cleaner with the right hand. So I decided let me just stay focus and do it like that, and it's just been working for me.

Q. This one is for Kevin: There's been four players in the NCAA Tournament the past 50 years that has had a double-double in their first five games. Larry bird, Derek Strong, Shaquille O'Neil, and now you. What's it mean for you to be in company like that, and what makes you really step up in March like this?

KEVIN OBANOR: It's truly a blessing. I give all praise to the Lord for reaching accomplishments like that. I try not to focus on that to boost my head up or anything. I want to stay as humble as I can and stay focused and locked in on what's in front of me.

What can I say? I guess I just love the lights. I want to win. I'm not trying to send nobody home. I don't want us to go home. I love playing for the team that we have, and just happy to be a part of this organization, so I'm just doing whatever it takes. If it's scoring, if it's rebounding, 50/50 balls. I just want to do whatever needs to be done in order to keep playing.

Q. What have you learned from last year's run to the Sweet 16, and how is this run different for you with Texas Tech than it was with Oral Roberts?

KEVIN OBANOR: I learned that anybody can be beaten in this tournament. It doesn't matter the name that you have on the front of your jersey, but just the intangibles that you have and the inside of you, how bad do you want to win, what are you willing to sacrifice, and I learned that last year it's favoring me this year, and just to get that feel making it to the Sweet 16 and losing by two points. Of course, it was a devastating feeling, but this year I got more momentum and just trying to play as hard as I can just to keep advancing and leave Texas Tech better than we found it.

Q. This question is for Marcus: What would it mean to be the team to send Coach K into retirement?

MARCUS SANTOS-SILVA: It would be great. We've been going in this mentality just to stay in the Tournament as long as we can, just keep on winning. I know there's a lot of press and media about this game, but we're just not letting that get to us. We know what's the outcome if we come out with this win, and we would be lying if we didn't know, yeah, if we win this, we send Coach K home.

All we have to do is just stay focused and know what we have to do for the game time and just be prepared and just overall just be us. Just do what has got us here.

Q. You have a top defensive team going against one of the better offensive teams. For Bryson, when you are looking at the Blue Devils and you're scouting them, what sticks out to you?

BRYSON WILLIAMS: What sticks out to me is they have a lot of players on their team that can go one-on-one, and they got a lot of teams -- they got a lot of players on the team that go one-on-one. They're a big team. Nobody on their team is lower than really 6'5" other than their point guard, and they got a bunch of really talented freshmen, and they got experienced players. Theo John, who was -- he led the Big East when he was at Marquette in blocks. So they got a lot of guys that can do a lot of really good things on the floor, and they are one of the more highly touted offenses in the country.

With that we just know that what we practice every day is defense, and we got one of the best defensive coaches I think that's ever coached college basketball in Mark Adams. We just have to buy in and listen to his prep, and we're going to have to really lock in on our preparation and stay laser-focused and just go out there and execute what we do every day.

Q. Doing something on Adonis, a feature story. What's so special about his story, just the way that he came with his humble beginnings when he first started, and you moves up to Division II to Division I, and now at this stage. What have you seen from that have allowed you all to kind of come together or know that hard work pays off so to speak, if you will?

KEVIN OBANOR: With Adonis' story, it just speaks volumes to the type of person that he is. He is a very resilient individual and it's truly a blessing to have him as a teammate. He is my roommate too, so it's a blessing to get to know him more than just basketball and the type of man that he is. He has a beautiful story, as you know do we all. It's truly a blessing to see the progression that he made from JUCO and being the underdog, and now the table is kind of turning and things are starting to favor him.

BRYSON WILLIAMS: Reiterating what K.O. said. He is a resilient individual, with the story he had going from three different levels of basketball to get to where he is at right now here at Texas Tech on a Power Five school, and it just is a tribute to what he did over his time playing basketball, the hard work, all the tribulations he fought through and persevered through, and, I mean, he is a very talented player. He is a super talented player. It just shows -- it's just a tribute to him.

KEVIN OBANOR: If you could ask him right now, he would say we're best friends. We love each other. (Laughing).

Q. I got a question for all three: How does it feel to be here, man? We work hard every single day, but how does it feel, K.O., Marcus, and B.W., Bryson?

KEVIN OBANOR: It feels great, man, to play another game, to be with my favorite players and I'm truly blessed. I love being here. He is my roommate, again. We have a good connection on and off the court. Davion, my man over there, it's a blessing to continue to play basketball another game, so we're truly honored.

Q. Question for all three of you: I know you guys, Marcus, you mentioned you guys obviously know what happens if you win this game what that would mean in sending Coach K home. Have any of you ever met or spoken to him or had any interactions with him?

MARCUS SANTOS-SILVA: No. In AAU, I've seen him at my games in AAU, and then when I was at VCU my sophomore year, if we would have beat UCF, we would have played him in the second round when they had Zion and R.J. It's going to be actually my first time seeing face-to-face Coach K.

Q. You kind of talked about when you are talking about the underdog mentality that you've got a bunch of guys that weren't top 100 recruits. Obviously, a very senior-heavy team here with stories like Adonis's. Is your time kind of a testament to just development and maybe it's not how you start in college, but how you finish?

BRYSON WILLIAMS: I definitely feel like you could say that. I definitely feel like our team is a testament to just what hard work can get you and how it can pay off for you, all of us guys being in college for so long and having to grind our way up the ranks of college basketball, things like that, and then all of us ending here and being in the Sweet 16.

This is my first time actually being in the NCAA Tournament in general, so I guess you could say that. It's definitely a testament to the hard work and just keep on pushing on until you get to somewhere greater.

Q. This one is for Marcus: I guess speaking about experience, what role do you feel like that will play in this match-up against a younger Duke?

MARCUS SANTOS-SILVA: I feel like it will play a big role because it's a whole bunch of guys that have college experience, been through it. Our team, we don't have to deal with immature people, immaturity, and everyone is just locked in and focused. That's how we've been every game because we know if we were to lose this game, it's over, and we just don't want it to be over. We don't have to get guys ready on this team. I think having the experience is really good because everybody knows what's at stake.