NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL FOUR: VILLANOVA VS KANSAS

March 31, 2022

Mitch Lightfoot

Dajuan Harris Jr.

David McCormack

Christian Braun

Jalen Wilson

Ochai Agbaji

Caesars Superdome

Kansas Jayhawks

Semi-Finals Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Kansas student-athletes.

Q. Ochai and Mitch, you've been through this before. Last season you guys had an early exit, a frustrating end. And a year later here you guys are. Can you just talk about the emotions of getting here and what it takes and what it means to be here now?

OCHAI AGBAJI: Last year it was really, it sucked getting out in the second round. And obviously we watched other teams make their runs that year and paid a little bit more attention than we did the following years.

But we knew what it took. We knew it took taking it game by game and really focusing in on every single game, every single possession and not taking anything for granted.

MITCH LIGHTFOOT: Like he said, bowing out in the first weekend kind of sucks. We knew what we had to do to come out and be successful. I think Ochai said in the locker room after that loss, remember this feeling. Use that as the fuel for you to go forward and for this next year for the guys coming back. And I think we can say we did that.

Q. Ochai, what do you think it says about Kansas City basketball, high school basketball, that a couple of guys from KC are leading a team and being a No. 1 seed?

OCHAI AGBAJI: It says a lot. It says a lot about the talent coming out of Kansas City and the metro area. All the guys on our team that are local and from our area, it means just a little bit more to them that we're representing Kansas City well and Kansas, obviously. But being local it's really nice to have that support from Kansas City. It's just nice.

Q. Could you talk about Remy Martin's play in this tournament, not just as a teammate but his leadership and his fire?

OCHAI AGBAJI: He's been great. Just bringing us energy off the bench, being that sixth man that comes in and gives us a different look, kind of changes things up for what they're scouting against us. But he just brings a different dynamic offensively. And just his energy and all of the stuff he does for us it's really good.

DAJUAN HARRIS JR.: He's fun to play. He brings great energy and he moves me off the ball sometimes, too. When he comes in, he gets to make plays and make everything happen for us. It's fun playing with him.

MITCH LIGHTFOOT: Like you said, his fire, it's tangible. I think everybody on the team can feed off of that. He makes playing the game of basketball even more fun. Playing with him is more fun.

Q. Mitch and Ochai, there's a lineup you guys go to after the under-16 timeout usually, with you two, CB, Wilson and Remy. What about that lineup allows you to have success? Seems like you go on big runs when that's in there?

OCHAI AGBAJI: Like I was saying about Remy, and Mitch, too, they just give us a different look, a different dynamic, offensively, in how we move the ball and how he's attacking, too, and looking for other guys. But it kind of just changes it up at that 16-minute mark, wherever it is when we're making rotations and looking at different rotations.

MITCH LIGHTFOOT: Like he said, it gives you a different look than the first group. Remy brings great energy. I pride myself on that as well, a spark of energy to kind of get us going again. I think that helps our team win games. I enjoy going out there and being able to give the team that spark.

Q. Ochai, I talked to your mother the other day. She was saying how you're really quiet. Now you've really developed into that leadership skill. Could you describe how you developed as a leader and being more vocal, and then the discipline that you've learned from your mom as you've grown up to be a man?

OCHAI AGBAJI: Obviously a lot. I give a lot of credit to her by how she raised me and all that. But just me being a leader in my time here. I've kind of seen it as just being a leader from behind the scenes. Usually you have a guy above me or I'm an underclassman, so I don't really have that much say or power behind my words.

But the moment I got back, in my senior year, all these guys respected me and believed in me and trusted in me. So all I can do is ask them to listen to me. And that's what they do. So I just give all props to them.

Q. Mitch and Dajuan, Dajuan, Coach Wright from Villanova was talking about you guys playing with length, the guards especially. How important will that be in this matchup? And, Mitch, wanted to ask you about the physical nature of this game. All the Villanova guys were talking about how physical you guys can be. How important is that? And then also just lastly, Coach talked yesterday about this game. Nobody's talking about KU/Villanova because of the other game. Have you heard that much from him? Is he talking about that with you guys?

DAJUAN HARRIS JR.: Because our wings are tall, like, 6'5", 6'6". I'm like 6'1" but I have long arms. We just use our length against them. I feel it will bring a lot of pressure on them or whatever.

MITCH LIGHTFOOT: I thought you were asking about the physicality as well. The physicality in this game, it's going to be a big part of it. I think Villanova is going to go out there and they're going to play physical as well. I think we do the same thing. It's just this point in the year basketball is going to be physical. You get farther down the line, people want to watch us play more and get out there and play our hardest. I think it's going to be a physical game.

And then when it comes to the people who are going to be paying attention to this game. I think there will be, but maybe not as much as the Duke-North Carolina game. From our perspective I think that's okay. It's a basketball game for us, a basketball game for Villanova. I think both great coached programs with storied history. So it's good to going out there play a basketball game that we all love.

Q. Mitch, could you discuss Dave's work ethic and specifically how much work he puts in to be available for games and what sacrifices he's made?

MITCH LIGHTFOOT: He does a great job. He's always getting treatment. He's working on his own. Dave is somebody that, yes, he's been through some stuff. And he's never once had a bad word to say about it. Never complained about it. He just knows he has to put in this extra work to make sure he's available for us to play these games. Hats off to him. And I think his hard work is paying off, being at the Final Four.

Q. You come in with such experience. You've been on this stage before. Mitch, especially, you know what this is like. What do you think the value is of having an experienced team, a veteran team, having upperclassmen to lead can really do in situations like this?

OCHAI AGBAJI: Experience obviously goes a long way. Playing with these guys for numerous years -- three, four years -- you learn a lot about each other and you also learn about yourself as a team. But I think just this season alone, going through conference, having every single type of game that you could imagine -- like, blowouts, down by 17 and a half, different experiences -- I think we're just battle tested and we have been this whole season. We pride ourselves on that. We have a lot of confidence on going into any game no matter what the circumstances are.

Q. Ochai, name, image and likeness is new. Maybe eight, nine months out. So it's new for everybody in the country. Couple of questions. One, have you done your taxes yet?

OCHAI AGBAJI: Not yet.

Q. And two, what advice would you give to, I guess, other athletes around the country, going through this? And you probably having plenty of opportunities.

OCHAI AGBAJI: I would say, it's your own brand. It's your own self. No one's going to tell you to do something; it's your decision to do whatever you want to do. I think that's the biggest thing. Do whatever you believe in, whatever you believe in, what your brand is, just kind of represent yourself or correlate yourself with that.

Q. In Kansas City Coach Self told me that this team may not be the most individually talented team that he's ever had, but that you guys think you are. So where does that come from?

CHRISTIAN BRAUN: I would just say our individual confidence. We all worked really hard this summer. We knew, coming back, we got beat pretty bad last year in the tournament. We all had a little chip on our shoulder after that. I would say that motivated us to work hard this summer.

And we heard the outside talk that there needed to be changes, there needed to be changes to the team. But we all believe in ourselves and we believe in each other. We're all confident in our abilities.

So, yeah, we probably aren't the most talented group he's had but we are very confident. I think that takes us a long way.

Q. Coach said that the Kentucky game was a big game this season. Maybe the team learned some things after that. Could you comment on if that's so and did you learn a lot after the Kentucky game?

DAVID MCCORMACK: For sure, I think that game was a game of -- looking inside the team, just building character and knowing what we have to do in order to win games. It was a game where you played high-level athletes and what we needed to do as far as starting the game off right, starting the game off strong. We had to definitely play to rebounding and play to our size and what we can do offensively and know that our strength's in defense.

A lot of time through this tournament we played defensively and made teams play worse than what we played. I think that's what we kind of held our hat on, and really started from that point on from that game.

Q. You've gone through the Westwood One interviews, the spin camera and everything involved with being in here. What's this experience been like for the kind of short time you've been here so far? And also shooting in the dome for the first time, what was that like as well?

CHRISTIAN BRAUN: I think it's all been really fun. I think the guys are enjoying more of the media stuff than I am because they make you dance a little bit and I can't really dance. I think they're having fun with that. I get a little embarrassed.

But it's fun. It's a great experience. I think walking out on the court is probably my favorite part so far, just walking out there, being on the court, just getting to enjoy the guys and enjoy the experience. This is what we've worked hard for. We're here so we're going to compete and we're having a good time.

DAVID MCCORMACK: I agree with CB. Just being here and just taking it one day at a time, just being present. Not looking past towards the games and not looking what we've done so far but just being in the moment and being here with my brothers is honestly the most important part. Being in the big stadium; you're playing for your family, for your fans, but you got here into this point because of the people you've played and sit next to. So I just appreciate spending time with them here.

Q. David, last season as far as losses go, didn't end the way you wanted it to. Something Kansas hasn't seen in a while. Can you tell us how it fueled you guys where you are today and what it means to be here?

DAVID MCCORMACK: Last year, it's just definitely not the way we wanted to finish. But this year, looking back on it, it just adds fuel to the fire. We don't want to ever feel that feeling again.

And of course it's to -- my motivation is for Marcus, the senior that was there. I felt he definitely deserved more as much as he had given to the program. We wanted to go a lot further. This run is for him. This run is for the 2020 team that didn't get to finish out. It's for the people that haven't gotten to this point. So for all the players I played with, I feel like they deserve it, we're doing it for them as well.

JALEN WILSON: I'd say everything that happened last year with all the ups and downs, you know from going unranked to all the losses we took in January, to end the season with COVID getting in the way and losing how we did, I think we all went home this summer and trained, I think that was all on our mind, just coming back and proving everyone wrong about us.

Like CB said, a lot of people said different things about changes. And coming back, we almost have the same team as last year with little new pieces. But we all had it on our mind to prove people wrong because we are confident in what we can do. This whole year we've been looking back and showing this is what we're capable of. And now that we're at this moment we've just got to seize everything we have.

Q. David, if they did an updated version of One Shining Moment, who on the team would be best suited to sing the song instead of Luther Vandross?

DAVID MCCORMACK: I'm going to go with Jalen Wilson. He does a lot of lip syncing and TikToks and all that good stuff.

JALEN WILSON: I won't sing now, but I take full responsibility for that. If we needed to, I got you.

Q. Christian do you take pride that there's two local guys in you and Ochai that have led Kansas to this stage?

CHRISTIAN BRAUN: Absolutely, it's really cool to see what Ochai's doing this year. He's worked really hard. And to watch him grow and watch what he's doing on this stage is great for him.

But we take a lot of pride, a couple of Kansas City guys just doing what we're doing and doing it for Kansas, I think it means a lot to us because of the name on our jersey. So yeah, being from Kansas it means a lot to do it in the Kansas jersey and just to accomplish what we're accomplishing and just to watch him accomplish what he has accomplished this year it's been great.