NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST FOUR

March 13, 2023

Jeff Capel

Jamarius Burton

Nelly Cummings

Blake Hinson

UD Arena

Pitt Panthers

Media Conference

Q. Jamarius, you guys have had some time to look things over. I know it's only been less than 24 hours since we've spoken to you guys, but what are some things you've keyed in on about what Mississippi State does well and how you have to attack?

JAMARIUS BURTON: Yeah, they really attack the offensive glass really well. They have a physical presence inside. So for us, we've been having a little bit of emphasis on that in the past couple hours.

Q. Nelly, I asked Greg this last night. I want to hear your answer. What do you want your identity to be on a national stage? You're going to be playing in front of the whole country. What do you want this team's identity to be?

NELLY CUMMINGS: I think for us, we want to go out there and show that we're a really tough team, a really together team and a really experienced team who is going to battle through whatever adversity we face.

Q. Finishing one game from the regular season ACC title, do you feel like that brought you guys together, and what kind of shape or team culture do you have as a result of that loss?

NELLY CUMMINGS: Yeah, I think anytime you have a significant game like that that you don't come all the way through in, it's going to either bring you together or separate you. I think the thing about us and our program and our team is that we come together in those moments.

Q. Blake, you are one of the people who has emphasized communication on defense and how it's so important to you guys' success. What do you have to do to get back to the level -- Jeff talked about Boston College was the last time he felt you guys played great defense in a game. What do you have to do to get back to that level?

BLAKE HINSON: Communicate.

Q. Blake said communication is key for these guys. What was it like over the past few days when you didn't know if you would be in, now you have to hustle and get down to Dayton in one day's notice. What have you been hearing from your coaches?

JAMARIUS BURTON: Yeah, prior to us figuring out our opponent, we just had high energy on the defensive end, understanding that in order for us to advance, we're going to have to key in on that side of the basketball. And then once we found out our opponent, just locking in on the tendencies, looking at the homework and seeing what they do well and what they don't. For us going into this game, having a lot of energy on the defensive side, we trust our offense.

Q. Nelly, Jeff talked about giving you guys some time to step away for a little bit, like a couple days. What did you do? What did you see your guys do, and what was your process? Was it easy to disconnect or were you locked in on basketball?

NELLY CUMMINGS: I mean, of course we're definitely locked in on basketball, but I think those few days we had was a good chance to recharge and refocus, allowing everybody what they need to do, whether that's get in the gym, whether that's take a little bit of time away. I think everybody had their own way of doing it. But we got back together, and I think we're recharged and ready to go.

Q. Blake, you always seem the closest to Feddy. We saw he dealt with a little bit of an injury in the last game. What has he been like leading up to you guys' trip here?

BLAKE HINSON: I haven't really seen much -- today in practice he was warming up on the side. He's just trying to prepare every day to get his knee better.

Q. You guys are the captains. You guys are the leaders. What have you seen from the younger guys -- you got to see how they took the loss -- but how they've come through it. And now that you're here in Dayton, where you guys are playing for your season. How have you seen the younger guys respond?

BLAKE HINSON: Like young dudes do, they just bounce back really quick. My older guys when I was young really just took the losses on them, and I think this team does that, too. We kind of like stand in front of them when it comes to losses. We just kind of tell them play as hard as you need to. I know they care, but as far as blame comes, this group and the other older guys, they take that on the chest. So we don't ever tell them to worry about that. They just come ready to play every day.

Q. Being the captains, are there any team chemistry-building activities that you guys take in?

BLAKE HINSON: Really fun shooting competition yesterday, for example. I ain't going to disclose the names, but it was non-players, and it was a lot of team bonding, a lot of laughing. But we make sure we do things like that all the time, so yes, we do.

Q. Jamarius, being on this stage, is there a memory that you have of March Madness growing up as a kid that sticks out?

JAMARIUS BURTON: I would say a memory that sticks out to me the most would be when Villanova won it. It was off a pitch-back shot, I don't know the guy's name who hit it, but I just remember the play. Them driving the ball down full court, drawing the defense, and then pitching it back and the guy from Villanova hit the shot. That was one of the biggest moments in March Madness history, and I remember it vividly.

Q. Nelly, the same question and then also sort of being on this stage now.

NELLY CUMMINGS: Honestly, I probably would have picked the same moment. I think it was Kris Jenkins who made the shot. I think I would pick the same moment because that play was crazy. There was a few plays right before that seemed like they were game winners.

You said being on the stage? Just being on this stage I think is a great opportunity for us, for our team, for our program, for the city of Pittsburgh, everybody who's been a part of this thing, because it's been a long wait for this, and we're here now.

Q. Blake, your memories of March Madness?

BLAKE HINSON: The way I remember it is a little different from my teammates, I think. My first time playing in it was a couple years ago, and we lost the first game. And we did an interview just like this, and there was literally nobody sitting in front of us, and it haunts me to this day. I want to change that. I want to have a different memory than that coming up come.

Q. Blake, I wanted to go back to something you said after the Syracuse game about Nike. You said he was just so selfless this whole season about coming off the bench. Could you talk about his journey as a player, just knowing his backstory, the injury, coming from Miami of Ohio to now making the tournament?

BLAKE HINSON: Yeah, if nobody is aware of his backstory, I'm learning it still every day to this day, but he sat out two years somewhat like me. Super talented clearly, Sixth Man of the Year in the ACC. And is willing to -- I don't want to say step back. When you win an award like that, clearly you're not taking any steps back. But he's a starter caliber player that comes off the bench for us, and that's why we're so freaking good.

Q. Just wanted to get a sense what you guys have seen out of the twins especially because again, they're new to American ball, so it seems like every step of the season is a new experience for them. What have you guys seen from them just traveling here and then also getting ready for March Madness? Have they asked you a lot of questions about what this environment is going to be like? What's their personality been like?

NELLY CUMMINGS: The main words you can use to describe those two are just growth. Throughout the season, they continue to grow, continue to find ways to get better. They stay in the gym the all the time. They ask a lot of questions, they're always present, focused, locked in on whatever assignment they have. I think throughout this time and throughout their career, they going to continue to grow.

Q. Nelly, I know you were asked about your memories of the NCAA Tournament. What about your memories growing up as a Pitt fan? Or from Midland, PA, what do you remember about Pitt being in the tournament?

NELLY CUMMINGS: To be honest, I really don't have a lot of memories I could say off the top of my head of Pitt being in the tournament. I know that it kind of wasn't a big deal when I was growing up for Pitt to be in the tournament. It was a pretty big deal when they advanced. I think for me, remembering that they advanced a lot of times in those tournaments, they didn't just come to the tournament to be in the tournament. They took it as an opportunity for them to go out there and win games. I think we're trying to adopt that same type of thing they had going.

Q. Blake, you were talking about your experience and it haunting you, that experience. You guys have all had experiences with the NCAA Tournament. Have you all shared those stories with some of the guys who haven't been there to sort of prepare them, like hey, guys, take this serious every day, or do you guys just kind of roll with it?

BLAKE HINSON: The only experience I've shared is that I've never won a game in the tournament, and I want to. That's the only thing I've shared with these guys, and that's the only thing I remember. I didn't have much time in this tournament.

Q. Blake, I want to ask you, we've talked about leadership, how you three up here are really this team's core leaders. What makes a good leader in your eyes?

BLAKE HINSON: Somebody that does what they say or don't say anything at all and just do a lot of do. It's more do than it is talk. I think us three and the other older guys, Nike, Greg, there's a lot of do, and there's less talk. Vocal leaders, probably the only one is probably J.B. and there's plenty of do behind him. Yeah, just more do than talk. That's what it takes to be a leader in my eyes.

Q. Jamarius and Nelly, asking about guard play and defensive-wise, a lot of teams have been using more off-ball screens to try to free up stuff against you guys. What are you guys focused on to counter what past teams have done to you and what you've seen Mississippi State do as far as how you guys can sharpen your own defense and key on their strengths?

JAMARIUS BURTON: For us it's about locking in on the scouting report. Understanding shooting percentages and tendencies and things like that is going to really tell us how we should be guarding them and whether we should be locking and chasing or going under. You'll see those type of adjustments made on the floor tomorrow.

NELLY CUMMINGS: Second that. Just an attention to details. Us going forward every game we play is like a championship-level game. Going to come down to small decisions and we've got to be on the upper side of every decision we can.

BLAKE HINSON: And for the off chance I get checked in at point guard, I'm going to just listen to what these boys say and follow through.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, if you could just provide an overview of your team, on the season, and what you guys have been able to accomplish getting here to the First Four.

JEFF CAPEL: First and foremost, we're really excited to be here in Dayton. This is an unbelievable basketball town. They love it. They have a passion for it. It's one of the best home courts in all of college basketball. So we're excited to be here and to play in this venue.

We've had a really good season. Our guys have fought. We've been unbelievably together. We've been resilient. We've been tough. That's led us to have an outstanding season.

We've had several guys step up after a tough start, and we were trying to figure out who we were after some injuries and a suspension that really changed kind of the direction of our team from when we started.

But I'm really proud of how we stuck together. We kept fighting. We were able to persevere and able to turn it into an outstanding season.

Q. Jeff, I did want to point out yesterday you corrected me about J.B. not playing in the tournament. He did play in the tournament.

JEFF CAPEL: He told me he didn't. He told me yesterday -- I'm like you, I thought he had played in it. I asked him --

Q. He's in the box score.

JEFF CAPEL: Well, I don't know. He told me -- I asked him, was it your freshman or sophomore year. He said it was sophomore, but they didn't play it because of COVID. He's lying to one of us.

Q. I wanted to ask about Nike and his journey overall as a player, coming from Miami of Ohio, being on this stage, coming through an injury. What can you say about his entire journey here?

JEFF CAPEL: Well, I'm unbelievably proud of him. That's the first thing, because it's been a heck of a journey. He transferred here, and we were hoping to get a waiver where he could play right away. We were not able to get that.

Then there was word that the NCAA was going to grant a blanket waiver where all the guys that transferred could play right away. They finally did that 56 minutes before tip-off when we played at Miami. He played in that game. He played the next game against Louisville, and then after that when we came back from Christmas break, he was around a group of people that tested positive for COVID. That's during the COVID year, so you're out for two weeks. You can't be around.

So just every time it seemed like things were going to break for him, something happened. He finished the season strong, and then we were anticipating him having a really big season the next year. He had worked really hard that summer, and we played a private scrimmage where he played really well. He played the exhibition and tears his knee up.

When you go through that, man, especially with a guy that a big part of his game is athleticism, there's doubt. Like can I get it back, am I able? Because it's long, it's tenuous every day of just having to rehab and things like that.

When we started this year, he wanted to do more, but he wasn't physically and mentally able. He hadn't crossed that hurdle yet. We knew it was going to take time. But after he got his rhythm back, his timing and got over those hurdles, he was outstanding.

The thing that I'm most proud of him is that he not only accepted his role, he starred in it. He embraced it. He starred in it, and he's a big reason why we've had the season that we have.

Q. Jeff, your guys were talking about the scouting report and sticking to the details of that. How have you seen them take on the challenge of embracing what you guys are saying for them to do the past few weeks? Because you talked about how you guys haven't played great defense since Boston College, and I think in the games since then, you went from averaging 67 points a game allowed to 81 in those games. What have you seen from them in response to that challenge this week?

JEFF CAPEL: Yeah, well, really it's just been today. So the attention to detail was heightened. The energy was great. The energy has always been really good. But the attention to detail and understanding of what we went through this morning with them on Mississippi State, them trying to understand and embrace that. We'll go through it again tonight, we'll have some time tomorrow where we do it. But we've got to get out there on the court and do it against a real team.

One of the things that's difficult is that we can't simulate their size and their strength and athleticism in what we're doing in practice. So we really have to be totally dialed in to the little things that add up to big things.

Q. I'm just curious, you have a lot of guys who have played in this tournament, but you also have some guys, this is their first experience. What's it been like for you as their coach to see them get off the flight here, walk into the arena, check into the hotel and see all this March Madness stuff and know that they're a part of it for the first time?

JEFF CAPEL: Yeah, it's really, really cool. I've missed it. I hadn't been here in five years in this type of environment, and you realize like you should never take this for granted. This is the greatest tournament in sports.

Like I said yesterday, and I told our guys, we get a chance to be a part of it. Like you earned that. They don't just give those out; we earned it. I want them to embrace everything that comes with it. When we pulled up at the hotel, the unbelievable people that were there to greet us and what they've done to the hotel just to make the experience great. When we pulled up here, you're walking in and you see all the stuff everywhere. When they go out to the court, they'll feel it even more.

It's unbelievably special. It's something that we don't take for granted, and we're going to cherish every second we get a chance to be in it.

Q. We just talked to Blake, J.B., and Nelly about leadership. I want to ask you from your point of view, how do those three lead? How do they differ in their leadership styles?

JEFF CAPEL: Yeah, well, all three of them are very different. Nelly is a guy that has experience, he's won. Nelly is really, really positive. Incredible energy, just a positive spirit every day. For the most part usually is in a really good mood, and that becomes infectious. We're not anywhere close to where we are right now if we don't have him and what he brings to us.

Blake is the loud one. Blake is like a lot of football players, just really loud and incredibly energetic, positive, always yelling, and things like that. That's his leadership style.

J.B. is the more serious one. J.B. is the one that's -- J.B. is an old soul. He should have been like a 1980s basketball player. Just a physical mid-range guard that's tough, that's competitive, no nonsense, straight to the point. You don't see him smiling much. You don't see him -- but he shows up every day, he works, he gets his stuff in, he talks, he says stuff, but in a different way than those other two guys, and it works.

It works for all three of them, and it's really helped us this year.

Q. Talking to your players, it seemed like you guys tried to keep things light in your practice on Sunday, play a few shooting games like they said. Why as the intensity starts to pick up in the games did you feel like you wanted to make sure your guys weren't very tense?

JEFF CAPEL: Well, the very first thing is we were just coming off getting our heads beat in, and I didn't want us to -- I wanted to move on to the next thing. I didn't want that to linger. So we took two days off. We didn't know exactly -- we didn't know who we were playing. We really just wanted to get a workout, and that's what we did.

We came in, we got up and down a little bit, no contact, but just run just to get our wind and things like that. Got a lot of shots up, worked on a little bit of our offense, some 5 on 0. It's probably the first time all year in any kind of practice setting that we didn't do anything defensively.

I just really wanted us to have some fun because I knew that day was going to be fun. We were going to watch the selection show. I always felt good that we were in, and I just wanted it to be an upbeat positive day, culminating with figuring out where we were going to be.

Q. Nelly also mentioned earlier attention to detail. Has there been any principles or practices that you've given to them to ensure that their attention to detail stays --

JEFF CAPEL: Yeah, I don't think it's any principles or practices. It's just trying to be totally dialed in on the scouting report, what we're doing in practice and our walk throughs, how we want to play certain things. Just our game plan and just making sure everyone is in tune and locked in and connected and on the same page with everything we do there.

Q. Now that you've had a day to kind of look at Mississippi State, what kind of stands out about Tolu Smith, and is he like any of the big men in the ACC that you've faced?

JEFF CAPEL: Well, I think he has some similarities to Bacot in the fact that he's very physical, an outstanding offensive rebounder and an outstanding scorer with a high percentage around the basket. He's relentless in his pursuit of the basketball.

On his shots, on other people's shots, with how physical he is posting up, he's a load down there. He's a really, really outstanding player that had an outstanding year and is a huge part of their resiliency.

When you look at their team, they had some unbelievable non-conference wins. But in their conference they went through a stretch where they struggled, and they showed incredible toughness, togetherness, resiliency to continue to fight and stay together and to really turn their season around.

I thought he was a big part of it when you go back and you watch during that stretch, just the numbers that he was putting up, the attention that he commanded from the defense that allowed those other guys to do some really good things.

They're a really good basketball team. They're tough. They're physical. They're really good defensively. It's going to be a tough challenge for us.

Q. One thing I've gotten from your players this season, they like to go into the gym when no one else is around and grab a manager and put shots up. I'm sure you did the same thing when you're a player. Is that something you encourage or do these guys do it on their own?

JEFF CAPEL: Well, it's something we've tried to teach since we've been here. In order to be a good basketball player, you've got to play basketball. You've got to practice basketball. Like you've got to -- there are things you have to do. And in order to become really good, you have to do extra.

We're limited as coaches by what we can do. We have four hours a day that we can work with them, and once you get to the season, you don't spend four hours with them. We don't practice for four hours. We have to give them a mandatory day off.

In order to become really good, that's not enough. So there has to be something inside of you that you want to do extra. And so we try to teach them that, try to talk to them about that, and usually the ones that become good are the guys that do extra, the guys that get in the gym, the guys that come in at night.

I think that's one of the best times. Like when you grow up, when you're little, I'm pretty sure all of these guys did, like you play by yourself, you make up imaginary games. I know I used to. I'd pick two teams and I'd be every guy on every team, and I'd play and I'd have a whole game going on with your imagination.

And when you're in the gym by yourself, man, you've got your music playing and you're just in there just working and having fun and playing, and it's really not work. It's just trying to get better.

So I love the fact that they do that.

Q. Jeff, what's Feddy's status? How is he doing? I know he dealt with a knee injury in the last game. How have you seen him mentally approaching this week?

JEFF CAPEL: Yeah, he'll be a game-time decision if he'll play. He's still nursing that knee. He hurt it against Georgia Tech, tried to play against Duke the next day. We didn't like the way that he was moving, which is why we held him once we got down. So he'll be a game-time decision tomorrow.

Q. I know it's such a quick turnaround on scouting a team. How much is it all on you or can you call a coach? Can you be like, hey, Jerry Stackhouse, what did you see from them, because a common opponent. Or is it all film?

JEFF CAPEL: Maybe it happens. I don't know. (Smiling).

You watch a lot of tape.

Q. Overall you could just see how much the guys just love being around each other and especially off the court. How much do you think their relationships off the court are able to play in just their communication on the court and just their overall teamwork?

JEFF CAPEL: I think it's huge. The really good teams that I've been a part of throughout my career, whether it was as a player, as a head coach, an assistant coach, the one thing that's been common in all of those really good teams is that they like each other. It's their relationships off the court.

I think the more you know your teammates and the more you genuinely care about them -- and I think the only way you can really care about someone is to get to know them -- that goes a long way. These seasons are long. You're around each other a lot. If you don't get along and you don't like each other, it makes it miserable.

It's been great for us this year just to watch these relationships happen, to watch how these guys genuinely care about each other.

Also when you do that, you can say some hard things to each other. I've walked in the locker room at halftime and I've heard them getting on each other. And one of the cool things about it is that it's done with love, so it's not like the guy is striking back at him or takes it personally or whatever. You know he cares about you, so you know it's coming from a great place.

Q. With that in mind about Feddy, what have you noticed about the twins and their preparation for this game? They talked to me about confidence and how they've been able to grow into their own here. What have you noticed from them throughout this stretch of the season and what's the preparation been like from them for tomorrow?

JEFF CAPEL: Yeah, we need everyone to be ready to go, and everyone will be ready to go. The twins have gotten better throughout the season every day. They have an infectious spirit, an energy. They love the gym. They've had great teammates this year, guys that have helped them throughout the season, both on and off the court, to assimilate here in Pittsburgh and college basketball.

They've gotten better and better. I've said it all along. I think they have unbelievable futures. They both have had some really big moments for us in big games. They've stepped up and made some big plays, and we anticipate them being ready to do that tomorrow.

Q. You've been around the game for a long time. You've seen a lot of guys come and go. It seems like it's been tradition for a long time when you see guys go off after a March Madness year and seniors and there's that send-off where you've had your time with them. How close have you been with guys who have just been here a year? Does it feel kind of like -- when you compare it to some of the teams you've coached where you've been with guys for multiple years, or does this all move so fast as a coach?

JEFF CAPEL: No, I mean, a year is a long time, man, and especially when you're with guys as much as we're around them. You get to know them. You get to know their dreams, the things that they're afraid of. These are the relationships that we have, our coaching staff, we have with our guys. We spend time with them. We talk to them. Kind of we figure out what makes them tick, the things that they maybe have some fears or things that bother them, things that are on their mind.

So even if it's just for a year or whatever it is, those relationships run deep. We had Mouhamadou Gueye last year. I talk to him still once every couple of weeks and encouraging him, following him. I hear from him every time something good is happening with our program this year.

So that's the same thing about relationships, even if a kid is here for one year -- and the relationship is both ways. It's not just one way, it has to go both ways. The person has to want to have a relationship. But when it's like that, I tell these guys, with me it's forever. It's not just one year. I don't know if I got used to that when -- one of my best players I ever coached I was with for two years at Oklahoma. I talk to him once a week still to this day, so those things are very, very deep with me, the relationships.

Q. You mentioned last night that it's a quick turnaround, and it's difficult to prepare. How many Mississippi State games have you and your staff watched in the last --

JEFF CAPEL: I've watched five. And I don't know how many they've watched, but from when I saw you guys last night until right now, I've watched five of them.

Q. Is that normal or do you usually watch more than that?

JEFF CAPEL: That's normally what I watch. I try to watch the last five. Sometimes if they had a big win early, I want to see it or if a guy went off, I may just get his minutes from that game just to see how he went off or how they defended something.

I think if there's a similar opponent, someone that maybe does something like us or plays similar to us, I may watch that game. So it's pretty normal what I've done.

Q. Do you sleep much?

JEFF CAPEL: Nope, but I don't sleep much, period. I've never.

Q. With how big of a team Mississippi State is, how much emphasis is there going to be on running out in transition in a game like tomorrow and really trying to improve on that from what you did against Duke?

JEFF CAPEL: Well, we didn't do much well against Duke, so I hope we improve on everything, from that standpoint. In order for us to run, we have to rebound. That's the very first thing. We have to get the basketball, we have to rebound, so we have to be able to match their physicality, we have to keep them out of our paint, and we have to get the basketball.

Once we're able to do that, then we do want to run. We do want to get out. That's something that we've tried to do all year, and for the most part we've done a pretty good job of that when we've been able to first-shot rebound.

That's not going to change for us. We want to continue to do that. Like I mentioned earlier, they're an outstanding defensive team. I think whenever you play against teams like that, we've had some in our league, if you can get out in transition and get some things before their defense is set up, that can put you in an advantageous position, so that's something that we certainly want to do.