NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - HOWARD VS KANSAS

March 15, 2023

Kenneth Blakeney

Steve Settle III

Jelani Williams

Wells Fargo Arena

Howard Bison

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: At this time we will take questions for our Howard University student-athletes.

Q. I'm wondering when you look at this Kansas team what stands out? Is there anything that you guys have to do Thursday to be successful?

STEVE SETTLE, III: I think the big thing for us is just staying in the moment, realizing that they have to lace their shoes up just like we do and continue to trust the work and the game plan that the coaches set out for us.

JELANI WILLIAMS: I think we gotta play our game, do the things we've been doing all year. They're a great team in transition so we have to key on that. We have to gang rebound. I think if we can do that and take care of the ball I think we have a good chance.

Q. Tomorrow is the five-year anniversary of a 16 beating a 1. Did you guys know that? Is that any extra confidence building for you guys to know it can be done that you know you would he not be the first team to try and do it?

JELANI WILLIAMS: Interestingly enough I was a freshman at Penn that year and we played Kansas as a 16 in 2018 so I did know that was the of five-year anniversary, interesting coincidence. Definitely excited and going to give our best game.

STEVE SETTLE, III: Yeah, definitely a surreal feeling and know that it can be done. We're going to keep that in mind and play our game.

Q. What do you guys think about playing the defending national champs? Is that extra motivation?

STEVE SETTLE, III: It's a great opportunity but my team and I, we're just taking it like it's another game. We're showing up and we're going to put on a show.

JELANI WILLIAMS: Definitely it's a great opportunity to showcase our talents on the biggest stage of college basketball. We're grateful to be here, it took a lot of work to get here and we're looking forward to putting our work on display.

Q. (No microphone.)

Q. How much have you looked at Dajuan Harris and what do you think of the match-up.

STEVE SETTLE, III: Dajuan is a great point guard and we have a great point guard, E, I like that match-up a lot and it's going to be two guards going at it.

JELANI WILLIAMS: Obviously like Steve said Dajuan Harris is the straw that stirs the drink for them so we're going to have to step up and accept that challenge but I wouldn't wanted to go to war with anybody but Elijah Hawkins. He's a great point guard, he defends the ball, gets us going and gets us opportunities so I like him against any point guard in the country.

Q. Did you get a sense when you guys won the championship, did you get a sense for what a meaningful win that was for the program and returning to the NCAA and you were able to hit the winning free throws. Is there still a high you are riding from?

JELANI WILLIAMS: We talked about it in the moment. We talked about it at practice and in workouts. Every day we have talked about leaving a legacy, this is the first time Howard has been in March Madness in 31 years. While we're appreciating that moment we're doing our best to stay in the moment we are in and prepare for this game.

Q. Jelani, you mentioned playing against Kansas when you were a freshman, different set of personnel, same coach. What do you remember and are you trying to tap into that to try to help your team prepare? Maybe, hey, I've seen 'em a little bit?

JELANI WILLIAMS: Not to give away too much of our game plan, but, no, I definitely remember that game. We played them pretty tough. Took them down to the last couple minutes of the game and they stretched it out with free throws at the end. Excited to get a rematch and hope to come out with a win this time.

Q. Guys, I was looking at your schedule. You played Kentucky. What did you learn from that game? Does that help prepare you for similar blue blood teams?

STEVE SETTLE, III: I think the biggest thing I learned from that game and the biggest thing our team learned is the intensity these guys play with on this level and the physicality. That was a great learning experience for me. That's something that I have to carry with me into tomorrow.

JELANI WILLIAMS: Yeah, I'm on the same page as Steve. I think we recognize the level that they play at, the athleticism, the physicality, everything that you have to do to be successful and to stay in those games. I think we're a way different team than we were at the beginning of the season playing against Kentucky. We have learned a lot of lessons about how we have to play to be successful in our brand of basketball so we're excited to see how far we've come for sure.

Q. Guys, I want to ask you to talk about, being from the area, just how big and how important is this for you guys to be from the area and to be here playing for Howard?

JELANI WILLIAMS: Yeah, it means a lot. Growing up in the DMV obviously a hot bed for basketball at the grass roots level. It's an honor and blessing to be able to be here and represent the city that I grew up in. I went to middle school on Howard's campus so having this moment is a full circle thing for me, so extremely grateful to be here and thankful to God for keeping me healthy and allowing me to continue to play this season.

STEVE SETTLE, III: It's a blessing, man. When KB was recruiting me, he mentioned his ability to recruit and how he wanted to recruit from the DMV so having a team with guys where I'm from and us playing together when we were younger and being on the team to be able to accomplish something this great is a great feeling.

Q. How is it playing with Coach Blakeney and how is the pressure under the lights?

STEVE SETTLE, III: There is pressure but we're going to continue to listen and play hard. The coaches have not steered us wrong all year. So we're going it on continue to do that and let the chip fall where they may.

JELANI WILLIAMS: To touch on your question about Coach, great coach and a great man, first of all. He's super fiery, super intense, super direct with his instruction and the way that we coaches us. I think that's what we need as a group. It keeps us on our toes and keeps us sharp and helps you to elevate our game to a high level and he does a great job of motivating us as players. As far as the pressure, I don't think we feel too much of pressure. I know everybody in our locker room understands the work we had to put in to get here so we're just excited to put that work on display and play our best game of the year.

Q. You have a new chief program strategist this year, Daniel Cam marks, what kind of interaction do you have with him? How has that addition accepted helped your careers?

JELANI WILLIAMS: D Marks is critical to our program. He's kind of -- heads all our managerial staff, we have about 70 managers so he keeps them all in order and clicking and making sure practice runs smoothly, setting us up with opportunities off the court, helping you us out with NIL deals and he's a great personality, somebody who keeps it light-heard the off the court and worked in the NBA, at a high level so he's been able to give us pointers and he's been great for us this year. Shout out to D Marks.

STEVE SETTLE, III: I got a lot of respect for D Marks, he's my guy. He's been in basketball and I respect everything he has to say and he brings good juice and humor to the team.

Q. Can you give us a one-on-one of Howard basketball, what's Coach Blakeney installed, what do you like to play, what pace and what can you hang your hat on that's made you successful?

STEVE SETTLE, III: We are a fast-paced team, shoot a lot of threes, we are a hard-nosed, defensive team.

JELANI WILLIAMS: I think Steve hit it on the nose. We want to get up and down but credit to our team, we can read the pace of the game and flow of the game and switch up and play whatever style is necessary for us to win. I think we have had games where we had to play up and down and give up a lot of shots, we have had games where where we had to slow it down and grind it out, and that's a credit to Coach for recruiting players that can play versatile and defensively. It's all based on trust, our ability to communicate, stay together for a full 30 second or more to get stops. I think, you know, when we do that we're a pretty special team.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen.

We are happy to welcome Coach Kenneth Blakeney from the Howard University Bison, 22-5 record. They will play Kansas in Thursday's first game. Coach?

KENNETH BLAKENEY: Good morning, everyone, what a thrill to be here to represent Howard University. It's an honor for me as a teacher, as an educator, as a mentor to work at one of the most fascinating, historic universities in the history of our planet. I'm excited to represent our team and our university and looking forward to our opportunity to compete against Kansas tomorrow on a wonderful stage.

Q. When you look at Kansas, they have Jalen Wilson, All-American Big XII player of the year, Dajuan Harris, Big XII Player of the Year. What stands out about them? Are there one or two things that you have to do tomorrow to be successful?

KENNETH BLAKENEY: I had a chance to work with Jalen at the NBA Combine, on a team I was assistant coach on so got to know him and spent a week with him so it's wonderful to be connected with him against in this capacity. Kansas does an unbelievable job in transition. So for us, getting back in transition defense and building a wall to kind of stop them, the momentum from getting downhill. Secondly they do a great job with ball screens on pick-and-rolls so that's going to be important, our pick-and-roll defense. Thirdly they do a great job of cutting within their offense so for us to be able to see ball and man and communicating and finishing possessions with defensive rebounds, can we limit them to one shot? That's going to be important as well.

Q. It's been five years since UMBC beat Virginia. Do you have recollections of watching that game? Is that anything you bring up to your guys this week?

KENNETH BLAKENEY: Didn't watch the game. It's certainly something that we are aware of as a program.

Q. Kenny, what makes Howard so fascinating and wonderful to you in your time there?

KENNETH BLAKENEY: Well, when you look at our university, we're the number one producer of African Americans that get PhDs from Howard. We're the number one producer of MBAs. Right? When you look at our university we have the most PhDs coming from Howard, African Americans, so there are so many different layers once you start to pull back the orange a little bit. From our alums, from Vice President Kamala Harris, Thurgood Marshall, David Dinkins, the first black mayor of New York, the first black governor of Virginia, Chadwick Boseman. We can go down the list of wonderful accomplishments, Toni Morrison.

When you look at such a legacy like that and say we are a part of that history, it's exciting, you know, to say that we can mentor young men and women that are trying to achieve greatness at a place like Howard. It's just a very special thing.

Q. Coach, in looking at your stats, I think your point guard is has a great three point percentage and you guys shoot the three really well. What is your strategy on the three this season? How well have you guys been?

KENNETH BLAKENEY: Our point guard was a 3.75 student this semester and he interned on Capitol Hill and was part of the January 6th hearings. So we are proud of that as well. We play a style of basketball that's fun to play and fun to watch. I'm an inner city kid. I grew up in Washington, D.C. and we love playing inner city basketball, but there is structure to how we play as well. We want to play at a pace that's fast, we practice with a 14-second shot clock on missed shots, we try to get up and down the court within 6 seconds in practice and it's something -- from a perspective of players and fans it's fun for both sides.

Q. You worked with Jalen Wilson. What do you think of his specific game? I know he wants to play in the NBA. What do you think of his game?

KENNETH BLAKENEY: Jalen Wilson will play in the NBA. He's really, really good. He's a guy that can attack, he puts it on the floor. He can go and score from three layers.

I think he's done a terrific job of mixing up his game more, he's posting a little bit more this year and he's shooting the ball really well. Then he plays with a motor on both sides of the ball that fits that level of basketball.

Q. Coach, cool note about your point guard, that's really cool. I wanted to ask about the match-up in this game between point guards. What do you make of that? What do you think of Dajuan on the other side and how he matches up with your guy?

KENNETH BLAKENEY: I think it's the most important match-up of the day. Two guys that make their team go. We're as good as Elijah Hawkins makes us to be and I think that's the same thing for Kansas with Harris.

Q. Coach, I was looking at your schedule. You played Kentucky. Does that help prepare you guys for another blue blood? Do you love the tough schedule?

KENNETH BLAKENEY: We had a chance to play Kentucky earlier in the season. I think we are such a different team from our first game 'til now. We have gone through starting line-ups until we found a rhythm. In our first game against Kentucky we were going through a stretch of so many games at the beginning of our season.

I think having a chance to play a blue blood will give us a little bit of familiarity of what that feels like. But, you know, we're just fortunate to be on the same court as Kansas and honored to compete against a Hall of Fame coach like Bill Self.

Q. Hey, Coach, just wanted to ask, you guys have accomplished a lot of great things on the court but you've been big off the court as well. I wanted to ask you about your vision of the program when you came in and just talk about what you've been able to accomplish on and off the court.

KENNETH BLAKENEY: Patrick, thank you. I think when I had a chance to sit and talk with our Athletic Director, Mr. Kerry Davis and our President, Dr. Wayne Frederick, our vision aligned. Howard is such a special place and we talked about its legacy, it's history, it's tradition. But can we match that from an athletic standpoint where if we're not serving our student-athletes more than what we're doing on the basketball court, how are we providing them an education? Ultimately, it really comes down to, for me, a student's experience.

If their student experience is well-rounded, then we feel like it gives us an opportunity to be a better basketball team. So it's so important for us to do things in the space of, like, black maternal health, some of the things that we worked on in the social justice area, which is really important, to amplify and to lend a voice.

I just really feel we have to develop and we have to have well-rounded young men. If we're not doing that off the court then I'm not doing my job as a teacher and a leader of being a person that works at Howard University.

Q. Jelani mentioned when he was at Penn as a freshman and they played Kansas, different roster but same head coach. Can you tap into that with him at all? Have you tried? Is that too long ago that it doesn't really matter now?

KENNETH BLAKENEY: I didn't even know that happened. No, I can't. It's a different team, and certainly the way that college basketball goes now with players being one-and-done, two-and-dones, the rosters change. I know this year's team is different than last year's Kansas team. The thing that we can look at is the style of play from how Coach Self has taken advantage of the players he's had there and put them in a position for success. That's the thing that's been consistent, I think, that we can look at and evaluate as we're trying to prepare for this game.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.