NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - VERMONT VS MARQUETTE

March 16, 2023

Kam Jones

Tyler Kolek

Olivier-Maxence Prosper

Nationwide Arena

Marquette Golden Eagles

Media Conference

Q. Kam, you know Stevie pretty well, probably better than most. He's such a nice guy off the court. Always smiling all the time. Why do you think he's able to jump into character once he gets on the court and become that nasty defender?

KAM JONES: He's just got that dog in him. He wants to win, that's why he's here. So he's the nicest kid I know just being on the court and him playing as hard as he does. He knows that's what's going to help us win. So he comes through with that every game, and we really need that from him.

Q. Tyler, throughout the week, the head coach from Vermont, John Becker, has sung your praises talking about your game and the fact he actually tried to recruit you as a kid out of New England. Curious about your familiarity with Becker, UVM, kind of your relationship with him?

TYLER KOLEK: Obviously they've been a New England powerhouse for quite some time with Coach Becker at the helm and before that they had T.J. Sorrentine I'm pretty close with. But it was in my final five coming out of high school. I took an unofficial visit there.

And just coming out of high school I didn't have much. And I'm thankful for them recruiting me.

Q. How important will it be to get out to that hot start like you did on Saturday in New York when you're facing a team like Vermont who is coming in with a 15-game winning streak?

OLIVIER-MAXENCE PROSPER: It starts with us on the defensive end, like we did in New York and in the last two games in New York. I mean, it will be great to come with a hot start, but if not we'll play regardless and respond.

That's who we are. That's what we do. And if we play for each other, we leave everything on the floor and we focus on starting on the defensive end and letting that impact our offense, we're going to play the way we want to play and have the outcomes we want to have.

Q. Tyler, what's it like to have Stevie guard you in practice?

TYLER KOLEK: He actually hasn't guarded me in a while. Kind of Chase that I go after. He goes after me, too. He's physical. He's a (inaudible) Stevie, and pick up in the summer and even practice early on in the summer. I mean he's up in you 94 feet.

That's the reason why we're so good -- me, Kam, O-Max, all the other guys get to go against guys like him, guys like Chase guarding us every day in practice, getting us better.

Q. To play with the sort of intensity and energy level and effort that Shaka Smart requires of you guys, how would you describe what conditioning is like in August, September, October when you guys get going?

KAM JONES: It's challenging. It's pretty tough. My freshman year I never really asked myself is this really what I want to do until we had one conditioning drill.

But just pushing through it. Coach was talking to us about it, how it was a choice for us to do that. And it's for the team and what we wanted to do to have the outcome we wanted to have. It was extremely important and it's helped us today.

Q. Olivier, kind of a unique situation tomorrow. You and your sister are playing games about 45 minutes apart. Have you two talked about how unique that is. And wondering if you know where your parents are going to be since you'll both be playing at the same time tomorrow?

OLIVIER-MAXENCE PROSPER: To answer the first part of the question, it's pretty cool to have my sister and I playing in an NCAA Tournament. On a stage like this as siblings, it's something we dreamt about as kids. And it's really awesome.

As it relates to my parents, I talked to them. They said they probably won't come to my game, but I'm not sure. One will probably come here, one go to my sister's game. But we're going to see. They haven't let me know yet.

Q. Tyler, how much do you know about Vermont, their history? When you've watched them on tape, kind of what stands out? It's an experienced group that's been in the tournament before.

TYLER KOLEK: Obviously they've had success. I don't know how many years they've won their league now in a row. But they go to the tournament a bunch. Just five guys at all times that can shoot the ball, super skilled, dribble past you. We've got to be on edge. Every guy on their team can make plays. So we've got to be ready for everybody.