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

March 16, 2023

Kenneth Blakeney

Steve Settle, III

Shy Odom

Wells Fargo Arena

Howard Bison

Media Conference

Howard 68 Kansas 96

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Howard head coach, Kenneth Blakeney, forward Steve Settle, III, and Shy Odom.

At this time Coach we will have an opening statement and your thoughts on the game?

KENNETH BLAKENEY: Thank you. First I would like to give all the glory to God, Jesus Christ our Lord and savior. I'm so incredibly proud of our guys, and what I told them after the game was besides having a historic season and being part of a group that is only the third team in the history of Howard University men's basketball to go to the NCAA tournament, I just love how they have grown as people and have become better men over the course of this season.

That's a victory no one can take away from us. I'm thrilled that we were able to represent Howard University in a classy way that honored so many people before us, the legacy of Howard, and so many people that came before us.

Q. For both of you, I understand that Vice President Harris came in and spoke to you guys after the game. What was that experience like? What did she tell you guys?

SHY ODOM: The experience was amazing. It's amazing to know we have people of such power that are affiliated with us and supporting us at the same time.

She just told us that even though we didn't come up with the victory, that we're still winners and what we have done this year is history and to keep our heads up.

STEVE SETTLE, III: Yeah, just to have someone like that, with such stature in our corner and behind us, supporting us, it means the world.

She just told us how proud she was of us and the Howard community and how proud we make them, and told us to keep our heads up and keep pushing.

Q. What does it maybe mean for you guys playing on this big stage, being on national TV? And what does it mean for the brand for Howard?

KENNETH BLAKENEY: We have had a lot of games on national TV, but certainly being in the NCAA Tournament there are more eyes and visibility on you, which is amazing, because we have a chance to talk about our university as one of the greatest on the face of this planet.

We're the 83rd university ranked in the country and we have a legacy of leaders from every different sector of the world in terms of occupations and jobs.

So it's pretty cool to have this opportunity and moment and to highlight our university and to share with the world how great of a place Howard University is.

Q. I'm sure you guys came into this game expecting and believing you guys can compete and win. When you were up five minutes left in the first half, does that belief go up a little bit? Did you feel your guys start to believe they could win at that point?

KENNETH BLAKENEY: Understanding we have had leads and had the lead at that point in time, there is still more game to go. So it's like we can't get too high and we can't get too low. We have to stay even keel. As of a week ago or so, Kansas was the number one team in the country. They do a great job with their coach, Hall of Famer Bill Self, and I know Norm took over today for Coach Self.

I hope he has a speedy recovery because we need him back on the sidelines.

I think for our guys to compete in the way they did I'm proud and honored to have a chance to say I'm their leader, their coach, their mentor, their teacher. They took us on an incredible ride and it's been a lot of fun.

Q. Steve and Shy, what allowed in your mind Kansas to pull away late in the first half and what makes them so good?

STEVE SETTLE, III: I think when you play a team like Kansas they capitalize on all of our mistakes. We left a lot of meat on the bone in the first half, gave up a lot of free throws, second-chance points, and you can't give that up to a team like that.

So I feel like we did a good job at 6first but they were able to spread the gap.

SHY ODOM: Like Steve said, in both halves, giving up points in transition and second-chance point opportunities, we dug ourselves in a hole. That's pretty much it.

Q. Steve, what are you going to take with you from the season? What's going to stay with you the most?

STEVE SETTLE, III: I think for me I've had to learn how to impact the game in other ways other than scoring. I think that's been the most valuable thing for me. I feel like coming into the season I just thought of myself as a scorer but Coach KB and my whole team challenged me to become something more than that and that has only made me so much better. KB has pushed me in practice and in the season just to make me more well rounded, and that's going to make me reach my potential even more.

Q. Coach, nobody plays a perfect game, but Steve referred to the mistakes. Did you feel that you had to play almost a near-minimum of mistakes to have a chance to win this game?

KENNETH BLAKENEY: I thought that they did a few things really well. One is they did an excellent job in transition. They were able to get opportunities that were highly efficient opportunities. They did a great job I think on their pick-and-roll stuff with Harris and Adams running around almost like Stockton and Malone a little bit. They were really efficient in that. They did a great job of second-chance points.

So points in the paint with all those three layers added up, really made an impact in the game, and it was too much for us to overcome today.

Q. Tough ending today, but it's been an impressive season for y'all and you accomplished some of the goals you set out. What are things you are going to take from toady and this journey to come back next season and attack it with that same vigor?

KENNETH BLAKENEY: Well, I think there's a lot of different things that we want to try to unpack from this season. Certainly I think we understood how to win this year. That is a very difficult task to learn. We have some things that I want to talk to each individual about when we have time, some goals and some things that I would like to see them do over the summer. I would like to apply tasks to our guys, so tasks that they will have over the summer, and see if we can kind of, after that, can we connect to see if we can grow and connect to kind of ignite this thing all over again.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. Congratulations on your season.