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

March 16, 2023

Danny Sprinkle

RaeQuan Battle

Jubrile Belo

Darius Brown

Greensboro Coliseum

Montana State Bobcats

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We have the student-athletes from Montana State.

Q. Just what are your kind of initial thoughts on Kansas State? What impresses you most about them?

RAEQUAN BATTLE: Shoot, just the way that they rebound and the way they attack the rim on ball screens and stuff. It's going to be key for us to make sure we're covering those ball screens the right way and getting on the boards.

DARIUS BROWN II: Definitely their pick and roll play. They're a very successful team off of pick and roll, and that's probably what stands out to me the most.

JUBRILE BELO: As they said, the key rebounding team, so we're going to lock in on the boards, and they use pick and roll primarily for their offense, so we just have to focus on handling those two things.

Q. Obviously, Jubrile and RaeQuan, you have been on this stage before. Darius, you're new to this year. Sprinkle said when you are young you can maybe take these experiences for granted. Given you are back here and here for the first time, how much are you all trying to avoid and make sure you soak this in as much as you can?

THE MODERATOR: Start with Darius.

DARIUS BROWN II: You know, it is my first time, but being like with guys like this all the time, it's really easy for me to kind of just act like I've been here before, but I'm enjoying all of it. I'll ready to play tomorrow, and ready to play on the biggest stage, and that's the best part of all of this, so...

RAEQUAN BATTLE: Last year it went by like that, especially how the first five minutes went of that game. Me being able to start and being on the floor pretty much the majority of the time, I'm excited and I'm going to take every minute in and making sure we're in the right spot at the end of the game.

JUBRILE BELO: Second year, so I'm definitely excited to play. Last year I kind of feel like I had a different mindset towards this game because I was really hurt, so, you know, rather than just soaking it in, I'm trying to focus on the game. I'm excited to compete against these guys.

Q. RaeQuan, I don't know if you know, but Tulalip just had a drumming circle and sending off for your mom and granddad to come and see you play. What does it mean for you to have your tribe behind you to watch you and come to these games?

RAEQUAN BATTLE: It means the world. I can still go back to the reservation because the reservation won't go nowhere. For them to have a little event to send my mom and my grandparent off down here to Greensboro is a blessing for sure.

Q. As a team, what do you think is your best tool that gives you the best shot at taking down K-State?

THE MODERATOR: Jubrile, lead us off.

JUBRILE BELO: I think we're an aggressive team. We're a big, physical team. We drive the ball hard. We make the right plays. You know, we get to the line a lot, and that just comes off us being aggressive. We feed off our defense. We lock in on certain guys. And I think that's what gets us going the most is when we're getting stops.

RAEQUAN BATTLE: I would say our motor. Our motor is pretty good. We played 50 minutes the night before the championship game, and then, you know, bounce back and played another 40. So, you know, just having that motor and being able to keep playing no matter how long it is.

DARIUS BROWN II: Have to piggyback off what J.B. said. Getting stops. Getting to the line a lot. If we can balance that with a good shooting game, I think we're going to be all right.

Q. Darius, I think their point guard Markquis Nowell was a Third Team All-American. What have you seen from him on tape? How excited are you for that matchup to test yourself in that matchup?

DARIUS BROWN II: Really excited. Really great pick and roll, ball handler. Shoot it from anywhere. It's going to be a test to me.

You know, that's what we're here for. Play on the biggest stage. I'm excited.

Q. I know you guys are one of the best free-throw shooting teams in the country. How did that kind of become part of your guys' identity, and how much pride do you take in free-throws?

RAEQUAN BATTLE: There was a stretch where actually we weren't, like, the best free-throw shooting team at one point, so Coach kind of got on us about that and making sure we were in the gym every day to put up our free-throws. We stayed consistent with that throughout the whole year, and the numbers show.

THE MODERATOR: Jubrile, can you talk about shooting free-throws?

JUBRILE BELO: We don't obviously think we're going to get to the line a bunch of times before the game, but, you know, our mindset is just being aggressive on defense and offense. So, you know, the aggressors always wins.

DARIUS BROWN II: Yeah, I think guys took it personal in practice. Like Rae said, we had a bad shooting stretch in free-throws at the beginning of the year. Then in practice we just started taking it personal, started actually locking in and focusing on our free-throws, and I think ever since then everything has been really good for us.

Q. For those of you guys who had the NCAA tournament experience last year, how does that help the second time around?

RAEQUAN BATTLE: Shoot, just being able to take that experience and know that this is, like, a win or lose tournament. It's like the last -- the party of the whole season, so being able to take every moment in and being able to capitalize off what can lead us to a W.

JUBRILE BELO: I just think because of what we experienced, we should have a better mindset about the game, be more focused, have more confidence. You know, nerves start to kick in when we're playing on a high stage, so I think some of the guys, we have more confidence this time around because we've been at this stage before. So I'm excited to see how we're going to produce.

Q. I read yesterday that Mick Durham made the travel with you all out here, and I'm curious if he has addressed the team at all, or regardless of that, just kind of what his presence means to maybe Coach Sprinkle to have him here?

RAEQUAN BATTLE: I don't think he has addressed the team yet, but just having him and not just only him, the rest of our Bobcat people behind us means a lot and just having that support system for us to go back to especially at the hotel and seeing him around. Like this morning I got up, and they all said good morning to me. It's cool to have that support system with us.

Q. For Jubrile and RaeQuan, you were here last year. Have you noticed a difference in how Coach Sprinkle is one to approach it this year being on this stage and playing in this game?

JUBRILE BELO: Yeah, I think last year he also took into account that a couple of our guys was all banged up and coming off a lot of minutes during the season, so I think this time around he is focused and giving us, like, the correct advice of, you know, we're going to guard everybody, we're going to shock and bounce, we're going to rebound, hit them first. You know, be the aggressors.

We're approaching this like a winnable game too, so...

THE MODERATOR: RaeQuan.

RAEQUAN BATTLE: Yeah, he is definitely a little more fired up from last year because especially coming off an even better record-wise season, we have a lot to prove when we got here, and we're not just going to be one of those teams that's going to lay down. We're going to punch back.

Q. Jubrile, this is for you. You had mentioned about being banged up last year. You obviously had offseason surgery. You're back here. I know that there's a lot that you want to redeem. How are you feeling especially after having that first practice today?

JUBRILE BELO: I'm feeling good. I'm feeling confident about our guys, about our schemes to try and guard their actions, and at the end of the day I'm confident in our team, and I think that we have good enough players, you know, to fight, and I believe that we are going to fight.

Q. This is for all you guys. Coach Sprinkle talks about a lot of why not us with the motto and why not you guys being able to win this game, so obviously he has confidence in you guys. How does it feel to have a head coach that just backs you guys so much heading into this game?

JUBRILE BELO: Sprinkle does a great job giving us advice and telling us that we're good enough to play at certain levels. He also, like, is great giving confidence to you.

So whenever our guys are out there playing with each other, we see that he trusts us, which is the most important thing, and, you know, there's times where we're out there running plays ourselves, and he doesn't even have to do anything. So, you know, just that trust gives everybody confidence.

THE MODERATOR: RaeQuan.

RAEQUAN BATTLE: Just to piggyback off of Brile, just the trust. All year. From the jump, he trusts us from the beginning of the season, and now we are closing at the end. He wants to ride that trust all the way and see if we can get a couple of wins.

DARIUS BROWN II: Sprinkle always talks about how all the work that we put in and how we deserve to be in positions like this because of the work we put in, so I think it's just that trust and him knowing what we've done to get here and stuff like that. So it's important to have that trust behind your coach.

Q. I guess for Darius, they turn the ball over a lot, and you, of course, get a lot of steals. Is there anything you have seen specifically that you think you can attack with their offense as far as turning the ball over?

DARIUS BROWN II: Nothing specific. A lot of things that happen, at least in my head, is, like, all just in-game adjustments and stuff like that, stuff I see that happens during the game.

I don't know what type of game plan they're coming with. They could change things or do things the same, I don't know. The steals and off things like that, it usually just comes in what I read and what I see during the game. Nothing really pops out to me like that.

Q. For all of you guys, I think it's been nine days since you guys last played in a game. How have you handled the layoff? What have you guys been working on this last week, week plus?

DARIUS BROWN II: It's really just been sticking to our principles. You know, we had a couple of days before we found out we were playing Kansas State, so it was just sticking to our principles. You know, playing defensive alignments, all that type of stuff. Just getting a lot of shots up, resting our bodies, but still conditioning, making sure we're all good. It was just a lot of that stuff.

RAEQUAN BATTLE: Yes, just making sure we're doing what we've got to do. Like you said, we had a couple of days before we found out we knew. Even after we knew, our practice plan was the same. We didn't change nothing. We just keep doing what we have to do.

THE MODERATOR: Jubrile, you get the last word.

JUBRILE BELO: Working on principles helps our team stay on the right track in terms of guarding certain actions. We've just been working on our bodies, getting treatment, watching film, and just doing all the things we can to prepare for our game.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys.

DANNY SPRINKLE: Obviously our program is really excited to be here for the second straight year. Obviously we know we have a quality opponent, a top ten team in the country that's been tremendous all year.

Our guys have been working hard. I think we're ready to compete at a different level. I like the way our Big Sky championships went this year where we actually have more time between the championship game and the first round. Last year kind of snuck up on us pretty fast. Three days later it seemed like we were playing Texas Tech, where we've had about a week now to get our legs back a little bit and prepare a little bit more and get our -- clean up some weaknesses of our team.

We'll see where it falls tomorrow night at 9:40.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. John Calipari was in here about two hours ago, and he said two things that really stuck out to me. One is that every coach in this tournament has some butterflies, and every coach in the country has a difficult job. I'm curious as you go into your second NCAA tournament as a coach, are the butterflies any more present or different than they were last year, and from this year to last year how is your job any harder?

DANNY SPRINKLE: Yeah, similar. You get nervous before every game. You just go back through everything, and you want to make sure you have your team prepared, which is I do think we do.

I think our guys had a great week of practice, but the butterflies, you know, hopefully they never go away. You get that nervous competitiveness, and I don't think it's any -- I don't think my job is any more difficult this year than it was last year.

Obviously we had kind of a bull's-eye on us this year in our league play from the season we had previous, but we have so many new guys which kept it fresh, which we wanted to get them a championship, which we did. Now it's time to have them experience, but I think the experience from last year will help us hopefully tomorrow night.

It was a little shock-and-awe last year. It happened so fast, from Sunday to I think we played on Friday morning early last year. So hopefully our guys are ready, you know, to compete tomorrow night.

Q. Coach, Jerome Tang said in his press conference that he knows that this hasn't been a one-week or three-day preparation for you guys. Would you agree with that, and just how happy are you to be back on this stage after what happened last year?

DANNY SPRINKLE: You said that it hasn't been a --

Q. He says you guys have basically been preparing for this game for the entire year, I mean, since the loss to Texas Tech last year. Would you agree with that?

DANNY SPRINKLE: Yeah, yeah. No question. Especially guys like Jubrile, guys that went through that game last year. I know Jubrile, he wasn't healthy last year. He had a torn knee when he played in that game, so I know he is really looking forward to showing what he can do.

Yeah, we prepare to play in the NCAA tournament every year. It starts in the summer with the new team, and we talk about it from the first day we start practicing in June.

I already forgot the second part of your question.

Q. You answered it really well, but just how happy are you to be back on this stage getting a chance, like you said, to show what you can do again on this stage after what happened last year?

DANNY SPRINKLE: Yeah, it's exciting. It's exciting for everybody in Bozeman, our whole campus, our players. When you play in a one-bid league, this is what you play for. You play for those three days in your conference tournament and to come away successful again and to have this opportunity especially after last year. I don't think we represented ourselves or our league score-wise. I know we competed. We competed against a great team, but I think our guys have a little bit of a chip on their shoulder and want to play better than we did last year.

Q. I guess what stands out most to you about Kansas State? What do they do especially well specifically?

DANNY SPRINKLE: I think they play really well together. They play so fast. If you turn the ball over, that thing is through the net within two seconds. You know, their point guard is terrific. Keyontae Johnson, Tomlin. The more I watch film, Tomlin is tremendous.

They have a lot of NBA players and talent and length on that team, but I think they play really well together, and they hit the portal really hard also last year. You know, he probably did as well as anybody in the country attacking the portal. To get those guys to play together and to mesh and to have the season they've had is phenomenal.

Q. Coach, last year you mentioned the start wasn't that great. Then RaeQuan came in and hit a couple of shots. How did you get RaeQuan to take what he did in that game last year and bring it in as a starter this year?

DANNY SPRINKLE: Yeah. I mean, I probably should have started him last year too, huh? But I think he is just that type of player. You know, he has a flare for the dramatic. He loves this stage. You can see it in every championship game. He is going to show up.

But he is not a kid you have to motivate. He loves games like this, and he grew up obviously playing at University of Washington and even this year playing at Arizona, at Grand Canyon, at Oregon. Those are the games he really shows up.

Q. I'm curious how meaningful it is for you personally to have Mick Durham with you along on this trip?

DANNY SPRINKLE: It's awesome. I wouldn't be at Montana State without him. He took a chance on a kid from Helena, Montana, and gave me a scholarship and really set the stage for the rest of my career, you know, playing-wise and coaching-wise.

Yeah, I mean, I'm really happy that he was able to come, him and his wife Donna. It obviously means the world to me because I'm not here without him.

Q. Coach, can you talk about how you guys have grown throughout the season and gotten better?

DANNY SPRINKLE: Yeah. I think a lot of it started -- we're the road warriors. It's hard to get home games for us, and so we have to go on the road.

We played really good teams from Long Beach State to Southern Utah, who played in their conference championship. I already mentioned the Grand Canyons, the Oregons, Arizonas.

You know, we played a great tournament up in Montreal against UNC Greensboro, Quinnipiac, and Middle Tennessee. We lost all three games up there. All three kind of came down to the last two minutes.

But I think that tournament kind of set the stage for us. It kind of humbled us a little bit, but it also exposed some of our weaknesses that I think we've lost four games since that point. That was right around Thanksgiving.

But I knew it would take a little bit of time with two transfer point guards that were hurt the previous year. They were out for eight months with injuries. So I knew it was going to take a little while to get them into shape, kind of work the kinks out and adjust to a new style.

I knew right around Christmas time we would probably start coming together as a team and we did, but it's all with Jubrile Belo, and RaeQuan's leadership too and making sure those new guys knew the culture they were coming into and holding those guys to that standard.

Q. Coach, being back on this stage for a second year, are you seeing a different type of confidence that this team is coming in with, being able to go to San Diego last year and then come back this year?

DANNY SPRINKLE: I think so. I think a lot of it is due to our health. I mentioned Jubrile played last year's game with a torn knee, and Xavier Bishop was playing with a broken foot we didn't know about. Both of them had surgery right after.

We're a little healthier this year. I think just those experience and even with the transfers we have coming in, they're fifth-year transfers. So they're older. Like, they've been through big games and big moments before, and so I know they're just excited. I'm expecting us to play really well tomorrow night.

Q. Turnovers were a big problem for Kansas State kind of in the last couple of games, so just curious if there's anything that you have seen on the film in a matchup that you can exploit, whether it's Darius, obviously Defensive Player of The Year or with some of the guards on the Bobcats that you know can take advantage of some of these matchups?

DANNY SPRINKLE: I don't think necessarily, like, exploit them or take advantage. You know, we just have to play hard and scramble around. We have to continue to use our principles and guard how we guard. And , if there is some turnovers, great. If not, we need to make them score over us. We can't let them get offensive rebounds or easy layups at the rim. We have to make them score over bodies and then we've got to rebound it when they miss it.

Q. There's been a lot of talk in recent weeks or months about the potential for this tournament to expand. You've talked about kind of the challenges of being in a one-bid league. I'm curious if you have any opinions on the merits or drawbacks of expanding this tournament?

DANNY SPRINKLE: Yeah, I like it how it is. I like it how it is because it's -- I mean, it's a big-time accomplishment getting to the NCAA tournament. I mean, it's an honor to play in this tournament, and I think if it gets too big, it kind of waters down kind of that honor of having where teams like us, only one team in the league gets it.

Would you like to have two? Yeah, but, you know, it's something special for that one team from each of our leagues to get to go to it. Now, I know it will be a lot more money for everybody else, but it takes away some of the prestige I think.

Q. Just on defense, it seems like they're very good at stopping the three and then rebounding. That's one thing RaeQuan pointed out. Does that stand out to you too, or are there other things defensively that stand out?

DANNY SPRINKLE: Just their length and athleticism. Obviously their point guard, he is tremendous. Watching film of him, he has some of the quickest hands I've seen. If you cross over or you put that ball in front of him, it's gone.

Then their length and their athleticism at the rim, which a lot of Power Fives have it, but they do a tremendous job flying around. Their ball screen defense I think is really good.

So they make it hard to score over them. You've got to be really strong with the basketball and crisp with your passes, or they're going to turn you over and, like I said, they're going to score that within two seconds.

Q. You touched on this in a couple of answers, but they have an All-American point guard in Markquis Nowell. What do you think of that matchup with Darius, and, you know, what has Darius brought to team for you guys as a new transfer this year?

DANNY SPRINKLE: It's going to be a great matchup. Nowell, he is so fast and quick. He is hard for every guard to guard him. It's going to be a team deal guarding him.

He is coming off ball screens or in transition to where sometimes you can't just leave Darius on an island guarding him. He is too good of a player to do that. He has to be able to see the help and the gaps, and he has to be able to see Jubrile in order to stop him.

In Darius, you know, he has brought a lot of leadership to our team. His personality, he has kind of an infectious personality. He is very even-keel, which it was hard for me for about the first two months coaching him because I'm getting fired up and I try to coach with an edge, and I would see him and he would be, like, Coach, okay, okay.

I would be like, no, you don't get it, you know, what I'm trying to get to you. The more I started to learn about him and coach him, like, he still has that fire in him even though he is not showing it. He still has a great leadership quality to where he is really good talking to his teammates throughout the game and making sure that they're on kind of that even keel also.

Q. You mentioned this a little bit with how you get fired up and stuff. How do you balance getting through to the guys during the game, talking to them in their game, and letting them choose for themselves and play throughout the game? I mean, I heard at the end of the Big Sky Tournament RaeQuan or someone was the one that called that play to get the final basket. Do you let them decide how they want to go about the game, like, when it's going on?

DANNY SPRINKLE: Yeah. I think you don't become a championship team until the players take ownership of it.

The last couple of teams that we've had, like, the players took great ownership of if somebody is not executing, they take care of it too.

Obviously, we're going to coach them and if I see, we're going to correct it, but it's better when Jubrile tells Great Osobor, no, no, you have to do this, this is what is going to help you. And when RaeQuan says that.

We had that play called a couple of times earlier in that game, the back cut. In fact, the one where Darius had a wide-open jump shot to win the game, and Ray was cutting back door and was wide open too. So, you know, Ray, he saw it, and he was, like, Coach, I am going to be open on this back cut, just have Jubrile chip his guy. We ran it again, and obviously it ended up winning the game for us.

Players see things in the game that a lot of times, you know, you can see stuff as a coach, but they feel it. They're out there. No matter what, I trust them. Even if he called something and it didn't work, I'm going to trust RaeQuan or Jubrile with their experience, and I want them to have that ownership.

Q. Later in the season Jerome Tang went to a three-guard lineup and added Desi Sills, No. 13, to the lineup, and that guy is a ball of energy. He had four blocks in the first half again TCU.

DANNY SPRINKLE: And they were all big-time blocks. They weren't just, like, blocks. Those things were, oh.

Q. Yeah. I wanted to know your opinion on him.

DANNY SPRINKLE: He is tremendous. He is very quick. He is one of those guys that's really hard to guard because he is so aggressive offensively and defensively. Even when he drives that thing, like, he is driving that with some intent to get that thing to the rim. He is a tremendous player.

He is another guy, like, you have to be wary of him, or he is going to get 18 to 20 on you by just effort. They run stuff for him too, but the effort plays that he makes, those can change a game. Like you said, some of those plays he had against TCU in that tournament game were unbelievable.