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

March 17, 2023

Danny Sprinkle

RaeQuan Battle

Darius Brown

Greensboro Coliseum

Montana State Bobcats

Media Conference

Kansas State-77, Montana State-63

DANNY SPRINKLE: First off, really proud of our team. Not only for this game, but the season that they had. The adversity they fought through all year and continued to compete. It was kind of a tale -- our season was kind of entailed in this game to me.

We just kept battling back and battling back and battling back. We couldn't get over that hump tonight. I thought we had some decent looks from three, but I thought give them credit. They guarded us. You know, their length and athleticism caused us some problems a little bit, getting the ball reversed, but, you know, I thought at times we had some looks that any time you are going to upset a team, you know, you have to make clean threes, and you can't miss free throws at the rate that we did. It was kind of uncharacteristic for us going 9-for-17. We're usually a pretty good free-throw shooting team.

Then, like we talked about in pregame, you know, you can't turn the ball over 16 times against a team like that. But proud of our guys and the effort they showed, and for us to still have it basically a three-possession game with under five minutes to go, you know, playing as poorly as we is a testament to our guys and continuing to fight and fight and claw back, but, you know, Kansas State had a lot to deal with us playing bad too.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Coach, Nowell and Johnson, Third-Team All Americans I guess for a reason.

DANNY SPRINKLE: Yeah.

Q. I just wonder if you could address how you guys kind of struggled with them?

DANNY SPRINKLE: Yeah, I mean, everyone in the country has struggled with them. Nowell, I mean, he is just tremendous. He is so fast and quick. He has some of the quickest hands that I have seen defensively, even loose-ball rebounds. He comes up with everything.

I thought he control the game like a good point guard does, and I thought Darius did the same, but Nowell, I thought he made some huge threes. That one three he hit kind of at the end of the clock, it had to have been over 30 feet. It almost looked like he was past the hash mark.

Keyontae Johnson is tremendous. A big, thick body. He made all those midrange shots. When he gets going putting the ball on the floor, he is so strong and athletic that, I mean, we don't see a lot of guys like that in our league (laughing).

Q. RaeQuan, 26 points tonight. Did you come out looking to attack at all, or what was your mind set coming into it?

RAEQUAN BATTLE: As player that's who I am. I love to attack the defense making sure I find the open gaps and making sure I can get to the hoop and find an open three, but initially, no. I always trust what our game plan is from the coaches and go from there, and then I'll take what they give me. Sometimes I'll have to create for myself, but, you know, yeah, that's where my mind is at.

Q. Darius, two questions for you: One, how much did this experience kind of live up to what you were expecting out of it for your first time at the NCAA Tournament? And Coach has talked about Kansas State's athleticism and length. Did that make it any more difficult to run your offense in the way that you all hoped to?

DARIUS BROWN II: The experience was everything that all the guys from last year talked about. I went to their game at San Diego last year, and it felt way different being on the court than what I saw from the stands last year when I saw, but it was a great experience that I'll remember for the rest of my life.

As far as their defense went, I thought that they -- it was harder probably their off-ball defense. Like the way they denied our passes and all that stuff. I thought I was fine on ball getting to the basket and making plays, stuff like that, but off ball their help was really good. Their post defense, they made it really hard for us to get into the post. I think that was probably the biggest difference, though. The post defense was really good from them. That made it hard for us.

Q. Danny, can you explain the decision to put Jubrile and Great in the starting line-up together, and how do you think their performance worked together today?

DANNY SPRINKLE: The reason we did it was just to match up with their size. When you got somebody like Keyontae Johnson at the 3, and he is bigger than a lot of 4s at our deal. So we wanted to match up with them size-wise. We wanted to try to establish the paint. You know, we wanted to throw the thing inside. Like Darius said, they did an unbelievable job post defense-wise. A lot of it's just effort.

Their effort fronting the post and making it hard to get it in there, you have to give them credit. That was the reason we started big. We wanted Caleb. We wanted a bigger body, and I thought he did a good job on Keyontae in the first half. He is going to make some shots, but I thought we made him score over us for the most part.

Q. For Danny and RaeQuan, Darius can address it a little bit, obviously you guys are healthier than last year. You're bigger bodied this year. From one Big 12 team to the next, how can you evaluate what kind of progress has been made in the last year and how proud should your group be of that growth?

DANNY SPRINKLE: Yeah, they should be extremely proud. This team is the No. 6 team in the country going into the Big 12 Tournament, playing in the best league in the country. That's a team that they've beaten some really good teams. I believe they beat Kansas. I know they beat them once.

But, I mean, they've had an unbelievable season, and Coach Tang does a great job. They fly around. They play hard, man. They play the right way. They play winning basketball, and they grind you out. But really proud of our team. Like I said, to still have it be a three-possession game, whatever we were down seven or eight with under five minutes to go, shooting the basketball and turning it over the way we did was a testament to our guys.

RAEQUAN BATTLE: Just judging by the two years, last year and this year, it's been a big difference. The first five minutes is a big difference. We were there. We took the lead at one point and stuff like that. I'm just super proud of my team and being able to flip the script from last year to this year.

Q. Coach, RaeQuan sat the final six minutes of the first half with two fouls. Why didn't you want to bring him back in there? How much did that hurt your momentum down the stretch of that first half?

DANNY SPRINKLE: We didn't want him to pick up his third, and I knew they were going to draw a foul. I don't think it hurt our momentum. In fact, we made a run to get back, and I think we cut it to six at the end of the first half.

Q. What can you take from this experience from this game tonight against Kansas State that can help you for next year if you make it back here?

DANNY SPRINKLE: Very similar to last year. You see how physical, and you see their body getting in tip-top shape. We have to put on some muscle mass, and I thought we did that from last year to this year, which helps you when you are playing teams like Kansas State or Arizona.

For us to want to -- we want to eventually knock these teams off, and in order to do that, you have to be -- you have to be physical. You have to be able to play physical for 40 minutes, not 30, and get multiple bodies thrown at you.

You can see, like, their physicality, they got us out of rhythm a little bit in the first half. We had some uncharacteristic turnovers because of their physicality and their length. You know it's something that we have to just continue.

We'll learn even a lot from this film, but I think going forward it gives our guys a lot of confidence playing Kansas State, one of the top teams in the country, pretty much down to the wire.

Q. This is for everyone: Obviously, this was Jubrile's Belo's last game in a Bobcat uniform. Can you just talk about maybe what you spoke with him about and his impact that he left on this program?

DANNY SPRINKLE: Yeah. I see you're trying to make me cry already. He has been the cornerstone of our program. You've known him. He is an exceptional kid. Just a person. He has impacted our program. He is all over the record books. Back-to-back champion. That goes nowhere near the person he is and the impact he has had on me, on our whole program, in the weight room, all of our young guys coming in.

He helps really create that culture, that mindset that we have of getting through tough times and adversity because if you know his story, that's all he has done all his life is get through adversity. Tons of injuries. There's a lot more that he could probably tell you, but, I mean, it's unbelievable just the person he is. It's going to be really hard to coach a game without him. He has been there since day one with me, and, you know, eventually guys move on, which is sad, but I'm excited for his next stage in life too as a professional and then whatever he decides to do in the workplace. He is going to be a tremendous success.

RAEQUAN BATTLE: Jubrile is like my best friend honestly on the team. Just playing my last game with him, it hurts. You know, these past two years a lot has happened, and me coming in from the last school I was at, you know, you look for that comfort through those teammates, and Jubrile was the main one who I was able to look to when I had questions.

And he was -- like I would sometimes get really frustrated, and he would, like, run over to me and calm me down. He would have to grab me, really grab me to calm me down. Without him I wouldn't be the person I am now after two years. I love him to death, and I'm going to miss playing with him.

THE MODERATOR: Darius.

DARIUS BROWN II: I have learned a lot from JB from just this one year, and he has helped me a lot, and he has helped me transition to being a leader on this team.

I remember there was a practice we had early in the season, and I thought we had a good practice, and I remember, like, I was, like, oh, we're going to be all right. He was, like, no, this is not championship basketball we're playing. We do not look good right now.

That's the type of guy that JB is. He held a standard, and he wanted everyone else to hold a standard. He showed me what it was like to be a champion. He is fresh off of winning the championship last year. I wasn't a champion until this year.

So just talking to him about what it takes to be a champion and stuff like that, I learned a lot from him, and I hope to bring a lot of that that he brings this year to the team next year.

Q. Kind of a follow-up to that question, how good does it feel? What can you say about Great kind of stepping into that role? Being so young, solid game tonight. Very efficient. 5-for-6 from the floor. How big is it for the program to have somebody like Great to step into a role that JB had?

DANNY SPRINKLE: It will be great. Now he has to take that next step. He has to take that next step like Jubrile, and he has got to continue to be that leader. He has to hold himself to that standard that he played at tonight every night, in practice, in the weight room.

All the little things that entail a great player, that go into being a great player, he has it in him. He has to continue to develop his habits, but really excited about his future. He has continued to get better. He is a lot better than he was last year. His body has changed in the weight room. I think after another six months of really taking it serious, he has a chance to be as good as he wants to be.