NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - ARIZONA STATE VS TCU

March 18, 2023

Jamie Dixon

Mike Miles

JaKobe Cole

Emanuel Miller

Chuck O'Bannon

Damion Baugh

Ball Arena

TCU Horned Frogs

Media Conference

Q. Question for Mike. Just how is the knee feeling, and where did that dunk last night rank for you in your career?

MIKE MILES, JR. It's probably number one. I don't think I had a dunk better than that. My knee feels good. It stung a little bit, but I've been getting treatment. But it feels good. See how it feels today in practice, and we'll be ready for tomorrow.

Q. JaKobe, did you hear from anybody that surprised you with a text or anything after the game winner yesterday?

JAKOBE COLE: Yeah, I had a lot of text messages last night, people that I might not have heard from in a while but also close people that I know, so it was good to see those text messages, but it was encouraging, and I'm just looking forward to the next game, though.

Q. Emanuel, now that you have a chance to look at Gonzaga and study them, what stands out to you?

EMANUEL MILLER: Just stay disciplined. We know they do a great job of high lows and their actions. We know their action is not really concerning, it's just how they execute. And how we execute on defense is going to be a big priority throughout the game.

Q. JaKobe, for you specifically and I guess for you, Xavier, whoever else ends up playing the 5, how tough of a matchup is Drew Timme going to be for you tomorrow night?

JAKOBE COLE: Drew is a good player. I played him one time in high school and he was good in high school. Big body, got good moves, got good footwork but I don't think it's nothing we can't handle. Me and X have guarded plenty of bigs this year who have just as good a footwork as any other big in the country, and I think we'll do a good job of that.

Q. Gonzaga has played two Big 12 teams, they lost both of those, Texas and Baylor. Can you take anything away from those match-ups?

CHUCK O'BANNON, JR.: Because Big 12 is a different intensity on the defensive end, and I think that bothered Gonzaga. I believe they were 0 and 2, 0 and 3, against Big 12 teams. We're going to try to pressure them all game, make them uncomfortable and hopefully come out with the win.

Q. Damion, last night Coach Dixon and a couple other guys said that you in the huddle especially said, we got this, we're going to be okay, we're going to win this game. What had you convinced of that late in that game that you were going to be able to pull it out?

DAMION BAUGH: Just that we've been through adversity all year. Just a stepping-stone. We can get through it.

Q. Chuck, I want to ask you, you've talked about how sometimes the rim looks bigger. I wonder if it's the arena that does that because you tend to play better in bigger arenas like in Kansas City or here in Denver. Is there something to the facility do you think?

CHUCK O'BANNON, JR.: Not really. Honestly, I think it's just a different level of focus, knowing that the season could be over at any moment. You just go into that game knowing it could be your last, so you just hope for a different outcome.

Q. Damion, you're in here with the championship belt. Can you break down what that means and how you got it?

DAMION BAUGH: It means big tough for all. I took a charge, and my stats were good.

Q. Mike, you know a little familiarity with a couple guys on the Gonzaga team, Drew, Ras playing in the Big 12. What's it like for you to play these guys?

MIKE MILES, JR. You know, it's great. I've been playing Drew for a long time. We work out together in the summer with the same trainer, so I've been in the gym with him a lot; I know how he plays. But he knows how I play, so it's going to be fun.

Obviously playing Rasir Bolton in the game who was at Iowa State my freshman year, so just getting to play them both, I'm going to be ready. I'm sure they're going to be ready, too, so just looking forward to it.

JAMIE DIXON: Excited about today, preparation. Love to get ready for an opponent, especially a good one, and guys seemed excited. A little tired in the morning, but we got together and did some walk-through in the hotel room, in the ball room. So seemed to be -- regained the energy and excitement. We'll get some shooting in here on the floor shortly, but everybody is pretty healthy, feel good.

Obviously it was a long game last night as far as a lot of minutes for some guys, but we did play 10 guys, so intend to do that again tomorrow, as well.

Just proud of our guys. As I said after the game, just proud of how we handled some adversity. Resilience, got down 11 in the second half, had a team play unbelievably well making shots, especially that last 10 minutes of the first half, and just came together and believed in each other and really executed down the stretch.

I thought we played very hard the second half, but almost too hard offensively. We were in a rush, but the last five minutes we really executed, did what we wanted to do offensively, and got good shots.

Looking forward to Sunday.

Q. What's the biggest challenge you see in Gonzaga that you haven't seen from a team this year?

JAMIE DIXON: Well, they're the No. 1 offensive team efficiency in the country, so let's start there, I guess. Their bigs, they're so skilled. They have a history of having skilled big guys that can play inside and out, pass, dribble, shoot, score in the post. I think it starts there.

Obviously I know the program well, and friends with Coach Few, so just been watching them for years. Played them when we were at Pitt one time, but it's just a continuation of really good skilled big guys, which you don't see that often. Sometimes you see teams with really good guards and skilled guards like they have, but the combination of both is what makes them so good inside and out.

Q. Speaking of those big men, especially Timme, how do you approach trying to slow those guys down tomorrow?

JAMIE DIXON: Well, it's team defense for us. We haven't played a lot of guys or a lot of teams where their offense revolves around their inside guys. Especially one guy in particular.

It's a challenge. You want to stop him, but you don't want to give other guys shots, and that's what makes them so good. They're so balanced.

But it's going to come -- we'll be relying on team defense, changing things up, adapting. And we did last night. We tried everything last night. We had some challenges, threw in some zone there that maybe slowed them down a little bit.

We've got a lot of different things that we can do, and we'll have to use all of them. But it's going to be team defense. It's going to be one guy stopping them. And we'll have different lineups in there, as well, too.

Q. Coach, talking to the Zags just now, a lot of them brought up unprompted how good of a player Mike is. For people that might not be familiar with your program, what makes him so successful as a player?

JAMIE DIXON: Well, a lot of people -- he's a Wooden watch, he's preseason Big 12 Player of the Year, so he's pretty well respected throughout the country. I mean, his quickness stands out. He's smart. He's tough. He's gotten better as a shooter, decision maker. He's just very competitive. I think you saw that last night.

He kind of willed them to win along with Damion and brought them along. Continued to attack when we were down, and never gave up.

I think those are things you see in him. But he's also very unselfish. When you see the last two plays, he makes the right pass to Damion for a wide-open three and hits JaKobe on the double-team who was wide open at the time. He can do all things.

Q. Gonzaga has faced two Big 12 teams this season, Texas and Baylor. They lost those match-ups. Is there anything you can take from those?

JAMIE DIXON: We watched both games this morning and last night, so it's -- they're good teams, so that's probably part of it. But that was a while ago. That was November, December. I think they've had some guys play a lot of minutes during that time and get a lot of confidence through that.

But we watched a lot of tape. We tried to watch teams that have done some of the things we would try to do and incorporate that into our plan, game plan.

We've watched a lot of tape, and we recognize that they're still No. 1 in the country in offensive efficiency, so nobody has quite figured it out.

Q. There's been some conversation the last seven, eight minutes about Gonzaga potentially joining the Big 12 in the future. I wonder what you make of that conversation and what they would potentially add if that were to happen in the next five years or so?

JAMIE DIXON: Yeah, that's not going to be my call, I know that. They haven't called me on it. I don't know. I grew up on the West Coast, so the WCC is kind of dear to my heart, so -- Catholic schools and a few others. That's not my call.

Obviously the challenges are in the different sports and all the things that come with it. Our conference is considered the best in the country; certainly they would add something in that regard.

Q. Your relationship with Coach Few over the years, you said you guys have -- did you all recruit against each other? Did you see each other on the road?

JAMIE DIXON: I think when I first started when I was trying to get into -- he was one of the first guys I met. Him and Ben Howland were good friends. They used to talk about fly fishing. They still talk about it all the time. So I think I remember hanging out with him when I was trying to get a job in coaching. He was an assistant at Gonzaga under Monson -- actually Fitz then. Know the place really well. Know their program really well.

My nephew is a manager for the team, so that's a little different, too. James, I just saw him in the hallway.

I think we -- I remember hanging out at a restaurant. I think when I was trying to get a job and get into the business, and he was an assistant at Gonzaga at the time. I think it was down at the Long Beach -- what do they call it, Long Beach Slam-n-Jam, they call it. That's a long time ago, 30 years ago -- more than that, 35 years ago.

I remember that, and then we've just -- Nike trips, it's just kind of this little group that -- they had a nickname for it, but I won't say it. (Smiling).

Q. Unless I'm mistaken, you were a head coach at Pitt when you played Gonzaga in the Armed Forces Classic, the game that got canceled at halftime --

JAMIE DIXON: We were winning, by the way.

Q. What do you remember about that day?

JAMIE DIXON: I remember -- I hate to say I saw it coming, but I saw it coming. The game got canceled at halftime. We're winning, and they came to us at halftime about stopping the game. And I knew it because I had coached in Hawaii, and so I knew what happens when it rains, the moisture, no air-conditioning. I remember before the game we were talking about it, and I saw them, and I said, where is the fans? You need air going through this thing. And they pointed to this one little thing over in the corner there, and I said, that's not going to get it done.

But it was a humid day, it was in the morning, I told them what was going to happen, and I said you've got to wipe the floor and they brought out one little guy with a towel. There was this round towel. We were in trouble and I knew it. But we went on and it seemed all right at the time, but -- as the game becomes an ice rink.

I didn't know how bad it was. Mark was more aware, I think, or maybe it was because they had some guys in foul trouble and we're up. But then I watched it on film. I was so glad we stopped. We had one of guys down. I didn't know he had fallen down. He got cut on his head, literally his feet were taken right out from under. That was James Robinson, so when he went you know something's because he was a tough kid. That was the game.

The other part about that is Tommy Lloyd told me that he went and got -- that's how they got Rui, so he went from there to recruit Rui after that. Tommy and I are good friends, as well. That's the story that I remember. We got a half a win and they got Rui, so I think they won out on the deal.

Q. You guys recruited Timme out of high school; what do you remember about him, and was he as goofy back then as he was now?

JAMIE DIXON: Yeah, I remember I wasted a lot of days at Pearce High School in Richardson. No. Got to know the family really well. He was the first guy I really started recruiting as soon as I got there, so we were in there -- I mean, maximum number of days you could be there, we were there for two years. I think Mark went once and got it done.

No, all the guys, Strawther, I remember going to Vegas; Ryan Miller, knew the family and we were recruiting him early, he had committed earlier, so there's a lot of familiarity. But yeah, Drew we were recruiting.

We were coming off 0-18 I guess before I got there, so we weren't a great sell at the time. Or 1-17 I think it was.