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

March 19, 2023

Jamie Dixon

Mike Miles

Emanuel Miller

Damion Baugh

Ball Arena

TCU Horned Frogs

Media Conference

Gonzaga 84, TCU 81

JAMIE DIXON: I'm just, as I told the guys in the locker room, just so proud of their effort tonight, their effort all season long, all summer long, all fall. It was a great group, unbelievable closeness. They worked hard. They played hard. They love being around each other. I love being around them. I love coaching them. So lucky to be around them. Have great staff, too, as well.

Just proud of what they've done, and most of these guys have been these two years where they've been the first to do so many things at TCU. But can't thank them enough.

I thought these three guys were terrific. They played great all day. 40 minutes they gave everything they could. Battled on every play. We just came up short. The threes hurt us. The inside hurt us from Timme. But we battled. We fought. Again, I'm so proud of them.

Our guards were terrific. They got other shots. They played hard. Just proud of this whole group.

Emanuel led rebounding with six. He did a great job, too. I'm so lucky to coach these guys. I'm so proud of them and everything they've done. I'm just looking forward to spending more time with them.

Q. Second year in a row to go through this. Can you describe what it's like to fall so hard and fall short and not get to the second weekend?

MIKE MILES, JR.: It hurt. You know, losing in the same round in another close game. But we lost two years in a row to really good teams. Drew Timme is great. We didn't really have an answer for him. That's what happens when the other team has one of the best players in the country.

We play hard. We fought hard, we just didn't come out with the win. But I'm still proud of us, proud how we fought, proud of how we played all year through adversity.

Q. Jamie, this weekend here in Denver there was a lot of really good players, but Mike was obviously one of the best out of any of the teams. What do you think he showed that weekend in the two games he played?

JAMIE DIXON: Well, he was terrific again tonight. Obviously we've seen him more, his competitiveness, his ability to get to the line and get to the basket, and then also get other guys shots. Last game he made two great passes at the end.

Him and Damion are just an unbelievable combination. They just like playing with each other. They make each other better. It's just a great combination. They both played terrific tonight, too. They gave everything they could.

We're just very fortunate, and it was good to see Mike -- he got better every year, and year three is his best year, and that's what you want to have happen.

Q. Mike, you grew up a lot playing with Timme. He said he was playing inspired today. How much did that -- you guys played great defense on him especially on that three-pointer, but he just threw it up. How much did that change the game, and how frustrating was it to see that go in?

MIKE MILES, JR.: We really -- I don't think no one was expecting him to shoot in it. He hadn't been shooting threes all game. He shot that one -- it might have been late in the clock which is why he shot it, but he made it.

I feel like it swung the game in their favor, but I don't think that's what made them win. We didn't rebound how we should have. We didn't -- I don't know. Only thing I can think of is rebounding, but we played hard. He made a shot -- he made a lot of shots. He's a good player.

Q. Damion, while you were on the court you were communicating constantly with all your teammates, making sure they're on the same page. How important is that level of communication?

DAMION BAUGH: It's very important. You've got to communicate to win games. I feel like down the stretch we communicated, but just like Mike said, we just didn't get rebounds.

MIKE MILES, JR.: You know, DB is really the on-court coach. Coach Dixon is our coach, but when we're on the court, we look to DB. Yeah, he's the vocal one. He's the vocal guard. I'm more of a lead by example, he leads by saying things. Yeah.

Q. For Mike, you drove a lot and every time you drove it looked like you were looking to pass first. How important is it to get your teammates involved first?

MIKE MILES, JR.: You know, it's on the scouting report that I love to draw contact, so I knew they were going to help out when I got past the defender. I knew I was going to get past the first defender. It was making about making the right read. And I feel like I did that. He helped out. I hit DB, I hit a lot of guys, and yeah.

Q. For Emanuel, when you went down after the hard foul, you took a second to get up. The fans got behind you. They were really loud. How important is it to have such a loud fan base.

EMANUEL MILLER: Since I stepped foot in Fort Worth on campus I've received nothing but love. TCU is an unbelievable school, not only for academics but also within athletics. I think TCU has made great strides into becoming the school we are today. And I think no matter what, no matter what I do later on in life, no matter what's going on in my life, I know I'm always going to have the support from the students, my teammates, and the whole staff.

Just always having that support is just unbelievable, because not many people in my position can say that. There's some programs where they don't feel as loved. But I think within TCU, our culture speaks for itself, and in that moment, it was surreal, and it's just unbelievable.

Q. Coach Dixon, got a lot of emotion on your face right now. Where does that emotion come from?

JAMIE DIXON: From the players, from Emanuel, just speaking from his heart. It means so much to me. They battled, and just the things they did -- we're talking about battling on the floor. Obviously you saw that. But just the things they do off the court and how much they love TCU. I've just been lucky to coach them.

I think, yeah, it was tough to lose the game, but to hear him speak right there meant a lot.

Q. At the end of the game I think there was like one second left, you kind of bent down and stayed down for a little while and it looked like you were thinking. What was running through your mind at that point?

MIKE MILES, JR.: You know, that the game was over. None of us really thought we were going to lose until we did. At that moment I felt like it set in. It was the last game of the season for us, and we're all hurt. We all love this school. We all want to be here. We all know how special this place is.

Q. Mike, after the game when you guys were doing the handshake, Coach pulled you away for a couple seconds. What was that exchange like and what did he say to you?

MIKE MILES, JR.: He was just telling me I was a great player. Telling me I was special. Said that he's coached a lot NBA players and that I'm one. It's appreciated. He's a legendary coach, doing legendary things at that school. And yeah, it means -- a lot of coaches have told me that, but it means a lot coming from him.

Q. Coach, until the very end of the game you could tell that players still believed there was a chance. I wanted to know where that belief comes from.

JAMIE DIXON: Well, I mean, probably the other day just solidified it. We were down, we found a way. And we've done that before. We've done it a number of games, but you have to do that.

Gonzaga obviously had that belief, too. They were down at halftime, they came out and made shots. But if you're a good team and you've got good players. They've played down before, they've played with a deficit and found ways to get back. We've done it, but we came up a little short today.

Defensively our defense got it done in the first half, but I felt that there was still a lot of open threes that we were giving up and eventually got to us. But we kept battling, we kept fighting, as we have done all year long.

They're competitors, and they came here to play in the best conference and to play against the best people. And they played against a really good team today, and we just came up short. Once again, I'm proud of them, proud of everything they've done on and off the floor. It's a good group, great group.

Q. Mike, obviously you have a decision this off-season, and just regardless, what do you want your legacy at TCU to have been, and did you accomplish what you came here to do?

MIKE MILES, JR.: You know, when I first committed here, I said I wanted to change it. I feel like I've done that and we've all done that, obviously making history. Didn't finish the season how we wanted to. Ultimately the goal was to win a National Championship, didn't get it done.

But the decision, I'll make it. I don't really know what it's going to be right now, but regardless of what I make, I'll always be a Horned Frog.

Q. How did you feel with foul trouble? Seemed like you were always trying to skirt that issue --

JAMIE DIXON: Yeah, obviously was pretty early in the first half when we had to make some adjustments, play a lot of different lineups, probably even deeper than I thought we would. I knew we probably -- we talked about Emanuel playing for some 5 for us, but then we added Micah in there at the time. It wore us down. The fouls got to us, and it was our front line, not our guards that were getting it.

So it made us do things differently. We have done it a little bit before, but -- and sometimes we thought it was helping us. Going smaller was effective. We did it last game, too, and have done in the past.

It seemed at times to be fine defensively, not quite as good offensively, as guys played some different spots. But we fought and got stops and had our chances. Had our chances, no question about it.

We just came up short. It's a possession game, and it is what it is, and we didn't get it done.