NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL SEMIFINAL - XAVIER VS TEXAS

March 24, 2023

Sean Miller

Souley Boum

Adam Kunkel

Colby Jones

Jack Nunge

T-Mobile Center

Xavier Musketeers

Sweet 16 Postgame Media Conference

Texas - 83, Xavier - 71

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the Musketeers of Xavier University, Sean Miller and his four student-athletes, Souley Boum, Colby Jones, Adam Kunkel, and Jack Nunge.

SEAN MILLER: I want to congratulate Texas, first and foremost. Rodney Terry and his staff have done a great job. His team in Texas was prepared. They were better than us.

We had a very difficult time running our offense, which is a real testament to their defense because we've been able to score virtually every game we've played this year, maybe other than once.

Their pressure is something you can't really simulate until you're in the game against them. Their toughness, their experience. And then offensively they have great guard play, and you feel that as well. There are times when we started to score, and then we had an equally hard time defending them. They were the better team, and sometimes you have to tip your cap to the team you played.

We were ready. We were prepared. We had a great week. There's nobody up here that didn't want to win as bad as any player in the world would want to win a basketball game, but we ran into a team that was better than us.

My comments about this year's team, I could go on forever. I told them after the game, among the many teams that I've had, I don't know if I've ever been more proud of a group, a coaching staff, than this group. What we've been able to accomplish this year speaks for itself. 15-5 in the Big East, being in the Sweet 16 game.

We came a long way from November until late March. These guys right here had a lot to do with it. I'm really proud of them. I think they represent Xavier University about as well as you can as a student-athlete.

This is where we get off. It's always hard. I also told them that the Elite Eight, it's an abyss. It is. If you get to the Elite Eight, it only means that you didn't get to the Final Four. It's about make the Tournament, can you get to the Sweet 16? We did it. And can you get to the Final Four?

Where we got off is we got off at the Sweet 16. We set the tone for a lot of great things moving forward.

Q. Sean, were they different from what you saw on film with them, and how so?

SEAN MILLER: They were quicker. You know, toughness-wise, the one thing I know a number of those guys, I think we had a good sense that they were tough, but they're very experienced. We're experienced as well, but their age, their experience.

Timmy Allen, who I know really well, his stats never truly reveal the type of player that he is. He's a winner. I think these guys will tell you that their defensive pressure and their toughness, we felt it from the opening tip.

Look, I've watched them play Kansas twice recently, and when I saw how that game went, both games, you knew you were playing one of America's best teams, and they were that today.

Q. Sean, when you took over this program a year ago, Xavier was a little bit stuck in a spot where they didn't really want to be. How much fun was this season to get them back to where I think Xavier wants to be and expects to be?

SEAN MILLER: We, all of us here -- I mean, trust me it was a lot of hard work, but we had a blast. We really did. I think back to our scrimmage that we had in early -- maybe late October and think about where we were as a group, the lack of familiarity with each other.

I don't know if we're allowed to tell you the results of that scrimmage, but I'll just say it didn't go well for us. Looking where we're at, I mean, we played a game at Marquette in which we had a couple guys injured. Obviously Marquette is a great team. If that game goes a little different at the very end, we might have been co-champs of the Big East regular season. We played at a very high level.

UConn, who I believe can win it all, I love their team, we beat them twice. We went to Providence, to Villanova. We did some remarkable things, and it was never easy for us.

Really sometimes I think, as we performed, not everybody really truly understood what we were accomplishing, except us. But these guys, their work ethic, their unselfishness. You're right, in Cintas, you commemorate those second-weekend teams in the NCAA Tournament, on the pillars, refreshment stand, corridor, lobby, whatever you call it, and these guys have one.

Our history is rich. There's been a lot of Sweet 16s, a couple of Elite Eights, but this group here will be one of those teams now, and that's something nobody can take away from them and certainly nobody can take away from them and no one can take away from all of us.

Q. Adam, I get it, man, it's emotional clearly. It's emotional for you coming off of this thing. What for you, though, personally makes this so tough or emotional?

ADAM KUNKEL: I mean, this has been one of my favorite years of just playing basketball in general. I feel like this group, we've had so much fun together. I feel like we all gel really well. We have great relationships with each other.

I would say the thing that makes it the toughest is just that I don't want it to end. I don't want this to be the last time I take off this Xavier uniform. So it definitely hits home.

Q. Souley, I know you only got to play one year at Xavier, but what are you going to remember most about playing in a Xavier uniform?

SOULEY BOUM: I'm going to remember these guys. I'm going to remember the Cintas Center. I'm going to remember the faculty, staff, everybody in the building. I'm going to remember everything.

I know my time here was short. It went by very fast. It just felt like I got here in the summer not too long ago, but I remember everything. I appreciate this university. I appreciate Coach for believing in me, giving me the chance, an opportunity to come here and play. I just appreciate everybody.

Q. Coach, you see the emotion of this team. The last time you led Xavier was back in 2008-09. The road back to lead this school again, just what it's personally meant to you. And when you look down the line at these student-athletes and see their emotions, just what you want to say to them about their fight this season.

SEAN MILLER: I've really said it time and time again. I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be the head coach at Xavier. It's a place that really embraces students. It's a wonderful place to go to school.

It's an incredible place to play college basketball at because people care so much. It's the city of Cincinnati. It's the campus community.

Like Souley mentioned, our home court, what it feels like. We get 17 home games a year, and these guys play in front of a great crowd all 17 times.

The thing about this tournament, it's incredible because of what you're watching. The thrill of victory and the pursuit of a Final Four for all of us. And the reality of it all ending. And in some cases, careers ending, seasons ending. It's what makes it so special.

But in this case, these guys right here, they gave us everything. They really did. When you lead America in assists, I don't know if you really have to say much more than that. There's only one team that can be number one in assists, sharing the basketball, playing together, being unselfish, and that's what we did for a large part of the season almost from start to finish.

It was from that perspective a great journey, a lot of fun. I think this group right here has set the tone for a bright future as well.

Q. Jack, this is for you or anybody else, if anybody else wants to comment on it: Jack, it seemed like throughout the course of the game, especially the first half, a lot of those shots down low that you would typically make just weren't going in or hitting every piece of iron and not going in. What made it so difficult down there tonight? And how frustrating is that as that's happening?

JACK NUNGE: Yeah, that was a huge emphasis for our team going into the game. They did a great job of getting me the ball in spots. I think Texas, all credit to them, they're a great defensive team. They got really quick guys down there, and I think they kind of sped me up and I was maybe rushing shots where I could have taken more time.

Man, it hurts. I love these guys out here. I really wanted to win this game. I feel like we all did across the board.

But we're not going to let this game define our season. We accomplished a lot of great things, and we have a lot to be proud of for sure.

Q. Colby, did this season exceed your expectations? What were your thoughts coming into it, and how do you feel about the way that it turned out?

COLBY JONES: I wouldn't say it exceeded my expectations, but you set expectations at the beginning of the season, but just to see it happen in real time is different.

I've had a blast this season. All of the guys put in the work, and I feel like the results showed. This is a season everyone should remember and be proud of. It's been a great season for sure.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you so much. Congratulations on a really terrific season.