NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT: NORTH TEXAS VS WISCONSIN

March 27, 2023

Grant McCasland

Tyler Perry

Kai Huntsberry

Orleans Arena

North Texas Mean Green

Semi Finals Pregame Press Conference

GRANT McCASLAND: Well, we're thankful to be here. You know, this is a program that's had a lot of firsts -- you want me to wait? Oh. I'm good at being coached. You can tell me what I need to do.

This is a program that's really experienced a lot of firsts thanks to these guys. First NCAA Tournament, first NIT appearance and we got to win some games and then now, able to be here in Vegas is really a huge blessing and proud of our university. It's taken a lot of people to get to this position, so our administration and our university in Denton, just a lot of people supporting and thankful and excited to be here.

Q. You mentioned the success you've had at getting to the postseason but you've also had success in the postseason. What's your secret of having success once you get to the postseason?

GRANT McCASLAND: Well, we played a tough non-conference schedule and I think that always is something that you can look back on that prepares you for conference play.

I think we play a possession game that our guys understand how to value possessions and then ultimately our defense gives us an opportunity to win every game. We have got great players and that's a big part of this, these two guys sitting up here, Tyler, we call him TP and Kai.

These guys have continuously made plays in big moments and I do believe that they do that because they have the trust of their teammates, and they all love each other. That's a big part of winning is how do you stay connected as a group and things get hard and when things are going good, and these guys have done that, and they believe in each other.

I think when you get in postseason play, it's about, one, you have to be tough and specifically defensively in rebounding, but ultimately you have to really understand roles and who can really make plays when we need to and these guys do that.

Q. Why do you think you've had success in the postseason that you've enjoyed over the years?

TYLER PERRY: He just hit on it, the non-conference schedule that we go through, and then as everybody in the world can see now, what we deal with n Conference USA, it's never an easy night going through conference throughout the year, and it's prepared us for moments like this. I think every situation we've been in this postseason, we've been in during conference.

So when you have got that type of experience and when you have got guys who come together like we have during these last couple weeks, it's hard to lose at this point. And so we just have to continue to stay together and continue to be us and like Coach said, love each other because at the end of the day, that's what matters at this point in the continue?

Q. It's been a really good year for the mid-majors postseason-wise. Do you think there's becoming less of a difference between power and non-power or whatever words you want to use?

KAI HUNTSBERRY: I would say, I mean, I come from a DII, so I always thought, like, anybody could play anywhere. I just feel like mid-majors have always kind of had the juice to them that some people would say. I feel like high majors get more credit but there's people that play anywhere so I feel that anybody can beat anybody on any given night.

Q. Obviously you mentioned that you would like to play a possession game and Wisconsin is sort of the same where they are trying to slow the pace down a little bit. Have you played any teams like that throughout the year where they are also trying to slow down the pace, and did that change how you went good your game plan?

GRANT McCASLAND: Yeah, we played games like that. I think we actually played the lowest possession game in a long time in the Charlotte game at Charlotte, I think since 2008 maybe.

I think what we find is we are just trying to be as efficient as we can, honestly. So it's not like intentionally putting ourselves in a position where we just want to play low possessions.

But I think our team understands efficiency, and we are hard to score on and when you're hard to score on and people have to take longer to score, you don't want to go down there and just shoot the first one in ten seconds, then you're going to be back doing what you're doing.

I think it's just a game plan that fits our team right now. We've actually played quicker here recently and I think that goes with confidence in strength of being healthy, too. Everybody deals with injuries throughout the year but we are at full strength right now, which really is a lot of fun. Because you can see, our guard play is as good as anybody, I believe. You know, finding some moments where we can get paint touches with four is big but our guards is what separate us.

Q. Similar question for Tyler and Kai. Slower would be pretty much on schedule for Wisconsin, so would you change the pace a little bit for a game like this where maybe they are trying to go slower or are you comfortable with what you're doing?

TYLER PERRY: No, absolutely not. I think that's what make teams good at this point in the year is being who they are. We are opportunistic and when we have opportunities to go score fast, we will. I think that's a testament to Coach Mac getting us being us at the end of the day.

We just have to continue to be us. Obviously Wisconsin plays in a similar type of way, but we can't change who we are. Our game is able to travel anywhere and so we just have to continue to stick to doing what we're doing and what we practice every day.

Q. How do you manage to use as much as of the clock as you do, how you can take this one, the Charlotte game specifically, I guess, did that feel unnatural at all?

KAI HUNTSBERRY: I would say no. At first it because I'm used to kind of pushing the pace, but me and TP and Rubin, and a lot of the guys and Coach Mac, we have all sat down and really just talked about just always trying to find the best shot. Sometimes the best shot is not the best shot for you. It's the best shot for the team.

So whatever we can do to find the best shot for the team is what we are willing to do.

Q. What do you make of this postseason in terms of the level playing field, or seemingly level playing field?

GRANT McCASLAND: Teams with experience but not only experience, like older experience, but experience in your program I think is huge.

You look at like FAU, for example, in our league, Marshall -- sorry, UAB was picked to win our league and they returned a lot of talent from the previous year, but Dusty, the FAU, they returned everybody. There was nobody on their roster that plays that wasn't on their team. One guy didn't play because he was red-shirting but they played, everybody that was on that team and we beat them at the end of the year in a pivotal game to win the league and they remembered it.

So when we played FAU twice this year, and the second time we played them at their place, they came out with an edge to win that game like we had taken something from them.

That, I think you can't -- that's hard to develop in one season. And I think the teams that have some continuity, none of those guys left. They came back for a purpose and their purpose was to win.

So when you have that kind of continuity, I don't care what level it is, and you see their talent, you see our talent, it just helps when you bring back a team, and that's what we were able to do when we beat Purdue. We had everybody back from a team that was a conference champion.

And they didn't come back because they wanted to try to get in the NBA Draft, not that that wasn't important, but they came back because they wanted to win and that group is the same way.

So I think that's the levelling. It's like experience matters but it's experience that's been together can really win games in our -- in our level.

Q. You won an NIT as an assistant at Baylor. How did that experience form your approach to this tournament?

GRANT McCASLAND: Well, these guys will tell you -- and glad you made it to Denton by the way. Appreciate you making the trip up.

These guys will tell you that -- we unfortunately didn't win the conference tournament, I went in there and tried to turn the page as quick as I could. And I told them, I love being with them, they love being with each other and we are going to win an NIT Championship. And so that's a hard -- it's no fun. You walk into those locker rooms in those moments and there's a severe amount of disappointment.

But I was -- because of the experience that we had and I know how much fun it was to do that, and when you get there, I just didn't want anything to linger; and everybody tells these guys that we are going to make the NCAA Tournament.

We know we were past the next group out. Even though we did have the best net of anybody that didn't make the tournament and even though we had the best road record of anybody in the country and best neutral road besides the University of Houston, just felt like our team was capable of winning a championship and wanted to make sure that they knew we had a new plan that we needed to play for. That was part of it.

And the year before, I didn't do that when we lost, and we played Virginia at home and lost at home, and that was different circumstances, completely; Rubin Jones got hurt. I felt like that really hurt us. I knew this team loved each other and just needed another opportunity and some time, so tried to turn the page as quickly as possible.

Q. Tyler, you do so much for the team, and how do you keep your legs fresh late in games? Because it looks like you're still popping even when you've been out there 40 minutes.

TYLER PERRY: I'm not excluded from anybody when it comes to playing, however, 40 minutes, and it gets told to me every time-out, every practice, every drill. If I want to be the best, I've got to be the best every day. That's been preached to me since I stepped foot on campus.

Another thing is when you have Hodges sitting on your bench, you've got to play defense or you won't be out there. For me it's from within, and then from what we do in the weight room, how hard we practice; big shout-out to Coach Wright all year.

Like I said, what we do all year every day on a day-to-day basis, it prepares you for moments like that. You can't get tired of those moments and that's what coach Mac tells us, the best ones don't get tired. They don't get rattled.

So I've always just tried to take that and be level-headed no matter what happens in a game, no matter where I'm at in a game and just continue to try to be me and do what I can to help the team win.

Q. And Kai, how are the rims feeling here in Vegas? How are you feeling about the shooting?

KAI HUNTSBERRY: We haven't got to shoot yet but been put in the work before we got here, so the work will always prove itself.