NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT: NORTH TEXAS VS UAB

March 30, 2023

Kai Huntsberry

Grant McCasland

Tyler Perry

Orleans Arena

North Texas Mean Green

Finals Postgame Press Conference

North Texas 68, UAB 61

GRANT McCASLAND: What a remarkable day. Such a blessing, and it's God's blessing to be around these guys every day. You get to the end and you always hope you get to play in the last game of a tournament, and the hard work of the staff and these guys is what put them in this position.

And then, I love this game, because I thought we got off to a great start and then they jumped on us, and give UAB credit, man, they are a physical team, athletic, got a lot of scorers and we have a lot of respect for them. We knew they would come back. Tyler was saying in the time-outs, "They made their run, they made their run," and I just love the belief of this group.

Man, Kai's defense on Walker was relentless and what can you say about the MVP, TP. He just makes the biggest shots in the biggest moments, and he's always been a leader for us and nobody works harder than he does, and he deserves this opportunity.

So extremely grateful, and it's God's blessing, and thankful for these guys and how hard they have worked to put ourselves in this position to win the NIT.

Q. For Kai, you did it yesterday, nine minutes without a point, or Tuesday, for Wisconsin, and today was two field goals in the last ten and a half minutes. What is it that down the stretch, you step your defense up to an even different level?

KAI HUNTSBERRY: We just bond together even more. Throughout the whole year, coach has been getting on us about our huddles, and in our huddles we always keep encouraging each other. Even like, I fouled him on a three-pointer, they weren't like, oh, come on, pushing me down. They were just holding me up and saying, "Come on, Kai, you got it," and that's what we've had throughout the whole season, and I can't be for grateful. I think it's just a whole team effort. It wasn't just one person stopping anybody. It was everybody.

Q. On Tuesday, you said Tyler at one point said, "Come on, get it together." Any more words today?

KAI HUNTSBERRY: Yeah, everybody. It was just, "Come on, Kai, you got it." And even when Rubin was guarding them, "Come on, Rubin, you got it." Anybody; it was just the confidence that we have in each other to go out and make plays is unbelievable.

Q. Same thing, you guys obviously hang your hat on defense in general but down the stretch, two straight games, you guys took it to a different level.

GRANT McCASLAND: We got this guy named Louis who is our video coordinator, who does an unbelievable job with figuring out personnel; and then there's Ross Hodge and Matty B. You come to our practices, and you would see why we are good at defense because we actually practice it every day. There's not a day that goes by that we don't practice it.

You get a chance to go out there and see what actually happens in practices, is what happens in games, and there's nobody that practices harder in the country than these guys, and that's why you see the result that you see.

Q. Kai, the defensive style, I don't think that was on the scouting report when you came to North Texas. How did you prepare this week? You look like the No. 1 defender out there.

KAI HUNTSBERRY: Just throughout the whole year, they have been telling me, Coach said it, when I first started talking. Like if you want to be here, you have to play defense, and that's something I always wanted to get better at. And through the whole year they have just helped me out, TP, Rubin, especially, they have already played here. So they have helped me, even just little things with my feet, instead of hopping to a side or something.

It's just a lot of people helping me. I can't do it by myself. It's just throughout the whole year they have just helped me out and came up, practice, everything, like Coach said, we practice it and it came out during the game.

Q. So when did you know that you were going to be the primary defender?

KAI HUNTSBERRY: The day. It doesn't matter. Whenever they tell me to. It doesn't matter.

Q. What was it like to end the season like this specifically with an NIT Championship championship in?

TYLER PERRY: It means everything, man, I can't put it into words, this feeling. You can never explain what it feels like, to win a championship, cutting the nets down. And to be able to do it with this group, it's unbelievable. We in the history books forever. Can't take this from us.

Q. Having the most outstanding player trophy in front of you, what's that mean to you?

TYLER PERRY: I feel like it's a statement. Credit to my teammates first, and my coaches for the positions they put me in in this year.

I know it was a lot of rah-rah about the Player of the Year and who it should have been and I felt like a lot of people wrote me off and felt like I didn't deserve it. Give credit to George Walker; an outstanding player, and he makes it tough on all of us.

This is definitely a statement, and I wanted to prove tonight that I feel like I'm the best player on best team with the best teammates and the best coaches.

You know, I feel like we showed that tonight with our team, and they lifted me up so much throughout the year, and it didn't stop tonight. I couldn't be more proud of this group.

Q. Even though you had already played this team three times in the regular season leading up to this game, was the mindset a little different going into the game plan for tonight's game?

GRANT McCASLAND: No, it wasn't. And what you do is you have to respect their physicality and their ability to rebound and put pressure on you all the time.

And I asked Coach Hodge when we came out for warmups, I said, "What was it like?"

And he's like, "Oh, they are ready to play." I thought both teams knew what was at stake, and our league has prepared us. And we play a great schedule. I think that double overtime game at our place against UAB was one of the best games I've ever been a part of.

So we just have a tremendous amount of respect for them and knew that it was going to be extremely difficult, and they made a run the second half and proved it.

This is a resilient group, and the character of this group, I thought was really a big part of us winning and how we stayed together when they made that run.

Q. You guys had so much success in the postseason, just over the course of Coach's time at North Texas, what's been the secret to making runs in the postseason over and over again?

TYLER PERRY: He said it a couple days ago. We lost to UAB and walked in and said we're playing in NIT. We had no choice but to come out and play hard.

And like I said a couple days ago, we didn't want to end our southbound with that feeling again. I feel like UAB took something from us, and definitely got it back tonight.

Q. Conference USA is 18-2 in the postseason right now, both teams just out there. What does that say about just the level of play in the conference, and to have the opportunity to face off a fourth time on this stage?

TYLER PERRY: The talent throughout the league is crazy this year. So many guys could do so many different things, and I feel like we had one of the best leagues in the country.

It just shows what this league was capable of doing in this postseason and you know a lot of respect for all the coaches and players throughout the year for what they did, and you know, it prepared us for moments like this.

And I'm rooting for FAU. Hopefully they can go get it done. We wish we were there but you know, they are representing, and like I said, I couldn't be more proud for them.

Q. You keep mentioning that you knew they were going to make that run in the second half, with seven minutes, left they had a three-point lead or something. What was the mindset going into those huddles? When you guys talk about how you knew it's coming, how do you know it's coming and overcome that deficit?

TYLER PERRY: Staying together. I think Coach Hodge said it the other day, we win close games and just staying together for 40 minutes. The game is not 35; it's not won in 32; it's not won in 19. It's won in 40.

They have good players over there, and good coaches and they can score the ball and they can get on runs, and you know they are able to get out and so for us it's just about staying together.

I think we have done a very good job all year of weathering storms, whether we're down, whether we're up, no matter what it is, and just a testament to who we are and what we practice every day and that's a testament to our coaches and what they bring every day, and it showed tonight.

Q. First of all, congratulations. I just wanted to ask, is there any motto or anything that sticks in your head throughout the ups and downs that allows you to persevere?

TYLER PERRY: Coach Mac walks in every day and tells us to love each other. I mean, love can take you a long way when you really believe in each other, and our motto is belief are compete; it's in our team room, it's presented on some of our shirts and we have to do it every day.

It shows that we've got to believe in each other, serve each other and compete for each other because it's not about you. It's about the next man standing next to you. It's about the coach sitting up here. It's about 1 through 15, about Mikey, our manager, and about people like you making this trip.

Appreciate you, by the way and that's what it's all about.