AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 17, 2024

Adam Fisher

Hysier Miller

Steve Settle III

Dickies Arena

Temple Owls

Postgame Press Conference

UAB, 85 - Temple, 69

THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and get started with an opening statement from Coach and then take questions for the student-athletes.

ADAM FISHER: Yeah, first, I want to give congratulations to Coach Andy Kennedy and UAB. Great, great week they had. They're a heck of a team. Wish them all the best in the NCAA Tournament. He's a great coach, they got a ton of great players, so again, congratulations to them.

Really just proud of this group. We talk all the time about being team 128 and everything we do, as you can see behind us, we do it together. We win together, we lose together, but together is the key word.

The first half I thought they jumped us. Vasquez was great. He hit some tough shots. We were trying to keep the ball out of his hands and he just kept making plays.

But again, I'm proud of how we responded in the second half, did some really good stuff. So while this one really hurts and -- it's got to fuel us. We've got to have the expectation that in this program, you play meaningful games in March.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Like geniuses in the media like us, we'll look at the two games you played against UAB and say, oh, it might be a bad matchup. Is there something to that?

ADAM FISHER: Look, they're really skilled. I think they have shot the ball extremely well against us. I think that might be 20 threes in two games. They put the ball on the floor, they had bigs, and they go to the glass really hard. So you can't take everything away.

But again, give them credit. I think they did some really good things offensively and defensively. They switch up defenses a lot and can take you out of a rhythm. But I thought we did a much better job in the second half.

Q. The zone, were you just trying to slow them down or what else were you trying to accomplish defensively?

ADAM FISHER: Six games in eight days, right? 5-1, six games in eight days. I thought the zone was really good for us. We just wanted to try to take them out of a rhythm. Again, they made shots in the first half. The second half we tried to mix it up a little bit too. But, again, great credit to them. They made shots.

Q. Over the past couple games, you guys have been able to limit your turnovers, but today they managed to cause 14 of them. What were they doing that was giving you guys so many issues and what exactly did you kind of shore up in the second half to limit that?

ADAM FISHER: They have great length, right, 1 through 5, they're extremely active, they're in passing lanes, they swipe going for steals. So I think when you have that, you're going to have a little bit more turnovers. I thought we did a better job in the second half of cleaning some of that up. I think we reduced it by a couple. But again, it's a credit to their activity, their length, and they mix up defenses.

Q. On a human level, are you able to sort of summarize what the last 10 days have been like?

ADAM FISHER: It's been an incredible run with these guys. We left on Saturday morning and we've been together since Sunday. That's what I'll remember. I'll remember being at the hotel with these guys and you're eating together and Zion, for whatever reason, sits at the coach's table at every meal. I haven't still figured that out yet. But it's being on the bus, it's seeing their enjoyment, and the greatest joy I had as a coach was watching them enjoy this week and the energy, the passion. I think they really represented our university great, and that, I'm grateful for. So I'm more excited about their happiness during this run.

Q. Hysier, the entire team is with you here, just the togetherness has been talked about the entire tournament run long and obviously this shows it. Just what does this group mean to you?

HYSIER MILLER: To me? I mean, this group is really special. We always like kind of coming from different places. We got a couple guys who already been here for some time. We got some transfers coming in, a new coach, and we knew that the only way we'll be able to make a run in March was to come together.

But early in the season we kind of didn't click right away, and then we had to just keep grinding, keep coming in after long days, long losing streaks, just sticking with it, and then eventually we finally found our rhythm and was able to win some games and that's what I think make this group so special. Like, nobody really cares about who does it as long as it gets done. So a lot of us have pretty good games and we all bring different stuff to the table.

Q. This has been an almost unprecedented run for you guys. So in your first season as the head coach at Temple, how do you think you've rejuvenated Temple basketball?

ADAM FISHER: They did it. These guys did it. When you have a great administration like we do, you have a great university, and you have great players and great coaches, when you're all on the same page and you're all aligned the right way, that's what it is. Again, I'm proud of these guys for the effort. They could have crumbled throughout, even today, but they kept going.

Q. How have you guys been able to block out all the noise in the last 10 days?

HYSIER MILLER: Just hoop. Everybody just getting up and hooping and playing together, just trying to find ways to win. It really is no noise. It's just us one game at a time just trying to get the next win. Like, today we was in another one-game tournament and we just came up short, but we just been hooping.

Q. You finished with a career high 32 points today. With so much of this team eligible again next year, do you feel like this gives you guys kind of a starting point to build off of for next season?

HYSIER MILLER: I think this was real special to what we want to do in the future because you can carry that momentum into a great spring, into great summer to do big things.

Q. Curious if you like packed for 10 days when you left for San Antonio way back. Did you have to wear anything more than once?

HYSIER MILLER: Coach said it before we even left, multiple days before we left, pack for seven days, pack until Sunday, and that's been our goal since we left, so I'm sure everybody packed until Sunday and we made it possible to wear all our clothes.

Q. Did you ever feel tired in any moments in the course or --

HYSIER MILLER: I'm sure we always tired at some points, but it's mental at the end of the day. We all try to just come out and play for each other. If I'm tired and focusing on my body, then imagine what the next guy feels. So we just trying to push through that and just move forward.

Q. The way the world is now, there's not a day or two to sit back and say what a great thing because the portal opens tomorrow. Could you just describe sort of the process of managing roster managing, transition. It starts happening immediately.

ADAM FISHER: Yeah, it's just the new norm, right, in all of college athletics. We'll get back, we'll do individual meetings with guys, and show them what we expect and our plan for guys and then -- again, it starts on Monday. People, you see names go in and out, and I think right now my focus is on these guys, just making sure that they're good, we get back to campus, they get back to class, and that's our focus right now.

Q. What would you say was the biggest difference in the how you guys played in this tournament, especially down the stretch of the regular season?

ADAM FISHER: I think Jon Crispin said this to me when we played at FAU and it's, winning is a skill. We were so close, so close, so close that when we got that first one at home versus UTSA, I think it gave us the belief to, hey, yeah, keep doing what we're doing, it's working. And then that's contagious.

So I think it was these guys' ability to stay focused, stay together, believe in what we were trying to do, and not, hey, this isn't working. I thought it brought us more together. And then our goal has always been to get better. Again, I think we did get better. I think we probably took one or two steps during the last two months that didn't go how I would have liked, but if you keep getting better and you keep bringing the same energy and you have the same approach, you're going to do great things.

Q. If it's presented to you guys will you guys accept a bid to the NIT if it's presented to you?

ADAM FISHER: I think any chance you get an opportunity to play is awesome. I love this group, again, we control what we can control, I don't know anything about that stuff, but I love being around these guys, that I know.

Q. Having all of your team there with you, just to go a little bit deeper into why it was so important to have this last moment at the tournament featuring every single student-athlete and not just a few at the dais?

ADAM FISHER: Because everybody on this stage contributed. Every single person. Whether they get in the game or didn't, whether it's the scout team, whatever it is, everything we do is as a group. I think some guys don't get the recognition they deserve sometimes. And, you know, it was a spur of the moment thing. We were in the locker room and we basically just said, Hey, we're all going. We're all going together. I think that shows this team. It shows their character, and this is what it is at Temple, you come together. Good times, bad times, whatever it may be, you come together and that's part of being Temple Tough.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you.