NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST FOUR

March 19, 2024

Donald Copeland

Melvin Council Jr.

Javier Ezquerra

UD Arena

Wagner Seahawks

Media Conference

Wagner - 71, Howard - 68

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Wagner.

DONALD COPELAND: Phenomenal. We haven't been talking enough I guess about the first time in 21 years being here. And now to have the first NCAA Tournament in school victory, it's huge, man. It's huge for the school, the program and these guys that have gone through so much to continue to build and continue to write their own season the way they needed to. I think it's huge, man, to get an NCAA win added to everything that's happened.

Q. (No microphone)?

MELVIN COUNCIL JR.: This guy right here told me to drink a lot of water because I like to drink Gatorade. So, shout-out to Javi. That's why I don't get tired.

JAVIER EZQUERRA: That's what I work for, (indiscernible). And all season stay ready (indiscernible) stamina and don't get tired.

Q. Melvin, you guys have been doing this with a short bench for so long. Is there any difference in the NCAA Tournament with the energy to get through a game with only six or seven guys?

MELVIN COUNCIL JR.: No difference at all. (Indiscernible) happens every day. We just go preach and toughness every day. There's no difference.

Q. Melvin, the last two and a half minutes, what's going through your mind? You guys pretty much in control of the game from the get-go, and then you hold off their charge. What was the key to hold them off?

MELVIN COUNCIL JR.: Defense, defensive rebounding because the first half they outrebounded us. Every huddle, defensive rebound, let's get a stop and let's go.

Q. Was there ever a doubt? Does doubt creep in? Obviously when you're playing the game you like to focus, but when they're making that charge, do you ever doubt what's going on?

MELVIN COUNCIL JR.: Not at all. The only thing we say is we don't want to go to overtime, that's it.

Q. What were you guys thinking when Julian went to the line for the one-on-one with 14.2 seconds left?

MELVIN COUNCIL JR.: I was 0-for-3 at the free throw line. In the huddle, I told Julian Brown, go get the ball, go make the free throws. And that's what he did for us.

JAVIER EZQUERRA: I know he was going to make it. He is a great shooter. He's one of the best shooters on the team. He's the best. I know he was going to make it. He's confident. He's built for these moments.

Q. If you want to talk about what took place at halftime?

DONALD COPELAND: I told them this was going to happen as far as these guys coming back. There's no way in my mind did I expect us to continue to have a lead like that. And I told them that's a championship team. They're not going away. Not that I wanted it to happen. I just kind of expected it to happen.

And now our timeouts were a little bit different. A little bit calmer, able to talk about certain things. Again, hats off to them, they didn't quit. They didn't stop playing. That's why they're here. They made us work for it.

And I like the way my guys responded. I'm fortunate enough that we did have, the first half we had where we got a little bit of a lead. But toughness wins right now in a moment like that. We've been in that moment so many times this year, and it's actually gone the other way for us, a couple of possessions or we've lost a lead to finish it off. And this stage, I think it's great.

Q. Looking at this season that you've had, the run that you had in the NEC Tournament, to beat the No. 3, the No. 2, the No. 1; to make it to the NCAA Tournament, to be in the First Four and now to move on yet again, just this incredible run that Wagner's made, and your thoughts on it experiencing it firsthand right there on the sideline?

DONALD COPELAND: I mean, it's phenomenal. You dream of this moment, not just as a player but as a coach to compete for a championship, and we did that regardless of what we were going through.

We never stopped believing. We never stopped having an expectation of ourselves.

Having seven players, you know, I would imagine some places they might just come in the gym and just, hey, listen, we got seven, let's go through the motions. We never did that. We prepared the right way. We expected to win even when we did lose.

And now to fight in the NEC Tournament the way we did, it speaks volumes, I think, to the culture. I think it speaks to the kids I have.

And now to push forward, to continue to live out a dream of playing in the NCAA Tournament, now winning one, you can't ask for anything more than that.

Q. You mentioned the seven guys. How much is it different, your vision for the season of what kind of team you'd versus what it actually is?

DONALD COPELAND: No, I have told this before to some people. Like, you're going through your depth chart when you're recruiting guys, and now you're plugging them in. I've been doing it long enough to know that my first depth chart never ends up being what it is at the start of the season.

There were four guys that are actually injured that I had in as starters and two other guys I had in as rotational players. Obviously it didn't work out that way. But you just kind of go through it.

That's why you recruit everybody, though, with the expectation. There's not one player, 13. Can all of them play at the same time? No, but I don't promise any of them anything.

And they're going to compete for their minutes no matter what. It just so happens they're ready for this moment and now they got better. All of us did throughout this moment of having seven because it's not ideal at all.

But the culture is in place. I really coached that every single day in everything we do, and I think that gives us a chance.

Q. As a former point guard, how proud are you of Javi and Melvin? 15 assists amongst those two, and I felt like they really sort of controlled the tempo of the game.

DONALD COPELAND: I was proud of Javi for about 38 minutes. (Laughter). No, man, he's tough. We're not here without him. We're not here without him. Not just what he does offensively -- I want to talk about him because he doesn't get enough recognition.

Javi gets the toughest match-up every night on the other team that's a perimeter player. Whether they're 6'6" or 6-foot, I give them to Javi because I trust him. He's tough.

And I put him on that kid, Dockery, who's a hell of a player, who's had a great career. And he's done exactly what he's always done and been there and fought all the way through. And I'm also asking him to run my team.

I joke with my players -- I say, you guys think you're working hard, I got Javi coming off a ball screen throwing it back to himself just so you guys can get shots. But he's phenomenal. I trust him. He's grown so much.

And Melvin is who he is. He's a baller. He's a baller. He loves to play and compete and he lives for moments like this. He's the same kid every day. He allows me to push him. I'm pushing him daily, today even in our film room and walk-throughs I'm on him, and he wants that, he invites that. That's what you're seeing right now is a reflection of all the work behind closed doors that he allows us to put into him, and it's paid off.

Q. How does the end of the game situations change when you guys have guys that are 39 minutes, 38 minutes at that point as opposed to fresher guys?

DONALD COPELAND: It's not far of a look down the bench I have to go, right? No, you've got to be calm. I think in moments in the past -- obviously I gotta get better, too, this is only my second year. I think people think I know what I'm doing, but I reacted differently in certain moments early on especially with this group because I didn't know.

They respond to me, and I tried to remain calm and really trust them and really just talk to them. Do I anticipate them making these type of mistakes that they made? Again, I give credit to Howard. They had a great game plan down the stretch there. But I think I remained calm which allowed us to finish the game the right way because the players knew. They knew they made some mistakes, but we still had games left. They still got the ball in, they executed under out-of-bounds play. Julian made the free throws. I don't know if I needed to do anything else. Those guys, they know what they've gotta do at this point.