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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: SPOKANE

March 15, 2007

SPOKANE, WASHINGTON

THE MODERATOR: Player interviews for the USC Trojans. We have here this afternoon, Nick Young, Lodrick Stewart, and Gabe Pruitt.

Q. You guys, will this game kind of define your season? Will this kind of make or break the way your season is viewed, or have you already done enough and surpassed enough expectations that it's going to be a success either way? It's for all three.
LODRICK STEWART: I don't think it will make or break our season. We already had a great season this year. We passed our expectations and individual goals and where other people thought we would finish. We are going to try and have fun and get a win here and there and see what happens.
GABE PRUITT: I don't think it will make our break our season. We've been through so much. This is one of our goals coming in to make the NCAA Tournament. We're here now. We're not done yet. We still have a lot of things to do.
NICK YOUNG: We're all happy where we're at right now. We feel good about our situations. We feel good about how we played this year and how far this program came from years back. Either way, win or lose, we're going to walk out with our heads high.

Q. For all three of the players, when you saw who you were playing and after look at film of Arkansas, what do you guys think that you can do to have success against them?
GABE PRUITT: I think the main thing is rebounding. They kind of remind us of Stanford with a 7-footer. They have a lot of big guys. They have a couple that can go outside.
Our main focus -- we've been defending all year. That's one of our strengths, but to be successful in this game I think we need to rebound, and I think we can run on those guys, given that they have the 7-footer and the 6-9 guys. We'll see what happens tomorrow.
LODRICK STEWART: I feel the same way. I think they have three or four 6-10 and a 7-footer. I know they're a lot bigger than we are, but I think we've got great guards. Our big man is fast getting up and down from end to end on the court. I feel that's an advantage that we have.
We have smaller big men, but they're very quick getting from one end of the court to the other end of the court.
NICK YOUNG: They're a tough team from looking at them on film. They're a tough team. They crash the boards real hard. They play real aggressive and are an up and down team. We've got to go out there and play hard. It's tournament time. We've got to go out there and play, play our hardest.

Q. This question is for Lodrick. I was reading where you didn't get to practice the early part of the season with some weight issues. I wonder if you could take me back to that. What you felt at the time and how you think that's helped you?
LODRICK STEWART: Coach Floyd, he had a goal for me to lose weight over the season he wanted me to lose 12 pounds in probably two weeks. And I did it. If I didn't do it, don't matter if I lost 11 and a half, he wasn't going to let me practice. He was serious about that. I think that really helped my game. It opened up my game, being able to play on the floor a lot better and move around a lot quicker. It really helped me.

Q. When you're going through it, how tough was it not to be practicing with your teammates? Were you upset with Coach Floyd? Did you understand why he was doing it? What was your feeling at the time?
LODRICK STEWART: No. I wasn't upset with Coach Floyd. We have a great relationship on and off the court. I knew it was going to help me in the long run. When they was in practice, I was, I was out running, in the weight room, running, it generally helped me out. I was surprised I lost the weight so quickly.

Q. This is for Nick. What are your impressions of Sonny Weems. I know you guys might be matched up a little bit and how to guard him. And also it seems like you guys are kind of the same player in many ways. Looking at him on tape, do you see kind of the same kind of player?
NICK YOUNG: Oh, yeah. Coach recruited him I heard. He's a great player. I seen him running off of picks, post-up, had a little mid range game. He looks like an all around player. It's going to be a tough match-up. My team is going to help me out, I know Lod is going to help me out, I know Gabe is going to help me out. So it's going to be three-on-one?

Q. This is for any of you guys. Just your thoughts on Coach Floyd and what he's done with the program. What were your expectations when you signed on to play for him.
NICK YOUNG: Why I signed to play for Coach Floyd? It was a great thing. I know his background a little bit. He came from the NBA program, from college. I used to watch it growing up in high school as a kid. I didn't know what to think. He's a great coach. Once I came in he made a great impact on me individually on playing defense and working harder on the court.
GABE PRUITT: Coming in I didn't really know too much about him. I just know he coached in the NBA and in college. He's a guy that we all respect. He demands a lot from us and he gets a lot out of our team. And he really emphasized defense.
He won us a lot of games. If you look back on the games that we've been successful on, it's been on the defensive end. Coach Floyd really brought the best out of all of us. As players we love him because he just wants the best for us. It's all paid off for us.
LODRICK STEWART: I pretty much feel the same way. We have high expectations for Coach Floyd, we as individuals, to help this program turn around because we was kind of in the dog house. We had a couple of rough seasons with me being here from a freshman. I was kind of happy when I heard he got the job and he just came in and turned it around extremely fast. Over two years it's amazing what he's done with this program, with us three individually with our games, helping us play at another level on defense and on offense.

Q. This is for Gabe and Nick. Can you talk about Lodrick's game, what he means to you guys? What was the rest of the team thinking about when he was out running and lifting when you guys were out practicing?
NICK YOUNG: I seen him out there working hard. I knew how bad he wanted to come back. It's his senior year. He wanted to make a major impact. I knew he was going to lose the weight. He developed as a great player. Ever since then he's more quicker. He learned how to dribble the ball better. He's been playing good for us.
GABE PRUITT: I played against Lodrick in high school, too, so I knew how much basketball meant to him. When Coach Floyd did that to him, I knew it wouldn't be long for Lodrick to come back because he would want to be part of the team. I knew eventually he'd make the weight in the time period that he had. He's meant a lot to our team. He had a lot of big games for us, came through for us a lot. He means a lot to our team.

Q. You guys are known primarily probably as a football school. Are you interested in changing that from a national perspective? You guys probably feel overlooked. Would that be fair to say? Gabe, we'll start with you.
GABE PRUITT: People talk about USC as a football school. I think we opened a lot of eyes this year with the success we had this season. It's kind of frustrating when you have people say USC is a football school and us playing basketball. It really kind of hurts us. I think that is more motivation for our team. And as players we try to change that. And I think this is the perfect opportunity right now to change that around.
LODRICK STEWART: I feel the same way as Gabe and probably as Nick, too. I think it's a basketball and a football school now. It used to frustrate me, too, as a freshman, sophomore, and junior; hearing about the football team so much.
I respect the football team. I know how hard they worked to get where they're at. That's the same attitude we want to take and approach at the beginning of the year. We watch them at some practices, go out there and watch them in the weight room and see how hard they go. It rubbed off on us.
Coach Floyd was the one that had us do that, watch them play and watch them practice and just work hard in everything they do. They don't slack off for nothing. So it kind of rubbed off on us, and that's the attitude that we're taking. I think this program in basketball is going to go up and not down from the years after me.
NICK YOUNG: It's funny now. We've got fans that are watching us play. We have people saying, good job. We've always been like the little brothers to the program. We're just growing up now. It's turning around for us. We still love the football team. Why wouldn't we? They've won so many championships. We're just trying to work on ours now.

Q. Did you guys go to the football game when USC hung 70 on Arkansas? And can you get 70 tomorrow night?
GABE PRUITT: We watched it. We did watch that game. We realized that our football team faced them. Now it's our turn to face them. We're going to do everything we can to do the same thing the football team did.
LODRICK STEWART: I watched the game, too. I knew they were going to come out fired up, because that's probably what our football team done. But we're not going to get caught up in individual battles with them and the words and stuff like that. We're going to go out there and play basketball and have fun. Whatever happens, happens. We're going to hold our head up no matter what. We made it this far and we've got the experience playing in the NCAA tournament with the best teams in the country. So we have nothing to lose really.
NICK YOUNG: Same thing. We made it this far. No matter who we would play it was going to be a tough team. Arkansas is a great team. Hopefully we can repeat the same thing our football team did?

Q. Now that you guys have gotten to the tournament, what have you guys done to kind of stay loose, have fun, and enjoyed it as opposed to being uptight and stressing and kind of putting pressure on you guys?
GABE PRUITT: I know for myself I just try to keep my same routine as the regular season. This is big, a big tournament. I don't want to get too fired up and overwhelmed. I just try to stick to my same routine and stay focused. Get a lot of rest, stay off my feet, because it's going to be a real tough game guarding Ervin and those guys and Weems and Beverley. It's going to be a tough job for us. I just try to, like I said, stick to my daily routine that I do before games.
LODRICK STEWART: I feel the same way. Just sticking to our routine. I don't really think about it as one of the biggest games we play. It will make you nervous. It will make your palms sweat. You've got to go out like a normal game, like the first game of the season basically. Just be excited that you get the opportunity to play at this level. That's how I look it and so we're going to play basketball and have fun.
NICK YOUNG: Try not to get over motivated, try to stay focused. Cracking jokes means a lot. Trying to keep the team level headed. Just having fun. We made it this far. We can't put so much stress on ourselves.

Q. This is for Lodrick. As a senior who's been through a lot at USC with the coach and changes and a tough season before, can you tell us what you've been through.
LODRICK STEWART: It's big in the division. It's not really about me. It's about our team. It was hard my first three years knowing that I've got one more year to try to get to the NCAA tournament. I knew under Coach Floyd we could do that because he'd been there and had experience at every level winning. He brought a different mentality and different attitude for this team, and it just worked out the best for all of us.
NICK YOUNG: It is about Lodrick, isn't it.
(Laughter.)
THE MODERATOR: We have USC Head Coach Tim Floyd. We'll have him make some opening remarks. He also needs to talk about his past triumphs here in Spokane along the way here.
COACH TIM FLOYD: Dave and I worked together. He was the first SID over at University of Idaho. First win was here in Spokane and I ripped my pants out. I didn't know how head coaches are supposed to act. 'Went into a catcher's crouch and split my pants from the zipper to the belt line. Coached the rest of the game with a coat wrapped around me.
Anyhow, I thought I'd tell the story because I knew Dave would tell y'all after it was over.
THE MODERATOR: Make some opening comments? He did win the two tournaments here in Spokane, too. So I think you're unbeaten in Spokane. Make some opening comments.
COACH TIM FLOYD: We're excited to be here. Happy for our players, happy for guys like Lodrick and Reed who are in their senior years and Gabe and Nick who we inherited. Henry Bibby left us three terrific players in Stewart and Young and Pruitt who have been the core of our scoring all year long.
We have added to it with some terrific young freshmen and a couple of sophomores who are contributing. Taj Gibson has probably been the biggest difference maker in our season this year with his ability and a guy that can rebound and a guy that we can throw the ball to inside. We have been a very consistent team until our last ballgame against the University of Oregon, and they played exceptionally well in that game and really exposed some areas with our team that we have tried to correct in the last three days. Primarily defensive transition.
And that's an area that Arkansas can also expose because they're a great offensive transition team. So we've spent a lot of time in that area in the last three days. Do you all have any questions?

Q. Hearing you say that, some of your players were talking about how they felt like maybe they could get in transition on Arkansas, and that might play to your advantage. Any thoughts on having this an up-tempo game? Would that fall in your favor?
COACH TIM FLOYD: Well, we were, I don't know, second or third in the Pac-10 in scoring. We can score, but to score and get in the transition, you've got to be able to rebound it first.
If you're talking the ball out of the net because they're getting second and third and fourth opportunities on the offensive board, taking the ball out of the net, that certainly impacts any ability to get it in a transition game. I think rebounding is the biggest thing in this game. And our ability to get back on defense being the second biggest thing that we need to think about. I'm glad you told me that our players were thinking offensive transition because we'll try to address that tonight.

Q. I was wondering if you could talk about Lodrick Stewart. This is his senior season and your decision not to let him practice at the start, to shed the weight. Just how he responded to that.
COACH TIM FLOYD: He responded well. He lost the weight and came back and I thought had his best start to a season since he's been at SC. He was able to do things other than catch and shoot. He's been able to defend at a higher level than he did a year ago. And he had some terrific rebounding games for us early in the season. I think it made him more committed to team. And I think he's had an outstanding senior year.

Q. Can you talk about his 3-point shooting? I know he's the school record holder. Can you talk about the impact that has on you guys?
COACH TIM FLOYD: He is as good a 3-point shooter as there is in the country. When his feet are underneath him, he can really catch and shoot. He's a guy who needs help to get those done off of screens and off of penetration and kick. His biggest impact for us this year has come on the defensive end and defensive rebounding. That's where he's made his most improvement.

Q. Nick had mentioned that Sonny Weems, you kind of looked at him in recruiting a little bit. How do you think his game has really evolved since then. Also him and Nick seem to be kind of similar type players. How do you see that match-up?
COACH TIM FLOYD: I think you said Weems, is that right? Yeah, Weems is a guy that we looked at and everybody else in the country looked at. He was generally regarded to be the best junior college player in the country. We've tried to do it with high school players here. But he was a guy that was so talented you felt like you just had to look at him anyway. By the time we called he had it down to Arkansas and Memphis and Oklahoma.
From looking at all the game tape that I've looked at and our staff has looked at, we get the feeling that he started out -- he came out great guns in November and December. And that his game has returned to that level. That there was a little lull that appeared in January with the films that we watched there versus who he's playing to right now.
He's a guy who has shot at about 36 percent from the 3. He's taken I think 108, 3's. He can beats you off the dribble. He can get to the mid range game, 15 feet, and knock that shot down. It's very difficult in transition and he's very difficult in transition, and he can post.
He might run the floor a little better than Nick right now. I think Nick can score it in the same ways though that Sonny can. I think it will be a very good match-up.

Q. Can you just talk about when you took over the program what were your expectations, and what are your expectations for this program down the road?
COACH TIM FLOYD: Well, your expectations always have to match your boss' expectation. And my boss' expectation is to win a National Championship. So when they interview you and they ask you if you think you can do it, if you want the job, you always say yes. So that's our expectation.
How quickly? I don't know. I don't know how quickly that will happen. You just hope it happens before the end of your contract, which is the fifth year. Mike has been very supportive. We have a fabulous new building that obviously raises expectations.
We have a tremendous academic school, and we're in an area with 18 million people. It's been the easiest recruiting job that I've ever had. We've always had to think nationally in terms of our recruiting at all my other stops. But here we can literally recruit in our own back yard. The key thing for us will be our ability to keep all these great players at home. You turn on the TV today and you watch Maryland with Ibekwe and Strawberry from Los Angeles and Dudley at Boston College from Los Angeles. That's the biggest challenge is to try to keep all these great players in Southern California at home.

Q. Have any teams with size given you much trouble this year?
COACH TIM FLOYD: Stanford. I think they set a Pac-10 record, certainly a school record, maybe an NBA record, I don't know, for blocked shots against us. They had 19.
When I look at Arkansas, I see Stanford. The length, the size, the ability to make change shots. They may be better in transition than Stanford. I think that they can store it on the block like Stanford. I think they're an outstanding team.

Q. Earlier in the week Stan Heath had said he feels like his team comes in as the underdog here. I'm wondering your thoughts about that, and do you care whether you're perceived as underdog or overdog or whatever?
COACH TIM FLOYD: It doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter. I think that players have to play. I don't look at the lines very often. I couldn't tell you what the gamblers are saying on it. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It's what players do this time of the year. It's how guards play this time of the year. Our ability to get in the offense and defense without turning it over, offensively and defensively without giving up layups.
As far as motivation, if guys have to have motivation because they're underdogs this time of year, then you're not as good as you think.

Q. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind talking about your coaching career starting up as a UTEP assistant to where you are now.
COACH TIM FLOYD: It was the best thing that ever happened in my life was having the opportunity to work for Don Haskins. He hired me out of college at the age of 22 when I didn't know one thing about basketball, nothing. I didn't deserve the opportunity, based on knowledge or experience, but I worked for the guy who I still believe is the coach -- well, he is the coach that I measure all other coaches against. I think he's the very best coach that's ever coached college basketball.
It's because of where he was. He was at a place where kids didn't grow up wanting to go to school. You recruited the best available player you could find. You didn't recruit players to a system like you can at North Carolina or Kentucky or any other powerhouses.
I really believe, had he been at Kentucky, he would have won six National Championships instead of the one.
But he gave me a belief system and how to play offensively, be able to change the way you play according to your talent, and a big belief system in discipline and defense and defensive transition. And I still talk to him four or five times a week. I talked to him this morning. I talked to him yesterday. He's the only boss I've ever had. And really it was the greatest thing that ever happened to me was having the opportunity to work for him.

Q. How are the feelings different now with this team versus the last time you were in the tournament 10 years ago?
COACH TIM FLOYD: Well, I'm excited personally to be back because it has been 10 years. These are some of the greatest memories I had as a college coach because it's what you play to do. The essence of what we try to do is to try to win games and to try to meet the expectations of your administration. I don't care if I was at Idaho or New Orleans or Iowa State. They all thought they had the greatest school in the country, and all of them expected to be in the NCAA tournament.
Now it's just more about the players and the kids that we have, and these guys experiencing it and having a taste of it and not being satisfied with just being here, but trying to play for more than you certainly did at the University of New Orleans or Iowa State. We felt like we might have a chance to win a National Championship at Iowa State, and I believe that USC will win one in my lifetime. I just hope it's while we're there.

Q. Could you talk a little bit about Nick and the season he's had for you this year?
COACH TIM FLOYD: Well, he's been outstanding. Nick, I think his game has grown. I think he sees the game outside of just playing with the ball in his hands, which I thought he did a year ago. I think he's involved his teammates more than he did a year ago. His strength is a lot better than it was last year. He's a guy -- he's a rare player in that he can play outside of the offense. He's a guy, late clock situations who can go get his own shot and shoot that shot for a percentage or take that shot and go get fouled. And I think you have to have that type of player at any level in order to move forward. And he's a very very talented young man.

Q. Could you tell me what pride you take in taking a school that is known for football and maybe getting basketball towards that kind of level? I know it was your goal. But just talk about the pride of maybe just jumping up and getting that kind of attention for your players.
COACH TIM FLOYD: To me it was a no-brainer that this job was a no-brainer as far as the potential of the job. I had never been on the campus. I'd been in Los Angeles throughout my career recruiting. You guys experienced it at Arkansas 30 years ago where y'all couldn't beat anybody in basketball, and you were a football school. Oklahoma went through it. And Texas went through it for many years. Florida went through it for many years.
There's no reason why a school that can have 80 scholarship athletes that can play for National Championships in football can't find 10 or 12 in basketball. It just means that you're in an area rich with talent. I've never been more excited about a job. Just because I go to high school games after practice, I can drive 10 minutes and I'm seeing a guy that's in the Top-25 in the country. We have four of them in next year's class.
UCLA, we recognize the reputation and their history, but at the same time I don't see any reason in the world why this can't be like North Carolina and Duke where they're 9 or 10 miles apart. I think they have five million people in their part of the country. We have 18 million. And with our new facility why this can't be a premiere national level program.
I think ourselves and Penn State, we're probably the last two that play at a high level in football that have not been able to do it on a consistent basis. We've had great teams, great players. Bill Sharman, Paul Westfall, you go on and on and on. Mack Calvin. Great coaches, but we never had the facility. These coaches that preceded me never had the facilities. This new place that we have is special, and I think it's going to change our program.

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