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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: SPOKANEMarch 17, 2007Malik HairstonErnie KentBryce TaylorSPOKANE, WASHINGTON THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and take questions for the student-athletes from Oregon. Q. Dribble penetration, big weapon for you guys, can you kind of put it into your own words for me just exactly how you guys use that as a weapon and also when you do penetrate, are you guys looking to finish with the ball or are you guys looking to kick and find open teammates? BRYCE TAYLOR: We just try to spread the floor out and allow our guards to use their quickness to get by their defender and if help side comes up, try to kick it to the open man. But like you said, that's a big part of our offense. We try to share the ball and that's one of the ways we do it, just using our quickness to get by our defender and then when we drive help, we try to kick it to whoever is open and keep the ball moving until somebody gets a good shot. MALIK HAIRSTON: Bryce pretty much said it. We have a lot of offensive weapons. We try to get the ball moving and basically he just get the ball to whoever is open. We use the pump fake to get in the lane and draw the defense, kick it to the open guy and just continue to do so until we get a good shot. Q. You and Winthrop kind of have a similar style of play. Quick teams, get up and down the floor. Do you think that will work four advantage, Miami slowed that game down for you and it gave you some trouble. MALIK HAIRSTON: I think it will definitely be a more fun game. It will be more up tempo. But I still think the focus or our focus will be defense. Being able to shut somebody down that's definitely been the key to our success. And I still think that will be our focus. BRYCE TAYLOR: I would agree with everything Malik said. It does play to our favor, just because like you said Miami tried to slow it down and limit the possessions in the game. We prefer to get up and down and get more shots up. But the key is going to be able to guard somebody and that's what the game is going to come down to. Q. Can you guys talk about Coach Kent and his style of directing you guys? Is he very vocal? Is he very demonstrative. Can you just kind of break him down for us, please. BRYCE TAYLOR: Coach is very vocal and he's a demanding coach to play for. But he gives us a framework in which he likes us to play within. And then he gives us the freedom to just to make plays and just to play our styles. So he puts us in a good position to be able to show what we can do and at the same time everybody can play to their strengths within that. So it's important. MALIK HAIRSTON: It's definitely been tough getting to this point, but I think he's done an exceptional job of leading us. And getting us to this point. And kind of giving us a blueprint of what winning is. And I think we have done a good job of picking it up. But ones again I think he did a great job of showing us. Q. Chamberlain Oguchi has basically been playing off the bench this year and last year at this point well in the Pac-10 tournament and second half of the year he's just lighting it up. What's been the biggest reasons for him -- what, why he has he not been as productive this year? MALIK HAIRSTON: I think he can shoot it like that every game every year. He did a great job last year and he's still a big piece of this basketball team and he'll definitely have more opportunities coming up to showcase his abilities. He's a very good basketball player. A very good shooter. And we're just a very balanced basketball team. We have a lot of players that can score a lot of guys coming off the bench and the starters, so I'm sure he'll get another opportunity to showcase what he can do. Q. Is it confidence with him? Is it a confidence question? MALIK HAIRSTON: Champ has confidence and he should. He works on his game, he gets in, shoots the ball, it's just a matter of the right situation. Q. One of the Winthrop players they referred to he referred to his team as little old Winthrop and that people don't really know about them. Do you look at them any differently than you would like an UCLA or some of the Pac-10 powers that you play. Are they just as good as these other teams. Is that how you view them coming in? MALIK HAIRSTON: Definitely. They're here where we are. Where a lot of teams have been left out and where we have been left out the last couple years, they're in the tournament. They're definitely a very good basketball team. We don't necessarily buy that little old Winthrop. They have had a lot of success and they play well together. They played a great game yesterday. I think it will be a great game, a great college basketball game. BRYCE TAYLOR: They're 29-4. And they went 14-0 in their conference, so there's not a lot of teams who can say they have done that. The teams that they have lost to Wisconsin, A and M, North Carolina and one other major schools, I can't remember who the fourth one was. So that tells you a lot with about the type of team they are. So they don't come from a big conference, they don't have that name, but just the fact that they're a 11 seed is probably something that surprises me just because of 29 wins is a big deal. It's going to be a big game. We're going to have to take that approach like we're playing any other big name school because they're going to be ready for the challenge. Q. To kind of piggyback on that last question, Winthrop comes from a conference whose RPI is 29 and you guys beat them by 15 points two years ago with the same roster intact, and you guys won the Pac-10 tournament, one of the best conferences in the country, do you think you have better players? BRYCE TAYLOR: I'll just say we both have great players. Their coach would probably want to ride with their players and the same thing for our coach. So they have Bradshaw and Martin. Who are seniors. And their lead guard leads them in scoring. So they have great players and it's not really going to come down to that. I feel like it's going to come down to who plays best as a team and who is going to play with that discipline that it takes to make it to this Sweet 16. MALIK HAIRSTON: Bryce said it perfectly. Two very talented basketball teams. Playing up tempo style of basketball. I just think that we realize the importance of defense as we continue to stay, just stay with whatever gets it done for us. That's the key to our success thus far and so we got to hold on to it. Q. Winthrop, they obviously possess some matchup problems with Craig Bradshaw in the middle and how big and athletic he is. Is this going to be a defensively for you guys just a kind of contain him by a committee or is this going to be really resting on the shoulders of Maarty down low? MALIK HAIRSTON: If you watched us for the earlier this year, it's definitely going to be a team effort. Definitely playing against Georgetown with their guy it was a team effort. Maarty Leunen does an excellent job of fronting and fighting down low in the post and playing a very solid defense. But it's definitely going to have to be up to the rotations, our communication, just our determination kind of containing him in the middle. BRYCE TAYLOR: It's always a team effort. That's what our team defense is. We like to help each other. And especially with the strong post players we usually front and then give good weak side help so that's going to be the main focus. Q. Maarty is basically a four, three, four type player playing in a five position. I know you're playing down low a little bit, obviously, to help this team out, is that, has that taken an adjustment for you? Has that taken you out of are game a little bit? MALIK HAIRSTON: I definitely wouldn't make an excuse and say it's taken me out of my game, but that definitely has taken an adjustment. Not necessarily being used to it. But I have a team that's fighting down there with me. And this is all about sacrifices. And if we didn't make certain sacrifices, we wouldn't be at this point and my whole thing is I want to be able to do whatever I can do for my team to succeed. And I'm sure that's the same for Bryce, the same for Maarty and the rest of the 11 guys. Q. Can you guys talk a little bit about the Pac-10 tournament, Bryce obviously in the championship game you had I would think one of the greatest games you have ever played. You take your regular season finish in the Pac-10 and then throw in what you guys were able to accomplish in the tournament, can you just talk about maybe the level of expectations for you guys based on well just the fact that you guys showed such a great performance in the Pac-10 tournament and how that translate into the NCAA tournament? BRYCE TAYLOR: One of the things I read was people were questioning whether we peaked too early coming into the tournament and could we continue to shoot the ball as well as we did in the tournament. And there's always high expectations, we got a three seed, so that's important for us to just try to live up to our part, which is just come out and give our best effort. You can't always control how well you shoot the ball but there's other things, other things on the floor that you can control which is your effort and your defensive effort and making plays to get loose balls and things like that. So for us it's just important for us to do what we can control and try to handle that as much as we can. Q. Is it safe to say right now you guys in the next 20, 25 minutes when you guys go out and take the floor that this is the most important practice of the season for you guys and if so, tell me why. BRYCE TAYLOR: I wouldn't say it was the most important practice because it's not like we're going to go and coach is going to kill us. But it's important for us just to realize what it's going to take to get this done because just from what I noticed watching the game yesterday Winthrop is extremely confident right now. It's not going to be an easy game at all. People look at the name Winthrop and they don't realize what a great team they are and the record that they have. So for us it's going to be about just getting as sharp as we can and making sure we don't come out flat like we did yesterday, because they will take advantage of that. And it's going to be tough if we come out and play like that. Q. Could you guys talk about Aaron Brooks' season and what you see in him different this year than last season. MALIK HAIRSTON: Aaron Brooks, I think he's done an exceptional job of leading this basketball team and just kind of making the turn around from last year. He kind of was scrutinized a lot last year but he's a very good player. He's a very athletic, he has a great feel for the game. And he's clutch. He's made a lot of big shots for us. And he's a big reason why we are here today. BRYCE TAYLOR: For Aaron, I think the most important thing is just this year he's just playing his game. And he keeps everything loose for him. That's important. Just him being able to play freely and just show he can do all around the floor. So he's just played a huge role for us this year and he's stepped up his leadership and been more vocal in that way too and I feel like in some ways that's even more important than what he's been doing, numbers wise on the floor, because we always know we can look to him and in late game situations and we have that belief in him that he's going to come up big in late game situations and just lead us. So that's been extremely important for us thus far. Q. You guys always have a good fan following wherever you go. You got Winthrop who seemed to take-over the crowd in their game, you got a Spokane crowd that's probably going to root against you because you haven't lost to the Cougars in a hundred years in a row or something like that, you got two teams running and gunning fighting for the Sweet 16, how much fun is it going to be out there tomorrow? BRYCE TAYLOR: It's fun. Just watching the games on TV, that's something that I have done for awhile now. So it's just exciting to picture myself out there tomorrow and we just got to make sure we keep everything in perspective though. Don't get overly excited or nervous, but just enjoy the moment and just have fun with it. MALIK HAIRSTON: I think it will be a great atmosphere. Two teams with the sense of urgency. We want to be able to have another practice. We want to live to play another game. So I just think it will be very exciting out there and like Bryce said, it's not getting too excited, just being able to keep our focus. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thanks, guys. Okay. At this time we'll take questions for coach. Q. Can you talk about using dribble penetration as a weapon. Obviously that seems to be a big part of your offense and also without having a dominant shot blocker in the middle, what you guys need to do defensively to kind of prevent Winthrop from exploiting that in their game. COACH ERNIE KENT: We feel like we're a very quick and explosive basketball team in the full court and even in the half court. And one of the things that we spent a lot of time on is attacking defenses once you get them spread out with the dribble. We have got five six, seven maybe eight really skilled basketball players that can pass, dribble and shoot the ball. And when you have an ability to shoot it teams have to honor your 3-point shot which gives you a lot of opportunity to get in the lanes and penetrate and draw and kick. And either get a layup or get somebody else a great look. Not having a shot blocker, all year long we been talked about being too smaller too this and kind of like that movie what was that horse Geraldo? Hidalgo. Whatever that horse is. My jockey is too big and my horse is too small. I guess that's kind of us. And really to overcome that, we have done a good job of fronting the post and having great weak side help. And with that the ball has a hard time getting in there. And the game yesterday there was an exceptional player on their team that really wore us down a little bit inside which gave us an opportunity to kind of forced us to go to the matchup zone which has been a great second defense for us since we're not really a full court pressing team, having only six guys, seven guys that we play and really not having that quickness and pressure in the full court, we really rely on our half court defense and the matchup zone. The matchup zone gives you an opportunity pressure the ball, front the post and have great weak side help and it's really aimed at taking away a low post basketball team that really wants to pound the ball inside and that's exactly what it did yesterday that gave us a chance to get back in the game against Miami. Q. No that you've had ample time to figure out this Winthrop team, what do you know more about them today versus yesterday? COACH ERNIE KENT: Well, we have always known a lot about them. Having played them a couple years ago and watched them through the year, the thing that I know more about today than yesterday they are not a Cinderella basketball team. That is a very, very good basketball team. They have got the big guy inside, they're loaded with shooters, they're loaded with athletes, got a deep bench, great coach and they played a tough schedule. When you look at what they did with the people in their conference and non-conference, playing Wisconsin, Carolina, Marylands, that close, you're not a Cinderella team having those types of teams in your schedule and playing that tough of basketball against a caliber of opponent. I know that they're very similar to us they want to run, spread you out, attack you off the dribble, shoot it everywhere. And they got a dominating center inside. So we're really, really going to have to be on our toes defensively to neutralize some of those players on that team and no one goes off and has a monster game on you. If we have a player has a big game like that it could be along afternoon for us. Q. You just kind of hit on one of the things that I think is going to work to your advantage, you both have a quick upstart game. Do you think that that's going to go better for you guys Miami of Ohio slowed you down and gave you some trouble there. COACH ERNIE KENT: With Miami of Ohio again, they dictated the tempo of the game. Because again the only, with only playing six or seven guys it's really not super quickness sitting down on the bench that we can get out and press for 40 minutes a be maybe speed Miami of Ohio up that would have changed the tempo. So you can do it two ways: Get up the line defense and maybe get some steals, we weren't getting that. Or, maybe you could create some steals out of your matchup zone, which gave us an opportunity to speed the game up and gave us just enough transition. Other than that, very similar to Washington State, we had to beat them at their own style of game. So again I thought it showed the diversity of this team with being able to play in the half court and grind out a game and win it in the last seconds. But we have done that quite a bit here and we have been in a lot of games like that. This game tomorrow maybe the advantage of playing Miami of Ohio is that maybe we're not as worn out because we just didn't run like we usually run and we didn't get in up tempo came and this game tomorrow is going to be up tempo. I don't see either of us changing that style of play in the next 24 hours to say I'm going to walk it down the floor and milk a clock. They're not going to go away from who they are, we would like to play, we're better suited in my opinion to really go out and run and spread you and attack and lots of shots going up because we can really shoot the basketball and we're really pretty good beating you off the dribble too as well. Q. What was kind of the demeanor of your team when it got back to the hotel last night? Was there kind of a sense of relief more than satisfaction of winning? COACH ERNIE KENT: I think there was a sense of relief. I think there's a little bit of sense of disappointment which is good too that they felt like they could have played better. I wanted to bring to their attention that we're going to play better. Having getting through this first game. None of these guys have been through this before. They needed to go through it. The good thing is we won a basketball game. Maybe it was a slow down game and everything else, but I pointed out to them to realize you shot 50 percent from the field, 50 from the three, a hundred percent from the free throw line. You only had five turnovers in the game, and you had to grind out a game and win it at the buzzer, that is good basketball game playing against a team that plays a very similar style. The key thing though is to let them understand, let's go back and realize what got us here, hard work and defense and on Sunday, we're going to have to bring hard work and defense to get through this game and really execute down the stretch in these games as well. Q. Can you kind of define your coaching style and the way you communicate with your players? COACH ERNIE KENT: I like to feel like I'm still playing. So I like to stand and move although this year with bad shoulders and bad hips I sat down quite a bit. And now you're at tournament time I think it's important that you have the intensity that is needed. And these guys need to understand the intensity that's needed to be successful. That's something we have cranked up here from our conference tournament on. But it's a style that allows them green light to shoot it any time they want to shoot it. They don't need to look at the bench and realize whether it's a bad shot, they need to understand good shot/bad shot, but it's one that I hope that gives them an enormous amount of confidence that they can play the game with a lot of freedom. So there's a method to the madness that we do on the floor. But at the same time I want them to have an enormous amount of confidence and maybe look at it like a Saturday afternoon pickup game, that type of mentality you get when you're just out there playing around and shooting it up and you get on a roll and the ball starts going and away you go and it's a lot of fun involved in this it as well. Defensive minded I'm really, that's where I put the attention. You have to defend otherwise they're going to take you out that have ball game. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you, coach. COACH ERNIE KENT: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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