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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS: NEW ORLEANSMarch 19, 2010Dino GaudioIshmael SmithL.D. WilliamsNEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. I think Chris Paul said when he gets time he comes back to Wake and works out with you guys from time to time. What was that experience like and how often did you get a chance to work out with Chris? ISHMAEL SMITH: Usually when he's back in Winston. Obviously, you know, he's from there. Any chance he's back, he always texts all the guys. He comes up and it's some pretty intense five-on-five games. But it's an honor any time you can play with one of the best point guards in the NBA. I'm a little biased: I think he is the best point guard in the NBA. But that's just my opinion. But like I said, it's an honor. I try to pick his brain on different things to pick up that I can use in my game. Q. In those games, do you typically guard Chris or are you on the same team? ISHMAEL SMITH: It depends. For the most part I want to be on the opposite side. I'm a competitor just as much as he is. So we go at it. But for the most part we're on the opposite team and his team wins for the most part (smiling). Q. This is for whichever one of you is going to end up guarding John Wall. ISHMAEL SMITH: Oh, well, we'll have to see, so it depends. What is the question? Q. John said there were a couple guards he's seen in the SEC that are as fast as you are or bring that speed to the court. Where do you think John ranks in terms of guys who you've seen who bring that quickness? ISHMAEL SMITH: Well, I played against a pretty good guy in practice every day last year in Jeff. Then, you know, Ty Lawson. I seen Ty Lawson for three years. And I know I'm missing some guys that I played against throughout my four years here, and that I might have went home and played against. But, like I said, his speed, his quickness, his change of direction is pretty unbelievable. So I have met some guys, but obviously you won't know how quick and how fast he really is until you get out there. Q. I was wondering if you could expand on what you said before and give some examples of things you've learned and maybe even interesting things that surprised you, maybe heady things, positional things that people don't think about by playing against him. And the second part is having played against him, obviously you're not going to be intimidated by Kentucky's point guard either, then? ISHMAEL SMITH: You know what, Chris I think has such a great mind of the game. One thing I picked up from him is his ability to use ball screens. He's unbelievable at ball screens. I think he's the best in the league as far as ball screens. And that's one thing I tried to pick his brain about is watching him. If I'm not guarding him, the way he works ball screens. And he has a knack of stealing the basketball. It's unbelievable how he can bait you to do a move, and you can only do one move and he'll take the ball from you. So it's different things. As far as stealing the basketball. And I know I'm missing some things as far as ball screens that I try to pick his brain up. And it's not just him. I watch a lot of guys in the NBA, and I try to put those same attributes that those guys have in my game. But I must say that Chris is probably one of my favorite point guards in the NBA. Not because he went to Wake, it's because he's a special player. And I guess you can say that playing against Chris every summer really can prepare you for the ACC season and your non-conference season and into times like right now when you're playing arguably probably the best point guard in college basketball right now. Q. You guys talked on Wednesday about the need to come out and play free and loose against Texas last night. Did you feel like you accomplished that? And do you see any reason for you not to play the same way tomorrow night against Kentucky? L.D. WILLIAMS: I think we did that yesterday. I feel like we came out and we had a really good start to the game. We didn't really end both halves like we really wanted to. But I feel like we came out. We played with passion, we played with emotion, we played with a ton of energy. And that's how you've got to be in these tournament situations. In a lot of the cases, the most talented team hasn't been winning. You look around the country, there's been a lot of upsets, you know. So if you do that, then you're going to put yourself in a pretty good predicament to be in a situation to where you're going to be able to win the game later in the game. ISHMAEL SMITH: I do think we play with a lot of energy and he motion. Like you said, it shouldn't change. But I do think we've got to clean up on some things, obviously. If we do those things, I think we give ourselves a chance to be close and hopefully steal one at the end. Q. How did we get from Miami to what happened to last night in like six or seven days? Was that a different team or how did you guys shake that off? What happened there and how did we get here? L.D. WILLIAMS: I don't know. We knew coming into this tournament that we were going to be the underdog. Every game, night in, night out. We just playing free right now. We're just playing. We know we're going to make mistakes. And the biggest thing that I see in our team from the Miami game until now is we just have each other's back. No matter what. I probably made the most bonehead mistake of the tournament yesterday in traveling the baseline. But, you know, send the game into overtime. We were down 8 and we found a way to win the game. To be honest with you, like none of the guys on my team were like dang, L, what were you thinking? Not still to right now. I haven't heard anything about the mistake. That's the biggest thing that I've seen. It could have easily went the other way whenever I traveled on the baseline. Then we pick up a foul with nine seconds to go. They could have won the game in overtime when they were up 8. But there was something in this team that didn't want us to lose. We just had each other's back, and it's amazing to see how it works out for you when you just play all out for 40 or 45 minutes. We had been in that situation four times before in the season, and going into overtime. We knew that we had been there, and we didn't panic. We didn't panic not one time. And we came out victorious. ISHMAEL SMITH: Well, I think the difference is this. We're 18-5 I want to say a month ago. We're a team that's looking like we can really, really make some noise. We're still that same team. Nothing has changed. I just think we went through a stretch. We lost five of our last six, and our confidence took a little hit. You're right; I don't know how it goes from -- it's like night and day. But, like I said, we're still that same team with the same talent. And hopefully the Texas game gave us a little bit more confidence to move on. Q. Is there a moment that you can remember either from practice or a game in the past couple years where you remembered how fast or you realized how fast Ishmael is? L.D. WILLIAMS: Well, growing up in North Carolina, both of us grew up in North Carolina. We played against each other countless times in AAU. We've seen each other a lot. I knew how fast he was before he got to Wake. We were on the same team at Elite Camp when we were like sophomores in high school. But I don't know what it is. Like sometimes we'll take out the ball, and he's doing a lay-up before I even get to half court. He runs after the ball goes through the net. I don't understand how he does it, you know what I'm saying? It's crazy. He's like a blur, to be honest with you. A guy told a joke on the team a couple days ago during our senior speeches. He told Ishmael, he said, Freshman year you didn't stop until you hit the baseline. He said, Now you know to stop when you hit a lay-up. And it's funny because that's how fast he is with the ball. If you see him take it out, you might miss him because he's doing a lay-up at the other end. Q. Who said that? L.D. WILLIAMS: Chas. ISHMAEL SMITH: It figures (laughing). Q. You talked about you guys were 18-5 and getting ready to make some noise. Your ensuing struggles, does that maybe give you a better appreciation of the consistency that Kentucky's been able to play with if they're young players? Talk about that. ISHMAEL SMITH: Absolutely. If you take a look at the top four or five teams in the final AP poll, they were very, very consistent. As far as night in and night out winning games. And it's never easy playing in the ACC going to Florida State, going to Virginia Tech. Playing some teams night in and night out where you're just grinding it out, grinding it out. Hopefully that prepared us for the situation right now. But you hit it right on the head. You appreciate what Kentucky has done as far as being consistent night in and night out. Being as young as they are, you can have mental lapses. I haven't seen one yet. So you really do appreciate what those guys are doing, and Kansas, and those top teams. Q. A lot of people look at Kentucky especially the way they played last night and say that's an invincible team. How do you look at that concept and how do you get past that and use that to your advantage in a match-up like this where you would be the underdog? L.D. WILLIAMS: We just got to go out and play fearless. We've got to go out there and play like it's our last game if we lose. I feel like if we go out there and lay it all on the line, we can't be disappointed in ourselves win or lose. That's how we have to approach the game. Obviously Kentucky's a great team. They have everything. They have size, they have quickness, they have shooters, they defend. They do everything well. We just want to go out there and try to compete and try to make the game a good game. Try to have us in a situation to where we can win the game late in the game. Q. Seems like some of your best performances this year have come when you've been in that underdog role you had last night headed into Gonzaga, some of the worst performances have been when you're the heavy favorite. You're definitely going to be the underdog against Kentucky. Is that a role you embrace as a team? L.D. WILLIAMS: I mean, it is what it is. You've got to call a spade a spade. They're the 1 seed; we're the 8 seed. I don't know. I don't see any differences in when we play higher-level teams. Obviously we've had our shortcomings, but when the lights are on, I feel like for the most part we've arrived to the challenge. Time after time Ishmael plays big in big games. Time after time, Rouq plays big in big games. When we need to get a stop in a big game, we get one. We just want to go out there and leave it all on the floor for 40, 45, 50 minutes. However long it takes, that's how long we want to compete. ISHMAEL SMITH: Yeah, I guess it hasn't worked too well for us to be the favorites. We were a 4 seed last year and we were home by now. Early in the year we were 18-5, and on our way up, and people were picking us to do a lot of things, and we were kind of on a downward spiral. I guess the position that we are in right now is a position that we have been successful at lately. But when it tips off at the end of the day it's going to be Kentucky versus Wake. There's no numbers, no nothing. Just the toughest, the hardest, the smartest team, and the most talented team will win. I just hope that night that's us. MODERATOR: Coach, opening remarks on last night? COACH GAUDIO: Very proud of our kids. I thought we did a great job of gutting the win out. Especially down 8 in overtime. For some reason these guys like embrace those overtime periods. In our first overtime game, you know, sometimes there's a little trepidation when you're going into that overtime. I said, Fellas, you guys play basketball. We love the game. How lucky are we to play five more minutes? And then in subsequent overtime games I would say that, and they'd get a smile on their face. I really think they embrace those periods. And I think when you have seniors, a little bit more maturity, they understand all that's involved in that. And we've been very fortunate to win, as I alluded to earlier. Five overtime games. Really proud of the kids for that. I thought in the game last night going into the game my greatest fear as a coach was the backboard. And we talked a lot about in the days leading up to the game we spent a lot of time on our rebounding drills. Whether it was conversion rebound, triangle block out, a drill we have called Nick rebound. And we spend a lot of time on rebounding. And it turned out well for us last night. To get 20 offensive rebounds against a formidable front line like Texas has, I thought it showed a lot of effort on our kids' part. To go plus-25 rebound differential in that game is amazing. But the last paragraph in that story obviously is Ishmael Smith. If you look at his percentages, as I mentioned last night, from the three-point line, from the foul line, really doesn't say who he is. Because he's hit big shots for us all year. As they were going down to shoot the free throw, I told him, Ish, if we're down two or if we're down one, just try to attack them in transition. Now, if he made both and we go down three, cross the timeline, bring the ball near the coach's box there. So we have several side OBs we can run, but we didn't need to do that. Kid made a big-time shot as he's made for us throughout his four-year career here. So very fortunate to live to fight another day, and we have a big challenge, obviously, tomorrow with Kentucky. Q. Can you talk a little bit about what Ishmael has meant to your program and kind of take me through his emergence as a point guard for you? COACH GAUDIO: You know, when Coach Prosser was here -- and we've always played fast. That's the way Skip wanted to play. As we're looking at kids that we're recruiting -- it's funny that year we were recruiting Marcus Thornton, Mike Conley -- or not Mike Conley, but -- help me out. That year the point guards we were recruiting were Marcus Thornton, all right, in that class, along with Augustine that ended up going to Texas who left early. And Ishmael was one of those guys. Ishmael was a kid that really plays fast. He can really push the ball. We just felt with our style of play, he's the guy that set that tone. And he's sort of been the face of our program for four years. Starting as a freshman for us. When he walks in the locker room, that kid always has a smile on his face. He's always upbeat. When the leader of your team is like that, then good things happen for you. Q. There was a lot of talk on Wednesday about you and the players about the need to come out against Texas. If nothing more, just play basketball. Play free and loose. Did you think you accomplished that last night? Do you see any reason whatsoever to change the approach going into Kentucky? COACH GAUDIO: You know, as we play these like motivation games, sometimes as the coaches we're saying okay, this is what we're going to do. This is how we're going to win. At the pregame meal yesterday before they sat down to eat, I said to them, All 16 of you guys, I want you to write down why we're going to win tonight. For you scholarship guys, I want you to put -- the second part of that on your paper is tell me what you're going to do to help us accomplish that goal. And I wanted them thinking about it a little bit. I always sit -- the bus driver's here, and I'm on this seat and I'm usually the last guy on the bus. And I said, When you step on the bus, you put your name on it and fold that paper up and you put it on my seat. So now as we're driving to the arena, I'm looking at them, and there are some pretty good things on there. So before Coach Battle gave his assistant coach talk addressing Texas and what we had to do to offense/defense goals, I handed those papers back to those kids. And I went to the four seniors first. I said, Chas, you tell me why we're going to win tonight. And he listed some of the things. He had some other things on there that he was going to do that were pretty heavy stuff. So I said, Tell us why. And he mentioned those. I went to the seniors. I went through every scholarship player. Then there were a couple of the walk-ons that had some really good things. It's sort of who knows. We're dealing with 18- to 22-year-olds. Somehow I think we have to get them to take ownership of what's about to happen. Maybe when they articulated and the other kids heard them saying why we could win, maybe, maybe that's helped them a little. I thought we played very hard. I thought we played with a lot of emotion, and a lot of energy. Like I said, I was proud of them. Maybe that had a little part to do with that. Q. Could you carry that into Kentucky? Can you carry that on into Kentucky? COACH GAUDIO: For us that are in North Carolina, like Coach Smith when he was at Carolina, he said you don't have momentum going into any tournament. You build momentum while you're in the tournament. So hopefully that helps us build momentum going into Saturday. We know how good they are. I think our guys are excited to play. The coaches, we were up to the wee hours last night watching UK tape. Then we came in after breakfast this morning. We walked through what we thought we had to walk through in preparation for them. Their offenses, their OBs, a couple of our sets. So we already like turned the page to get ready for them, and then obviously we'll go against their stuff here this afternoon. Q. I asked Ishmael this a little while ago; I'm curious on your thoughts. Considering the sort of struggles you guys had late in the year even with some seniors on the team, does that allow you to maybe build more of an appreciation for the consistency Kentucky has had with their youth? They haven't seemed to go into any kind of prolonged slump. There is a consistency of their results, it seems like. COACH GAUDIO: Yeah. I mean, what Coach Cal has done with those guys is remarkable. Especially with the young team that he has. Those guys have faced a lot of adversity, and being where they were, they're getting everybody's best shot. We have our shortcomings as a team. We don't shoot the ball real well sometimes. We have to be really, really good on defense. We have to be really good on the backboard for us to be there to win basketball games. I never felt as we were on a four-game winning streak toward the end of the year. Three of the four of those games were at home. And we won the away game in overtime at UVA. Then the last four were -- three were away and one was home, and we lost the away games in tough places to play at Florida State and at NC State. But these kids have always been together. The locker room has been a real close locker room. I felt like they would play hard. I knew they would play hard. They just kept after it. They never had their heads down. I think as long as we do that, that's what it's all about. Q. Chas McFarland was telling me in the locker room he gets booed everywhere he goes. What is it about his style that gets under people's skin? And how will the match-up with DeMarcus Cousins, how do you expect him to play? COACH GAUDIO: I think the thing that makes that kid a good player is he plays with a lot of passion and he plays with a lot of emotion. At times when he does that, at times it's bad for him because he plays with too much emotion. He's almost like -- I tell him at times he's like emotionally intoxicated, you know. Really. It gets the better of himself. But I think he's matured this year where if there's a call, if it's a bad call or if it's a non-call, when he feels like he got hit, he's handled those situations much better. You know, you look at him, he's a string bean, and he's fighting some big, strong kids. Whether it's an Alabi from Florida State or Tyler Hansbrough down the years at Carolina or Booker at Clemson, the kid has a lot of fight in him. He'll fight you. He'll fight you. And the physicality of the game down low and in all these conferences is amazing. He does what he has to do to try to compete. Part of that is he has to be physical. I think when he is that way, as long as he doesn't lose his composure, he's a really good defender. End of FastScripts |
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