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NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS: OKLAHOMA CITY

March 20, 2010

Johnny Moran

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA

UNI Â– 69
Kansas - 67

THE MODERATOR: Joined at podium by the Northern Iowa Panthers. Head coach, Ben Jacobson, student-athletes, Ali Farokhmanesh, Kwadzo Ahelegbe, Johnny Moran, Adam Koch, and Jordan Eglseder.
We'll open it with quick statement from Coach Jacobson and questions for the student-athletes only.
COACH JACOBSON: Well, I knew we were going to have the make 3-point shots and really felt like in our preparation that Kansas was going to have to miss some 3-point shots, and that happened for us. They're so good everywhere that some things we're going to have to go our way tonight, and I felt like one of those areas that was going to need to go our way was hoping that they would miss some 3-point shots, and fortunately that went our way.
Our guys did a good job of rebounding the basketball for the most part, and then we were able to knock in some timely 3s when we had to. So, feel very fortunate that they missed some jump shots for us and, you know, excited for these guys that we have an opportunity to keep playing.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for student-athletes only at this time.

Q. Ali, what was your thought process when you took that 3-pointer? And for any of you guys, what were you thinking when he took the 3-pointer?
ALI FAROKHMANESH: I just -- kind of like last night, I guess. I was just open on that side. So they were trapping, and it came up to me. And I was going to go and Johnny was on the other wing. I was going to see if I could drive it. The he backed off so far that I thought I might as well just shoot this one.

Q. Anybody else?
JOHNNY MORAN: He was wide open like that. I don't know if Coach really wanted him to shoot that when he was like that in that position, but if you know Ali, you know that shot is going up at the end of the game like that (laughter).

Q. Kwadzo and Ali, if you could both answer this, kind of about the other, but you two been playing together for two years now, kind of leaders of the backcourt of this team. Could you just talk about learning to play with each other and how much you mesh and how you play off of each other these days?
KWADZO AHELEGBE: I'm a little brutal on Ali because I never think he should miss a shot. But, I mean, it's easy, you know, because it's either pick your poison or I'm going to get to the rim or you're going to leave him open for a wide open. It's easy to play with Ali because like you've seen here in these past two games, he's one of the best shooters in the country. He puts the time in, so it's easy.
ALI FAROKHMANESH: I've never played with somebody like Kwadzo that can get to the lane anytime he wants. It's almost unbelievable. We don't have to run a ball screen half the time. 33 high, somebody on the side. Usually somebody is going to be left open. He makes the right play 99 percent of the time.

Q. Guys, everyone kind of viewed you guys as David in this David versus Goliath matchup. You lead for 38 minutes. What explains that?
ADAM KOCH: You know, that's definitely not the way we look at it at all, I guess. We feel like we're a good team. We can play with anybody. So, you know, we just knew that they were a tough team and we're going to have to play really well today and play a good game. We never doubted we could play with them at all.

Q. Kwadzo, your battle today with Sherron Collins. Can you just discuss what was going on out there? It seemed like you got under his skin a little bit today.
KWADZO AHELEGBE: I might be one -- he might be one of the best guards, if not the best guard in the country. I just tried to use my length. You know, that's all I really could do, just try to stay in front of him and get my hands on him when he shot. And I did as best as I could, and we got a W, and that's all that really matters.

Q. You guys have a very distinct style of play that I know you wouldn't deviate from, but are any of you at all surprised that that approach, the defense overwhelmed a team like Kansas the way that it did today?
ALI FAROKHMANESH: I think we just trust the system. We've been playing it for the whole year. We have 30 wins now. It's been work for the most part. Just have to trust it, and I think it came out, and we knew we would have to play just a little better. We didn't have to play a ton better, but we would have to play a little better on every little step. Everybody kind of contributed in their own way.

Q. Jordan, could you tell if those 3-pointers you hit shell-shocked Them a little bit and did you surprise yourself?
JORDAN EGLSEDER: Yeah, I definitely surprised myself. I think I might only had one on the year so far. Especially after I missed that first one, I can't even believe I took the next one (laughter).

Q. Jordan, to follow up on that, some fans sitting behind us from Iowa said, "What on earth is he doing shooting those shots?" What on earth were you doing? And were any of those by design at all or no? You were one for nine during the season.
JORDAN EGLSEDER: Well, the first definitely wasn't. Then the second one wasn't, either, and -- but I made that one. When I got the chance to shoot the third one, he left me open, so I figured that the heck.

Q. Johnny, you said you guys aren't surprised when Ali shoots it at the end. I guess you're not surprised when he makes it. Is it the philosophy, as long as you guys play defense the way Coach wants, any shot is okay?
JOHNNY MORAN: Well, I don't know about any shot, but most shots are okay, especially for Ali. I mean, Coach doesn't usually get on us for taking bad shots. We usually do a pretty good job of taking the right shot, and when Ali's open like that, it's always the right shot for this team. We always have our defense to fall back on to keep us in games, keep us ahead.

Q. For any of the seniors, you haven't been real public about your preseason goals, but I thought I heard yesterday one of you said the -- going to the Final Four was one of them. That true, and are you willing to admit that?
KWADZO AHELEGBE: We just want to win our next game. We're just concentrating on the next game we have. We're not looking past or forward to that. So, whoever we play next, that's the most important.

Q. Adam, has the magnitude of what y'all have just done, the moment that you've given the school and the State sunk in yet? Can you speak to that a little bit?
ADAM KOCH: You know, I don't really think it has. I guess we came into the game looking at it like a basketball game. We were confident going into it. There wasn't really any special emphasis put on who we were playing, what the situation really was. We just -- we're approaching it like every other game. So I really don't think, you know, it's set in yet quite what this means.

Q. Adam or Ali, talk about those last couple minutes when Kansas was making a run. You had some turnovers there late. How did you keep the composure there after they got a couple turnovers?
ADAM KOCH: You know, we knew they were going the make a run. They were going to turn the pressure up. In this kind of environment where this could be your last game, you're going to come at it with everything. We knew they were going to pressure us, but we've got some great guards that do a good job of handling the pressure. We've got a lot of experience. We've got a lot of seniors. We have Kwadzo, Johnny, they've been around, they've done it before. I think that's kind of what keeps us from being rattled. We've kind of gone through some of the stuff before.
THE MODERATOR: Last three questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Adam, you just mentioned about the guards and the clutch play. Could you talk a little bit about Kwadzo and Ali and their development over the last two years and how important it is to have those experienced guys kind of dictating things?
ADAM KOCH: Yeah. I mean, I think for the two years now that we've had Kwadzo, Johnny, and Ali in the backcourt together, we knew it was definitely good for us to have them. They've been just slowly keep working hard, getting better. They're tough guards to play against the way they play, the way they shoot the ball, penetrate. We have all kinds of confidence that they're going to be able to hit shots and make plays for us.
When it comes down to the end of the game like that and they're getting pressured or we are, we know we can kind of give them the ball and they'll take care of it and won't get rattled, and we'll probably come out on top.

Q. Adam Koch, Jake Koch took two pretty key charges there. Did little brother grow up today a little bit?
ADAM KOCH: Those were some huge plays for us. I guess Jake, you know, Coach had confidence in Jake to put him in there at the end of the game like that. Jake came through with a lot of big plays. Those two charges were huge for our team. They're both layups for Kansas. To take those away, get the ball back. I mean, for a freshman to do those kind of things is pretty impressive.

Q. Any of you guys, people say just how frustrating you guys are to play against. How much of a source of pride do you take in that?
ALI FAROKHMANESH: I think we definitely take pride in that. That's what Coach Jake teaches us from day one, defense all the time. I think we definitely take pride in that because we work on it so much, and I think we take that to heart that we enjoy stopping people and enjoy getting that stop. Your shooting is not always going to be there for you but your defense can always be there night in and night out.

Q. Again, for any of y'all that want to answer, you guys touched a little bit on about your depth and the way basically everybody you put in stepped up and made one big play at least today and just how valuable that is for your team.
ADAM KOCH: Yeah. I think that's one of the strengths of our team is just, you know, we've got so much confidence in everybody that comes and plays. They do a great job of making plays.
I think today was another example in the first half where our bench guys came in and expanded the lead for us. Against the No. 1 team in the country, you've got the depth to do that, that's a huge advantage for us, to be able to play everybody, whatever minutes they get, but know that they're not going to be a drop-off when the subs come in and out, it's pretty awesome.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, guys. We'll excuse the student-athletes from Northern Iowa. Questions for Coach.

Q. Ben, it looked like Kansas spent about 38 minutes trying to exploit something in your team without any luck whatsoever until they went to the full court press against your in-bounds play. How proud are you of your team for being able to take whatever Kansas threw at you and talk about the last couple minutes trying to coach them and get them through that.
COACH JACOBSON: Well, I talked about the 3-point shooting being important. They were going to have to miss some 3s, as I said. That was an important part of it, and in order to get that done, I thought the guys did a great job of staying in front of the basketball.
If somebody did turn the corner, there was help there and forced them to pitch the basketball and then we executed some things in items of doubling the post throughout the course -- especially in the first half, but throughout the course of the game to get the ball off the block.
I felt like those are really keys to be consistent defensively over the course of the game. Certainly proud of the effort it took to do that against the No. 1 team in the country.

Q. Johnny, I think, alluded to whether or not you may have liked the shot that Ali took. What did you think of that?
COACH JACOBSON: That's something, almost all the way. If they defend the way they're supposed to, they can play the way they want on offense and they can take the shots that they think are good for our team. And they've certainly earned that trust of our staff over the course of the two years because they've got a good feel for how to play offense. They don't take bad shots.
And so if they defend the way they're supposed to and diving on the floor and taking charges and sticking up for each other, they can play however they want on offense and very thankful that we've got an unselfish team and a team with a good feel so that they take quality shots.

Q. Ben, could you just kind of discuss the development of Kwadzo and Ali together over the last two years and what they bring both offensively and defensively for you?
COACH JACOBSON: Well, they certainly complement each other very well, and the guys talked about it. Kwadzo's ability to drive it and turn the corner and put pressure on the defense and force help is something that Ali has benefited from, and then, of course, Ali's ability to knock it in at the rate that he does gives Kwadzo some more space. Obviously, they complement each other very well. I think the thing that -- it happened very early, when Ali got to campus. The trust that the two of them had between each other happened very early.
I think they both -- both maybe lit up a little bit inside after they played together once or twice in pickup games and realized okay, this is what we need to have a good basketball team. So that relationship developed early on.
Ali has gotten a ton better defensively, and that is really helped our team. And Kwadzo has worked very hard to become a very good play maker and look for his scoring second. And that's really helped our team.

Q. Coach, can you talk about this scenario, Bucknell beat Kansas in this building, so they have a history of obviously not good here in the home state for Billy Self, but you guys are going to St. Louis now and obviously the committee thought with Kansas going through St. Louis a big draw. St. Louis has obviously been good to your school and the Missouri Valley Conference being headquartered there. Could you talk about that?
COACH JACOBSON: Now that this basketball game is over, our guys know where we're headed and they're excited about being able to go to St. Louis. Anthony James is from St. Louis. It's important to him, and because it's important to him, it's important to our team to be able for one of our guys to get to go home. And then we played good basketball there. The impact that will have on the next game, I don't know, Marty. I know our guys they're looking forward to be able to go to St. Louis.

Q. Ben, what happened against their press late in the game? Did their athleticism kind of take over?
COACH JACOBSON: We were in the wrong spots a couple times. Found ourselves short on timeouts again. Between the combination of those things, you know, we didn't handle it great. They were able to get their hands on a couple of them and make a couple rotations, and we've certainly got plenty of film to watch in terms of working to advance the basketball against pressure.
I do think, though, two days ago against UNLV we took advantage of some opportunities against the press. Today we didn't handle it great, but we handled it well enough. Our experience and toughness, the guys handled it just well enough to win the game.

Q. Coach, I know this game is just over, more games remain, but can you speak to the magnitude of this win?
COACH JACOBSON: You know, I don't know if I can yet. I really don't. Not to avoid answering your question, I just don't know that I can yet. This team has done such a great job of turning the page to what's next, and this would be the biggest challenge of the year. A lot of positive things have happened because the way these guys played. They've been able to really focus on what's next.
We are certainly going to enjoy this for a day or so. Then we've got to ready for our next basketball game. I can't completely answer your question yet.
THE MODERATOR: Last two questions.

Q. Coach, you're already emerging on everyone's short list. I hate asking this question, but how will you block out your name being involved with a lot of jobs in America that are opening up?
COACH JACOBSON: The same way I did this past week. I know you had asked me prior to these games and certainly a fair question. But the same way. We've got a terrific thing going, and I love what these guys are doing. We've got terrific support from all areas of our program that need to be there for you to be able to move forward with your program. And so I love what we're could go. We're going to keep working extremely hard to see if we can't do this again when it rolls around next year.
THE MODERATOR: Last question.

Q. Sherron Collins has been able to takeover a lot of games late and obviously tried to do that tonight. Talk about the job Kwadzo did on him?
COACH JACOBSON: Well, I thought he did a very good job of staying in front, and, you know, there were -- again, it goes back to the 3-point shooting. I think that helped. He had a couple looks at 3 that didn't go, and that helped Kwadzo to be able to stay in front. Obviously, for a guy like Kwadzo who is very competitive, to have an opportunity to play against one of the top, if not the top point guard in the country. I know there's certainly -- the other ones are out there, still in the field that are still playing, but Sherron is certainly one of those guys, and I think Kwadzo was looking forward to that challenge. He knew it was going to be a big challenge, but he was looking forward to it. He competed awfully hard.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

End of FastScripts

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