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NCAA MEN'S 1ST ROUND: DAYTON

March 15, 2011

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Clemson coach Brad Brownell and student-athletes Jerai Grant and Demontez Stitt. Coach, an opening statement.
COACH BROWNELL: I thought our guys played really well. Attention to detail was pretty good. I thought our energy was great early. We swarmed them a little bit and knocked some balls loose and got out in transition and got a nice lead and they bounced back, made some 3s.
But our guys did a really good job of just keeping them at bay and trying not to give them much hope, and I thought certainly our game plan to throw the ball inside was effective, and Jerai had a big game. And I thought really most of our guys played pretty well. So excited to be moving on.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Jerai, my clock says 12:14. So in 36 hours you have West Virginia. What's that going to be like to play them on a short turnaround?
JERAI GRANT: I think rest is going to be a big factor for us. At the same time, we just need to prepare and watch video on them, go through their sets, and things like that. And we should be fine.

Q. Demontez and Jerai, starting with you, I guess, Demontez, you finally get your first NCAA Tournament win. How good does that feel to get that monkey off your guys' back?
DEMONTEZ STITT: I mean, it feels good especially for our seniors. We didn't want to make this our last game. We've been here three times in a row and lost every time. But it feels good to get the first win. But we know we still have work to do.
JERAI GRANT: Yeah, definitely. It feels good to finally get that first round win. Everybody worked towards this goal and can't take anything for granted. Now we have to get ready for West Virginia.

Q. Getting back to the quick turnaround, what is going to be the most important thing in this next 36, 40 hours for you guys, especially because West Virginia has had a week off?
JERAI GRANT: It goes back to preparation. Just going through their sets and things and making sure we get rest. We do get rest for the time we have. And everybody's going to have to really focus in and lock in.
DEMONTEZ STITT: Pretty much what Jerai said, just getting a lot of rest. I mean, we've got a plane straight to Tampa now, and plane flights can be kind of draining, but I think the biggest thing for us is to get our rest in and start getting ready for West Virginia.

Q. Jerai, career high tonight. You guys just dominated in the paint. I think you outscored them 40 to 12. What was the key to attacking them and taking advantage of the size difference?
JERAI GRANT: That was our game plan from the beginning. Try to look at our advantage on the inside and our guards really did a good job of throwing it in. And we just took over the game from there.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.

Q. I imagine there's a practice scheduled for you tomorrow, media obligations?
COACH BROWNELL: Yeah, I'm sure there's some shootaround that we'll have to go to. I really haven't looked that far ahead. But I know that my staff will have that in front of me as soon as I probably walk off this podium.
We'll go do the mandatory shootaround but certainly that will be the only physical thing that we do. Everything else will be watching film, putting together a scouting report. We've had an assistant working on it since we found out the selection.
So we already have some things broken down. I'll have to watch film through the night, obviously, and try to catch up on their tendencies.
And then do the best we can to put a plan together and try to execute.

Q. Brad, you finally get yours. They were 0 for 3 and you were 0 for 3. Was there a part in you -- you know, those are some difficult losses. Was there a part in you when you wondered when's this going to happen?
COACH BROWNELL: I don't know if I wondered if it would happen, but I know that it's difficult, you know, especially even at the mid major level, it's really difficult. You have to win your tournament in most instances.
And I've lost some heartbreakers, a one-pointer on a 30-footer, I've lost an overtime game, and then we had a game where we didn't play very well against Pittsburgh and lost.
But I was confident that our team can play well this week, that we can win today and get an opportunity to advance, and certainly is a difficult turnaround for West Virginia team that's going to be well rested and motivated.
But I'm looking forward to the opportunity of taking my guys there, seeing what we can do.

Q. Just curious, is this the best your team has played all year?
COACH BROWNELL: I don't think it's the best we've played all year, but we did a lot of good things in the game. I thought our intensity level and activity level defensively was really good.
I thought our attention to detail was very good early. We lost it at times and gave up too many 3s. But by doing that we also swallowed up Aaron Johnson a little bit. That was part of our goal, was to swallow him up and not allow him to do much around the paint.
I think at times we overhelped and gave up a couple of 3s. But we also got a lot of deflections and a lot of loose balls and forced them into some difficult situations and didn't allow them to put together a really, really good run.

Q. Winning here in Dayton, does it mean anything additional to you?
COACH BROWNELL: Well, the best part about it was I had a lot of friends and family here and people that have been part of my life for a long time. I had the parents of some former players that I coached at Wilmington that were from Ohio. I had players from Wright State. I had family that lives in Ohio that came to the game and just a lot of people that supported me while I was at Wright State, people that are now close family friends.
So to do it in front of all those people, yeah, makes it extra special.

Q. You kind of answered my question a little bit, but you did get a pretty nice reception there from the fans pre-game. Did it feel a little bit like a homecoming for you today?
COACH BROWNELL: The last couple of days have been really enjoyable. I've gotten to visit with a lot of people. When we came to Wright State that first day, I had all kinds of people from the university -- players, administrators, a few fans -- stop by and give me their best.
And it means a lot that -- I had a great experience here. I really enjoyed my four years at Wright State. A lot of people in the business didn't know what I was doing when I left or why I would choose to come to Wright State at the time.
But when I came and interviewed and met with people, I really believed in the place. I really liked the leadership of the university and I knew they had a direction. And I knew this was a good place to live. My father was raised here for a while, and so I knew it would be a good place for my family.
And we've developed a lot of very close friendships with people, so this has been a great couple of days for my wife and I, especially.

Q. Did Saturday's experience in the second half impact how you guys handled the second half tonight? It seemed like they were a lot more focused on making sure that it didn't happen again.
COACH BROWNELL: You know, I don't know. I hope that we learned from the opportunity. We clearly had North Carolina in a difficult situation and didn't close the game. And some of that's a credit to their players. They made some -- Harrison Barnes and Tyler Zeller made two fantastic shots in the last minute and a half of the game to beat us.
The more games like that that you're in, I do think it hardens your guys. And I'm sure it helped in some way, and our team got better from playing North Carolina in a very difficult environment, in a very difficult game. So just the experience of playing in the game was good for our guys.

Q. I imagine you couldn't have imagined a better way for Jerai Grant to set his career high tonight. Just talk about the way he played and just the way that you guys dominated.
COACH BROWNELL: Jerai has been the guy that has emerged as an outstanding player for us, and he's one of the main reasons why we're in the NCAA Tournament. He was a, I don't know, seven-point scorer and five-rebound guy and 18-minute player maybe his junior year, and I think our staff really believed in him and felt like he could do more.
He was athletic. He has a good basketball mind. He's talented. He's long. He just needed some confidence. He needed a little more skill work.
He needed to see some things happen for him well. And through the course of the season he's experienced a lot of positive days. And it's really made him a better player. He's come out of his shell a little bit. He's confident. And through the course of the year it led to tonight, where we really needed him and he played one of his best games.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

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