	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

April 2, 2011

THE MODERATOR: Coach Stevens, a couple opening remarks.
COACH STEVENS: I said this out on the floor: VCU's run was inspiring to a lot of people, including us. The way that they played, the way that they really beat a lot of unbelievable teams handily was remarkable and probably made them the hottest team in the tournament coming into this game.
I guess the one thing we do have on our side is we know how difficult it is to play against everyone because we have to whether you're a BCS school, a non-BCS school, whatever the case may be. Most of our games are against non-BCS schools and they have terrific teams across the board, terrific coaches. Shaka Smart and VCU are one of those.
I thought it was a great game. I was nervous as heck when they started making all those threes early. I thought our rotations were okay, but not probably good enough. But then our guys adjusted pretty well. I thought we defended, for the most, part the way we wanted to.
You know, you look at Rozzell was 0-3 and Rodriguez was 1-5. Burgess and Skeen are tough guys to guard because they put them in the rotation spots and occasionally you're going to be late on one of them. Really proud of that.
We said coming into the game it was going to be a possession game and it was going to be something where we had to be great with the ball, which I thought we were. I thought we attacked the pressure well. And we tried to get 80% plus back on the defensive glass and tried to get 40% plus back on the offensive glass. We were 83-38, and that ended up being good enough.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Shelvin, yesterday Shaka Smart said kids today want to run. You have thrived on that, on controlling tempo. When other teams try to speed you up, why are you able as a team to stay in your comfort zone?
SHELVIN MACK: I would say just taking care of the ball on offense. When you're able to take care of the ball, get great shots, don't turn the ball over. They don't get easy run-out possessions, then also you put yourself in great chance to get offensive rebound. Able work the clock. When you turn it over, it gives them an opportunity to rush down the court and get a great look.

Q. Some people think that you winning close games over and over again is luck. What do you think is the reason you are able to win so many close games repeatedly? When it gets to a close game like tonight, do you feel extra confidence?
SHELVIN MACK: Me and my teammates feel confident. I think the biggest thing we did was last summer we changed open gyms, we stopped going from 12 points to 8 points, so it's a few possessions in the game. When it comes around to March, only a few possessions left in the game.
The other thing is you have to have trust in your teammates. You have to be able to do your job, not trying to do something which you're not capable of doing, which costs you the game in those situations.
MATT HOWARD: I think you got to trust your teammates, what we were doing, what we talked about doing in the first 37, 38, whatever, minutes have already been played. You're going to do those same things in the last two minutes. It's a belief that, you know, whatever you talked about doing, you're gonna do it, and whatever happens is gonna happen.
But we have a belief in each other that we can get it done when it comes down to the end of the game.

Q. Is your mood right now different than the mood you felt when you walked off after beating Michigan State a year ago?
SHELVIN MACK: Yeah, you could say that. You know, we wasn't able to win the game last year. That's in the back of our minds. Nobody just comes to Houston for two games, we came here for one. So me and my teammates are going to do a great job of getting rest tonight. Get some film in tonight after dinner and get ready for Monday.
MATT HOWARD: Yeah, I was going to say I agree with Shelvin. I think it's a focused locker room. We realize that there's still a game to be played, hopefully another game to be won. That's what we want to do and we're going to prepare to do that.

Q. Shelvin, Ronald was in the locker room saying he lied to you before the game and said VCU was talking some smack about how you weren't as tough as some other players they played in the tournament. What exactly did he say and how did that motivate you?
SHELVIN MACK: I kind of knew he was lying 'cause otherwise I'm pretty sure some of my friends or somebody would have told me. But he just said that Nixon said I wasn't the best player he guarded this tournament. That kind of motivated me deep down inside, but I kind of knew he was lying.

Q. Shelvin, talk about after Zach hit his shots, got the rest of the team going.
SHELVIN MACK: Zach did a great job this year. He's not been able to knock down shots all the time. Sort of like me, I'm not able to knock-down shots all the time. He stayed positive. Me and my teammates are doing a great job of giving him the ball where he can have success.

Q. Shelvin, late in the game, I think the whole building thought you were going to take a shot and you threw a pass to Vanzant. Talk about what you saw.
SHELVIN MACK: I looked over at the shot clock. I knew I had six seconds, able to make a play. I had two people on me. I had confidence in my teammate. I saw Shawn knock that down many times. He was wide open and that's the right player to pass it to. I just passed it to the right guy.

Q. Last year some people may have thought it was a fluke. This year you're back for a second time in the championship game. Can you talk about the constant idea of these mid-majors trying to get back in here. A question that we asked last year. What would it mean to have a non-power conference school win the championship?
MATT HOWARD: You know, the way we look at it is we want to win. You know, we don't look at it as it's a mid-major that wants to win. I think every team, no matter conference they're from, is coming in and wanting to win six games, or seven, I guess, in some circumstances.
But, I mean, that's the goal and the mindset. Honestly, we don't look at conferences. We don't think about what conference somebody's in. It's about their players, their system, what they do. There are a lot of teams that are really good that are not from a power conference.
There's very good evidence of that tonight. VCU is a great team.

Q. Matt, can you describe your feelings last year after the loss to Duke and what goes through your mind when you're sitting there towards the end on the bench just watching, eager to get back in there. Talk about the feeling and contrast the desire to want to get back there.
MATT HOWARD: You mean the feeling tonight?

Q. Of losing last year, not wanting to lose this year in the semifinals.
MATT HOWARD: Yeah, you know, I think there was to some degree a feeling of disbelief just because of what our team has been doing. We came into that game winning an incredible amount of games in a row. I don't really remember what it was. And so you almost expected to win. That's the way our team had prepared, felt like we were ready to play every game.
Tonight I think it's just like any game. Weirdly enough, Shelvin and I were talking about that. In our minds, I don't think we let our surroundings get to us. Didn't really feel necessarily like a national semifinal. And I think that's a good thing. It helps you play just like you normally would.

Q. When were you talking about that? During the game?
MATT HOWARD: No, after the game was over we were talking in the back.

Q. Matt, do you have any sense of mounting frustration? You had some pretty good looks from three. Also, what have you been told about what's going on in Connersville at this hour?
MATT HOWARD: I haven't been told anything. I haven't been around anyone that could have told me.
You know, I don't think VCU allows you to think about your missed threes. They get down the court so fast that if you think about it, you're gonna end up giving up an easy layup.
My teammates and myself believe in me to shoot the ball and I'm going to keep shooting it if I have open shots.

Q. Matt, there was a point where Shelvin missed two free throws and then had one of those bursts where he hit two threes. When he's in one of those bursts, how would you describe him?
MATT HOWARD: An incredible basketball player. He has a will and determination that's unlike some other guys. You know, he many times has carried this basketball team, and that's still playing within our offense. That's what Shelvin is, he's a great basketball player. Again, you saw evidence of that again tonight.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. You can go back to the locker room. We'll continue with questions for Coach Stevens.

Q. Did this locker room after this game seem in any way different from last year after you won the semifinal?
COACH STEVENS: Yeah, I guess it did a little bit. I told them I'm not doing the flying chest bump until we get through the weekend, in part because I'm getting older and it hurt the last time (smiling).
You know, I think our guys are pretty focused. I was really worried before the Wisconsin game that our guys were almost too businesslike. I think you saw us yesterday. Our kids, we've got a large contingent of young kids with us, people that are around us all the time. Our guys are really lighthearted. They know when to turn it on from a business standpoint. They know when they can be playful and have fun with each other. Maybe that's some of the experience you gain along the way.
We can't play the national championship game till 8:18 or whenever it starts on Monday night. We have to prepare well when we have appropriate meetings, but we also have to enjoy each other's company. We don't need to be on edge the whole time.

Q. You talk about your team, the way they prepare for Monday. How about you? Do you think your day tomorrow will be any different than it was last year at this time?
COACH STEVENS: My day tomorrow starts when I get to the hotel. The thing that I've always tried to do is I've tried to be as prepared as possible to play a game in our next practice. We have practice at 2:00 tomorrow. So my focus will be on whoever wins. We had an assistant take each team. Whichever team wins, we'll get together with that assistant and try to come up with a game plan.

Q. Final minute, you're up four, miss a shot. Matt gets an offensive put-back, gets the stop, avoids the foul. How big was that and what does that say about the kind of player that he is playing like that?
COACH STEVENS: I'm glad somebody noticed. You know, I think that's Matt Howard. And there's a reason why he's standing in all these tournaments, the reason why he's playing and continues to play and play. He wins everything in practice. He wins everything, you know, all the way throughout the year. It's 'cause his motor, I mean, he just has a non-stop will to succeed for his team and that is it. There is nothing else that matters to him.
We've talked about it many times. There's a lot of great examples of student-athletes in the NCAA, but he's got to be way up there. He's terrific.

Q. What were some of the defensive keys, points of emphasis, for you guys to keep them off the three, keep them under control?
COACH STEVENS: You have to start with that in transition, number one. I thought we did a great job matching up in transition. In fact, I only remember a couple of times where they even shot threes in transition.
Number two is, they only shot one off of an action other than a ball screen all night that I can remember. So the most important thing is transition, number one. The second most important thing is ball screen rotations. Like I said, early in the game, I thought we were a little -- not aggressive or assertive enough in our rotations.
But to their credit, they might be the best passing team we've played yet in the tournament. So they really whip the ball around, they make the extra pass, very unselfish, hard to guard.
If you would have told me, again, Skeen and Burgess had all but one of their threes, I would have said we probably were in good shape. We wanted to be more on Burgess than we were. To Skeen's credit, he has shot it ridiculously compared to what he did in the regular season throughout the tournament, has really enhanced his game. We wanted to be there on Rozzell, we wanted to be there on Rodriguez, make sure we make it as tough as possible.

Q. Talk about the progression of Zach throughout this season, to see him step up the way he did tonight.
COACH STEVENS: You know, there's certain guys that think they should be playing in these games. Like he's one of those guys. He just has a mindset of, you know, When I'm open, I'm gonna make it. I'm gonna take big ones.
I can't tell you how many times another team has made a run on the road in his career and he's dribbled down and shot it from about 28 feet, where most coaches will be going, No. But you know it's got a heck of a chance of going in because he's just kind of got that thing about him.
He's not the most athletic guy in the world. He's not the biggest guy in the world. But there's a reason why he's playing major minutes in the national semifinals. Just another great senior in this program.

Q. What did you do defensively, particularly Smith, when Howard went out with his fourth foul?
COACH STEVENS: You know what I thought we did really well was rebound from the guard spots. I thought we were really active to the ball. We weren't great guarding Skeen all night. Skeen is really good. Makes it really tough when he's surrounded by all those shooters. But I thought Andrew and Khyle both were pretty good in the second half defending. Didn't like the way we started the second half. We had a great defensive possession.
We missed a block-out on Nixon, they ended up getting a bucket out of it. You never like to start out that way. Towards the last 10 minutes of the second half, I thought we were pretty locked in.
I thought the best possession of the game defensively for us was when we fouled the three-point shooter. If he doesn't foul the three-point shooter there, that was an unbelievable possession. We were switching, rotating, talking, there on the catch. It was really, really special to watch. He fouled him. So I guess our best defensive possession of the year ended up being a four-point play. That's probably not a good sign.

Q. I don't know if you noticed former President Bush behind your bench. He made it a point, he was cheering for you guys. What does that mean to your program to have him support you guys.
COACH STEVENS: It's overwhelming. I don't know how else to say it. All of the things that he and his family have done for our country. He and his wife were there at the salute dinner the other night. One of the special moments of the weekend for me was watching Matt Howard get the Elite 88 award winner again, getting a standing ovation in front of everybody, shaking the hands of President and Mrs. Bush.
It's a remarkable opportunity these kids get and earn. That's humbling and that's understating it.

Q. Since Washington, it seems like after every game you've been trying to quantify how you keep doing this. I thought composure tonight was one of your best assets, having been there. Was this another example of the experience shining through?
COACH STEVENS: Two things that I thought about tonight. We really held together. Part of holding together is guys stepping up and making big plays. You know, Zach kind of settled us down when they got the lead. He made a couple shots. Then Shelvin made a couple shots. Then Shawn Vanzant had his moments. Those are older guys that have been there, done that, doing it again.
The second thing that I thought was that we did a really good job of, I wanted to shoot with 29 on the shot clock against their press. I wanted to get the ball down the court and shoot and make layups and threes and try to attack it. I thought our guys did a great job.
You tell me going into the game we out-rebound them by 16, turn it over one less time than them, I would have felt pretty good about the result.

Q. Shelvin had a couple of pretty extensive stints on the bench. I wonder if that was more for resting or if you were dissatisfied with the defensive rotation? Also on Matt Howard, do you get the sense people are realizing how impactful he is when he doesn't have the big numbers?
COACH STEVENS: To do the Matt Howard piece, I was handed a piece after we went to the Diamond Head Classic that talked about the top 10 pro prospects in the Diamond Head Classic, and Matt Howard wasn't on it, but he was the MVP of the tournament.
I can't say it enough. He's unbelievable. He only wins. And his mind and his motor are different. I mean, he is different. He is an outstanding player. And it's going to translate to any level. I really believe that.
You know, as far as those guys, as far as Shelvin not playing, I trust the other guys. I think it's good to give guards break against the pressure. He's taking a ball out. He's bringing it up. He's doing all those things. And he's guarding good players and rotating on the good players. There's a lot that goes into that.
I want him to have the appropriate amount of rest. On top of that, you add in the fact we're pretty good with him on the bench. So you feel like you can play a little bit longer with him out. Then he's rested, he's ready to go, ready to roll when he comes back in.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach.
COACH STEVENS: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297

NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR

April 2, 2011

Matt Howard

Shelvin Mack

Brad Stevens