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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: NASHVILLEMarch 18, 2012D.J. CooperJohn GroceAndrew NicholsonWalter OffuttNASHVILLE, TENNESSEE Ohio – 62 COACH GROCE: Obviously really proud of our guys, the way they fought. You know, things, to South Florida's credit, defensively they're as good as any team we've played defensively all year. They make it hard on you to score. Our guys, you know, that came out to start the second half, I thought that was a key stretch in the game. Walt was able to make a few shots and some other guys kind of fell right in line and we were able to make some shots as the game wore on. But obviously they're very proud of their defense, as they should be. They're a very good basketball team, and I really have always admired Stan and he's done a great job building that program, and I know he's going to continue to be successful there. But we're also pretty proud of our defense and the way that we've defended and rebounded all year. And obviously the first half when our offense wasn't going maybe like we wanted it to, I thought our defense kind of kept us right there holding them to 40 percent and 11 percent from 3, I thought was really huge. Obviously, it's a big win for our program, you know, advancing to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1964 and the first time since the tournament has had 64 or 68 teams. So I'm happy for a lot of people, our families, our coaching staffs' families that sacrifice a lot, happy for the university. I'm happy for Athens. It's a special place. I'm happy for all of our former players, especially the once I've had for the four years. Some of them were here today to watch the game. It shows you the loyalty they have to the program, and they're as big a part of it as the guys that are on the team now. And then obviously my hat is off to our guys, you know, that played with such an extraordinary toughness, and I thought we were able to impose our will late in the game at both ends and kind break away, and at the end of the day, that was the difference in the game. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student athletes. Q. Can you just talk about what you did differently in the second half to force those turnovers and what -- how that got you going? WALTER OFFUTT: Really, we didn't do anything differently. You know, coach told to us come out and swing aggressively from the start, and that's what he had done all year. We haven't changed nothing. He hasn't been -- we didn't swing some magic wand and this is different or something like that. We went out there and played aggressively and hit some shots. We were fortunate to beat a tough team at the end and got the win. Q. For Walter, what helped you get into such a good rhythm offensively? WALTER OFFUTT: Honestly, I probably hit the first shot, DJ stated a couple against Michigan, he hit his first shot, and that's why he was rolling. For most good players, if you hit your good shot, you're pretty much going to have a good night. That's what happened. I hit some open shots to help my team. Q. DJ, you've played against 2-point guards that are freshmen. You've been here as a freshman, and what sort of an edge do you think that gives you being here as a junior now and playing two guys that are here for the first time? D.J. COOPER: They were real good guards, you know -- and Collins. I'm just trying to compete with whoever it is, you know. They just happened to be freshman. They were real talented an give me all little edge because I have a little experience. Q. Walter, your last game at Ohio State before you left was against North Carolina up in New York, you didn't play in that game. Can you -- just how different emotions do you think it will be this time to get to play them? And obviously you helped this team earn the chance to play that game rather than, you know, having to watch it. WALTER OFFUTT: Right. You know, it's going to be different knowing that I'm going into the game and I have to contribute, you know for our team to possibly win the game. So, you know, it's going to be different. I'm really not going to really like think about that game. I'm really going to just enjoy this win and let Groce prepare the game plan and think nothing about that game and get ready to try to win the game. Q. DJ, in the final analysis, how much of being in that game two years ago, second round game, helped you guys tonight and helped you especially down the stretch? D.J. COOPER: Just experience. Helping to learn how close games a little better. Coach Groce always tells me never settle. Sometimes I settle too much, but I just tried the attack, find my teammates and make plays. Q. Nick, you guys have talked all year about defense, toughness that's how you guys are going win games. How good of an example were the last two games here in Nashville of that mentality and how that's all worked out for you guys? ANDREW NICHOLSON: I think the last two games are prime examples of why we hang our hat on defense, because, you know, sometimes shots aren't falling, not rebounding particularly well, we can always go back to getting stops, and that leads to most of our offense on the transition end. We like to run. We're a fast-paced team. Everything starts with getting down and making stops and being tough on that end of the ball. Q. DJ, on that shot you had to make it 58, 51 on the spin move that beat the shot clock, a great shot. At what point did you know you could get the shot off and score? D.J. COOPER: I actually was about to shoot the 3, but I thought about coach, I know coach wouldn't have been happy with me taking a long 3 like that that deep in the clock, so I just tried to attack. I stepped up and knocked it down. Q. Are you aware that Kendall Marshall might have a fractured wrist and how can that change your mentality going into that game? D.J. COOPER: My mentality is going to be the same regardless of who it is or who we're playing against. I'm sorry to hear that against a good player getting hurt, but we're going to come compete regardless who it is. Q. For Walter, you talked about your Big Ten experience playing at Ohio State. This physical slug-fest type game, how much did your Big Ten experience help you to kind of remind you of those years? WALTER OFFUTT: You know, a little bit, honestly. I kind of joke around with the guys at practice sometime, when some of the guys are calling like baby fouls or stuff like that, I say that's what it's like in the Big Ten sometime. You know, it's paying off, as far as like our experience, it's paying off, experience for DJ and some of the other guys that played against Georgetown couple years ago, and for Nick, it's no different. We know we can compete with bigger teams and stuff like that. I think just our -- our mindset of going to the game, we expect to win the game. I think that's playing a big part of we're doing right now. Q. Question for Walt. Walt, we've all seen DJ Cooper make some athletic kind of odd shots, all kinds of things. You know, down the stretch when he was making those shots, you know, off-balance shot, one side or the other, is that just what you see all season, you expect that at crunch time from him? WALTER OFFUTT: Honestly, I do. Like when he makes those shots, I honestly expect him to make them, get a shot up on the rim. The fans yell and stuff, but inside my head, yeah, that's going in, that's going down. It's really no big surprise to me that he can hit those shots and tough shots. Q. This question for Walter. Walter, I know we've been talking to you guys yesterday, you liked your draw from the get-go. Now that you're into the Sweet 16, did you guys even feel at there point that there's such a thing as an upset in the NCAA Tournament? WALTER OFFUTT: Honestly, well, you know, we knew we playing Michigan and have to play tough, but we felt like we matched up with Michigan for the most part. South Florida we felt like they had an advantage down low. We knew we had to play hard inside and compete on every possess. It's going to be a grind-out dog fight. We're fortunate to come together as a team, unit and we got it done, and, you know, honestly, I feel like we can compete with anybody on a national level. It's no secret now that we can play with the big teams. Q. Walt, this is for you. Coach talked about how big the start of the second half was. You made your first shot of the night. But you also made the first shot of the second half. How big was that stretch for your team? WALTER OFFUTT: It was always big. Coach Groce always preaches coming out strong in the second half. That's what we did. I think everybody made key plays down the stretch. Nick got in there and made some big shots, and DJ finished off down the stretch. So this is just a great team win. Q. Walt, you said after the Michigan win it was the best thing that ever happened to you in your life. Did this just one-up it? WALTER OFFUTT: Know, yeah. This is amazing. I really -- you know, couldn't picture myself coming here and doing the things that -- obviously, me and Coach Groce, the team it's one thing to talk about it and one thing to actually do it, and this has been unreal, and let's just continue the run. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys. Congratulations. We'll take questions for Coach Groce. Q. Coach, some of the guys were saying after the Michigan game they had to turn in their cell phones for at least a night. What was went into that, how much do you think that kind of helped in terms of just avoiding complacency and making sure y'all were kind of ready for this one as well. COACH GROCE: I thought two years ago, we did basically the same thing as we did two years ago. We have a system in which we do things both on and off court that's pretty consistent that I think allows our players to be successful. But two years ago I really felt like after the first round win that I didn't did a very good job of helping them avoid distractions. That was my fault, and so I learned from that experience. And, you know, I know after a first round win which was a good one on Friday night against a very good Michigan team, that their phones were going to be buzzing all night, and so I wanted to take that away from them, and then in the morning -- we already knew we were going to do that and in the morning give them back. It wasn't punishment. They did have a couple hours after they got back to return some of their text messages and e-mails and tweets and Facebooks and MySpace and e-mail, whatever else they do. So we gave them some time to did that. Then we grabbed the phones, and not one guy -- and that's how I knew this team is really locked in, not one single guy complained. They knew that we've got to a trust right now with our players, our staff does a great job, and they know when we ask them to do something, it's for their best interest. And the next morning, a couple of those guys felt like it was helpful. So, that was a decision that we had made. Q. Coach, can you just talk about how much effort it took to grab every rebound tonight? Walter just admitted that going into the game, he knew that you guys were undersized down low. Can you talk about the effort Keely and Smith and Baltic had to put in for every board? COACH GROCE: Yeah. It was warfare on the glass. They're extremely physical. I really, really admired Anderson. I know he's a senior. I told him after the game, I really admired his toughness when I watched him on film, and firsthand tonight going against him, that admiration was even larger, after watching him compete tonight. I thought they're great on the glass. I thought they were really relentless. Stan has done a great job. That's a good team we beat. We had to beat them. They weren't going to beat themselves. Those kids have really competed and, you know, watching his program from afar, you know, I can relate a little bit to him building it and getting it to this point. And I'm sure, you know, we're all in that situation where we hate to lose our last game. I'm sure when he wakes up tomorrow morning, he'll feel really good about what he's done, and I'm confident that you'll see them continue to be successful. Q. Did every rebound just feel like a small victory? Is it maybe the most all season you've internally fist pumped when you came down with each and every rebound? COACH GROCE: You know, I don't know. We've played some other teams that really rebound well. Our league is good now, you know. Mitchell Watt, we trapped him and held him to 30-some points by trapping him. He's pretty good. Javon McCrea of Buffalo is good. Justin Greene is good in it. There are some guys that are good that prepare for us for this situation in our league and we've played against some other good rebounding teams. They would certainly have to be among the best without going through every game in our schedule for sure. We knew it was going to be a big challenge. Felt like if we could get 65 percent back, that that was going to be a huge, huge deal, and we ended up 18 for 28, okay? I'll let you do the math. But we at least competed on the backboard and held our own. I thought it was a big key. Q. Match up of two teams that were top 15 in the country defending the 3-point shot and your team shot 9 of 18 from behind the arc. Was it just your guys making shots, or did you do anything differently? COACH GROCE: I thought my assistants had some good suggestions. We ran a couple different things in the second half to try to free up some of those guys. I thought Walt making shots at the level that did he to start the second half inspired the other guys. Baltic makes a jumper, Kellogg starts making shots, Cooper makes shots, and it kind of snowballed. And basketball is such a momentum game, and the momentum that I thought Walt gave our team offensively early when he made a couple shots I thought carried over and throughout the second half. Q. Coach, could you talk -- not satisfaction you have to be feeling right now. That sense of accomplishment, can you touch on that? You've reworked the identity of the program to and the defense and reached the Sweet 16. You did it through defense. Talk about how you've been able to reinvent yourselves as a club this year and how rewarding it has been. COACH GROCE: I'm happy for our guys. Their collective buy-in. You know, Walt said it and I understand what he said. Once it happens, you know, success breeds success, it builds more confidence. I had buy-in from those guys on a vision that hadn't taken place yet, and their buy-in is as such a high level to what we're doing and what we're telling them. So I'm just so thankful for their coachability and teachability. And the guys that played before them, you know, Tillman and Allen and Ore and Washington, all those guys, they bought in, too, now and kind of set the stage for where we're at now. Freeman, Vankempin [phonetic] all those guys are a huge part of this deal. Those guys just bought in such a high level and then just kind of became, hey, that's what we do here. So I think that's why we've been able to see the progress that we've been able to make over the four years. And I am a little different. I always look at ways to get better, you know, whether that's when you're experiencing adversity or us success, I always think you can get better. I'm a little different that way. Probably get that a little bit from my father. But I still think we can continue to get better in some areas, and we'll work diligently at that. Q. Coach, I think one of the reasons people really love underdogs is not just there's a double digit seed next to their name or you come from a place from Athens, Ohio. It's that the roster is composed of kids who were overlooked or deemed too short or maybe made a big school but then transferred. My question is, how gratifying is it to you when you consider your roster that you're able to achieve this with guys who didn't have a blue ribbon hung on them when they were 18 years old? COACH GROCE: I do think that guys have a chip on their shoulder, if that's what you're referring to. I think that happens for sure, and I think our guys look forward to playing on the big stage and against quality competition. I think the biggest step we took this year, though, I'll be honest with you, I've had a team the last two, three years that when the lights were on and we were playing maybe a team with a better -- we're pretty good. We weren't mature enough as a young group, playing a bunch of freshmen and sophomores the last couple years to bring it all the time, and that's the difference in this year's team. Part of it is maturity, part of it is guys getting older, part of it is the addition of Offutt. He's a culture changer. He's as good as it gets with all the little intangibles, and he's a productive player as well. He's an unbelievable ambassador for our university and how conducts himself, and he's really affected our program at a high level and injected it with a lot of toughness and everyday guy mentality that we're been looking for. And, you know, as I said yesterday, you know, I can't -- it's impossible for me to thank him enough for what he brings to our program. I'll never be able to repay him for that. THE MODERATOR: One or two more, if there any. Q. Coach, couple years ago losing to Tennessee or beating Georgetown, then losing to Tennessee, it almost looked like the demeanor was a little bit different in terms of maybe just being happy to be there. Just talking with the players tonight post-game, it sounds like they expect to be here. How has that attitude changed from a couple years ago to tonight, pushing you guys into the Sweet 16? COACH GROCE: You know, I'd have to -- I'd have to agree with you a little bit on that because of our maturity and mindset. It certainly wasn't the intent. We prepared for the Tennessee game just like we did for the Georgetown game with the game plan we thought that gave us the best chance to win. But we ran into a really good team that day. They played really well, and they had a lot to do with us not playing as well. I looking back on it now, I do think it feels differently. It felt differently when we walked off the floor on Friday night. DJ grabbed a couple guys and said, "Hey, act like you've been there before. We're here to get two." Just the mindset is completely different of our players I think than maybe two years ago, and I certainly think that helps a great deal. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. COACH GROCE: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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