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NCAA MEN'S REGIONALS SEMIFINALS & FINALS: ST. LOUISMarch 25, 2012Stilman WhiteRoy WilliamsTyler ZellerST. LOUIS, MISSOURI Kansas – 80 THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement from Coach Williams and then take questions for the student‑athletes. COACH WILLIAMS: Well, there's no question at this time in college basketball as coach you hurt. And you hurt for your team, you hurt for these kids that for about 34, 35 minutes were a part of a fantastic basketball game. You also have to congratulate Kansas and wish them good luck, because it was a great basketball game, like I say, for about 34, 35 minutes. And the last four or five minutes, they played much, much better than we did, and their coach coached much better than I did. It was a game of runs, and we didn't answer the last one. They would go ahead six or eight and we would catch up. And they would go ahead six or eight and we would catch up. And it was that kind of game. They hurt us early in the second half on the offensive boards, just getting so many rebounds and putting it back in. We even had one time where we blocked the shot and it came down and their kid caught it and laid it up. But I can't fault my team for trying. My gosh, the little rascal sitting beside of me, Stilman, just competed his rear end off. It wasn't smooth for him because it's hard all of a sudden to be thrust into this role, three practices before this regional. But, boy, he did some really good things and I just admire him and admire what he did and admire how he competed. And you look down there and he played 28 minutes today and 32 yesterday, that's 60 minutes. And the little rascal had zero turnovers and hadn't been in this position all year. And that's what you love about college athletics. It is about the kids. It was a one‑point game, and we got the ball and were coming down and we turned it over in the middle of the court on the break. And then played really good defense for about 27 seconds and then Elijah jumped up and made the three with seven seconds on the shot clock and that was their only three of the second half and we made none. And all of a sudden, now it's a four‑point game and then we messed it up on the offensive end again. And they got a run out and it seemed like it snowballed there. We couldn't make a shot the last five minutes of the game or something like that. But I enjoyed coaching these kids and you hate it for them and that's what it's all about. This is college basketball and that's what it's all about. It's about the players. It's not about the coaches. It's about the players and it's about the name on the front of the jersey. And I had a marvelous group. I said that about Stilman, and on the other side of it, you can't be a more perfect student‑athlete than Tyler Zeller. So right now, it's just that there's no way to put into words the way we feel. There's no way to put into words the way I feel. But I tell you what, I feel awfully lucky to have coached Tyler Zeller. But again it's the NCAA tournament and one team wins and one team loses and that's what we have to understand. And we learned some lessons every day. I know I love my team. Man, they were fun to be around and they were facing a lot of adversity. I apologize, go ahead ask questions of the kids. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Tyler, will you reflect on the what if or the forever or are you willing to take it and let it be there? TYLER ZELLER: It is what it is. It all comes back to my faith. My faith has got me through a lot of things. And I think my faith is the reason I am who I am today. So everything happens for a reason. I don't know why it is. I don't. I may question why God put us in this situation, but at the same time, he has a reason for everything. So you just got to accept it. And unfortunately, it hurts extremely bad right now. Maybe I'll understand it later. Maybe I won't. But you just got to go with it. Q. Tyler, could you comment on the physical play that was going on inside. It looked like the big guys from both teams were sort of a point of pride happening in there, answering each other back and forth all night long. TYLER ZELLER: Yeah, you got to give a lot of credit to both Thomas Robinson and Withey. Withey was in foul trouble the first half. But Thomas Robinson is a fantastic player. Somebody that he can drive the ball, shoot the ball, he can score the ball inside. There's a reason he's up for the Player of the Year. He's a tremendous player, so you got to give him a lot of credit. Q. Stilman, would you talk about your feelings, what your experience was like, the chance you had here. STILMAN WHITE: It hurts. This was a great team and we had great goals and doesn't feel like we quite achieved them. But we played as hard as we could and just came up a little bit short. Q. Stilman, in the first half, you guys were able to play transition pretty easily. But the second half, what changed? STILMAN WHITE: I don't know. I was just pushing it and if I didn't see anything, I tried to pull up and run, find whatever coach was calling. We tried to run a little freelance earlier and we weren't quite moving around like coach liked us to. So I think we focused a little more on running sets in the second half. Q. Tyler, it looked like you guys tried to attack Withey after he got after his fourth foul. How impressed were you with the way he kind of hung in there? TYLER ZELLER: Yeah, he did a great job. He had two huge blocks in the end, and you knew his length was something that could cause problems. Thankfully he was in foul trouble the first half, so it didn't cause a lot of problems for us. But he had two huge blocks in the end. He blocked John and then I think he blocked Stilman on the drive. I think it was something that you got to give him credit for staying aggressive and still going after those, even though he had four fouls. Q. Stilman, can you describe that play when he did get the block because you just darted in there it looked like for a second it was wide open and then it just shut down. STILMAN WHITE: That's what great players like them do. I saw a little lane and I just attacked it as hard as I could and he just made a great play. Q. Tyler, it seemed like every time Kansas go on a run, you guys would respond with a run of your own. At what point there in KU's ultimately last run did you guys realize that time was really running out? TYLER ZELLER: I think it was a four‑point game and it quickly became nine and we had a timeout. I think we still thought we had a chance then, but we came down and they made a great stop and we didn't make our shot. So they came down and hit their free throws and once it hit double digits, it was tough. I mean under a minute, it's tough to be able to come back from that deficit. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you. We'll take questions for coach. Q. Was Kendall even remotely close to being able to go? COACH WILLIAMS: I thought he was yesterday. We let him run upanddown the court and catch and pass a little bit. And I really got a little excited at that point. But I think that it got even sorer last night after just that little activity. We weren't even on the court probably 25 minutes doing anything. At that point during practice I thought he had a chance to go. But last night, I got less confident, and then this morning it just didn't feel right for him. You hate that for that kid. You hate it for our program, hate it for our team. But Kendall Marshall is all about winning and is all about team. And if you've ever watched him play, you realize that he's one of those point guards that cares about his team maybe more than anybody I've ever seen. So you hate it for him. Q. It looked like they went to maybe a triangle and two in the second half there at some point. I'm wondering what effect that had on things? COACH WILLIAMS: I know they did for one possession, and they may have for a second possession. I'm not sure about that. We got a very good shot. It just didn't go in the first time, and then again, I'm not sure if they were actually in it the second time. But we had J. Watts on the left wing, we had Reggie in the corner, and we had John eight feet away, and we had some good shots. They just didn't go in. But you do have to congratulate them. We talked about it. It was a game of runs and we didn't have one left there at the end to come back at them. It's so amazing because again, we're on the free throw line, we make one of two, so it's a one point game for them. And we come up with a defensive stop and so we got the ball and we're coming down, down one, and we turned it over. And then we really played pretty good defense on that possession, but Elijah jumped up and knocked it in. And I do believe it was seven seconds on the shot clock and we didn't cover it as well as we should have covered it. And then we came down and we had a pretty good situation, but didn't score. All of a sudden I thought that we panicked and I can't say anything negative about Stilman. My gosh. How good was he? But we panicked a little bit out there and I think that's when Withey blocked one shot in the middle, and then may have blocked Stilman's shot as well. But you just have to congratulate them. But Stilman's a pretty good story. It's a pretty good story for a kid to be able to do those kind of things, and yet he felt so much weight on his shoulders that he wouldn't even take a shot right there in front of our bench. We're trying to go for three, but it's just a marvelous kid and again that's ‑‑ I'm corny as all get out, but that's what's fun about coaching. Q. What did it take for Henson to be able to keep going and just comment on that and can you elaborate a little bit too on the difference of shooting from one half to the next. Was that just basketball or what took place? COACH WILLIAMS: I think John did hurt his ankle and it was quite painful for him in the first half. But that's another excuse is what that is. The last two to three weeks he's been playing without much of an inside game because he just can't move and can't do it with that arm, that hand, excuse me, the wrist. But still, we played the game. He tried very hard and did come back in. It's just that wasn't very effective on the offensive end. But that's John Henson, who has had a great, great year for us and the game of basketball. The ball's going in the basket in the first half and we shoot 63 percent in the first half, I think it was, and then 22 or whatever it was in the second half. Give Kansas credit for guarding us better. And then I think that the emotions the last four minutes or something like that, I think that took over a little bit, too, where Kendall's a security blanket and he's trying to coach on the bench. But he's a lot better player than he is a coach. And please don't try to take that as I'm saying that's the only reason we lost the game. Its just that we did panic and Elijah made a big shot. Q. Same question I asked Tyler, will you say what if for a long time about this season? COACH WILLIAMS: I think I do all the time. You're asking the worst person in the world for that because Coach Smith, smartest guy I every known in my life, he said his biggest worry about me was how hard I took the losses as an assistant. He said they're a heck of a lot tougher as a head coach. Yes, I'll play it over for a long time. I'll say what if for a long time. But we still had a chance. We just didn't play as well as we needed to play. This team, I looked two days ago, Ohio, the top nine guys played, they had one guy miss one game. Kansas the top eight guys had one guy miss one game. Last four years, we have had more adversity than I've ever seen in my entire life. But, boy, I've had great kids. So to answer your question, I'm going to play this game over and over and over. But I'm also going to consider how lucky I am to coach. And last year particularly and this year, it's been such a fun group of kids. It was last year, the way they came together down the stretch was maybe as good as it's ever been. But coaching's what it is. Q. How good was that first half in terms of the basketball that was played and what did you think might be the decisive factor in the second half? COACH WILLIAMS: It was. If you're a fan, watching that game, you had to love that. Coaches, we always talk about guys taking charges and diving on the floor. But that was good basketball the first half. Both coaches probably wanted their guys to defend better, I know I did, and I'm sure Bill did as well. You really thought it would continue that way and we would make a run, they would make a run, they would make a run, we would make a run. And then unfortunately for us, we stopped answering. In the second half, I thought both clubs were better defensively or maybe a combination of the stress of the situation might have affected some shots as well. But it was pretty there for awhile. It just wasn't very pretty the last five minutes. Q. How impressed are you with the defensive, a defender like Withey who had all those fouls on him and still makes those two big blocked shots? COACH WILLIAMS: They were big. Because a lot of times a guy with four fouls won't guard you because he wants to stay in the game. And those were two big defensive plays. And that's a little bit what I mean about you have to congratulate Kansas. It wasn't just us missing shots. But Jeff was a load for us inside. It was difficult because not only did he block those two, I think we missed one other one, a short one. Maybe it was Z on the right block because you're trying to look where he is. And we have had that affect on some guys this year ourselves because of John and Z and their shot blocking ability. But I thought he was really tremendous for them and those two blocks, needless to say they were big. Q. How quick do you want to sort through the process with the underclassmen and their families? COACH WILLIAMS: Oh, hadn't thought a heck of a lot about it, to be honest with you. But we'll try to do it pretty quickly. It's what it is.  It's our culture. It's not as much fun as getting a guy and coaching him for four years, but it's what it is. We have to handle that. But I would think that before the end of the week, I would have at least the initial conversations with all of our guys, yeah. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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