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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: AUSTINMarch 21, 2013Austin HollinsTubby SmithRodney WilliamsAUSTIN, TEXAS THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and get started with the Minnesota student‑athletes. Open it up for questions. Q. Rodney, when you had the shoulder strain, right before the Wisconsin game or Illinois game, was that a bigger issue than you first thought it was? RODNEY WILLIAMS: Yeah, that was definitely a big bigger issue than I thought it was going to be. But our trainers, they helped me get into the training room every day, get treatment every day, and they got me back as fast as possible. Q. When did you feel like you were back to a hundred percent or are you back to a hundred percent? RODNEY WILLIAMS: Probably after that Ohio State game. It was still bothering me a little bit after that, but up until the next game, I was getting a lot of extra treatment and stuff like that, so after that game is when I felt back to normal. Q. Rodney, a lot of stats have you guys as one of the best rebounding teams in the country. What is the key to good rebounding and why are you guys so good at it? RODNEY WILLIAMS: We just crash the boards real hard. We see a shot go up and we just head to the basket. We got a guy in Trevor Mbakwe, that's just about a double digit rebound guy a game. So when you got somebody inside that can be there for you, you're going to end up one of the best rebounding teams in the country. Q. UCLA conversely is a very poor rebounding team. Is that something you think can you exploit tomorrow? AUSTIN HOLLINS: Yeah, I think that's something that we're going to try to exploit. It's just like Rodney said, we got some really good rebounders in Trevor and himself. And they have to get good position. And we crash the boards really hard, so that's something that we're going to try to do well. Q. Austin, you guys have been favored in this game, even though you're an 11 seed. Do you pay attention to that at all and does that give you any confidence going into this? AUSTIN HOLLINS: No, we don't really pay too much attention to that. We're just going to go into the game and try and play our best basketball, regardless of who the opponent is, regardless of the seed. I really don't think that the seeds matter. UCLA is going to be a tough team and I think that we're a tough team to deal with. So it's just going to be a matter of going out there and who wants it more. Q. Austin, is there a certain pace of the game that you guys feel comfortable playing at? Do you want to keep the pace in your favor in tomorrow's game? AUSTIN HOLLINS: I think that we can play a lot of different paces, but the one thing that we do want to do is control the tempo. We want to keep the tempo in our favor. Whether that means running the floor or slowing it down and getting into a set, half court offense, but we like to get out in transition and get a lot of points that way. Q. There's been a lot of people who have said, after watching the Big‑10 season, that all the Big‑10 teams are going to be relieved to get into a tournament where they're not beating each other up like you guys have done the last couple months and that it might bring out more offense in all these teams. How much do you think that's likely to happen? AUSTIN HOLLINS: I think that it's pretty likely. It is tough in the Big‑10, with it being the toughest conference in the country, getting out of the conference is exciting. Not only to play against other teams, but being in the NCAA tournament. So I think that it will be something different for us. We'll be really pumped up to play. THE MODERATOR: Okay. Thank you, gentlemen. We'll let you go. We'll take an opening statement from Coach Smith. COACH SMITH: Well, we're very excited to be here in Austin. To be a part of this tournament is always special time. It's probably the greatest show on earth. So we're really ‑‑ we know we're going to have our hands full against a very good UCLA team. THE MODERATOR: Okay. Questions? Q. So with a 15‑1 start and a 5‑11 finish, how do you explain how that happened and what are your thoughts about being able to make that 15‑1 start more like how you play moving forward now? COACH SMITH: Well, we know we got off to a good start. Again, your non‑league schedule's always a time to iron out any wrinkles you might have, any problems you might have. And we got off to a good start and then we had a tough loss at Indiana. And we just never seemed to get back our footing because it's tough, when you get on that roll, and we couldn't get out. Our confidence was shaken. Some tough losses at Northwestern, and others. And then we had some guys that went through there where Rodney Williams had hurt his shoulder and didn't play, didn't log many minutes at all. He's an integral part of our team. Those are no excuses, we still have a very experienced team and I thought that we would do better in the conference play, but we also had some close games and games that we just didn't do a good job of taking care of the basketball. One of the things was, our biggest issue all year long was turnovers, too many turnovers. And that's something we have tried to remedy. Even in our last outing we had 19. So that's been a real challenge for us, even though we have been a good rebounding team. But anyhow, as a coach, you have those ‑‑ a year ago we went through a situation where we lost six games in a row. We would win three in a row and then lose four in a row. We won two in a row, we lose two in a row. It was, the inconsistency that we had was very troublesome. But again, we did enough, I think, based on us being here, to warrant us being in this tournament and we believe we're a team that ‑‑ because we beat some very good teams as well. Q. There's a lot of speculation because the Big‑10 was so good that all the Big‑10 teams after, now that they're not beating each other up any more, that the offense might come out a lot more fluidly for all of you. How much validity do you put into that? COACH SMITH: Well, everybody's a ‑‑ when you get to this point a lot of teams haven't watched you play, but everybody has video on you and they have ‑‑ you can watch games 24 hours a day. It used to be that it was difficult to get footage, film on players and teams. But in this day and time, it's‑‑ I don't disagree with that, I think that ‑‑ I hope that's right. I hope we can. You know, UCLA‑‑ it's the style of play that you compete against too‑‑ UCLA is a team that they want to get it up‑and‑down the court, they have an outstanding point guard in Larry Drew, II, they have their big men run the floor extremely well. So having said that, I think we have a team that's sort of built to do that. So I suspect that our guys will be comfortable playing this UCLA team that plays similar to the way we want to play. Q. We asked Ben Howland the same thing about how he felt his players have dealt with adversity this year and how he's dealt with it personally. Can you talk about that a little bit. COACH SMITH: About how I dealt with it? Well, I've been blessed with ‑‑ Ben has had his situation. Everybody's different. Every situation is different. And how you handle it is all about how you handle those things. Because it's going to come. Whether it's players transferring or injuries, whatever. But Ben Howland has probably handled it as well as anybody in the country, under the microscope that he's under at UCLA. In our situation, at Minnesota, where some of the losses or the tough, you know, being inconsistent, that's the adversity that we have dealt with. Not so much injuries, as we had the year before. But, again, you overcome it. And certainly they did it the right way. I mean, they went on to win the PAC‑12. So he did a remarkable job. We didn't do so well in handling our adversity of not playing well, which it wasn't because of injuries or transfers, it was just because I think our confidence was shaken. But I thought we righted the ship when we had to, got some big wins when we had to, and that's why we are here playing in the tournament. Q. Coach, with UCLA's bench the way it is, just fairly limited, are you guys looking to do some more pressing and things like that to try wear them out early? COACH SMITH: Well, we haven't been very good in pressing this year. That's something that we have hoped that we would be a better team extending our defense, forcing some turnovers, more opportunities and more possessions by turning people over. But we weren't very good. We have always been one of the top teams in the league in steals. It wasn't, I don't know where we finished this year, but we weren't very good. So those are areas that we have had to adapt and adjust to all year long. Not being able to get the output that we wanted from our bench, because it doesn't matter how many players you play, it's how good those players play that are playing. So we haven't, so we have got to constantly look and try to find that guy that can step up and do the job, Elliott Eliason has been the most consistent player off the bench. Maverick has given us some good play off the bench lately, they have been doing it most of the year, and I think has given us some good minutes off the bench. But we would like to see more out of Oto and some of the other players that we need to step up. So I don't know that‑‑ because they're a pretty good ball handling team‑‑ they led the PAC‑12 in assists. So it's ‑‑ I'm not sure if that's the best strategy to employ. Q. Do you have a preference, do you think that you found a preference between playing a really long bench and playing a shorter bench? There have been times in the Illinois game that you played basically six guys in the second half. COACH SMITH: Yeah. I tried a little bit of everything, haven't I? I mean, it's been up‑and‑down. We have tried to go with a deep bench, we haven't been productive. We have gone with a short bench and haven't been productive. But we have been productive too. It's been inconsistent. We have played a lot of guys and it's paid. And we played a few guys in some games and it's paid off and vice versa. So just maybe if I would answer your question, have I found it? No. A hell of a thing to be saying right now, isn't it? Q. Maybe you can speak to this, having coached in Lexington, under a microscope like you were talking about with Ben Howland, does that inevitably affect a coach's psyche? Obviously even if they're not telling people, is there a wearing affect to being under microscope like that in Lexington or in L.A. like Ben Howland is? COACH SMITH: Well, we all have our ways of dealing with anything, whether it's stress or pressure. And I know Coach Howland has done a remarkable job of it, done an outstanding job. And he still has been able to ‑‑ and he won conference championships. So it's there, it's real, it's out there. So, as coaches though, we deal with that as part of the job. Part of any job, really. You have deadlines, you have all types of things that go on. It's just that we deal with it in the public eye and you deal with it with very fragile people that aren't fully developed mentally, emotionally, physically. So there's that element in it. And we're their parents, their surrogate parents. So you really take it hard when something happens, good or bad, especially bad, that's going to distract or detract that player from being the best they could be or growing the way you want them to grow and helping the team be better. And then all the other psychological things that go along with growing up in that type of, in the environment that we're in. I'm talking about media scrutiny, social network. I mean, it's just remarkable. I'm amazed at how young people handle it today. I mean I really am. I'm the biggest fan of the young people, especially athletes, and the ones that I have the good fortunate to coach and what they have to handle on a regular basis. And the choices that they have to make constantly. I mean constantly. Q. All your film, except for maybe one game with UCLA, is with Jordan Adams. What can you expect without him tomorrow? COACH SMITH: I thought that they played pretty good against a very good Oregon team. And certainly they, looking down the stretch to see, that they have got, I know they will have to use more of Norman Powell and David Wear. So they have got some very talented people that were playing a lot of minutes to start with. Adams was averaging 22 minutes a game, so it wasn't like he wasn't playing. And so he's used some people. When I say that Coach Howland has used his bench maybe sparsely, but people who did play have done a pretty good job. So I would imagine it's another opportunity for players like Tony Parker and Norm Powell to step up and play well. I mean, usually that's what happens when a guy sees an opportunity, they raise their level of play. Q. Tubby, you guys are actually a three point favorite in this game as the 11 seed over the six seed. Why do you think that is and do you see some ‑‑ how do you see the matchup going? COACH SMITH: Well, I really don't pay much attention to who is favored. Every team has to come out there and play well. I would imagine it's because of the loss of Jordan Adams. That and the time that they had to prepare. But they have had time to make adjustments, UCLA has had time to prepare for us like we have had time to prepare for them. It's tough to lose a player of that caliber. He's averaging 15 points a game, doing some good things. So I imagine that's why they have been ‑‑ other than that, that's the only thing I can pinpoint. I think that it's based on us coming off of the last three games we played. It's a tough one. But so we have ‑‑ I don't know. We have had the good fortunate to play in a tournament last year with our team, maybe that has something to do with it. We played well and we had pretty much the same people back. But I couldn't tell you why. I think it's a good matchup. Although, they are very long and probably taller than we are in most positions, probably every position. So that's, again, maybe the depth, our bigs, we play a lot of guys. But you heard me talk about the inconsistency that we have had there. But I think our guys are ready for the challenge. We'll see what happens. Q. What does it mean to this team and this program to get back into the NCAA tournament and to be here in Austin? COACH SMITH: Well, let's see? UCLA's been here what? 45 times or something? We have been here 12. It means an awful lot. Fortunately, we have been here three times, three of the 12 times, so we feel pretty good what we have been doing. We're still trying to grow the program. I think it's still, we still have a long way to go. Obviously recruiting is important. Obviously this type of exposure is very helpful to galvanizing people, getting people excited about Gopher basketball. That's why it's important that we develop some continuity, some consistency in making it to the NCAA. But it's not easy. There's a lot of teams, a lot of guys that would love to be here. So we really feel good about this group and what they have been able to achieve, and what we have been able to achieve with this program over the last few years. THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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