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NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: ST. LOUISMarch 21, 2014Anthony BrownJohnny DawkinsChasson RandleST. LOUIS, MISSOURI Stanford – 58 THE MODERATOR: Chasson Randle and Anthony Brown represent the student body for Stanford. Coach Johnny Dawkins is here. A note on Anthony, his 10 points today allowed him to reach 1,001 for his career. We will ask Coach Dawkins to open up with a statement and then have questions for all three representatives of the Cardinals. COACH DAWKINS: For me opening statement is just, you know, we played a heck of a basketball team. And a great game, an amazing environment and I am just happy for our team to continue to move on. That's what this is about, that's what this tournament is about, being able to win and continuing to advance. And again, we beat a very good team. I thought a team that never quit. We got out early versus them and built a good lead and they played the way I've seen them play a lot on tape. They kept fighting, they kept coming back. And they dug in and made it a game at the end and our guys had to make plays that were I think befitting of what we had done all season. Guys stepped up, different guys and made plays when we needed to make them and secured the victory. THE MODERATOR: Questions for all three representatives. Q. I guess for either of the players. You know, you guys probably didn't know if you were going to be in the tournament or not going into Selection Sunday and now you are 40 minutes away from the Sweet 16. How does it feel to be where you are right now? ANTHONY BROWN: You know, it feels good. But, you know, like Coach said, we're not satisfied. New Mexico was a great team. And, you know, just take it one game at a time, like you said, 40 minutes away from the Sweet 16. Q. Chasson, can you talk a little bit about the final sequence when they called you for the dead ball technical foul for hitting with the elbow. I know it was an inadvertent. Maybe you can give your explanation of exactly what happened. CHASSON RANDLE: It was unintentional. He rushed me quick and I just tried to turn, but I was a little high and he ran into my elbow. Q. As a follow‑up, Coach Dawkins, what did you think of that sequence, too? Did you think that everything was called appropriately in that final sequence? COACH DAWKINS: I thought by rule it was called appropriately. Any elbow to the face now is automatic, so I knew it would be a problem once it happened. It was unfortunate. It is a natural movement in that situation you're going to be trapped, to pivot out of the situation. And he was just a little too high. I expected the call to go that way, but I also expected to shoot two free throws because a foul had occurred before that happened. Q. Can you talk about the first six, seven minutes of the game. A 20‑4 lead, I don't think you missed a shot as a team. What that did for your confidence, even later in the game. CHASSON RANDLE: First of all, I am very proud of the way we came out as a team. We came out energetic and ready to go. We knew how big this game was and just excited for the opportunity, and we sustained it for most of the game. Once they made their run back, we definitely had enough confidence left in us to finish out the game. Q. For Anthony, what did you guys do specifically to take Kendall Williams out of the game and make it tough for him to get good shots? ANTHONY BROWN: We didn't try to do anything in particular. For me I just wanted to use my length on Kendall. Knowing him, playing with him when I was little, I had a pretty good understanding of some of his tendencies and we knew we didn't want to let him get into a rhythm early. And, you know, he didn't hit his first couple of shots and I think he started getting passive looking for others and that's just the main key, using my length. Q. Chasson, Coach Dawkins yesterday talked about how he was impressed with your maturity after last season. What has been the difference for you this season, this is the triangle? What clicked for you this year? CHASSON RANDLE: I think it is a number of things. First of all, I think I approached this season like it would be, you know, the last, the last time I play basketball. And, you know, I think my teammates did the same thing. And the triangle has been helping and my teammates have been finding me. Q. And Coach Dawkins, can you‑‑ COACH DAWKINS: The same question? As he mentioned before and as you mentioned, of course he has matured. No matter what system we would have run I think he would have been great at it, to be quite honest, because he is a terrific player. And I think what he's done, he started to understand the game the way we need to play it at Stanford. And by that I mean understanding how to value possessions, understand how to utilize his teammates. As he started to grow in that area. I think it has helped to make him better. Not only has he played our players better, but they also made him better. And that's what it is about. And that growth and maturity in him over the year has been fun to watch. Q. Can you talk about what you guys did defensively. You held Williams and Kirk to 1 for 12 between them and you probably couldn't have imagined being that successful. What did your guys do to make that happen? COACH DAWKINS: One of the things for us, it is hard to stop great players. We are fortunate in the ability to stop them. In that 1 for whatever players, we‑‑they had some looks that they didn't make. I think our guys did a great job of following the game plan. You know, we went out there with smart conventional match‑ups. The Kendall Williams match‑up was pretty obvious with Anthony, but then we didn't put Stefan on Kirk, we put Dwight on Kirk and Stefan on Bairstow, which I am sure probably wasn't expected. And in doing so we gave up some tough 2s with Bairstow because he's very good. But with having Dwight out there, with his activity and length on Kirk, we was able to slow him down more. I thought that as one of the keys of us having some success. Q. Coach, congratulations on the win and I want to ask you to take a little trip down memory lane if you would. You were the point guard on the Duke team when you beat Kansas in the Final Four and there is a chance you may play Kansas. What do you remember about that game? Or do you remember anything about that run you had at Duke? COACH DAWKINS: Well, we actually played Kansas twice that year, so I remember it. Two hard‑fought games. Both of the games came down to the wire, but especially in the Final Four. That game was deciding who would play for the National Championship. Just a great environment and I thought both programs were competing and playing like, you know, everything was on the line. Q. For Chasson. It is 45‑45 and you hit the three‑pointer that broke that tie. You know, what kind of emotional lift do you think you guys took from that to not let them get the lead there? CHASSON RANDLE: I think we just took, you know, that play and just, you know, carried it as momentum throughout the rest of the game. I came off open and I can't remember who passed it to me, but whoever did it was a great pass and it was right on the money. Q. Anthony, you said you knew Kendall growing up. ANTHONY BROWN: Yeah. Q. How did you know each other? ANTHONY BROWN: We played on the same AAU in 6th, 7th and a little bit of 8th grade. Q. Did that give you an advantage do you think going up against him? ANTHONY BROWN: I couldn't say an advantage, but I just know some of his tendencies and I felt like I could get in his head a little bit. But other than that, he missed some wide‑open shots. A couple of times he didn't attack, but yeah, that's about it. Q. Coach Dawkins, were you afraid you were going to run out of bodies down the stretch in this game with three guys having four fouls? COACH DAWKINS: It was getting close, that's for sure. You know fortunately we have good depth, especially with our big guys. Even down to Schuyler Rimmer I have confidence that he can come in and bang and play in there and be productive for us, so that was the one position that we could afford to take some fouls. And we were able to sustain it tonight. Q. And Chasson, you mentioned a little while ago that you came into this season with a mindset that playing as if this was going to be your last season of basketball. I just want to make sure that you are speaking sort of generically about that. CHASSON RANDLE: Definitely. Q. Is there any possibility you will not be back at Stanford next year? CHASSON RANDLE: No, not at all. Q. Could you speak to Robbie Lemons's late contribution? COACH DAWKINS: Is that directed to me? You know, I am happy for our team, of course, but I'm no more happy for anybody on our squad than Robbie. There is not a player who spends any more time on his game and in the gym. And a walk‑on having that commitment for four years, for him to go to the line, you know he had the dream of that moment, the NCAA Tournament, at the line, shooting crucial free throws. To step up there and make both of them, I said it to our guys in the locker room after the game was over just how proud I was of him for that play and for him having the confidence to step up there and seal the game for us. Q. Coach, talk about the significance of this win for you personally. It has taken you guys awhile to get to the tournament and to get there. And not only get your first win and the first game, what this means to you. COACH DAWKINS: This team will always have a place in my heart for what we are accomplishing. It is the first chance for me as a head coach to be in the tournament, and so I will always remember the kids who got us there and got me there. And it's something that, you know, we'll talk about later. You know, we still have games to play, but it is something that we will discuss later as a group. But just really happy for them. I realize the last four years, everything they have had to go through, the ups, downs, the adversity they had to face, the expectations of this class. I think we are a little bit unfair, to be quite honest, but the kids never wavered. They stayed the course and they were able to battle, and now we're in the tournament and we're going to try to make the most of our opportunity. Q. Coach, congratulations on the win today.  On Sunday it's either K.U. or Eastern Kentucky. Do you have a preference who you play? If it is K.U. what is your mindset going into that one? COACH DAWKINS: I haven't had the chance to even think about that. I have been in this tournament a number of times as a player and a coach and the thing you have to do is stay focused on what you're doing. And both of those teams are great. Neither one of those teams would be here if they weren't very good at what they do. So we just have to wait and find out who we're going to play and we'll start preparing for them. Q. Johnny, just a clarification for those of us who don't know. Is he still a walk‑on and did he get a scholarship? COACH DAWKINS: Robbie is a walk‑on this year. We scholarshiped him last year because we had one available. We didn't have one available this year so he didn't get it. Q. He was a walk‑on and then as a junior you scholarshiped him? COACH DAWKINS: Yeah, still a walk‑on this year. But I am very proud of him, as I mentioned before. He has never approached the game or practice like a walk‑on. He has always approached it like he deserves to be a player and that's why I think when he had this moment he was able to step up. Q. With this large of a stage that you guys are on, what kind of mentorship do you guys draw upon to help? ANTHONY BROWN: Well, I think, you know, we just listen to coach, first and foremost. Like he said, he has been in the tournament as a player and a head coach. We didn't want to be happy to just be here, and that is one of the things he stressed this entire week. There are a lot of teams that come to the tournament and are just happy to be here and they go home the first day. So, you know, coach was the biggest mentor for us, just keeping us focused. Telling us to stay away from the media and all of the distractions and just go play. CHASSON RANDLE: I would say Coach Dawkins and then the rest of our assistant coaches, they have definitely been a big help and we just lean on each other.  You know, we understand that we have to go out there and play basketball games. And you know, we just lean on each other and fight for each other. Q. Johnny, could you imagine winning this game with the tough game that Dwight had offensively tonight?  And are you convinced that, you know, he'll come back with a different effort next time? COACH DAWKINS: Absolutely. And you're going to have to win games like this where your best player is not at their best. And so I think he is a young man that will bounce back. He always has. And what I liked about this game mostly was the fact that other guys stepped up. Now he has carried us in a lot of games, and this was an opportunity for some other guys to really step up, especially offensively for us and help out. And I thought Stef was one of the keys for the game for us, he did a great job. And what Dwight won't get credit for, because we're looking at points, he won't get credit for his outstanding defensive effort, as we mentioned about Kirk, coming over and helping, changing shots, blocking shots. And he made a lot of winning plays for us, he just didn't score as well today. Q. Sorry if this is a little repetitive of what you already answered, but the 20‑4 run, did you guys, or you, coach, did you guys get a sense in them that they were shocked and kind of the deer in the headlights look? CHASSON RANDLE: I'm not really sure what it was. All I know is we could just focus on what we could control and that was coming out and playing as hard as we could. And you know, credit to them they responded. So they made a game out of it. COACH DAWKINS: And I will say the same thing. You know, echo what Chasson said. We got off to a great start. We hit pretty much every shot and they had some good looks that didn't go early and we were able to build our lead. But we know based on watching the tape that they were a team that would keep fighting and they would come back. They don't have droughts that last the entire game and you don't win 9 out of 10 and 14 out of the last 16 without being able to come back and respond. And they did that. And to their credit, and Coach Neal's credit for what he has done with this group, but our guys were able to sustain it at the end and pull out the win. Q. Coach, did you have any conversations with Coach Amaker in preparation for the game? COACH DAWKINS: I did not. I texted him and congratulated him on his win, but no conversation with regards to New Mexico. THE MODERATOR: Anything else for the representatives of Stanford? Gentlemen, thank you very much. We will see you tomorrow and then game on Sunday. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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