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00:00 -You've talked about rebounding problems in the past. Today
00:04 it was a strength. Why so? Quinn, just go right down the line.
00:08 -We understand
00:12 what Kansas was bringing. They got two bigs down low
00:16 that are relentless at the rim. It was just looking at each other in practice.
00:20 At this point in the season, there's nothing else to talk about. We just need to bring it.
00:24 We're boxing out. Everyone's boxing out. We're starting to do a lot more
00:28 with the balls and repping it and making more of a focus rather than just talking about
00:32 hey guys, let's rebound. I'm so proud of our team. I think we rebounded
00:36 the ball great. Came up with a couple crazy offensive rebounds with Ray and me.
00:40 It's just winning basketball. That's the formula of winning basketball.
00:44 -Honestly, I just think we
00:48 wanted it more. Before the game, Coach had told us
00:52 they didn't even have a shoot around today. I'm sitting there like
00:56 you guys are just looking right over us.
01:00 It just kind of lights up that little chip
01:04 on your shoulder. They're overlooking us like this? Alright, let's go take it from them.
01:08 -They said everything pretty much.
01:12 We have nothing to talk about. It's all energy and effort. We went out there and did that
01:16 today. We could have just been more consistent. That's the main thing with us.
01:20 We know we can do it. We can beat any team in the country. It's just being consistent and bringing it every night.
01:24 -For all three
01:28 of you guys, again, the scene after
01:32 the game, storming the court, you're surrounded by hundreds of students.
01:36 What was that moment like? -It's such a
01:41 blessing. I don't want to say it's a blessing to be here. We go on the road. We're going against
01:45 ranked teams and we're seeing 200 people in the stands.
01:49 To see how much support we have here, we love West Virginia so much.
01:53 It's not just for the fans. It's for the people. It's for the people that scream at their TV when they
01:57 watch. I think the fans deserve it. I'm just happy that
02:01 we're all a part of it and we can get that for them.
02:05 -It's just all love. Just the love you feel in that moment for your teammates,
02:09 for getting there. The fans are all over.
02:13 It's those moments that make it, the hard days, the early mornings,
02:17 the 7am conditionings, all seem worth it. -It's a real moment, man.
02:21 It doesn't happen to very many people, especially in the college world. It's hard to win games
02:25 like that, especially doing it at this level and being a few steps behind
02:29 because we had a crazy off season. I'm just proud of this team,
02:33 the coaching staff, and just happy we did it in West Virginia, in Morgantown.
02:37 -Pat, coming into this game, are you thinking, "Hey, I've got a match in All-American"?
02:41 How did you approach that? Obviously
02:45 you jumped up a bunch this season as the season's gone on, but
02:49 what were you thinking about coming into this game?
02:53 -Honestly, I don't think about all of his accolades or anything.
02:57 I'm watching film and I'm thinking about his weaknesses.
03:01 He's this tall. He's slow. Or he's lazy.
03:05 I'm not thinking about, you know, he's this
03:09 and that. I'm thinking about how I can go and get a bucket.
03:13 -You feel you outplayed him tonight? -He did.
03:17 All I know is we got the win and they didn't.
03:22 -Quinn, there's been some struggles at the end of games
03:26 free throw shooting wise. How good did it feel to
03:30 ice it with two and obviously it came off the offensive rebound and off the miss. Can you kind of take us
03:34 through what happened on that offensive rebound? -Those are important. We're shooting 100
03:38 free throws a day. I think even the bigger free throws were Kerr's.
03:42 Shout out Kerr. He just played an amazing game. Some of his passes just
03:46 didn't get him through the hole. That usually happens. That's just the game of basketball. Things go up and down.
03:50 He played great today. It's just really... This is another thing
03:54 we made a focus on. The Big 12 is brutal but
03:58 we're all matched up pretty closely so it goes down to the rebounding and the free throws
04:02 at the end of the game and kind of playing like chess in that manner
04:06 to win these games. I felt it when I left my hand.
04:10 I felt it a little going off far. I picked a 50... I flipped
04:14 my mind going left to right and God was on my side.
04:18 -Rick, like Quinn was saying, there was so many plays at the end of the game that really
04:22 kind of made the story. The entire first half though kind of probably had to seem
04:26 like some kind of dream where just everything was falling.
04:30 But then it's still a tie game at the half. You guys just played this amazing
04:34 first half offensively. Can you just kind of talk about
04:38 what that first half was like? Did it seem like it was
04:42 a dream? -Nah, never a dream. This is real.
04:46 This is real. You're playing number three Kansas. You gotta give it all you got.
04:50 They had the number one and two leading scorers in the conference. So they
04:54 scoring as well. It all just comes down to defense and just being gritty.
04:58 -Was there any disappointment then that you guys played so great and it's
05:03 a tie game still? -No, it's basketball.
05:07 It's what we wanted. It's what we signed up for. -Quinn, you got off to a great
05:11 start obviously in your career here and then had a couple of games that weren't as good
05:15 as I'm sure as you wanted. Were there specific things you were thinking about, hey
05:19 I've gotta do this better in order to get back on track? What were your coaches
05:23 talking to you about? How'd that progress? -It's just
05:27 recognizing it's my fifth year with this team. We had a little setback
05:31 early on but just being able to trust yourself and trust the team
05:35 and just be consistent all the way through and not dwelling on the bad games that we
05:39 had. Actually I don't believe there's anything such as a bad game.
05:43 It's just bouncing back from that loss.
05:47 -Does a night like this make all you've been through so far this
05:51 year worth it now? -I think we're really blessed to play
05:55 basketball. Obviously this is like a
05:59 present for us that we can kind of enjoy. We're continuing to get better
06:03 and better and better. Obviously we had a three game stretch of playing top 15
06:07 teams in the country. Going two and one, that was really important for us.
06:11 Continuing on this road trip we're about to go on, I feel like
06:15 we need to get better and better and better. Coming from Iona, I understand what you have to do
06:19 in the conference tournament to make March Madness. Ray Collins at Montana State and it's the same thing.
06:23 All college basketball is is catching fire at the right time.
06:27 -Everybody said that you guys would get better when Jesse was back.
06:31 -We got Jesse coming back too.
06:35 -Some of the stuff that you just mentioned there about Dickinson,
06:39 your strengths against his game, what did you spot? What did you take out
06:44 on the floor that you tried to apply today that turned out for you?
06:48 -Honestly, that's
06:52 the game plan going into it. When you're in the game you're just kind of in the heat of the moment.
06:56 Just taking advantage of the opportunities. I wouldn't say I was really thinking too much.
07:00 Just going and trying to make the most out of what was in front of me.
07:04 -Quentin, free throws,
07:08 they're never easy. You shoot so many in practice.
07:12 But that late game moment, you could probably feel students
07:16 getting ready to come and to shoot in that kind of
07:20 atmosphere different, what goes through your mind? -Basketball players
07:24 do weird things to kind of get them in the right mindset. I
07:28 grew up in Sugar Land. We had a gym there. I remember as a kid my dad always
07:32 said, "Shoot like these are national championship free throws."
07:36 Every time I set up the free throw line, I swear to God, I picture that same rim in that
07:40 same gym with the crooked rim and just kind of put my mind
07:44 at ease in that and not really think about the whole moment. As a basketball player
07:48 sometimes you surprise yourself. Damn, I can't believe
07:52 I iced those at the end. You gotta kind of trick your mind into thinking
07:56 ways to get stuff done. I just kind of look back to
08:00 the seventh grade. These are free throws the same 15 feet away from the rim that I shot in
08:04 fifth, sixth grade. I'm just glad they went in.
08:08 -Thank you.