NCAA Men's 1st and 2nd

Rounds: St. Louis

Saturday, March 19, 2016
St. Louis, Missouri

Chris Mack
Xavier
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Xavier head
coach Chris Mack. Coach, an opening statement.
CHRIS MACK: Anytime you can advance in
tournament play, you know, you count your blessings.
We played particularly well, I thought, in the last eight
minutes of the game. Our rebounding against Weber
State was really good from start to finish.
So we have a tough opponent on our hands, a team
that's battle-tested, a team with veterans from a year
ago and their championship game run. So we know
what we're up against and we have to be up for the
challenge.
THE MODERATOR: Questions?
Q. James Farr seemed like a bit of a project for you
guys when he first got there. Could talk about his
development to this point, especially since he's
almost a go-to scorer?
CHRIS MACK: It's been incredible. I don't know if
people that don't follow our program very closely can
appreciate how far he's come. When he first arrived at
Xavier, he tied everything into how he shot the ball
from the three-point line. He fancied himself as a pickand-pop jump shooter. If that wasn't falling he just
hung his head. Whether it's how terrific a rebounder
he's become at both ends of the floor, his ability to
score in the low post. Even a year ago he wasn't very
comfortable scoring with his back to the basket. We
just asked him to sort of check himself and figure out
ways where he could be effective around the basket.
He worked night and day with Mike Pegues, our
assistant coach.
I think he gained a lot of confidence in our first
scrimmage, our first and only scrimmage against
Illinois earlier this year. They have Mike Thorne, who is
a terrific fifth-year guy, and James scored I think on
back-to-back-to-back possessions in that scrimmage,
at the time where the scrimmage was sort of nip and
tuck. I think from that point forward he really felt he
could score in the low block. I've seen his confidence
grow and grow and grow. He's taken the jump shot
and has put it deep in his back pocket. Really our
team has benefited because of his ability to rebound,

Rev #2 by #268 at 2016-03-19 21:38:00 GMT

score in the low post and just be a presence

underneath.
Q. Coach, how much does pace matter in a game
like tomorrow's game where you guys obviously
play up and down and as indicated by their last
game they're more grind-it-out?
CHRIS MACK: Hopefully that plays into our big guys'
hands. Because from what I understand they're really
slow. So since the pace is going to be what it is, we're
just going to have to play that way. You try to speed
teams up. Wisconsin isn't as slow as one may think.
They're going to be opportunistic in transition. But it's
a basketball game. Whether there's 30 possessions or
70 possessions, we have to put the ball in the basket
more than they do.
Q. What have the last 12 hours been for like you in
terms of regrouping and starting to study
Wisconsin and getting the team ready for the next
game?
CHRIS MACK: A little hectic. But I have a great
coaching staff. Our assistant coaches, probably like
every other team in the tournament, have done
advanced scouting. Also had CliffsNotes version of
what Wisconsin or Pittsburgh presented. So we met in
my room last night, watched film for a couple hours,
and then started back up this morning. And then
started to feed some of that information to our players
around breakfast time.
Q. Do you know Greg Gard at all? Do you have an
appreciation for the job he's done for Coach Ryan?
CHRIS MACK: He's done a terrific job. I don't have to
know Greg that well to see that. I know that a lot was
made of all the pieces that Wisconsin lost from a year
ago, and they didn't have necessarily the
nonconference start that Badger fans were probably
used to or even expecting because of so much success
that Coach Ryan's had. But it's been really impressive
to see the growth of this year's team with some
younger players.
Obviously Greg earning the job before the season was
over says a lot about the job he did. So from afar, you
know, I'm happy because anytime you have an
assistant coach in a program that has dedicated their
entire professional life for that program -- I mean, he's
been there for such a long time, it's really good to see.

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Because a lot of times assistant coaches, all they need

is a shot, they just need a chance. A lot of times what
keeps them back is that experience. It's hard. If you
don't get a shot, how do you get experience? So I'm
really happy for him. Obviously a big-time job. But
he's proven so far that he's certainly more than able.
Q. Are there programs that you have modeled
yours after? We're talking about Wisconsin,
they've obviously had a long run of success, I
think. New guy steps in, just kind of keeps it
going. Are there programs in the country that you
have looked at and said, this is how kind of we
want to do things?
CHRIS MACK: Honestly, on the defensive side of the
ball, years ago we decided to implement more of a
pack-line system. There are some wrinkles between
what Wisconsin traditionally did under Coach Bennett,
what Tony Bennett does at Virginia, and maybe what
we do at Xavier.
But I think as a coach you're a little bit of everybody
you come across that you either work with or play for.
There's not necessarily a program that we model
ourselves after, I wouldn't say. But we're all stealers,
so to speak, in this business. And we steal little things
from one another.
Q. Coach, general question for you, I don't know
how many other scores you look at over the
weekend, but any idea why there seems to be so
many upsets this year?
CHRIS MACK: I think there's upsets every year. I think
maybe the gap between 2 and 15, 3 and 14, maybe
isn't as drastic as it once was. There's a lot of oneand-dones. I also think you have college players for
years, because of AAU basketball, that have competed
against one another since they were in third grade all
the way up to entering college. A lot of these guys at
this stage know one another.
There are a lot of players that in my locker room, when
we go over to another scouting team's report, I'll look
out there and say, well, Myles Davis, he played with
Derrick Gordon at Seton Hall, for instance. He played
against Isaiah Whitehead. And it's like all these kids
who have become young men know one another and
grow up against one another. And the more familiarity
you have, the more often that you've played against
players around the country, the more you know you
belong. It's like when you play basketball with your
older brother growing up. You can beat your older
brother. He's your older brother. You just punch him in
the stomach a couple times, so you're used to him.

this game like a road game? And how do you plan

to counteract what could be a very pro-Wisconsin
crowd?
CHRIS MACK: We can't worry about the crowd. I
mean I don't know how we would counteract it anyway
other than stopping them from coming into the building
somehow. Our contingent will be very loud. I think
we'll have more fans on Sunday than maybe we did
Friday. But it's business as usual. We've just got to get
off to a good start, play our brand of basketball and not
worry about the crowd. We've been pretty good on the
road all year.
Q. Nigel Hayes didn't have maybe a game
yesterday that's indicative of how he's been all
season. But can you speak about him and maybe
some of the other challenges that Wisconsin
presents?
CHRIS MACK: Well, first of all, he's very experienced.
You know, they've utilized him a little bit more at the 3
this year as opposed to the 4 a year ago. But it hasn't
made him any less effective. They certainly at times
will play him at the 4. In their offense they have
multiple players that will post. He's a terrific passer.
Besides his passing ability, his an ability to draw fouls
concerns us. So we have to do a great job defending
him both on the perimeter and post without fouling.
His shooting performance yesterday was probably one
he'd like to forget. But you are who you are on the
back of your baseball card. We know what his
percentage is. We know the amount of times he
shoots the ball from the 3-point line and gets to the foul
line. So he's a big challenge. He's an All-Big Ten
performer. We understand that.
And Ethan Happ is a guy that maybe not a lot of people
knew about coming into the year because he
redshirted. Big Ten Freshman of the Year. He's got
incredible footwork for such a young player at this level.
He can go right hand, left hand. He has a great feel for
how to use his body and his positioning. So he's a
challenge.
When you play against a Big Ten opponent you're not
going to have stiffs at the 2 guard, the small forward.
You're going to go against players that are very, very
high caliber, high quality. And, again, a really
disciplined system, a disciplined style of play on both
ends of the floor.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much.

Q. But there was definitely a sea of red when

Wisconsin was playing. Do you guys plan to treat

Rev #2 by #268 at 2016-03-19 21:38:00 GMT

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