Ja Morant Shaq Buchanan

NCAA Men's 1st and 2nd Rounds: Hartford Friday, March 22, 2019 Hartford, Connecticut Ja Morant I've been working on most of my life really, the Shaq Buchanan fundamentals. I'd say I keyed in more on just shooting Murray State Racers more game shots this year, coming off ball screens and such, and feel like I got way better at it. Q. For both guys, what kind of challenges does it bring playing such a big team? Obviously they Q. Talk a little bit about the culture at Murray State start 7'4", 6'9", and their best player might be 6'10 that attracted each of you to want to come play off the bench. Have you seen teams that big and basketball and go to school at Murray State. what kind of challenge is that? SHAQ BUCHANAN: We knew about the winning SHAQ BUCHANAN: It will be tough. We haven't tradition, getting to the tournament, producing pros, matched up with the team with that type of size all year. and then the fan base, the family atmosphere. That's We've seen bigs though, playing athletic teams. So we what I was looking for coming into -- my next school, practice on things like that, but I don't think it will bother me coming from JUCO, and Murray State brought me us. We're ready for the challenge. in, and I saw all those things. That's why I chose Murray State. JA MORANT: They are a very long and athletic team. Like he said, we haven't seen a team like that before JA MORANT: Murray State just has a great program. since Alabama. But we're just going to go into the And really I'd say what brought me in was the family game the same way we've been going into every thing. I'm a big family person, and since day one, they game. Just try to play our game and just do what we made me family and they just made it their job just to do. get me to come here and I felt like I made a great decision. Q. Obviously, Ja had a great game yesterday, but the team as a whole played tremendous. I think Q. For both you guys, can you just talk about what you had 30 field goals and 23 assists. What do you the whole deal is with the wrestling belts in the need to keep that up tomorrow night against locker room? Florida State? SHAQ BUCHANAN: Our Coach Matt, he a huge SHAQ BUCHANAN: We have a solid team. We know wrestling fan. One of our managers brought a Ja will get all of the attention. Like it's amazing, but at wrestling best last year to the first OVC game. We just the same time, we know how to handle that. And we used it like our trophy, our motivation. This year we know everybody's going to be keyed in on him added two more. It's just something to look forward to. tomorrow, so we just going to make plays for him like After a big win, we get to celebrate putting on our we did against Marquette. wrestling belts. JA MORANT: I'll say we just have a very talented JA MORANT: Like you said, Coach Matt is a big group. We have a lot of people who can score the wrestling fan and we just kept it going since last year. basketball, and we are very unselfish. Like you said, And this year, obviously we won the regular season we had 23 assists yesterday. It's just how we play the championship, won the OVC championship, and now game, just try to instead of taking a good shot, get a we're looking forward to winning the National great shot. So really just try to go out and make the Championship and that's the three WWE belts. best of every possession. Q. Talk a little bit about each of you, the process Q. I guess I'm wondering what your offseason was that is so important to the Murray State basketball like. You made such a big jump this season from program and as Coach McMahon alludes to, very good freshman to to All-American sophomore. getting ready for the next big thing that's there. What were you working on? What was your How do you apply that to what you're doing now process like this offseason to make this big and preparing for Florida State? improvement? SHAQ BUCHANAN: It fit in well with this tournament JA MORANT: I really just worked on the same things right now because we play Thursday, more like we play Rev #1 by #448 at 2019-03-22 18:36:00 GMT page 1 of 2 Thursday/Saturday. We going through it the same as we would if it was in the conference, play that Thursday, celebrate that Thursday and move on after that, Friday, like today, and get prepared for Saturday. JA MORANT: Like he said, it's something we're used to playing on Thursday/Saturday. So we just take every game -- go into every game the same way. We been doing this really most of this second half of the season, playing Thursday, recovery Friday, focus on the team we got coming up Saturday, focus on them before the game and go out and just fight, try to get a win. Q. Guys, against Florida State tomorrow, what do you feel like will be the biggest challenge that you'll have to earmark going into the match-up? JA MORANT: I'd just say they're length. Like I said before, they are a very long and athletic team, can get after the ball some. So really I think our focus will just be taking care of the ball. On the defensive end, we try to play the same, just focus on trying to force the team to take tough shots. Don't give them any easy looks. I think really taking care of the ball is our main focus. SHAQ BUCHANAN: Like he was saying, taking care of the ball. Forcing them at like a terrible shot, limiting them to one shot, making sure we rebound. We know the taller and tougher they are, it's going to be a tough game. We know we have to box out. Rev #1 by #448 at 2019-03-22 18:36:00 GMT page 2 of 2 NCAA Men's 1st and 2nd Rounds: Hartford Friday, March 22, 2019 Hartford, Connecticut Matt McMahon Murray State Racers Saturday during the long layoff to try to keep our guys in the same routine. But our guys know we have to Q. The story about Ja's high school recruitment turn the page now and start to turn focus in on finding has an oft told. I want to ask it slightly differently. ways to beat Florida State tomorrow. Going from freshman to sophomore year, over this last summer, did he take a leap or was it more he's Q. Matt, I'm wondering if you can just kind of reflect just due to the design of your team able to on your coaching trajectory a little bit, and what it showcase it more. And if I did take a leap, when meant to get this opportunity at Murray State, a did that happen and how? place you knew the culture and the program and MATT McMAHON: Well, I think he did take a leap, but I the basketball excellence, and how you go about think he did not receive enough credit for the terrific sustaining that. freshman year that he did have. I think we talked MATT McMAHON: I'm always forever grateful to Allen yesterday. His numbers of almost 13 points, 7 Ward, our former Director of Athletics, and Dr. Davies, rebounds, 6 1/2 assists a game have only been our former President who believed in me and gave me accomplished by eight other players in the last 25 the opportunity. And as we built the program, we had years of college basketball. to basically start over with our roster and the culture in the locker room. And it was not easy and they were So I thought there were plenty of signs for what was in right there, extremely supportive and really helped me store last year as a freshman, but it's a great credit to along the way to get to this point. him and the work he put in in the offseason. You see the growth in his game. But what I'm really most proud And then I think for us, what was really critical was this of, I think, he's really grown and developed as a leader signing class, when we were able to add Ja Morant and has done an outstanding job of being a great voice Tevin Brown, Shaq Buchanan, and then that spring, and leader of our team. Anthony Smith. You're talking about four just relentless competitors, very unselfish players who are all about Q. Coach, I asked your players, Ja obviously had a winning. And I think their two-year record really great performance yesterday, but the team as a reflects that. 54-10 now; 42 of those wins by double whole did as well: 23 assists on 30 field goals. figures. They really made it a dominant two-year run What do you need to do to keep that up against for our program.

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