(Opening statement)

"We are thrilled to be here and still playing this week as a part of the Sweet 16. It is a great opportunity for our program and our players. That being said, we know we have a very tough opponent in UCLA who is extremely well-coached. Very tough and disciplined. Obviously I think a concern for us is how physical that they are."

(At a time when seniors are kind of increasingly rare in college basketball, your starting three of them at guard, two of them that have been in the program all the way through. What does that mean for you as a coach and for the team?_

"I think it's huge. You know, if you take our game tomorrow night, for example, there are a few McDonald's All-Americans on their roster, none on ours. I think the talent level has to be close, without question.
"But I think all things being close to equal, you know, that experience and that togetherness and that understanding of a system and that trust and all those things you build over a period of time, I think they can be a big difference maker for you.
"I don't think there is any question it would be hard for us to be here without the senior leadership that we have and the fact that those guys have been in the program for a long time, believe in what we're doing and believing each other probably more importantly."

(As you guys advance, more people are learning about Courtney Lee and who he is. Can you just talk about his value to your team and then this tournament's power to make local heroes into household names?)

"His value to our team is really immeasurable, has been to our program in general. He's a guy that every night we step on the floor, we feel like we have a guy that is going to be as good as anybody that anybody else has. I think what separates them, people ask about them a lot, Courtney can score the basketball obviously. But I think what separates him is he can score by getting his own shot and he impacts the game in every other area.
"He had a huge block against Drake, for example, literally came from the other corner and blocked it on the opposite side of the rim, basically to save a game-winning bucket for them. That was huge. And he does things like that and gets stops, rebounds the ball and passes it and he is a guy that impacts the game in every area.
"That combined with his obvious athleticism and his ability to score is what separates him from a lot of other players."

(You guys like to play a high-possession, high-paced kind of game. How difficult is that against a team like UCLA that is so disciplined, especially on defense?)

"Well, I think it is a challenge. They're a team that is very disciplined defensively and makes it very difficult for you to get quick, easy ones. But they're also very disciplined offensively as well. They will take a quick one or a quick post up if they can get it. They are not scared to use a little clock and make you play a little defense and sometimes that impacts tempo as much as anything.
"I think that there's no question that we don't want to turn it into a completely half-court game tomorrow over a 40-minute period or it is going to favor them."

(You've been to the Sweet 16 before as a player. As a coach now, do you try to approach this as kind of an ho-hum, just another game? Or are you telling your team this is an experience of a lifetime and you got to play it that way?)

"A little bit of both, to be honest with you. We try to help them understand that this is a great experience, that it is hard to describe unless you've actually done it and it will stick with you for the rest of your life.
"So from that standpoint, we really want to enjoy it and have fun with it. We've really tried to do that, whether it's been the open practices that we've had or any of those kind of things, just being on the trip, being together, trying to make sure we are enjoying the experience.
"That being said, we've had a lot of success in preparing and getting ready for games the way that we do. So we've tried to keep that as normal as possible."

(I'm wondering about Kevin Love and what your plan is for him and have you faced a player of that caliber yet this season?)

"We're hoping he gets sick is the main thing we're looking for.
"No, he's an outstanding player. I think the fact that he is a freshman is probably what's most impressive, is that he has put up the numbers he has and played the way that he has so consistently for him all year as a freshman. That's really tough to do.
"That being said, we have not seen a guy like him this year individually that is that capable of putting up those kind of numbers and being that kind of threat."

— Transcript by ASAPsports.com