Alabama players preview NCAA Tournament game vs. 13-seed Hofstra

TAMPA, Fla. — Alabama guards Labaron Philon, Latrell Wrightsell and Houston Mallette spoke to reporters at Benchmark International Arena on Thursday, previewing the Crimson Tide’s first-round matchup with No. 13-seed Hofstra. Here is everything that the Alabama trio said.

Q. Labaron, your progression in your sophomore year, what has been the biggest leap for you and what do you attribute to getting that, and how much pride do you take in leading this team into the NCAA Tournament this year?

LABARON PHILON JR.: I would say it means everything, just coming back for a second year, playing with these two guys. It’s been a wonderful feeling. You know, we’ve got, I think, one of the best teams in the country, and I’m ready to make a run. I would say just playing with these guys and playing with my other teammates has been just a grateful feeling and thing to do all season long. And I’m looking to, like I said, make a run and just lead these guys as far as we can.

I think these two guys do a great job of helping me lead as well. Just thankful that I get to share the court with these guys.

Q. Labaron, where do you feel like you’ve grown the most from this time last year to when you were debating going to the NBA and eventually ended up coming back? Where do you feel like your game has progressed the most and made you more NBA ready?

LABARON PHILON JR.: I would just say the experience, knowing what it takes to win a game. Hofstra is a great team. They’ve got two of the best guards in their conference. I think those guys do a great job of getting in the paint and stuff like that. Just focus on what we’ve got to focus on and keeping the main thing the main thing. I think everybody is locked in and we’re ready to go.

Tomorrow is going to be a great feeling for all the young guys that haven’t experienced the NCAA Tournament yet, and it’s the biggest thing on the planet when it comes to college basketball so everybody is going to be watching. So we’re just ready to get out there and we’re ready to play.

Q. For any of the three of you up there, what did you take away from the SEC tournament and kind of the lessons that you learned as you get into these first and second round games here?

LATRELL WRIGHTSELL JR.: I would probably say just our readiness to start the games. We’ve been talking about that for a little minute. But with the sense of urgency that we play with, if we play with it, we’re one of the best teams in the country. If we don’t bring it every night, then you can have a toss-up with us and we can lose games like that.

If we come out with a sense of urgency and play to our strengths and play defense and actually guard and communicate and actually move the ball, then I feel like we can play with anybody. Just a sense of urgency to start the game, because when we do that, we always have great success at the end.

HOUSTON MALLETTE: Yeah, to piggyback off that, I would agree with Trelly on what he said. Just our sense of urgency to be ready to go from the start. I think we struggled with it in that game. I don’t think we really got going until about 12 or so minutes left when we were down 13, and by that time it’s hard to make a run like that.

But I think we had a great week of practice. Our practice days this week, we got after it. We played really hard. I just think our preparation going into it, just being the most prepared team and being ready to go out there and play.

LABARON PHILON JR.: I would reflect on that Ole Miss game in the tournament. It was a great feeling just to be able to play in that game, have a great enough seeding to where we got the byes and stuff like that. But I would say just to pick up what Houston said, I think we wasn’t ready. But like he said, we had a great week of practice. We went at each other. Coach Oats designed practices to be a little bit more player versus player, and we just got after it.

I think once you do that late in the season, it’s really just iron sharpens iron time, and everybody is getting ready to put on their best performances.

We’re just ready to see what our guys have left in the tank to just pour it all in for this last run. So that’s a great thing to see.

Q. Houston and Latrell, both if you guys didn’t play the NCAA Tournament last year because of injury. This is it for both of you guys from an eligibility standpoint. You’re both seniors. What are your emotions like because of what you dealt with last year, this being it, going into the NCAA Tournament?

LATRELL WRIGHTSELL JR.: I’m pretty excited about it. I know that I didn’t get to play last year, but I actually got to play the year before. To experience what I did in that year, to make a Final Four run, like, obviously I don’t want to not stop there. I want to go there and actually win the whole thing.

It’s just a surreal moment. It’s a blessing to be able to play again and just be out here with my brothers. Like Baron said, we go to war every day, and to obviously reap our rewards and reap our harvest from what we’ve done in this whole season is going to be really fun to actually see it play out in this March Madness run.

HOUSTON MALLETTE: Yeah, I’m incredibly grateful. Obviously all three of us, you dream of this as a kid. I remember watching March Madness growing up, the Luther Vandross, the song, all of it, it’s an incredible experience. Last year was a ton of fun, but this year obviously I’ll be playing in this — Trelly, we’ll both be playing in it.

I don’t know, man, I’m just grateful. We have a verse, Galatians 6:9: Therefore, do not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time you’ll reap the harvest if you don’t give up. That’s been our mantra this whole year. This team has handled a lot of adversity with injuries. We’ve had 13 different starting lineups throughout the year.

I think we’re well equipped to make a run here, and I am just incredibly grateful and incredibly excited to go out there and play. You dream of it as a kid, and it’s kind of surreal to be in this position.

LABARON PHILON JR.: Like they said, just dreaming as a kid, you watch all the games and you see all the stuff that’s happening, all the crazy buzzer beaters. March is just different when it comes to basketball. Just to be able to put on that crimson jersey, it means everything to me to wear the A on my chest every day, every game. Just taking that as a surreal feeling and just taking it in as a real moment, it means everything.

Q. For Houston and Latrell, what are your general impressions of Hofstra after watching them on film?

LATRELL WRIGHTSELL JR.: I believe they’re really talented. They have really good guards. Well, I played with one of their guards, Aaron Estrada, and that year we went to the Final Four. So I know they always produce really good guards and stuff like that.

Just having to focus in on their play style, they score really well, they’re coached really well, they play really hard. I think they’ve won the last 11 out of their last 12 games, so they’re really on a heater right now. We respect them with the utmost respect because we know that their guards can play in this league as well. Obviously they’ve done it with one guy, and he’s made history at this program.

Just respect them, and obviously give them a ton of credit for what they’ve done and what they’ve won.

HOUSTON MALLETTE: Yeah, all the respect in the world to Hofstra and their program. Like Trelly said, they’ve won 11 of their last 12. Their guards are really dynamic, and they have guys that kind of fill in those spots really well around them. They’re really well equipped.

I think it’s just an incredible experience. Obviously I think we have really good guards, as well, and we’re excited to go out there and compete with them. But yeah, preparation is big. We know how it gets in March. We know teams go on runs during this time.

But yeah, like Aaron’s practiced with us before over the summer and whatnot, and he’s one of the most talented guys I’ve seen play. I know what these guys are bringing. We’re just excited to go out there and compete.

Q. You guys mentioned you’ve overcome adversity throughout this season. Whether Aden is here or not, having to pick up the slack for a good scorer, what’s your approach to being down a man?

LABARON PHILON JR.: I would say you’ve got to step up. Guys got to be aggressive and we’ve just got to play like we were shot out of a cannon. We’ve been pressing really hard getting up and down a bit, but we’re going to have our legs and we’re going to be ready. Our style is just to run and gun, push it as fast as we can, and get buckets early in the shot clock.

I think we’ve still got guys that can do that at a high rate. We’ve just got to mix it up a little bit. And I’m pretty sure Coach Oats will have everything ready. He’s been ready to play ever since we got here.

Tampa is a great city, so being here and practicing, just been going up and down a little bit, having a little fun. So just being ready for tomorrow, it’s going to be a fast paced game for us.

HOUSTON MALLETTE: Yeah, I think our team is really well equipped to handle adversity. We started the league off pretty slow. I think we started 4-4 and we went on a run to finish off the league. Like I said earlier, we’ve had 13 different starting lineups. We’ve seen guys step up.

I think Taylor Bol Bowen has been playing like his best basketball recently. Obviously the addition of Noah Williamson, he played a lot of minutes against Ole Miss, and he was incredible.

I think we have multiple guys equipped to step up. Jalil Bethea, he’s special. The way he’s handled adversity throughout this year, he was hurt to start the year. For the first pretty much half of the year, he was out with injury. And his approach in practice every day, he’s gotten a whole lot better, and he makes us better. And I think a guy like that is primed for a huge March Madness run, as well.

I think our team, like we all love each other. There’s real genuine love here. Like selfless love is one of our core values, and we’re just excited for each other. The word Mudita comes up as well. Coach Murphy from softball came and talked to us about that word right after we had lost to Florida, and it’s just like having vicarious joy for your teammates.

I have vicarious joy for Baron, and when Baron scores 20, it feels like I score 20. When Trelly hits eight threes, I feel like I hit eight threes. That’s the mentality our team has, and I’m excited for it to take off here soon.

Q. Cruz has had some big performances this year against a couple of ACC teams he’s played. What have you seen from him scout-wise?

LABARON PHILON JR.: You know, it’s a big matchup. I look at every matchup as a big matchup. We can’t just go out there and just doubt these guys. He’s a great guard, and the other guard he has is a great guard, too. We have to be ready for both of them. They take most of the shots on their team.

Just being able to just key in on those guys and just control those guys and the pace of the game.

Q. We just talked to Speedy Claxton and he talked about his team’s rebounding and he thinks they’re better equipped to play inside against a team like Alabama. Obviously pretty strong knowledge of the game. What have you seen from the way that team attacks the glass?

HOUSTON MALLETTE: Yeah, they attack the glass pretty hard. I think they’re two forwards, center, they had like 11 offensive rebounds in their last game. They’re big. They’re well equipped to do that. I think we’ve prepared really well this week. I think our mindset is — for Trelly and I, it could be our last time playing basketball in college, and we just want to give everything we have. We want to empty the tank.

I think we’ve seen her of late guys step up, like Taylor Bol Bowen has really stepped up. You should see the way he practices. Noah Williamson has stepped up. You should see the way he practices. Same with Jalil. We have a team fully equipped to handle the rebound, and we’re just excited to get out there tomorrow and play.

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