Michigan wings Terrance Williams and Jace Howard met with the media on Friday to preview the upcoming second-round matchup against Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament.
For everything Williams and Howard had to say, check out the full transcript below.
Q. Terrance talk about yesterday and what you saw from the team and responding the way they did with DeVanté out.
TERRANCE WILLIAMS, II: I think in the second half we played more connected than we did in the first half. I think we got down 15 and we played with resilience in the second half without DeVanté because we were like lets do it for our brothers so we can get here and maybe play tomorrow so we bonded in the second half and made a run and came out with the win.
Q. Can you describe the emotion of getting DeVanté back in practice today?
JACE HOWARD: It was great obviously to see a familiar face, somebody we have been in the trenches with all season. Just to see that he was healthy again because he was in concussion protocol and it's not easy for a lot of guys, so it was great to see him back. Felt like we were a full team again and made us ready for tomorrow even more.
Q. (Away from mic.) --SEC they average about nine steals a game. How important is point guard play and overall ball control with them when they're so great at creating turnovers in this game?
TERRANCE WILLIAMS, II: They definitely create a lot of turnovers but we can't give them extra possessions and we can't come out in the situation without getting a shot up. We're going to make my takes and turnovers are going to happen and when mistakes add up on and on that's when problems occur so we can't have that and having another ball handler with DJ would definitely help that.
JACE HOWARD: DeVanté and most of our guards, the stability on offense comes with guards. Just to have him back we know we're going to be a sound team offensively and it adds to what I feel like our momentum going into the game is, so it's good for that yeah.
Q. (Away from mic.) -- get that point guard back with veteran experience as opposed to as good of a job we did yesterday Frankie did than just throwing out a freshman like that without that defense?
JACE HOWARD: I think it adds more to our arsenal. Obviously yesterday Frankie had a good game, stepped us for us big and I know that's going to continue not just tomorrow but the rest of the season and I think having more options as a team is going to make us more dangerous in this month.
Q. Jace, about your brother and his recruitment. I know Tennessee was very much involved there. Is there anything you can share, if you helped him out or anything? Just your connection with Tennessee and Rick Barnes, if there is one?
JACE HOWARD: I don't personally have a connection with him. I know he is excited about this game. I talked to him yesterday and he congratulated us on the win. I know he was very close to choosing them over us so this is a revenge game for me personally, us, too, and, yeah, I think it makes days like tomorrow even more exciting.
But, yeah, it's definitely something we're all looking forward to, I would say.
Q. Eli Brooks in the second half seemed like he had a lot of hustle plays. What has he been like this week? Obviously this is his last tournament run with Michigan.
TERRANCE WILLIAMS, II: He's been locked in, he's been here for five years, this is not his first March Madness, he knows what it takes to get further and further. He's been in the championship game and he's been in the Final Four so he knows what it takes and we're gonna follow his lead.
JACE HOWARD: He's definitely the head of our snake I would say. I know the coach says this, he's like an extended coach on the floor. So him being somebody that's been through this and he's been where we want to go as a team, it makes it easiest for us to lean on him because he's like a blueprint. We use him in practice, we use him in the games and he's always somebody you can talk to when you have a question or you just want to better your basketball mind. So it's great to have him and it's going to be fun for sure.
Q. (Away from mic.)
TERRANCE WILLIAMS, II: Personally for me, taking it one game at a time. That's the biggest thing at this point of the year.
JACE HOWARD: Staying in the moment. You can't be anywhere else instead of the moment that you're in. So he's very keen on that for sure.
Q. What does Tennessee look like? I know you guys play in the Big Ten a lot, do they look like those teams?
TERRANCE WILLIAMS, II: They definitely do, with their playing style their guards get out quick, they run it like two guards and they like to split the forward transition that remind us more of MSU, they run two bigs sometimes that reminds us of Arizona even though they're not in the Big Ten that we played against in Las Vegas so we have seen that style of play many times. We have to stick to our habits and defend and do what we are told and I think we can win.
JACE HOWARD: Especially number 25 we relate him a lot to Sasha Stefanovic on Purdue being somebody that doesn't stop moving without the ball like Steph Curry-like him and make it a priority to stop him and stop them in transition, because like T said they're like LSU in that way, how they get the ball and go, catch it at the three-point line extended and it's important for us to locate everybody in transition and locate their shooters because that's a big part of their game plan and their DNA. So it's going to be key for us tomorrow.
Q. I know from a game-to-game basis consistency has been an issue with this team. In your opinion how close are you guys to figuring out how to play a full game and how to play a run of good games in a row?
JACE HOWARD: To answer your question, I feel like our consistency is very odd because we have had games where we had full games I felt we played pretty well and games like yesterday where we were a second-half team.
The key is you want to make sure we don't put ourselves into that position again because as fun as it is, as crazy as March is, that luck is going to run out if you keep putting yourselves in deep holes in the first half. We understand that and we're evaluating that and I don't want to say we're going to be on pins and needles but we're going to come out with a different urge than how we did yesterday, for sure.
Q. Terrance, Phil Martelli likened Hunter Dickinson to a WWE villain on the court, what's he like off the court?
TERRANCE WILLIAMS, II: Off the court he's funny. When he's on the court he's locked in, and it comes with the game. He does a lot of trash talking, he's always been doing that since he's been little and since I've been playing with him, but, off the court he's cool, he's funny, it's just trash talk on the court to be honest.
Q. How much did yesterday really kind of get some of that -- I don't want to say relief in getting past that first game, but how did it feel to rally in a game like that and get focused back to what you all do best?
JACE HOWARD: I would probably say that yesterday was -- that game was a mirror of our season. First half not -- of the season didn't go how we planned. It made us really dig down deep and decide how bad we wanted to finish out the season, how bad we wanted to meet our goals.
That's just how life is. I remember saying at halftime, like, this game is going to mirror our season, coming out the second half like we did in the second half of the season, we were resilient, we flipped it around and gave ourselves an opportunity to be somewhere like how we are today.
I just think that's really good for us moving forward because now we have something to fight for. Not saying that we didn't before but it adds that little juice and no time better for that than March.
Q. Everybody talks about Tennessee's defense, their propensity for stealing the ball. What is particularly daunting of their defense that you happen to be weary of?
TERRANCE WILLIAMS, II: The guards play a lot of ball pressure, they do a lot of gambling sometimes as you can see so we've got to take care of the ball and be strong with the ball. We can't be loose with it, dribbling, triple threat, not having it out. Even their bigs, if you get in the paint, you know, they got a couple of shot blockers. Those are the big things that we talked about on defense so far.
JACE HOWARD: Just being offensively sound, don't let them speed us up. We are at our best when we play our game and when teams get us out of that, obviously bad things happen.
So it's just being ourselves. Don't let anybody else or any other team get us out of who we are and what we do best. If we don't let the game or their tempo on defense speed us up, I feel very confident about our play.
Q. I know the regular season didn't exactly go as you guys wanted it to but now that you're here do you feel the season, the success of it hinges on keeping going and making a deep run in this tournament? Is that not how you view things inside the program?
TERRANCE WILLIAMS, II: I mean, we had three goals in the season, two of them we didn't accomplish but since we are in March Madness we have another goal to catch so I feel like if we get this goal, that's one of the goals and it's a big one, too so I feel like we are playing for our season and we are playing as hard as we can. Now we're locked in especially with March Madness so we're going to take it one fame at a time.
JACE HOWARD: It's the beauty of March. You can always make a season memorable in March with how well you do. I feel like that's a great opportunity for us, because we feel like we deserve it. We feel like we are good enough to do big things this month. I just think it's just a great be opportunity for us, and regardless of what happened in the past. I feel like we as a team are using that now to fuel us and taking what we learned in those bad situations and applying it now. There is no better time to do that. So, yeah.
Q. You guys have alternated win and losses for over a month now, but at this point in the season your next loss is your last. What makes you confident that tomorrow is the day where you buck that trend?
JACE HOWARD: We got no other choice. I remember there were some jokes by Hunter this morning saying, we should play the managers so we can get the loss out of the way. But that's Hunter for you. I think every second is vital. It could be your last game. So we have no choice but to do that. We have to win. And we owe it to ourselves and we owe it to our fans and the people that are behind the scenes like our managers, the director of basketball ops, from top to bottom. There is no better way to do it than now.
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