Speaker 1: Twelve thirty two.
Speaker 2: It is the Matt Thomas Show here with Ross. I'm
in Los Angeles for tonight's Rockets Los Angeles Lakers game.
I was in Phoenix getting ready for the Rockets and
Suns when I watched our next guest knockdown four to
three pointers. He is the pride of Tampa, Florida. Manuel
Sharp on the Matt Thomas Shold Ross.
Speaker 1: Manuel, it's Matt.
Speaker 2: First of all, thank you for joining me. Second of all, congratulations.
How well did you sleep last night or are you
still just trying to decompartmentalize the great events of yesterday
and this past weekend Indianapolis?
Speaker 3: Oh? No, I slept pretty good. I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 4: You know, I had the different rounds of the term attiring,
so you know I got home. You know, I was excited,
but you know, with all the flying and stuff, no
I had time to sit down on my bed.
Speaker 3: I really crashed.
Speaker 4: But now the weekend, the weekend was great. The games
were great. We played great, and you know we competed
and that's all that really mattered.
Speaker 2: You held Tennessee to fifteen first half points. I mean,
good lord, I mean those those people have families, do
they not Emmanuel.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but you know that's what we do. We're built
on toughness and defense. And you know when we played
defense like that and we're all connect did you know,
all five.
Speaker 3: Guys on the floor like that, you know, it's hard
to beat us. I think it is.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: I've had a pleasure calling a lot of your early
season games on television.
Speaker 1: Uh. But obviously what has happened to you guys?
Speaker 2: Let me ask you this early in the year, he
had those three losses, a couple of them in overtime,
and a few folks from panicking.
Speaker 1: It was silly. I guarantee it.
Speaker 2: Kelvin didn't let you guys panic, because first of all,
you played great competition and I think in some respects
it kind of helped you to where you are right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I think that's why this team is so
good now at the end of the year, is because
we went through those struggles in the beginning and we
all the games were close and overtime.
Speaker 3: Like you said, so we weren't panicking.
Speaker 4: We knew that we were, you know, in the in
every single game, and really we were up in all
the games too. We just let you know, them come back,
but uh, you know, we got back to the drawing
board and you know, Sam coached us like he like
he always does, and we got better.
Speaker 3: And you know it's helped us now because we know
how to close games.
Speaker 2: Coach Sampson's a great friend of mine and called a
lot of his games before you guys got there and
things were turning around. Are some of his practices harder
than the games? Tell the truth?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I say that.
Speaker 4: I would say they are just But that's what makes
us so good. When you when you replicate stuff in
practice that's harder than the game, when you get to
the game, it'll be easier. And I think that's what
makes us so good because it's not only just him,
it's you know, Coach Q, Coach Kellen HP, Goldie, Coach
k C. They all do a great job of making
the practice reps harder than the in game reps and
that's you know, it gets us to a different level.
Speaker 2: Manually had those four threes yesterday in the victory and
you all were kind of teasing about being in this
big dome. Now it's gonna be bigger next week when
you go to San Antonio.
Speaker 1: How much different is it for you?
Speaker 2: To shoot in a building as cavernous as these domes,
and does it take a while to a job or
you just like, please let those bad boys drop because
it's not like a typical college basketball arena.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would just say you.
Speaker 4: I think the you just got to get some shots
up in there. You can't just kind of go in
there without shooting and think it's gonna feel the same.
Speaker 3: But I think that's why, you know, the practices helped.
The longer warm ups that they gave us for that
last game.
Speaker 4: Really helped too, because we just got to get you know,
some more reps on the on the rim and then
that arena.
Speaker 3: Uh, you know than we usually do, and I think
that helps. You know, all it takes is, you know,
get a feel.
Speaker 4: For the perception and the depth of the gym, and
then you know everything will fall in place.
Speaker 2: Manual Sharp with us here on the Matt Thomas Show
with Ross. Let me ask you about how many people
have asked already for tickets for this weekend?
Speaker 1: What what's your what's your ticket request was?
Speaker 3: Right now?
Speaker 4: You know, I got a lot of people ask you
for tickets, but you know, we only get a certain amount,
so you know, it's kind of reserved for you know,
my closest family members and a couple of my friends.
Speaker 3: So but but now I understand it's the Fine fours.
It's big.
Speaker 4: You know, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity, and uh,
you know, we're very grateful to be in this position.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm so proud that you represent my school. I
was an alum way back. I am in a lum
way back in the day. But to see this team
get to where it is. You went through the Big
Twelve Conference with just the one loss, and you know,
a lot of folks before the this week were like, man,
we got treated so unfairly because we're having to go
to Indianapolis and all the fans of Purdue are going
to be there.
Speaker 1: What is the mindset? What is it like for you guys?
Speaker 2: You don't know what it's like to lose on the road,
no matter what venue, in no matter how lot.
Speaker 1: I mean, you went to Kansas this year, in one
you went to Arizona and one you went to Indianapolis.
Can you do you close off the fans or is
it just like you know what, we're damn good.
Speaker 2: We don't play where we play, We're gonna win some
basketball games.
Speaker 4: You know, with the with the culture of this team
and how tough we are. You know, I feel like
on the road, when we're going through that diversity, we
have you know, times where we can come together and
stay together.
Speaker 3: And I think that was you know, a lot of
the emphasis losing.
Speaker 4: Those couple of games in the beginning of the year
is that when we went through adversity, we kind of
separated a little bit. So you know, the main focus
this whole year has been staying together, staying connected as one, uh,
you know, checking body language, getting more and how it
was talking to each other, being you know, communicating more
with each other.
Speaker 3: And I think all that.
Speaker 4: Ties into being able to plan on the road, you know,
in front of other people's fans, having the odds you
know against you, and you know, we've we've just progressed
to becoming a really good road team, and I think
that's helped us, you know, not only in the way games,
but playing in these tournaments because you know, a lot
of times the opposite teams have more fans in the
area than we do.
Speaker 2: Well, hopefully that won't be the case in San Antornial
getting I'm I I've already made my reservation for Monday
night National Championship game. So who are we gonna play?
We're gonna play Auburn or Florida for the title.
Speaker 3: Uh, you know, I'm not sure. You know, they're both
good teams.
Speaker 4: Uh yeah, Right now, we're really focused on our next game,
you know, which is against Duke. So uh, you know,
when it gets there, when Tom gets there, we'll see
who it is.
Speaker 1: What do you remember about Duke from last year?
Speaker 4: They're a great program with great coaches and great players.
Uh uh and you know they've had a great season. Uh,
but so have we, you know, And that's just what
we got to figure on. Uh, you know, focus on
is you know us, you know, what do we gotta do?
You know, we can't be too focused on anybody else,
you know.
Speaker 3: Florida, Auburn, you know, or do you know?
Speaker 4: We got to get our stuff right and everything will
work out, all right.
Speaker 1: Last question? What is this week? Probably it's gonna be
like what do you what do you want to do?
Will you? It feels like to me that you guys
don't change up who you are, even though you've been
in this late in the year.
Speaker 2: So what is a normal day for like for you
and your teammates getting ready to get to the on
the bus for San Antonio.
Speaker 3: Letter this week.
Speaker 4: Everybody's focused, you know, everybody's out in you know, at
this point of the year, everybody knows what we need
to do, Like not too much needs to be said.
We're gonna go out you know, every day, compete in practice,
high energy like we have the entire year, and just
carry it over to the week.
Speaker 3: Huh.
Speaker 1: Manuel, thank you.
Speaker 2: I know you've been super busy just getting back into town.
I appreciate you coming on my show as a fellow Cougar.
I thank you for your hard work and dedication representing
our program the right way. Have a great time in
San Antonio and hopefully I will see you next Monday
night for the championship problem.
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me for sure, you got it.
Speaker 2: Manuel Sharp joining us here on the program.
Speaker 1: Man, I'm such a fan of his.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much again, Manuel Sharp with us here
on Sports Talk Saerni.
Speaker 1: Cougar's against the Duke Blue Devils.
Speaker 2: We are the night game, which is gonna be about
a seven to fifty tip time Saturday night from sant
Antoni