I pride myself on the defensive end. That's where I earn my keep.
Defense all starts with the ball and the rim-protector is the last resort, the last line of defense. I take pride in that.
When I go out there, I try to do everything I can to win. That doesn't mean I have to score more than the other team; it may mean stopping the other team.
I play basketball. I play center, and if you haven't watched me play, I'm not a regular big man. I can move my feet. Not saying I can stop anyone out there who's in front of me, but trust me: I can really be a problem on the perimeter guarding somebody.
I want to be that guy who stops players.
You can't just score more points than last year without playing defense.
That's all our team is about. If we stop people, we're the most athletic team in this whole tournament and we can get out and get easy buckets.
Those plays are winning plays, getting those blocks. Somebody's trying to dunk the ball and you get a block and that's demoralizing for the guy that tried to dunk the basketball.
Defense is something I've always taken pride in from college and high school.
You need to love to play defense.
When I played, I just wanted to guard the best player, and I didn't want him to score. That was just it, just competing. Along the way, it just kept building that I could be a great defender.
That's the nicest part of football; you can't do everything to stop a player.
