Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall previews Sunday's NIT second round matchup at Clemson.

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MARSHALL ON...

...his team's growing confidence on the road:
"They looked scared to death early in the year because none of them have ever been in a college away atmosphere. Obviously, getting that over with, not being scared and, secondly, having a little success -- I think we've won four out of the last five, or something, on the road. I don't know the exact numbers, but we've won a few. A handful, maybe. That breathes a little confidence when you have success...and again, trying to defend and rebound because those things travel. That was our message, early on, but we didn't quite get it."

...what stands out about Clemson:
"They've got some good players. They're a very solid, well-coached, fundamentally-sound basketball team. They went to the [Sweet 16] last year and got a lot of guys back. Marcquise Reed is a tremendous talent as a guard. Elijah Thomas is probably the best big man that we will have faced on the block this year. They don't beat themselves. They were really close to being an (NCAA) tournament team, just like Furman. But this group, of their last five losses in (ACC play), four of them were of a combined six points. So, they lost some really close games to good teams and a couple too many losses to get in (the NCAA Tournament). But, you're right there. Coming off the [Sweet 16], they made noise in the tournament last year. Had they gotten into the (NCAA Tournament), who knows. They beat a good Wright State team (on Tuesday) and we know we'll have our hands full."

...what makes Clemson so good defensively:
"Just a great coach and great athletes. Brad's always been a good defensive coach, going back to his days at Wilmington and then Wright State and Clemson. They guard. They're in the right position. They're well schooled. They obviously pay attention to tips that the coaching staff can give them. I just know that you look, over the years, his teams have been great defensively."

...what the team has to do to reach the level of the 2011 NIT Champion team.
"We're going to have to play three games on the road. We had two at home that year and we did have five seniors. 2011 was the original five-senior team. That was a group was much more experienced... We had a very veteran team: seniors, juniors. And this is a bunch of freshman with a couple of juniors and a couple of seniors. Totally different. The road is more difficult than at home, obviously.... If we can beat Clemson, all three of the games will have been on the road, as opposed to two at home (in 2011). I've got my whistle in my pocket. I'm excited. I get to coach my team today. It's a Friday, late in March...I just know we're still playing, I'm preparing my team and that's what you want, especially with a young team. You want to go as long as you can.

... improvements between January and March:
When I show them video today of the Furman game, I'm going to show them a lot of things that they didn't do well. But I'm going to show them some that they did do well and just point out, 'do you remember when you didn't do this against UConn at UConn back in January?' Now you've grown and understand you have to make that play. The simple play that I'm referring to that pops out to me is against UConn when we were so bad at their place, we scored one of our few baskets in the first half and relaxed with like four seconds to go. Jalen Adams dribbles up on the left side in front of their bench, half-court almost our bench, and Dexter Dennis just stopped playing and allowed him to get off a 35, 40-footer that he drained for three points. Not that it would have mattered, but instead of being down 15, we're down 18 going into the locker room. Against Furman, Ricky Torres makes a great play off a ball screen. Asbjørn Midtgaard moved on the baseline, found himself a little soft spot behind the defense [and] got a layup. Same scenario. This time, instead of relaxing, he guards Jordan Lyons and contests beautifully right in front of our bench. A very makeable shot and we end up going up [four] points ahead as opposed to them making that last basket."

...what this team has proven to him the last two weeks.
"There's no quit. They've continued to fight until the end. They're enjoying playing. They're enjoying being in the locker room and singing victory songs. Their goal is to try to get Markis [McDuffie] back home [to New York]. He's done a lot for us this year as a leader and a performer and, for that matter, for four years. The group has a pretty strong resolve to try to help him get back to play in Madison Square Garden. That's our goal and Clemson's standing in the way and who knows what their goals are. Who knows what they're talking about. But obviously, the way they played against Wright State, they want to stick around in this tournament and make the most of it."

...how this team has stayed the course for the entire year.
"You recruit character and we've tried to recruit quality young men to have in this program and we coach them every day. We push them every single day to be the best people, the best students and the best players that they can be. If that's not your mindset, this is probably not the right program to enlist in. You probably need to go find a program where they're not going to be so demanding and hold you accountable. There's accountability in our program. They know if they don't go to class or if they're not ready to practice, there's consequences. These guys came here to try to be the best that they can be, on and off the court, and we're very [open] with that when we recruit them. We don't try to hide that fact. We've got quality young men that are trying to be graduates of this university. They want to be the best representatives of our program that they possibly can be. And lastly, they want to be great basketball players. They want to have a winning team, a winning program, and ultimately, play for pay on the professional level and that's what we've been able to do."