JR Interview with Darrion Trammell

Mr. 21 points, Daryon Trammell from San Diego State. How are you, man? Congratulations.

Thank you. I appreciate it. How you doing? I'm terrific.

I'm terrific. We saw, we know about your offense. I saw you stealing the ball and running down the court and splitting defenses. Y'all were bananas tonight on defense, okay? Eight blocked shots.

We know Nathan got busy. You held them to 32 percent shooting overall. How do you maintain that defensive intensity, especially when you guys went on that run? I mean, yeah, that's just our identity. We hang our hats on defense. That's just the culture we have and, I mean, we know we have to, we have to bring that every night. If we want to win games, we want to win championships.

Daryon Trammell is here with us. San Diego State knocking off Alabama, moving forward here. When Coach Brian Dutcher speaks to you, what is that one main point of emphasis any time every day? Definitely defensive rebounding.

I mean, that's something that, like I said, when I got even when I got recruited here, that's something that I had to do. Defend at a high level and that's something that he hangs his hat on and, I mean, that just trickles on down to an entire roster for our entire coaching staff. So, I mean, that's the biggest thing for us right now is letting our defense carry us to wins. Well, Daryon, your program San Diego State is now trying to get to its first Final Four in the program's history. A lot of people in the country are watching you guys for the first time just over the past week.

Anyone watching you, what do they need to know about your squad that they can't see or might be unaware of? I think it's our own selfishness. We have a team full of guys that want to see their brother win and, I mean, our coaching staff and they've done a phenomenal job giving us game plans to stop these great players and these great teams. But, yeah, like we were just, we always feel like we're the underdog. That's just the mentality all of my guys have.

So, I mean, that's something that you see or sometimes you really can't see. You're just chipping our shoulder that we have that makes us play so hard and just the grit and just, I mean, our will to win as a team. Daryon, we have tons of callers who listen all across the country here on CBS Sports Radio, especially in San Diego.

What message do you want to share with them directly as they are locked in? Oh, man, it's been a long road for San Diego State and we appreciate all of you through the ups and downs and, I mean, right now, you guys stay with us and keep supporting us and we'll keep playing hard for you and make sure we keep winning games one by one at a time. So, we definitely appreciate you all. No doubt about it. Daryon, good luck this upcoming Sunday as you guys get ready to take on Creighton and Princeton. Good luck to you, my man. Thank you. I appreciate you having me.

No doubt about it. That was Daryon Trammell, San Diego State Aztecs. He scored 21 points tonight. Helped lead the way offensively as the Aztecs knocked off Alabama 71 to 64. They're trying to make their first Final Four appearance in program history.