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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: RALEIGHMarch 16, 2016Jordan McLaughlinNikola JovanovicJulian JacobsRaleigh, North Carolina THE MODERATOR: We are now ready to begin the student-athlete portion of the Southern California press conference. At this time we'll go ahead and open up the floor for questions for the student-athletes. Q. I want to ask Julian and Jordan about the breakdown between the two guards. I mean, normally you talk about a point guard and shooting guard. It seems like in today's game more and more you have guards that can do both. Can you tell me how you guys break that down? JORDAN McLAUGHLIN: Yeah. When Coach Enfield recruited me, he talked about the last couple of teams that had won the NCAA championship that a majority of them had a two-guard system with Louisville, Duke, Kansas, all of them, all the big teams like that. So when I decided to take my visit here and everything, he explained that more thoroughly and I thought of the vision. So, yeah, me and Julian complement each other's game well, whether I'm on the ball or he's on the ball or I'm off the ball or he's off the ball. We complement each other like that. JULIAN JACOBS: At first it was a bit of an adjustment just because coming out of high school, I don't think either of us had the ball out of our hands primarily. It was something to get acclimated to. Jordan makes it really easy to play with. You know, it's sort of whoever gets the outlet runs the offense, that sort of deal. So, at this point, we're very comfortable playing with one another. Q. Can you guys just, any of you guys, talk about the Friars, what are your thoughts on them, especially Kris Dunn leading the team all these years? NIKOLA JOVANOVIC: The coaching staff did a good job preparing us for the game. It's up to us to execute offensively and defensively. We need to execute our defensive play especially on that guy. Q. For Julian and Nikola: Both of you guys have been in the program a few years. On the surface it's a team that looks like you only have one senior but you guys are deceptively experienced. Do you feel you were further along and maybe a little more experienced than people gave you credit for initially? JULIAN JACOBS: I think within the program we sort of expected to be in this position at this point in the season. I think we've exceeded a bunch of other people's expectations, but, like you mentioned, we have been together for a while now. You know, with me and Nikola leading this group of guys and the sophomores have really come a long way versus last year, and the freshmen do a really good job of keeping up the pace. They've done a good job of adjusting. But, yeah, I think this was our goal to ultimately coming into this season. A lot of other spectators thought we were maybe a year away, but we knew we had the talent. It was just a matter of executing and winning games and, you know, we put ourselves in a really good position. NIKOLA JOVANOVIC: Yeah. I just want to build up on Julian what he said, I definitely agree with what he said. I want to add, the last two years we were the youngest team in the country, in the top five conferences. It was a build-up process for us. Everybody took everything serious in the season, we really worked hard and play as a team, and we were able to win as many games and come here and compete with everyone. Q. Julian, if I'm not mistaken, you have committed to USC before Andy was hired. Could you go back to those weeks of wondering who you were going to hire and then when you met Andy and saw what was going on, how did you react to that? JULIAN JACOBS: Yeah. I signed to the previous coaching staff with Kevin O'Neill, but I think most importantly, I committed to SC just because of USC, with the school and everything that had to offer and once they decided to fire Kevin O'Neil, I was a little -- it was up in the air, so I think it was a natural feeling of, you know, curiosity, what should I do as far as evaluating my options. Once I found out Enfield got the job, he was the hot name at the time, and I felt his style matched my style of play better than anyone at the time. So I wasn't reluctant at all to still keep that commitment towards SC, and it was rough the first years but it seems like it's working out now. Q. For Jordan and Julian, actually Nicola, the three of you: Can you talk about what Andy does, maybe what's unique about him as a coach that helps build confidence, gives you guys the freedom to excel on the kinds of thing, on the players that you are? JORDAN McLAUGHLIN: Andy Enfield, he never puts none of his players down. You know, he may yell at you for a little bit, but as soon as he's done yelling at you, he picks you right back up. Like "I didn't mean that I just want the best out of you." And I feel like he does that every day in practice, even when we don't have practice, and he just -- he fills everybody's brains, minds with confidence. He gives everybody a lot of confidence. NIKOLA JOVANOVIC: Yeah, coming into this program, I knew he's a really great coach. And he really inspires everyone coming in. Like as a freshman he tossed me in the fire and he gave me an opportunity to play right away, which I'm really grateful for, and I'm glad I was able to return to him. But overall, he's such a great coach, and he knows how to motivate and whenever you're down, he's always going to find the right words to make sure that you improve and make sure you keep going forward. JULIAN JACOBS: He's a players' coach. He's a very personal guy. If you have an issue, you can talk to him. He gives his players a lot of freedom to play basketball. He knows you're going make mistakes but at the end of the day, to touch back on what they said, he's a very optimistic guy. That's what sort of got us over the hump the last few years. Q. Just a brief follow-up, any one of the three of you, some way he's developed you skill development-wise, some unique piece that he's really helped your game improve? JULIAN JACOBS: Yeah. After my freshman year, he worked with me immediately after the season with the form of my shot. And, you know, sort of just tweaked it a little, and it's definitely helped out. Because I'd say that's one of his strengths is shooting. He's got a lot of experience in that department, so, yeah. Q. Julian, all you guys or most of you guys were winners. You won the state championship in Nevada. Jordan was on a great high school program in Nebraska. How did you guys deal personally with the losing the first two years? And when did you see the light at the end of the tunnel? Was it any time last year even though the record was what it was? JULIAN JACOBS: Do you want the honest answer? Q. Yeah. JULIAN JACOBS: Honestly, it was miserable the first two years. Like you said, I've never been a part of the team that was the laughingstock of a conference, like we were our first two years, but I think the coaching staff, as a whole, did a really good job of reiterating that, you know, it's not always going to be like this. We're going to get recruits that are talented. You know, it's a learning process, and they really emphasized just trusting in the process through it all. And we had big summers, you know. It was a lot of time to work on our game and improve. But, yeah, it was brutal the first two years and I think this summer is when I realized that this team had a chance to do something special, and we're just sort of seeing it come to fruition now. And it's been fun. It's been a fun ride. Q. Jordan, what's your favorite memory of watching NCAA Tournaments? I know you've been pointing to this for a long time. What games in your mind stick out over the years? JORDAN McLAUGHLIN: There's no specific one. You know, March Madness, the Tournament, there's so many different things that can happen, a lot of upsets and everything. There's a bunch of them. I don't have no particular favorite one. Just the Tournament itself is just amazing. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions? All right. Gentlemen, thank you very much and good luck tomorrow. JORDAN McLAUGHLIN: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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