NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST FOUR

March 15, 2022

Johnny Jones

Bryson Etienne

John Walker III

UD Arena

Texas Southern Tigers

Postgame Media Conference

Texas Southern - 76, Texas A&M-CC - 67

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Texas Southern.

COACH JONES: I want to say outstanding job, obviously, by Texas A&M-Corpus Christi getting to this point, finishing their season strong and playing a very tough basketball game tonight. Very excited about the opportunity that presented itself to us tonight, and especially how our young men really did one of the things we talk about in the program, is playing extremely hard every second, every play. It took that tonight against that team and to be able to finish down the stretch. But it was very hard fought battle but one we extremely excited to be the team to come out on top.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Bryson or John, a lot of the points tonight came off the bench. Is that something that you guys have been doing all year, interchangeable parts, that sort of thing?

BRYSON ETIENNE: It's really the next man up. That's kind of the mentality that we have. Anybody that gets a chance to start or come off the bench. We are just trying to play our best and just help out the team and play defense. That's one of the bigger things that we try to do every game, especially down stretch in crunch time. That's the main thing that we try to lock down on.

JOHN WALKER III: I think the biggest thing with that is it helps everybody with just being humble, just keep our humility in check -- nobody get too high or too low. Everybody knows we have one job to do. No matter who started it or who finished it, we have one goal in mind.

Q. Compared to last year, if this feel different. You're not in the bubble, you've got the band, the cheerleaders the crowd, how different it felt. This was real March Madness it seemed.

JOHN WALKER III: It was electrifying. Last year was an amazing experience, of course, but this year even more to take in just the people, the crowd, the interactions. It's the kind of stuff we missed last year. But this year made you feel like it's the biggest sports show on earth.

BRYSON ETIENNE: Last year, I was hurt so I wasn't able to come with the team. I was experiencing it from a different standpoint, still being with them in spirit, and just cheering them on any way I could.

But now, since everybody's in the gym, you've got the cheerleaders and band. It's an experience we've all dreamt of and just moving on to the next game is exciting.

Q. Just the fact that you guys did finish second in the regular season and you did win the conference tournament, but you guys played in a lot of close games this year, especially against like Prairie View. You guys are used to playing games that are close. This was pretty close. Do you think you have a big advantage where you guys know not to panic when it comes down to crunch time?

BRYSON ETIENNE: We just try to lock in when we play. I know a lot of teams try to come out and play hard against us, because we kind of have a reputation in the league and just playing, having high-profile guys come into the school and being able to showcase what we can do.

Anytime we come out we just try to play hard. We know guys are going to try to play hard against us, so we just try to prepare for that and exceed their energy.

JOHN WALKER III: The close games throughout the year definitely prepared us for now, just because we know no matter what happens throughout the game we've been there before. So it's always good to have these points of reference throughout the year, different situations like, oh, yeah, we good, we did this, we just need to stay together.

I think that will help us down the stretch in any game be able to lean on one another and know this ain't nothing we can't get through.

Q. You guys are now playing Kansas, one of the best teams in the country. And you guys have experience playing these bigger teams and beating them earlier this year playing Florida and beating them. And last year playing Wyoming, a team who is in the tournament right now. Just how do you guys prepare for playing those bigger teams and not letting it get to you despite the matchup 16-1?

JOHN WALKER III: Coach does a good job getting us prepared in practice, always challenging us, like nothing easy. So we're always challenge oriented, like, what's the next challenge. What can we do to be better? Whenever we get a challenge like a good team like Kansas it just gets us exciting for the most part. It's respect but it's excitement also, because we know we need to come with your A game. Gotta come with your A game.

BRYSON ETIENNE: I feel like anybody can go to any big school. We're men just like them. We put our shoes on like them, pants, shirt. It's March Madness. So madness can happen.

Q. They had a run where they hit I think it was three 3-pointers, and kind of seemed like they were getting a little bit of a rhythm. What do you think was the key there, just down the stretch to make sure you guys can close that out and not keep it going for them?

BRYSON ETIENNE: We've been in situations like that before. Just kind of, we're kind of used to it, playing in big crunch times like that. Just them making big plays is part of basketball. It's a game of runs. If they go on a run, we know we can lock down on defense and make a run of our own.

We just try to push through it and not really make it just a big deal, just keep moving forward because we've still got time on the clock.

JOHN WALKER III: Most definitely. Whenever things get tough or anything like that, it's just more of picking your teammates up even more. Like whatever we're doing, whenever we get in a situation like that it's just raising your level. It's whatever -- the harder it get the higher we raise our level. I think it's just a sliding scale type of deal.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach.

Q. How nice is it to have such depth that can you get 50-plus points off the bench? Second of all, I think you used 18 different starting lineups. From game to game, how do you decide who starts?

COACH JONES: The good thing was we had several guys returning from last year's team that helped us get to this point. And at the same time we had new guys coming in, Brison Gresham, No. 44, played at University of Houston last year in the Final Four. Started 19 games, played 17 minutes a game for them.

Our point guard, PJ Henry, came from Hartford. Played 32 minutes in the game last year against Baylor. So when you have guys coming into the program like that and they're buying in, it helps intensify our practices, when our guys know that they've got an opportunity to start. They don't have any set ways. They don't have a set lineup. And you've got to be ready.

And your practice can indicate a lot of times that opportunity to start, and you plan. And as the season progressed because of the difficult non-conference schedule that we have, our guys just kind of said -- they weren't worried about starting anymore. It was about the minutes played and the impact they could have on the team when they get in.

And it's been great for us, because any of our guys are able to come in, have big nights like this. And it happened to be Walker's and the Brysons night tonight. But on any given night any of our guys can step up and make those plays. That's why it's been difficult for a lot of teams because we're playing 10 guys a night.

Q. You guys have been in the situation before. It's unique. You have to turn around and play a couple days after Selection Sunday. Did that experience come into play? You guys know what it's like to find out your opponent and get back after it really quickly.

COACH JONES: I'll tell you, it helps because you obviously are schedule during the year and during preseason it helps us because we play a very demanning and challenging schedule against some of top Power five teams in the country.

Our preparation is important because the number of games. We may leave home at the beginning of the season and be on a ten-day road trip, playing four games out West.

So we have to make sure that we're good on the fly in terms of our scouting and getting preparation for our guys, and that certainly sets well for this. And in our conference we play a Saturday/Monday schedule. And this has been really good for us because you have that one day to prep obviously for the next team.

It certainly came in handy because we played on Saturday. I got back home on Sunday. Found our opponent, moved it on Monday and having to play today. So it's great for our guys, but I can say that we have a really -- this is one of the teams that I've coached as long as I've been doing it, they stay locked in and high IQ type team, that these guys get it. And they do a great job of feeding off of each other and excited about the film room.

Q. Same thing I asked your fellows there. Tonight with the bands and cheerleaders and fans and all, it's different than the bubble last year. I don't know if it feels more like March Madness or what.

COACH JONES: It's certainly better. It's certainly better than situations we played in last year and not as many fans at the game, just family and people coming in, a situation where, on the initial game that we played, it was better obviously when we played Michigan because they brought a little bit more fan reaction into the arena.

But you know the difference because you've been there before. And tonight certainly was better. And we know we're fighting so hard. I was really wanting to be in the situation and winning because it's going to be different on Thursday even than it was tonight, because now you're playing in the Dallas/Forth Worth area. You're playing a Kansas basketball team that's great in tradition and their fans travel well.

Being in that area, we know we'll have a lot of fans as well. It's exciting for us, excited for our guys and our guys have earned the right to enjoy.

Q. Coach, you had a lot of contributions from a lot of players, but I'll tell you what, though, Brison Gresham played really well. Talk about his effort tonight.

COACH JONES: I'll tell you, he's such a tremendous leader. Young man that come into our program and really accepted a major role. When you come out of a situation like he did a year ago going to the Final Four, there with the University of Houston, sometimes you don't know how guys are going to react.

But he came in with zero ego and has shown a great deal of leadership with their basketball team and he's a very impactful player defensively. He's one of those guys that gives you what is needed. He doesn't worry about scoring, if it comes it's great. But he was going to worrying about blocking shots, rebounding the basketball and manning the paint. And he's done a tremendous job. And he's certainly a big reason that we've been able to go on the type of run that we have.