NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - INDIANA VS SAINT MARY'S

March 16, 2022

Randy Bennett

Logan Johnson

Matthias Tass

Tommy Kuhse

Moda Center

Saint Mary's Gaels

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the men's NCAA Tournament first and second rounds. Joining us are St. Mary's Logan Johnson, Matthias Tass and Tommy Kuhse.

Q. Matthias, I would like to get your take. When you look at Trayce Jackson-Davis, center versus center, what stands out?

MATTHIAS TASS: Definitely one of the best big men we have in this country. Can't say this country, it's not my country, but in this league.

He's very athletic, very quick. Of course he's a great post scorer. So hopefully you will see a great match-up tomorrow between him and I.

Q. Was there any moment off the court this season that kind of was a turning point for you guys?

LOGAN JOHNSON: I wouldn't say it was started this season. I think it's just a part of the culture that we have at St. Mary's. I would say it started in the off-season with all the off-season work we go through, a lot of player-driven workouts and all the time we spend with each other. We know what we're capable of, and that seems to grow every single day.

Q. Is there one person that orchestrates that?

LOGAN JOHNSON: Our old man up here. He keeps us in check. He's been here the longest. He knows the ins and outs of this program and the culture around it and what we stand for.

Q. One for Matthias and one for Logan and Tommy. Matthias, you just said you will be guarding Trayce Jackson-Davis. My basketball head said maybe Kyle would. I guess I'm wrong? Or could it be both?

MATTHIAS TASS: To be honest, throughout this year when we go against good bigs in our league, it's not about just me guarding them or Kyle guarding them, it's the five guys who are on the court helping each other, helping me and Kyle out, whoever we're guarding. And it's just -- yeah, like we say, the good bigs, we have to have team cover against them. It's not just one guy. It's the whole team.

Q. For Tommy and Logan, Xavier Johnson is a well-regarded point guard. Logan, your defense is highly regarded. Tommy, you talked about that. Without giving away too many trade secrets, is it Johnson on Johnson or Kuhse on Johnson?

TOMMY KUHSE: It will probably be Johnson on Johnson, if you ask me. He's pretty quick. He's definitely a really good player. We watched a little film on him. We are excited for the match-up. We like going head-to-head with good players.

LOGAN JOHNSON: I would further that. It's kinda just whoever is sticking to him the best. We know what we're capable of at the guard position and at the big spot in terms of defending. We know that we have multiple players at each position that can guard. So whoever is sticking to him the best definitely will get that match-up.

Q. Logan, you guys are top 10 in the country, I believe, defensive efficiency in KenPom and everybody. What are the principles, tactics, techniques that made you guys an elite defense this year?

LOGAN JOHNSON: We actually use bricks every day on defense. We hold up bricks on defense. It's a staple in our practice every day. We commit to one another, and we help each other out. We're very unselfish defensively when it comes to rotating and helping, which makes your job a lot easier when you know you might get blown by baseline or something, you know that you will have your rotation man there.

We have been with each other for so long that we get the best out of each other. We expect the best out of each other. We know when to cover for each other, and we know when to make switches. We know when to make things happen.

Q. (Away from mic.)

LOGAN JOHNSON: We literally hold them out on defense and if our hands drop, we're going to have to do the drill over again. So we're pretty disciplined on keeping our hands up and keeping our hands wide and playing the passing lanes.

Q. This is for anyone. Was there a low point or a hard point to this season for you guys? If so, how did you get through it?

TOMMY KUHSE: I think it starts with last season. We had a lot of roster turnover with the same guys coming back, and all of the things we went through last year with -- we went through some COVID issues, some injuries. And all that helped us grow.

We were young, we were a really young team. So being able to have the same guys back two years in a row was so valuable for us. We knew we had everyone back, and we knew what we wanted to achieve, and we set to it right as last season ended.

Q. Is there someone on your roster who maybe is a little unsung, whose statistics don't necessarily reflect his value?

LOGAN JOHNSON: Kyle Bowen. Everything he does for us, you know, he makes everything happen. He's our glue guy. Holds things together defensively for us. And when he's hitting shots for us, that's big-time. So it's definitely Kyle Bowen.

Q. Watching Indiana last night, as I'm sure you did, is there anybody you would compare them to, teams you've played either in the WCC or nonconference?

MATTHIAS TASS: We made -- our coaches made comparisons to the Gonzaga team. They have a really good guard and also a really good big guy who play well in the two-man game they have. That's the -- that's the main compression we have had so far.

Q. Talk about Coach for a bit. How does he reach you guys? What makes him effective with you guys?

TOMMY KUHSE: I think he's -- first of all, he's the hardest worker out of anyone. We know no matter what situation we're going into, he's going to be the most prepared guy, whether it's watching film or practicing or whatever it is, getting the assistants ready to do their jobs.

It starts with that. Then just -- he's a really good person. He sets the tone for us in that regard as well, doing the right thing. He is a leader by example. He's a fun guy to play for and a really easy guy to follow.

LOGAN JOHNSON: Yeah, I would say he's definitely like a father figure to us. Always making sure we're straight off the court before we even step foot on the court. He holds us accountable and expects the most out of us and demands the most out of himself as well.

Q. Does he ever make you guys laugh?

LOGAN JOHNSON: Sometimes.

Q. How?

MATTHIAS TASS: He's got a bad sense of humor, but yeah. (Laughter.) Don't record this, please. I might not play tomorrow. He makes us laugh, yeah. He's a fun guy when he's out of his zone, game zone or practice zone, whatever zone it may be. So, yeah.

Q. Guys, so many times when St. Mary's is in the tournament, they're viewed as the little team that could. Now you're a 5 seed. You played a real tough schedule. I guess the thought of having to face teams like Indiana, UCLA, Baylor in your bracket. Are you guys expecting to do some damage in this tournament? Is that the outlook?

TOMMY KUHSE: Yeah, I think having a difficult schedule this year prepared us. Obviously this is the best our league has been in a long time, seeing as how three teams made the tournament. And there are a lot of other quality teams in there as well.

And then also our nonconference schedule. We were able to play some Pac-12 teams, like Oregon, and then also Wisconsin who is in the same conference as Indiana. So I think that will prepare us well for the game, and we just have to go take it if we want it.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. Best of luck tomorrow.

All right. With us now from St. Mary's is head Coach Randy Bennett and we would say welcome to Portland, but you're in Portland quite a bit, so welcome back.

COACH BENNETT: Yeah, it's nice to be in the same time zone, first time for that. We were excited when Portland was our site and we're ending up playing Indiana. And we all understand what Indiana basketball is and what it means and the type of blue blood program they have been for a long, long time.

That's what you want, though. You want to get into the NCAA Tournament and play against good teams. Our guys understand that. We're excited to be here and look forward to playing in it.

Q. Coach, Logan talked to us a little bit about using bricks in practice. I've heard of that with defensive slides before, but can you kind of describe the origin of that and what you hope to get out of that?

COACH BENNETT: I can't believe he's giving away our secrets. Gotta talk to Logan. The philosophy is -- crazy thing it's really helped. To get our guys to carry their hands defensively and play bigger, we just kinda -- the overload theory, make it a little tougher.

It's helped. It's helped carry their hands, close out better, be stronger there. And I think it gives them a little mental edge. They've done something that as a team that's a little tougher. It's not that tough, but it's -- it's helped. They like it, they have embraced it. They make it fun, which is cool.

Q. How long have you been doing that?

COACH BENNETT: Two years.

Q. How did you fit that into your budget?

COACH BENNETT: I had a little extra change. Those bricks aren't very expensive.

Q. The players, I asked them if there was a team to which they would compare Indiana that you guys have played this season. They said that you said it was Gonzaga. True? And if so, why?

COACH BENNETT: I would say it's a little bit Gonzaga, a little bit Santa Clara, but they're like Santa Clara because they have a guy like Timme. He's good. I say that with all due respect. Timme is as good a center as there is in the country.

And Indiana's kid Jackson-Davis, is -- he's one of those. He can just score. Balls can go to him a lot. They play off he and Xavier Johnson. And similar, similar in that there's Nembhard, Timme. Similar deal.

They run a lot of stuff, a little bit like Santa Clara. They're big like Santa Clara. I've seen them enough now, they're good.

Playing in our league -- obviously the Big Ten is a good league, but playing in our league prepared us to play this year. I thought there were five really good teams in our league this year. Three of them got in the tournament, and the other two in the NIT. Best our league has ever been in the 35 years I've been around it.

So all that has helped us prepare against a team of Indiana's ability.

Q. When you look at Trayce Jackson-Davis, what are the things that stand out the most? What are the things that make him capable of doing what we have seen him do the last five or six games?

COACH BENNETT: Obviously he can score. Not every post man in the country can score. They can throw it into him, and he's -- you're going to have to think about where you're bringing help from, how you're going to do it. You can't just let him go one-on-one down there against one of your guys.

First of all, the guy will be in foul trouble in a hurry, and others -- Trayce can just score. He can get to his spots and make a bucket.

I think what makes him a good scorer is he's really quick. He goes to his move quick. And that's where he reminds me of Timme. Trayce is quicker, but Timme goes to his moves so quick, and he can go over either shoulder. He's got a multitude of moves, and so does Trayce.

That's the best comparison I can make, is Timme to him. And the reason he's good is because he can score and he's quick to his -- he's just going to come at you. He's very aggressive, and he's going to come at you, and he's quick doing it.

Q. Coach, any team that reaches this point, you look at their journey, and there is always a time where their season was hard, where there was kind of a low point, and you guys had to overcome it. Was there a moment like that for you guys? If so, how did you get through it?

COACH BENNETT: Well, the season seemed hard all year. I don't know if we had a low point. We played a lot of tough games. Starting up with the Maui at Thanksgiving, and those games ended up helping us out. And we won the first game so we got on the winner's side. So we played Notre Dame, then Oregon, and then Wisconsin. Yeah, Wisconsin won the Big Ten.

It helped us a lot, yet it was tough. That was tough. Then we went right to Utah State, Colorado State on the road back-to-back, and then we played San Diego State on neutral court.

You don't know how those are going to play out. Those teams had good years. San Diego State is top 30, so was Colorado State. Utah State is a tough place to play.

All those things were tough. They made us tougher. We won some of those games, so it gave us a true confidence as a team, and then we kept getting better and better.

But we didn't -- we didn't ever have a rocky point. I think we were pretty steady. Like we would bounce back and didn't lose a game at home. Little things like that were some of their goals on the season.

And so, yeah, it's just been tough, tough schedule. Tough all year. Our league was tough. It made us tough.

Q. Randy, I'm curious about the long history of bringing in international players, mostly Australia but lately other countries. Curious as to whether that -- what you think that adds in terms of bringing in players from be different cultures and the players meeting each other and becoming a team?

COACH BENNETT: It means a lot of things. I do like that aspect of it, the diversity. And I think it's good for our guys, both international guys and our U.S. guys, just to -- you have to be a teammate. You have to work toward a common goal with some guys that are from a totally different country, and some that are -- the things that they are familiar with are different.

I think it makes our guys a pretty -- they care about each other. They look to try and make each other comfortable as far as in this place we live, in this locker room we share.

And like I say, you are going for a common goal, and you have to work together, but you don't have the same history. They don't know who all the high school guys are in our country, and we don't know the path they had to blaze to get out of their country.

So there is a part of that -- I think about that all the time. I think it's good for our players. It's not the only way to do it, but it has worked for us.

I've learned a lot from coaching a lot of guys from Australia, New Zealand, now we have Estonia, we have had many other places, France, and had Augustas from Lithuania.

I've learned a lot. You think they're just like our guys, they aren't. So to try to make 'em one team, play as one is fun, and I think it's good for our guys leadership-wise as well.

Q. You hear a lot of talk about how experience helps players once they've been in the tournament, maybe they don't have the deer in the headlights look. What does experience in the NCAA Tournament mean for a head coach? What would you tell Randy Bennett in 2005 that Randy Bennett knows now in 2022?

COACH BENNETT: I think it's valuable. I think it's really valuable for players that have five guys that have been in the tournament. Just the whole format, once you get here at the site, you have no free time. You're just trying to -- you just run out of time.

We just came from practice, we're coming here, doing this media. They have never done that. We can tell them "media," but they don't know what the media is, looks like. And they're sitting up at this table, people asking them questions. We don't get that that much at St. Mary's. We get media, but not like this. So that's where it helps. As you just know, calm down, take it all in, enjoy it.

That's what I think one of my key messages -- two key messages to my players are, you've got to play well. We had to play well in a lot of games to get here, don't forget you've got to play well. There are no bums in this tournament. You're going to have to "hoop!"

The other thing is you've got to play well and you've got to be focused, but enjoy it. You don't if you will ever get here again. It's hard to get in. And I know that for myself. Sometimes I wonder, hey, will I ever get in this thing again? Because it's not easy to do and things got to go well, and you've got to have a lot of help.

Those are my two messages to them.

Q. Coach, is there a characteristic that you feel kind of defines this group of yours?

COACH BENNETT: For sure. I said it at the start of the year. I've coached enough teams that these guys are tough. They're just pretty gritty, and they stay together. They do all the things that you want, that you teach and emphasize, hey, this is what you gotta to do to be a good team, they do it, they embrace it.

Our leadership is tough, our play is tough, and we don't have -- I've said this many times. We don't have like an outlier scorer. We're pretty balanced. We have four guys that are double digits between 10 and 12.5. I really haven't had a team quite like it. But their single biggest characteristic that has given them a chance is they're tough.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much. Best of luck tomorrow.