NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - NORFOLK ST. VS BAYLOR

March 16, 2022

Robert Jones

Dickies Arena

Norfolk St. Spartans

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: Now joined by head coach, Robert Jones, Norfolk State. We'll have the same format for this part. If we do have questions on the ZOOM, we'll take them after the questions in the room.

And one thing I forgot to mention earlier, please identify yourself and your affiliation before you ask your question. Okay?

Coach, we can start with an opening statement, and then we'll get the questions going.

ROBERT JONES: Once again, we're excited about the opportunity to play tomorrow. You know, it's going to be a tall task to play against the national champion. But at the same time, we're excited to be here for the second year in a row. And we're ready to play.

THE MODERATOR: Start in the middle there.

Q. Hey, Coach. Craig Wiler, WAVY-TV 10 in Nortolk.

How has the team refocused since the rush of the tournament championship and kind of a whirlwind travel flight and getting to Fort Worth?

ROBERT JONES: Well, it was a refocus aspect of it because you go from such a high of winning the championship and then a high of selection Sunday. And now it feels like your season has come to a head, especially from a small, little league. Everything goes into winning that tournament, and now you have to go back to work on Monday and then fly out on Tuesday like we did. And we'll be ready to play tomorrow. So it was definitely was a refocus that we needed.

I think we had a great day of practice yesterday. It was probably one of our best practices of the year, honestly. Great energy, great focus, great intensity; so hopefully that transfer us into tomorrow's game.

Q. Just in terms of you talked about playing in the tournament last year, playing a one seed in Gonzaga, and then you played Wichita State and Xavier this year. How much do you kind of tell your guys, hey, remember these types of teams we played and to kind of know what you're going to face off against on Thursday?

ROBERT JONES: I think last year when we played Gonzaga, due to COVID, we didn't play any high majors last year, and every year, we play about five or six. So when we get to postseason, it's not like a shock. So last year when we played Gonzaga, it was almost a shock for us, the physicality, the speed, and things like that.

This year, I know Coach Brown is here. He did a great job of scheduling and being able to pencil in some high majors before we get to this point, which I think will pay dividends tomorrow.

Now, obviously, New Mexico and Xavier and those guys are not Baylor, but it still gave us a good taste of what it's going to feel like and look like playing against a team like Baylor.

Q. John, Waco Tribute.

What do you feel like you guys have to do to, you know, to stay with Baylor, you know, make it a good game?

ROBERT JONES: I mean, we just have to just control the tempo. We can't let them strike early and often. We have to strike early and often.

I do think that we match up, you know, size-wise. You know, they start -- I think 6'10, 6'9, 6'8 up front. We start 6'9, 6'8, 6'7. And we're a legit 6'9, 6'8, 6'7. I'm not quite sure what they're legit heights are, but I do think that we match up.

But I think when we get to tournament game, the guards are going to be guards. Joe Bryant is a great guard. Ken Joe is a great guard.

A lot of times, smaller level teams can match up up front. And I do think that we have good guys like Dana Tate and Kris Bankston who can match up up front. So hopefully that will play dividends for us tomorrow.

Q. Coach Steven with APN Dallas.

Obviously, second year beginning the tournament, but a different environment this time. Being back in full arenas, you are playing in the same state that Texas -- I mean, that Baylor is from. Talk about kind of preparing your guys for that, that you're not in a bubble this time. You're going to have a lot more atmosphere, I guess.

ROBERT JONES: Yeah. What's Baylor, an hour and a half away from here, maybe, hour and a half? So it's the setup. It's the setup out here.

But for us, it's going to be a totally different atmosphere than last year. You know, I played -- I was on that team -- in 2012, I was an associate head coach back then. And I always tell the guys about when we beat Missouri in front of 16, 18,000 fans, just yelling and cheering your name. And then last year, we get to the bubble, and then there's 500 people the first game, and then 5,000 people the second game. So they're looking at me, like, this is the NCAA tournament? This is what it's supposed to be like? But now tomorrow, they'll see the full tilt of the NCAA tournament.

I think they're excited. I'm excited to coach in it. Because being an assistant coach, I didn't get a chance to coach in it; so I'm excited to coach in the atmosphere as well.

THE MODERATOR: As a Missiouri alum, Coach, painful memories. Painful memories.

ROBERT JONES: It was great memories for me.

THE MODERATOR: I know.

We will go middle left back here.

Q. Coach, getting back to the bigs. You talked about Kris, and I asked him, I wanted to ask you. How much -- since he is that man in the middle, your biggest guy, how much is he going to be relied upon to be that rim protector in this one and then bring that physicality to the next step?

ROBERT JONES: He's going to be relied upon a lot. I mean, honestly, he is -- he has the athleticism to compete with anybody in the country. I mean, he has pro athleticism. So we're going to have to rely on that, you know, he's going to have to be a force down there.

You know, when we did beat Missouri -- sorry -- you know, we had a force in Kyle Quinn down there that we knew that could compete with anybody they had, forward-wise. And I think that Kris, although he might not be Kyle, I think he can compete with any forward that they do have. That's an X factor, and we need him to show up tomorrow.

Q. As another Missouri alum, thank you for that. But just in terms of that -- obviously, each team year to year is different, but is there a game plan that you take even from back on that team? You say, Hey, we can utilize that, this is the way we won that game and we can kind of utilize it, even though we have different players?

ROBERT JONES: You see, a lot of times people think that, you know, if you're a smaller conference, you have to slow it down to stick with the big conference.

If you remember that Missouri game, which I'm sure you do, we scored 86 points that game. It was no slow down. We played the way we going to play. And I think that's the biggest thing I can take from it. Is that I'm not going to try and play a total different way tomorrow because we playing the defending national champions. We're going to play the way we play.

You know, we're the No. 2 team defensively in the country in field goal percentage defense. And we're going to go out there and play defense. And we going to try and execute as much as possible to be able to score the basketball.

I think that's the biggest thing I can take from that Missouri win, is that just play the way we play. Don't try to all of a sudden become Princeton when that's not how you play.

Q. I was just wondering: You guys seem like you have a lot of confidence coming in as the 16 seed. A lot of times, the narrative is that you're kind of here to get run over. How do you instill that confidence in your players and how do you see that playing out during these practices this week?

ROBERT JONES: I mean, that's not in our DNA. That's not in my DNA, that's not in the coaches' DNA, the players' DNA. We're not just here just to play. And whatever happens tomorrow, happens.

But we're here to -- just like there's 68 other teams or maybe 66 now with those two games that lost -- that's playing for a national championship, we're playing for a national championship, too. And that's the way we see it.

We have a winning culture and -- I mean, we win. So we don't know anything else about coming here just for show. Like, this is cute and everything like that, but we came here to play a basketball game and try to win a basketball game.

Q. Coach, I know you're ultra focused on the task at hand here. I'm curious: In moments like this as a coach, do you ever get a chance to reflect on your personal journey from coaching lower levels, high school basketball, to your nine-year run here at Norfolk State. What comes to mind personally when you think about your journey getting to this point you're currently at?

ROBERT JONES: Oh, Craig, you trying to make me emotional, man. I mean, after I -- I think about just the coaching journey, but just my life journey. You know, coming from the inner city, coming from the housing projects to, like, now being in front of you guys, about to be on national TV, you know, that's something that people dream about, coming from where I came from.

So to be able to persevere and get out that situation and now be in this situation, I'm thankful and I'm blessed and I'm humbled every day by it. So, you know, I'm not going to go into too much. You're not going to get me to shed a tear up here, man. But I'm just blessed by the situation.

Q. Just a big picture, too: For HBCUs Norfolk State, Texas Southern, you guys have been here before, Texas Southern, all that. But what does it mean for HBCUs to have this platform and be on the biggest stage in college basketball?

ROBERT JONES: I think it's a great platform. I think that there's a lot of attention on HBCU basketball recently. There's a lot of national attention on it. I think we just want to be able to show that we can compete with whoever's out there.

You know, win, lose, or draw tomorrow, our biggest thing is we want to be able to compete and show that HBCU basketball is not what people think it is, it's going to be some puck basketball or whatever people think HBCU basketball is.

That's not the brand that we run. We're one of the best mid-majors in the country. And we're on every mid-major poll. So, you know, we're not just a HBCU basketball team, we're one of the best mid-majors in the country and we want to be able to show that tomorrow and any day after that.

Q. Just wondering: What is it about this Baylor team that really stands out to you? When you look at the film, what do you feel like they really bring to the floor?

ROBERT JONES: Their guard play. Obviously, with James Akinjo. What was he, first team in the PAC 12, first team in the Big 12? What did he make all-rookie in the Big East? I mean, those are pretty high levels that he's been consistent at.

So we know that he's the head of the snake. And the Flagler kid, he can shoot the ball. You know, he came from a level like us. He came from Presbyterian and now he's showing it on a big level.

We know we got to stop those two guys and they got a whole bunch of other weapons, as well. And they're the national champs for a reason. And they say, If you want to be the champ, you got to beat the champ. So we got the national champion the first game.

Q. What has Joe Bryant been to this program the last four years?

ROBERT JONES: Joe Bryant has meant everything to this program. He's a winner, he's a kid with five overall championships, two regular season championships. Even though he probably won't leave as the lead explorer in the program, he's probably going to leave as the most decorated Division I player in the program's history. So he's been everything.

He's a kid that persevered from not playing a lot -- he took the old school way. He didn't play a lot of his freshman year. We know how it is now, these kids leave -- to say that he's a four-year player, it's amazing. It's almost like Ju. Co., you give them one year, two years, and then they're gone. So for him to not play that much and then keep getting better and better and better, now he's a player of the year and two time most outstanding player, it's great for him and it's great for the community, and it's great for Norfolk State basketball.

THE MODERATOR: We have time for a couple more, if anybody has anything.

If not, Coach, we'll let you go. Thank you very much. Good luck tomorrow.

ROBERT JONES: Thank you.