NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - JACKSONVILLE ST. VS AUBURN

March 17, 2022

Kayne Henry

Brandon Huffman

Darian Adams

Jalen Gibbs

Ray Harper

Bon Secours Wellness Arena

Jacksonville St. Gamecocks

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're going to go ahead and get started here with our first press conference of the day. We're going to start with the Jacksonville State student-athletes. With us today we have Kayne Henry, Brandon Huffman, Darian Adams, and Jalen Gibbs.

Q. This is for Darian. How important is shooting the three ball to what you guys do as a team?

DARIAN ADAMS: It's very important. I mean, it's just something that we do and we work on all the time. We can say we shoot the ball well, but it's not our main staple. I feel like we can do everything. We can get the ball inside, and we can score two. When our three-pointers are going good, I feel like that's when we get a good run going and get a better feel for the game.

I feel like it's important, but it's not the only thing we can do.

Q. For Brandon, you scouting them in terms of their frontcourt, just what have you seen out of guys like Jabari and Walker, and what's the offensive game plan going against them?

BRANDON HUFFMAN: These guys have a really, really good frontcourt. We're just focused on playing our game, making sure we can get the ball inside as well to match that, as well as defend it really well. We know Kessler's a really big defender. If I'm correct, I think he led the SEC in blocks or something along those lines.

We're just making sure we can do what we do and play to our strengths.

Q. This is for Kayne. Did you guys know that, as long as you made The Finals of your conference tournament, that you'd be able to advance? Because it's unusual for a team to lose in the conference final and still be here. Did you guys know that that was the situation?

KAYNE HENRY: No, we didn't really know until after the semifinals game against Jacksonville. In our locker room, Coach came and told us the situation. Nothing much to it, but that was really it.

Q. How do you guys -- do you guys feel like you bounced back from -- you've got your mind right after losing the conference game and you're ready for this honor?

KAYNE HENRY: Definitely. I mean, one loss isn't like a major setback for us. We're just going to keep moving forward no matter what happens. Just going to keep working on it from there.

THE MODERATOR: Jalen, you want to take that one too?

JALEN GIBBS: Yeah, we're just excited for the opportunity. I thought, when we lost, it was over, but we're just excited to be here and ready to compete.

Q. You guys must have had a stronger reaction than that, if you didn't know you were going to the tournament and then you found out. Really, what was it like?

BRANDON HUFFMAN: I'll take that one. We knew we'd have a postseason based on the things we did this year. Knowing that we could do the wrong thing and end up with the goal, it was a great feeling. We were extremely excited. That's been our goal all year to make it here. Having a postseason was huge for us, but being able to be in this position despite having some setbacks and some things not go our way, we're blessed, to say the least.

Q. What would you say is the personality of this team? You guys had a great regular season.

BRANDON HUFFMAN: We play to our strengths very well. I believe we know what we do well, and we figure that out very, very early in the season. Seeing that we're all basically returners, all except for the new guys we added and a couple guys leaving, this is exactly what we talked about being in this position. I think our personality is just we play to our strengths well, we know what we do, and we try and exploit people based on that.

Q. Brandon, this one is for you again. You obviously played at a traditional blue blood at UNC, you have tournament experience before. How is it going to be different for you now? You're in a mid-major program, you're a 15 seed, and you've gone from being the top dog, a lot of times you're the favorite in these games to now you're a 15.5-point underdog. How does that mindset change? How do you feel like your tournament experience can trickle down to your other teammates who have never been on a stage like this before?

BRANDON HUFFMAN: Basically, the level of experience that comes with it. Having seen some of this, my role is definitely bigger. Me and this guy here, we've been in this position before. Actually, the last time I was in the NCAA tournament, I played against Auburn.

It's kind of just a full circle moment for us, having experience in this tournament early on, me and him, but it really just helps us kind of prepare the younger guys and some of the guys who haven't been in this position for what they're about to see. I think it would be good for us.

Q. Brandon, we're going to stick with you here. In terms of losing your conference tournament final and still being in, what's like the weirdest interaction you've had with somebody who maybe didn't realize that that was going to happen? Like whether it's a family member, a friend, a text message. Was there anything like that for you guys?

BRANDON HUFFMAN: There's been quite a bit of that, answering a lot of questions. Sometimes almost being in the dark for some of them ourselves, knowing how it happened or how it had to work. Like I said, we knew we'd have a postseason, but the way that this happened is beyond what we could have imagined.

I think it's been kind of strange here and there having to answer questions that you don't always understand all the way.

Q. Brandon, obviously you mentioned the last time you were in the postseason you played Auburn. When you were at UNC, how familiar were you with Walker Kessler? He wasn't there yet, but he was obviously committed at some point when you were there.

BRANDON HUFFMAN: Actually, I think the only interaction in time we've met was his official visit. I've heard he's a really good guy. As far as what I've seen, he seems to be a great kid. So should be a great chance to compete against him.

Q. This one's for Brandon and Darian. You all have both been in the NCAA tournament, Darian with Troy and Brandon with UNC. What's the outlook like compared to those times with those teams instead with Jacksonville State?

DARIAN ADAMS: It's different this time probably for both of us. Probably the first two times we came, we weren't the bigger pieces of the team, but like we're the bigger pieces of this team this time. I feel like we've got a bigger responsibility than we did the first time. So I just feel like now it's just time for us to do something different and just be leaders out there since we've been here before.

BRANDON HUFFMAN: Same exact thing, just following up off what he said. We're bigger pieces of both of our teams this time. I'd say this feels like mine. This feels like my own. Seeing that we're here in the postseason and we had to work all year to be here, it just feels like we own it this time.

Q. I want to ask you to all of you guys if you're open to answering this. Of course with this talk about earning the second chance in the tournament, I can imagine there's a chip on your shoulder a little bit to prove your worth here and obviously get matched up with an in-state foe with Auburn, and you've seen the attention with the team all year. Do you feel that you're going to be playing with that chip on your shoulder to not only make a statement for your team and what you've done all year long, but also this in-state -- not that there's a rivalry, but maybe there?

KAYNE HENRY: I'd say for sure. All season I feel like we played well. Just to lose to Jacksonville in that semifinal, it definitely hurt, but we have a second chance. We definitely have a chip on our shoulder. We've been going hard every day and practicing and competing against one another. So we're definitely ready for the challenge.

DARIAN ADAMS: It's a bigger chip on our shoulder. We've always had a chip on our shoulder the whole season. We've seen everything that people have been saying so we just feel like this is the challenge, and we step up to it. It's a time to just let the critics know that we're for real.

BRANDON HUFFMAN: Yes, we definitely have that chip on our shoulder, from coming into a conference, after switching from the OBC last year, we haven't quite got the respect we felt that we deserve. To have the year that we've had despite not having that, that's kind of been a theme for us.

I think our coach will speak to that. He knows a lot of these coaches. He knows a lot of these teams. It was new for all of us seeing that the scouts had to be different, even down to the hotels and where we're going. It's definitely been something we've played with, and it's been a huge theme for the year.

JALEN GIBBS: Following from what they said, having that chip on our shoulder, I feel like we've always had a target on our backs (no microphone).

Mic check, one, two. Hello. Okay, yeah.

Even transitioning from the OBC to the A-Sun, I feel like we've always had that target on our backs and teams have always been out to get us. I feel like we've always had a chance to prove ourselves throughout, and we have this season. Even us having a good run, I feel like we've done our job. People are still doubting us even though we've proved we are a good team.

I feel like the job's not done yet. We still have a lot more to do.

Q. For any of you, has Coach Harper told you all any stories from his time at Kentucky Wesleyan going up against Bruce Pearl and that rivalry they had at DII?

JALEN GIBBS: I haven't heard exactly, but I was on Twitter recently, and I've seen a lot of tweets regarding him and Bruce Pearl. I'm kind of excited to see those two interactions during the game.

BRANDON HUFFMAN: I haven't heard anything about that. With a guy like Coach Harper, he's been in this game a long time. He's got a great basketball mind. That's something he probably wouldn't think is notable to us, but this is my first time hearing that.

Q. Brandon, you're playing for a coach now that has had a lot of postseason success at lower levels and has been around the game a while, like you just said. Your previous stop, the same thing, a guy who had had a lot of postseason success. How much does that matter to players in terms of playing for a coach that you get to the postseason and you know they've been successful with what they do in the postseason?

BRANDON HUFFMAN: Definitely means a lot. We've heard about it all year. This has been our goal. We fell short in the OBC tournament last year. We've been fighting for this all year, especially after winning the first conference championship in our DI school history. It's been huge for us. Seeing the things we've done all year, we really just wanted to make this the cherry on top as far as what we've done. We're here, and this is everything we've fought for.

Q. Kayne, what's the biggest difference between London and Jacksonville, Alabama?

KAYNE HENRY: The food, the weather, the people, the accents. Pretty much everything. It's a whole different vibe, whole different culture. Whole lot of getting used to. I would say it took me a year to fully adapt to everything. I'm still not fully used to my teammates. They still annoy me, but I'm cool with them. I love them.

Yeah, I love Jacksonville.

Q. One, what has the journey been like for you till now? And also, did you ever meet Luol Deng along the way?

KAYNE HENRY: I met Luol Deng before I came to America. He had a Top 50 camp they host every year. It's like a ranking camp, and I went to one of those.

It's like a five-day, basically like a showcase type of thing. Took part in that.

My journey, it's been pretty up and down, had a lot of setbacks, a lot of ups and downs between my career. My freshman year as a Division I Juco in San Jacinto in Pasadena just outside of Houston. I was there one year. They shut down the program due to funding, transferred to northwest Florida, and transferred to Jacksonville, and I've been here ever since. It's been a good five years. Loved it.

Q. This is also for Kayne. Kind of similar with growing up in London question. Growing up across the pond, did you have a chance to fill out a bracket when you were younger. How much college basketball do you watch? Do you kind of know just how big this tournament is here in America? I know the NBA does a good job of internationally trying to expand their brand. I just wonder, did you grow up watching college basketball?

KAYNE HENRY: I didn't really follow college basketball too much back home. My coaches were very big on it. They would always talk about it, fill out brackets, that kind of stuff. I always hear about it here and there, but I didn't really realize how big it was until I actually came to the States.

Me being here now, it's kind of like a wow factor for me. I still can't believe I'm here. It's a good experience.

Q. My question is for Jalen Gibbs. Jalen, you have a lot of family, friends, supporters in Charles County, Indian Head, Maryland. Just wanted to ask if you have a message for everybody back home.

JALEN GIBBS: I know there are a lot of people back home watching me now, and I just want to thank them for supporting me the whole year. Always being beside me and supporting me. I've got a lot of love in Maryland, and I'm just ready to play and show them what this team is made about.

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Coach Ray Harper. Opening statement.

RAY HARPER: I'm excited to be here. I'm excited for these kids you just had an opportunity to interview. Great group of guys. They've worked extremely hard to put themselves in a position to be playing tomorrow. I know they're excited and prepared for the challenge ahead of us.

Q. Ray, your players didn't seem to know the situation at the tournament. Were you aware of the fact that you guys were going to be the team if Bellarmine lost.

RAY HARPER: They knew as of Saturday night after we lost. They didn't know prior, nor did I. But we did talk to them on Saturday night after I told them, this is not going to define our season. We'll get ready for the NIT if that's the tournament we're playing in.

They had a tremendous regular season, was regular season conference champions, and it worked out for us.

Q. To follow on that a little bit, what are your emotions in that moment? You said you didn't necessarily totally know either. What's that like for you emotionally?

RAY HARPER: Initially?

Q. Yeah, initially.

RAY HARPER: Well, I'd already met with the team, like I said, in the locker room after the game and told them this game will not define our season. We've had a great season. We'll take a couple days off and get prepared for the NIT, which we thought would probably be our next step.

Then I find out ten minutes later that that's not necessarily the case. So I guess you can understand the range of emotions and then having to wait until Tuesday. It's kind of like being on the bubble, an at large. You've got to wait and see what happens.

Q. You've been around the game a good while. You've won championships at lower levels. I'm curious, how do you view sort of coaching experience in the postseason, how valuable it is. Xs and Os versus Johnnys and Joes, right? About the players versus the coaches. How much impact do you think tournament experience from the sideline can matter?

RAY HARPER: I think it helps. Having players with experience helps. Again, been fortunate to be around some really good teams and to win some National Championships, to play in NCAA tournaments. I'm thankful of the opportunities I've had, but I've had those opportunities because of the type of kids you saw sitting up here earlier, and that's why we're here today.

Q. Bruce, we talked earlier this week about y'all back in the '90s and going against each other. What kind of memories do you have of both of you all being young coaches? You said you normally got the best of him in that rivalry. What do you remember about going against him back then?

RAY HARPER: I was younger than him, so that's why I got the best of him (Laughter). We really created something of interest to those communities. Our schools were separated by about 40 miles. You couldn't get a ticket. Their game at their place, you couldn't get a ticket. At our place, and when the conference tournament would roll around and seated 10,000, you couldn't get a ticket to that game.

I thought it was great for both universities. I will say this. We were two really competitive guys, but I had the utmost respect for what he was doing and what he did. For those 40 minutes, I was going to try like crazy to kick his tail, and he was going to do the same to us. When it was over, I don't know that I respected anyone any more in that league than I did Bruce Pearl.

Q. Going off of that, obviously with different teams now, but you're facing off again. What emotions are going through your head as you're going to see another team, but Bruce Pearl again on the court tomorrow?

RAY HARPER: I can't wait to see Bruce. I haven't seen Bruce in a while. I got to see him on television. Now I get to see him up close and personal like in the old days. Then we get to see his lovely team. That will be a lot of fun.

But I know our guys are looking forward to it. Again, it's going to come down to execution on our part to have a chance. We're going to have to play smart. I don't think we necessarily have to play perfect, but we will have to play really well tomorrow afternoon.

Q. You guys shot the three really well this year. How important is that going to be for tomorrow's game?

RAY HARPER: We need to let them rain and see them go in. We've got the leading three-point shooter in the country in Demaree King. Jalen Gibbs was top five all year. I think we were third overall percentage-wise as a team.

I think it's important, but we can play other ways, and we have. I'd sure like to see them let them fly and see them hitting the ball in the net tomorrow afternoon. That would help.

Q. Just going back to your kind of rivalry with Bruce. On Selection Sunday, when you saw your team's name pop up next to Auburn's, what was your initial reaction when you realized you were going to be facing him again.

RAY HARPER: We'd better start getting him prepared because I know he is. That was the one thing that I really remember is we knew when we were getting ready to face his teams that we had to be locked in to details. They do a great job on their baseline out of bounds. We would know that we'd better guard their baseline out of bounds like no other.

And same thing, just getting the ball in versus them on baseline out of bounds. Just those little things in particular and how hard his team was going to play. I'm sure that will be the case tomorrow afternoon.

I think it wouldn't have mattered who popped up. We were going to be excited and knew we were going to have a huge challenge. Just so happened to be an in-state team and a guy I know well in Bruce from Auburn.

Q. Being a mid-major program, you can see the guys, what you're talking about and the heart they put on the court, but unfortunately it doesn't get to be shown on the big stage as much as a team like Auburn. So I want to know for you, just having a chance to see your guys have this moment, what does that mean to the team and what does it mean to you to see them take advantage of this opportunity?

RAY HARPER: It means everything. We talked about it from the minute these guys got back in June. We had some guys that could have moved on and finished up, but they had a goal, and they wanted to use that COVID year, come back, stay together, and our goal was to win an A-Sun regular season championship, they did that, play in the NCAA tournament. We're going to do that tomorrow.

These are memories that will last a lifetime. Those guys are the only team ever in Jacksonville state history to win a regular season conference championship, and you will never be able to take that away from them. It's exciting. They've been a good group. We coach them hard. They work hard, but they never blinked. They had their eye on the finish line. Just happy they get this opportunity now.

Q. We were talking to Kayne just a couple of minutes ago, and he's had quite a journey from Juco to Juco, one program getting shut down. Obviously he's come to America from London. Can you speak to his resiliency and how he's been able to help your program and what he gives you both on and off the floor on a night in and night out basis?

RAY HARPER: Did you like his accent? I can't do his accent. Kayne's been terrific. He's one of the nicest kids you would ever want to be around.

He came here, playing Juco his first year, he had just turned 17 years old, still a young kid. First time I had an opportunity to see him, he played for a good friend of ours at Northwest Florida. What a tremendous athlete, just could see the potential in Kayne. If Kayne would tell you, I probably have coached him harder than most kids because I could see the potential in Kayne and just trying to get him to understand how good he could really be.

I don't think he understands even today how good he can be. He's got a lot of basketball ahead of him. If he can tap into not being such a nice guy on the court as he is off the court, I think the sky's the limit for that young man. I expect him to do special things going forward.

Q. I'm going to follow up on the experience question I was asking you. What does a coach learn most in competing deep into postseason tournaments like you've done? Are there certain lessons that can only be learned in postseason for a coach or is it the same things you learn during a regular season over time?

RAY HARPER: I've been asked that question a lot, I'll be honest with you, because we have had so much success in postseason. At one point we played in, I think it was, nine straight National Championship games. As I look back at that, it's really incredible. I didn't think about it much at the time. I remember my wife one year was talking about, now, when is the National Championship Game this year? That doesn't mean because we're playing this day we're going to be playing. Yeah, we played in the last six, but that doesn't mean we're going to get to play in that.

As I reflected back on it, it truly was amazing. But I think more so than the game itself was the preparation leading into the game. How did we prepare? Why were we always so ready to play in that game? I thought back to a guy who was a mentor for me, Wayne Chapman, who I worked for at Kentucky Wesleyan, and he always preached fresh legs, fresh minds, and when you watch us get into February and early March, you may not see us go very long, but we'll go hard.

We'll get in. We'll get our work done. We may practice 45 minutes. The thing is, if they don't know what they're doing now, I can't help them. We've been doing this since June, so if we don't know what we're doing, we're going to have problems tomorrow at 12:40.

So the biggest thing right now for me is keep these guys fresh mentally and make sure they've got fresh legs to be ready to go tomorrow because they're going to need them at 12:40. So I think that's the biggest thing is the preparation more so than the game itself.

Q. I have two questions for you. One, to keep it on Kayne really quick, I want to know, what does British ball bring to the floor? As coming from the UK, just the fact, I'm curious, when you're playing ball in the UK, what differences do you see from Kayne that he's brought to the floor? Two, just what can this kind of journey and going to the tournament do for a program moving forward as well?

RAY HARPER: Kayne -- I think I understood the question. The difference in the games themselves from the United Kingdom to the United States? I think it's the physicality of the game here in the United States. He was not accustomed to getting hit. He didn't always like to get hit. He's gotten used to it because he gets hit a lot in practice. I kind of urge him, you'd better get in there, I don't want to see you get hurt. Do not become our trainer's best friend. Stay on the floor.

Some of that goes back to where I end up being hard on him, and he's really adjusted to that.

Then question two was -- I lost my train of thought thinking about Kayne.

Q. No problem. You get lost in the accent. So I just want to know what does a run in a tournament or just making an appearance in a tournament do for a program moving forward? You've seen that happen before, but for this JSU program moving forward regardless?

RAY HARPER: This is our second appearance in the last six years. And kids want to play in the NCAA tournament, so in recruiting, you have to be able to sell the opportunity and the potential to be able to play postseason. I think we can do that. I think going forward, we're going to need some new guys next year, and we'd like to play in this thing again next year.

So we obviously are going to need some really good players. So that is -- that's going to be what we're selling to some guys that want to come be impact players at the next level and do that here at Jax State and play in NCAA tournaments.

Q. You talked about Jalen Gibbs. What jumped out to you about Jalen when you were looking at him before he transferred in? And when did you realize this group was going to do something special?

RAY HARPER: The thing with Jalen, we couldn't go on the road recruiting last year. So everything was off of synergy that I was watching on him. More importantly, the conversations I had on the phone with him, just a tremendous young man. He was all about wanting to be somewhere where he could win. He never talked about minute playing time. He didn't talk about averaging 20 points. He talked about, Coach, I want to be somewhere where we can play in the NCAA tournament.

I will say this. I think the minute I knew this group could be special was when they got there in the summer. I'll give Jalen Gibbs a lot of credit. He came in from day one, and you couldn't do anything as a teammate but respect him because of his work ethic, his attitude. You know what you're going to get every day with him. You're going to get a guy who's going to play extremely hard. You're going to get a guy with a great attitude. He's had games with 40 points this year, and he's had games where he didn't shoot it well and didn't score a lot, but he still was on the floor because of his effort, his attitude, and he's always going to bring it on the defensive end.

I love Jalen Gibbs. The only thing I can say about him is he's a winner.