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

March 17, 2022

Allen Flanigan

Walker Kessler

Jabari Smith

Bruce Pearl

Bon Secours Wellness Arena

Auburn Tigers

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're going to get started. We have Allen Flanigan, Walker Kessler and Jabari Smith with us.

Q. Can you kind of explain what happened last night and what your trip was like getting here and everyone is okay and stuff like that? Can you take us through what happened?

JABARI SMITH: The flight got a little delayed, so we had to stick around Auburn a little bit, but we got it situated and planes came and got us, and we got down here at a reasonable time, ate dinner, got some rest and got ready for today.

Q. To follow up on that, I guess, Jabari, so the plane was just delayed, or were you guys in the air and had to turn back? There have been a couple of conflicting reports, if you could make it clear what exactly occurred?

JABARI SMITH: I was just delayed, so we couldn't get on it yet. When the other planes came, we just got on it and left.

Q. Walker, Bruce was talking after the A&M game how he expected defenses to continue to pack in for you all and dare you to shoot the three ball, kind of like A&M did in that game. Do you guys expect that heading into this game? What's kind of your offensive game plan after going over what happened against A&M?

WALKER KESSLER: We think we're confident in our shooting ability. We're confident in our offense ability so regardless of what they do, we feel like we're prepared. We'll expect whatever they throw at us.

Q. For any of you guys, I guess Walker first. BP said he hasn't talked to you all about sort of the lack of experience generally with NCAA tournament on this roster much this season. Walker, I know you had a chance at UNC. Is there anything you tell everyone else just about that experience and lessons you impart, and do you think that's anything that's even been a concern?

WALKER KESSLER: I think for all the guys, we all understand there's a finality to the loss. We lose, we go home. Even though I've had experience and they haven't, they still understand that just as good as I do.

Q. Jabari, when you were at Sandy Creek, you were kind of talking about your road to Auburn and what made you choose it. Sitting where you are now, what's stood out about your first season at Auburn?

JABARI SMITH: I would say the family atmosphere. How together everybody is, how together the community is, and just how much the coaches care about their players. That's been the biggest thing to me. It was always more than basketball since the first day I got here. That's been the biggest thing, and that's why I came here.

Q. When you guys have had struggles or long stretches without scoring, what's been some of the things you've worked on to slow down those lulls a little quicker?

ALLEN FLANIGAN: Just getting back in the gym and putting the work back in, coming together as a team and talking about the problems that we have and trying to find solutions to them.

WALKER KESSLER: Al hit it on the head.

JABARI SMITH: Just staying in the gym, being ready to make shots, trying to take care of the ball, limit turnovers, and just get our shot at the end of the day.

Q. This is for Jabari. When you were being recruited, we've seen high school kids have routes now not going through college basketball G-League. Did they reach out to you, G-League, about trying to come that route? I guess how important was it to maybe have a college experience or be in this tournament as far as the decision for you to be in college?

JABARI SMITH: They reached out, but it was just never my dream. It was never something I just envisioned. I just always had my goal set on college. Playing in March, building relationships, and just going through that college grind, just experiencing that college life. That was always my dream, and that's what I was set on. Yeah, they offered the opportunity, it was cool, but I knew what I wanted to do.

Q. What was your favorite NCAA team growing up?

JABARI SMITH: Growing up, it was Kentucky, Karl-Anthony Towns. As I got older, I started knowing people in college, building a relationship with Coach Harper. So I ended up watching Auburn, Jared Harper. That whole team being from Georgia, I knew some of them. Auburn being a favorite as I got older.

Q. After your performance against Texas A&M, what's your plan to attack Jacksonville State's three-point shooting?

ALLEN FLANIGAN: Just getting up and guys not letting them bring the ball up, denying catches, and just being aggressive, playing aggressive defense the whole game, much like the second half we played against Texas A&M.

Q. Allen, is your grandfather going to be here at the game? This is a third generation basketball family with you. I think you're going to be the first one to play in the NCAA tournament. What does that mean to you?

ALLEN FLANIGAN: It means a lot. Just having my family here, everybody being able to see me play and experience new things, like they've never been to the NCAA tournament. So for all my grandparents and my uncles to be able to come out and enjoy the tournament and also get to see me play, it's amazing.

Q. With just how well Jacksonville State shoots the three, how much is Bruce kind of just belabored the fact that you guys need to close out on the perimeter this week?

ALLEN FLANIGAN: That's been the motto all week. At practice he's been stressing it over and over again, just getting up close, close-outs, making sure we arrive on the catch, hands up, and try to not let them shoot the ball.

Q. Obviously, you guys have had such highs this season, but this is where it really counts. I just want to know from those moments that have been the highest of highs for a basketball program, what did you guys learn from that now with some reflection as you head into the tournament?

WALKER KESSLER: I think that the biggest thing we've learned is that we're all we've got. Our teammates, our coaching staff. We can't rely on anyone else. We've got to come together and do what we do best and just really rely on each other.

Q. Jabari, does Coach ever talk about the last time Auburn was in the NCAA tournament in that Final Four game that kind of was a heartbreaker for you guys? I know none of you were in it, but does he talk about it? Does he remind you of it?

JABARI SMITH: He reminds us how hard it is to get there, how tough it will be, how tough every game will be, but he doesn't really talk about it much. He tries to focus on the present and focus on this team and focus on how to get back. That's what he's been stressing on, trying to get back and just trying to make history. That's what we've been focusing on.

Q. This is for Jabari. After the Texas A&M loss, you said you were confident that KD Johnson was going to bounce back shooting performance-wise. Can you talk about what his week of practice was like? I know he's a very emotional player. What do you think he's going to be able to do for you guys come tomorrow?

JABARI SMITH: He's going to do what he's been doing all season. Bring energy, give us that spark we need. In practice he's been great. He's been paying attention to detail, had a lot of energy. I've been seeing him in the gym getting shots up on his own. He's been very locked in and very focused on bouncing back from that game, putting it behind him and just moving forward.

Q. Allen, this team had four transfers and Jabari, there's a lot of overhaul to the roster. Yet you guys were able to win the outright SEC title. From your perspective as a guy who's a veteran on this team, what made this team click as quickly as it did, and how have you all been able to be this successful?

ALLEN FLANIGAN: I would say how fast we actually ended up bonding. When you bring in a lot of new guys and transfers from a lot of different places, everybody's kind of different, it kind of takes a while for groups to normally click and get in sync.

But like as soon as we got here, we immediately started hanging out and going places, going bowling and stuff, and just spending time with each other. When we got on the court together, we just synced, and it's been great since.

Q. Al, I know that team that you were a freshman on, obviously when things got shut down, you all were going to be a pretty high seed in the tournament. Do you kind of feel like maybe you're carrying that on for maybe some of the guys who weren't on that team? And I guess how excited are you to be back in that tournament now since you guys weren't able to when you were freshman?

ALLEN FLANIGAN: Definitely. I feel like we're carrying that on for the guys that missed out that freshman year, but I also feel like this team, that we feel like we have more on the plate that we want to make history, meaning that none of us have played in the tournament before. Those guys played on a Final Four team, and they got to make their run. So I feel like we're more hungry.

Q. Early in the week, Coach Pearl mentioned the fact that a lot of fans are traveling to this game in South Carolina. What does it mean to players to see -- at an away game and look at the stands and see the fans traveling?

JABARI SMITH: It just shows us what Auburn really is, what it's really known for, you know. A big fan base, a fan base that's going to travel, a fan base that's going to show you love. When we see that, it just hypes us up. It just makes us feel like we've got to leave it all out there for them, not only for us. So it helps us a lot, and we really appreciate them.

THE MODERATOR: We're going to go ahead and get started here in just a second. Coach, as we get started, can you please give an opening statement?

BRUCE PEARL: Auburn is very excited about being in the NCAA tournament. This team was picked fifth in the SEC rightly because we had so many new faces. The kids worked really hard in the off-season and in the early season against a challenging schedule to get good quick.

Probably played our best basketball sometime at the end of January and early February. The focus was on the process. The focus was on becoming a better team.

Then I think, when we were ranked 1 and there was a big target on our heads and we began to look at, wow, this SEC Championship is really maybe within our reach, it began to be the end result. We've got to win this one. We've got to win this one. Then a little less on the process. I'm trying to get us focused back to the process right now. What are the things we need to do to be a great team and win a championship?

Q. Last game obviously wasn't KD Johnson's best by any stretch of the imagination. I asked Jabari, and he said he was putting up extra shots in the gym. Can you walk me through what his last week of practice was like, and has he done anything differently to shoot the ball a little better come tomorrow afternoon?

BRUCE PEARL: You know, it's tough. When it's not going in, it's psychologically a challenge, but if he makes one, watch out because it will just be -- when Jabari was asked a question, are you worried about KD's shooting? No, 100 percent, not worried about it.

So he is a very unpredictable player, and so not shooting it well was sort of unpredictable. So you never know exactly what you're going to get, but more often than not, he's delivered for us.

Q. Bruce, you talked about the team was picked -- finished fifth in the SEC, a lot of new faces. You guys are a 2 seed in the NCAA tournament, won the outright title. What was the key to getting these guys to click like they did so quickly and, like you said, be playing their best basketball at the end of January?

BRUCE PEARL: I think the key was just because, when we recruited them, we recruited a certain culture in our locker room, and I promised Jabari or Walker that I'd surround them with great kids, that they would make lifelong friends, and they liked each other, and they got close.

There's a real advantage to living in a great dorm and being around each other all the time. Then on the court, they went and competed and tried to compete for positions and playing time and roles. So we got after each other all summer long and obviously put it together in the fall.

From the standpoint of the pieces, we've got the Defensive Player of the Year, in my mind, Walker Kessler, the best shot blocker in the country. He cleans up a lot of our messes. I can play call, get Jabari Smith the shot, and he's going to make it most of the time. We've got undersized but dynamic guards that are capable of getting hot and making plays.

Put it all together -- and especially this year in this league. This was the best the SEC's been since I've been in there, top to bottom. So to be able to survive it and stay on top was a great accomplishment.

But that's the regular season. This is the postseason. It's one-and-done right now.

Q. What did you get from Zep this year on and off the court? What was better or different than what you might have expected?

BRUCE PEARL: Good question. If you want to watch Zep Jasper play basketball and watch him defend and say that's Auburn basketball, I'm down with that. I'll roll with that all day every day because he's going to give you a hundred percent. He's going to give you everything he's got.

So he was better -- he was an even better on the ball defender than I even thought. Offensively, he's so unselfish that obviously you can see his assist-to-turnover ratio, he doesn't take enough chances to make plays for himself or others because he values the possession, and he doesn't really want to make mistakes, and he's way too coachable.

Like you've got to hear what I'm saying, but don't listen that closely to everything. Like I've got guys that don't listen to anything I'm saying. He listens to everything word for word. I've got to be careful sometimes because he'll do what I ask.

So just a great kid, a fan favorite. Just takes his time with people. Got genuine heart. We lose to Texas A&M, and we brought thousands of people to Tampa for the SEC tournament, and he apologizes publicly that we didn't play better and stay longer, recognizing those people spent their money, their hard-earned money to come support us, and he meant every word of it.

Q. What does it say about you or K.D. that you would let him stay on the court being 0 for 14? And speaking of people who listen, how high is he on the listening list?

BRUCE PEARL: K.D.'s come a long way. He's been fun to coach. I'd rather -- here's the deal. Dads, have you ever coached your son and after he struck out, he threw his bat and he kind of embarrassed you in front of other people because he kind of cried when he fouled out? I had one of those sons in Steven Pearl. I've got another one of them in K.D. Johnson. You want to know what he's thinking? Just look at his face, all those expressions.

I'd rather teach him to care a little less than to care. The fact that he cares and the fact that he's emotional and the fact that he's unpredictable, you know, he's a maniac, but he's my maniac, okay? Look, our job is to kind of get them from where we get them, where we got them, to help them get to where they want to be. So that's a process. You guys get a chance to see that process unfold on the court and in practice, and we get to live with it. That's our job to try to get him right and get him ready.

And as far as like if anybody writes or says what is he doing on the floor, really? That's just motivation for K.D. to --

Q. There's a lot of experience in the coaching ranks in this building here between Jim Larranaga in your bracket, Mike Krzyzewski, Tom Izzo, Bob McKillop. You've been to a Final Four. They have, a lot of them. I don't know if you'll bump into these guys. What are your thoughts on the amount of experience that's here, but also, how much of a factor can that be in a tournament with coaches that have kind of seen everything in a tournament with a deep run?

BRUCE PEARL: I think the people in Greenville, what a treat to be able to see the coaches you talked about and their teams. Keep in mind that most of those guys you mentioned, even though I'm gray and a lot older -- I'm 62 now tomorrow, right? Those guys were all my mentors and guys that I looked up to and hoped to be someday and be able to be in the same building with them and compete against them. It's a pretty big thrill for me.

I think player experience sometimes can be almost more important than coaches experience. We've got to get some experience tomorrow against Jacksonville State. That's not going to be easy. That's an old team. That's a hungry team. That's a talented team. They shoot the three ball really, really well. They've got step up-ability. They're great athletes. Ray Harper has done a terrific job.

We've got to survive and advance that one and get on-the-job training. Walker Kessler is the only player in my locker room that played in the NCAA tournament, and I think it was ten minutes or something for North Carolina, and they didn't last very long.

The year we went to the Final Four in 2019, the year before that, we got to the second round and lost to Clemson, but that team came back and kind of knew what it took. This team doesn't yet. They will tomorrow when we face Jacksonville State.

Q. Bruce, given that, are there some similarities between the team that went to the Final Four and this group? I've got to ask, how often does that Virginia game flash in your mind these days?

BRUCE PEARL: It doesn't flash in my mind very often, just every morning when I wake up, probably two or three times during the day, and when I go to bed at night. Other than that, I'm over it. I'm okay. (Laughter).

No, honored and blessed to have gotten there. Got beat by Virginia, period. They went on to win a National Championship. I think that the difference going in right now, this team right now is defending like that team did, but we're just not shooting it like that team did. We've got to be able to make some shots. We've got to shoot the ball better than when we shot it, but we're still running the same shot.

I laughed, a lot of those shots we took against Texas A&M, there were several contested and several early, but those were the same shots we were making in Nashville and Utah and Kansas City on the road to the Final Four, same shots.

Q. You talk about one-and-done now, but 3-3 in your last six. What's changed maybe over the last three weeks with this team that's put them in maybe more difficult situations?

BRUCE PEARL: Say that again. Explain that a little bit more.

Q. You all are 3-3 in the last six games. What's changed maybe from the beginning of the year and that run that you were on to the last three weeks or so?

BRUCE PEARL: Well, I would say, in part, at Arkansas, at Florida, at Tennessee, and then a hot Texas A&M team. But you're not wrong in pointing out the fact that we've not played as well.

Possible scouting? Kind of book us out a little bit on our guys. By the time we get to the end of the season, we've shown most of our stuff, and this is what we're good at. Have we been able to make the adjustments? Okay, they're taking all this stuff away, what else can we do?

Some of it could be just limitations and what our guys can and can't do. Part of it was the schedule. Part of it was scouting. And part of it was worrying about the result instead of just focusing on the process. We've got to get a little bit more offense for our defense. We've got to create a few more turnovers. Offense does get difficult in postseason play, I think, when all five guys are back and they're guarding.

Q. How does that get fixed then in a situation where your next loss, if you do lose, that's it?

BRUCE PEARL: How does that get fixed?

Q. Yeah.

BRUCE PEARL: Well, Jacksonville State has an advantage, they're in state. Ray Harper has an advantage, he's coached against me when he was at Kentucky Wesleyan, they know what we're going to do. But generally speaking, no opponent is going to know us like our league knows us.

So one of the great things about really, truly nonconference -- I love November and December college basketball. I actually like it better than January, February. I like it better than league play. I do. When I was an analyst, I actually liked it better because I love the nonconference matchups where coaches didn't know everything about each other's systems, and I think actually sometimes the games are actually prettier.

You get in conference play, it's just, it's a grind because everybody knows everything about everybody. So that would be the one thing that potentially could help us is just playing against somebody that we haven't played against year after year after year.

Q. It's the last tournament for Coach K. What has he meant to the game of basketball, internationally, domestically, college basketball? What has he meant to the game and to you?

BRUCE PEARL: What he's done as an Olympian, representing our country, winning gold, what he's meant to all the coaches that have looked up to him doing it the right way, all the assistants that have gone on and been great teachers and mentors themselves. It's kind of like Dick Vitale and what he did to college basketball in his position is akin to what Coach K has done as a leader of our coaching profession, and he's done it with dignity. He's done it with class. He's done it his way.

He is competitive. He is tough. He's fierce. That's how he grew up. That's how he worked his way through the Army and through the ranks. He's never tried to be somebody he wasn't. And I respect him for that.

Q. So I want to know, a lot of coaches say there's a lot to be learned in losses and those falls, and I know the climb to the top is fun, that journey is great, being up there is great. But just asking your coaching philosophy, what have you learned from the team kind of dropping off from those highest of highs this season, and what have you seen from your guys as you -- can you hear me okay?

BRUCE PEARL: Yes.

Q. And what have you seen from your guys as they adjust to not being at that top?

BRUCE PEARL: Adversity builds character. It can build it, but adversity reveals it. I think that one of the things that our kids have done is they've consistently bounced back. They've gotten to the next play. They've gotten to the next game. Can we do it in the game a little sooner? In the sense that we've been fine the next day, but can we be better the next play? All right, you missed a shot. Next play. You got a bad call. Next play.

So in some of our defeats, we've allowed some of our failure to compound in games. Uh-oh, kind of here we go. We're going to go through another dry spell. And that's something that they've been fine the next day, but we've got to fix it in game a little quicker.

Q. Bruce, all the Jacksonville State players said they're going to play with a chip on their shoulder tomorrow. I think that's probably something you understand from your earlier days as a coach. Talk about the challenge of that plus a team that's got two of the top three, two of the top three-point shooters in the country.

BRUCE PEARL: Listen, all I want to be is a 12 seed, okay? I'm a 12 seed. That's who I am. That's who I've always been, and that's who my teams have been. That's what Auburn basketball still is. I know we're a 2 seed, and I hope we take advantage of the hard work that we've done to be a 2 seed, but we're hungry, and we're humble. We've got the underdog thing on as well.

I understand Jacksonville State. I respect them. They have step up-ability, and because they're such a dangerous three-point shooting team, and they can make them contested, and they absolutely can get hot. But it's not going to be because they want it any more than we do or anything like that.

So that's who we've been in our league. Look, we're in the SEC. We're Auburn in the SEC in men's basketball. And we're regular season champions, and we're going to try to represent our conference and our university, and Jacksonville State's in the way. So we both have got great motivation.

Q. Bruce, I wanted to ask about scouting like you mentioned. You said a few times that teams will sort of just gradually get better at darting and defending some of the ball screen stuff you guys have done. At this point in the season as they have that size, are you trying to draw up new stuff? Do you sort of work with what you've got and find new timing? What's sort of the balance of that?

BRUCE PEARL: If you've ever seen my practice plans, I drew up something new this morning, where I thought we could get a shot out of it, and I'm going to run it tomorrow. You're always -- yes, you are always tinkering, and you are always trying to make adjustments.

Like in other words, early in the game or early in the half, we'll run something to see how they're going to guard it, see how they're guarding that action to have an idea of what might -- that might not be the best thing to run to get a bucket right then, but it might be something to run that's going to tell us what their preparation was. The question is do we have enough stuff in the bag, given how they've chosen to guard, to be able to take advantage of the defense?

We are not a team, either offensively or defensively, that simply imposes its will on the opponent. We take what you give us on both ends. If you don't like to be guarded this way, we're going to guard you that way. Even if it's not how we guard all the time, we're going to guard you that way. If pressure bothers you, we'll pressure you. If zone bothers you, we'll zone you. And the same thing with what we do offensively, we're going to take what you give us.