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

March 18, 2022

Jabari Smith

K.D. Johnson

Walker Kessler

Bruce Pearl

Bon Secours Wellness Arena

Auburn Tigers

Media Conference

Auburn - 80, Jacksonville State - 61

THE MODERATOR: Along with Coach Pearl, we'll have Jabari Smith, K.D. Johnson, and Walker Kessler joining us.

Coach, you give an opening statement, and we'll open questions for the student-athletes.

BRUCE PEARL: I want to congratulate Jacksonville State and Coach Ray Harper from the great state of Alabama for an outstanding season. They're extremely well coached. They were prepared, and you could see how dangerous a team they are because of the way they can shoot it.

Auburn's defense was outstanding, and that's been our -- that's been what's carried us all season long. That gives us our best chance in a tournament. We stepped up. We played better, as we talked about yesterday. I thought the guys did a terrific job sharing the basketball and making the extra pass and making each other better.

We had to play well to beat that team, and we played well.

Q. This is for K.D. How big was that early basket in getting your confidence going with your stroke after that performance against Texas A&M?

K.D. JOHNSON: It was very big. I struggled the last game. Coming into this game, I was focused on the win. So when I seen I got a bucket, that just turned us up in all areas.

Q. Jabari, after watching one of your foes in conference play, Kentucky, go down last night, did that give you all extra focus today knowing what could happen playing a lower seed like this?

JABARI SMITH: No, I don't think so. We knew how tough every game was going to be. We knew how good every team in the tournament was going to be. They're here for a reason. It shows how crazy March is and how good every team in this tournament is.

It didn't really up our focus. We were already focused coming into this game and ready to just go out there and get the win. So it didn't really do nothing for us.

Q. Question to Walker. You guys missed a bunch of shots right before you went on that 11-0 run. What changed there once you guys kind of got it rolling at the end of that first half?

WALKER KESSLER: I don't think anything necessarily changed. I think we just understood we need to play together and not let it rattle us. So we kind of stuck together, played aggressive, and that's how we went on the run.

Q. K.D., is there any difference for you when your jersey is untucked versus tucked? It seemed like a ref sort of had you tuck it briefly, and then it was untucked again. I don't know if that's just me observing or what.

K.D. JOHNSON: How you catch that? I don't like my jersey tucked in. I feel like it's stuck in my stomach when I shoot. So I took it out, and it made it feel a little looser. Yeah, they get on me a lot about taking it out.

Q. Walker, this one's for you. I notice you're not wearing your shoulder brace today. Are you feeling better?

WALKER KESSLER: Yes, I'm feeling better.

Q. Just two quick ones. Jabari, I wanted to ask you how you felt your first NCAA Tournament game went and how excited you are for that. And Walker, did you know you were just a block away from a triple double?

JABARI SMITH: It felt good just to get the first one out of the way. First one's the hardest one, I feel like. It was good to get it out of the way, just get the jitters out. I've been ready to play since that buzzer went off in Tampa.

It was just good to get the first one out of the way, get everything out of us, and I'm ready for the next one.

WALKER KESSLER: To answer your question, no, I did not, but that doesn't -- you know, as much as I'd like to do as well as I can, I'm glad that we got the win.

Q. Walker, can you just kind of walk through what happened there when you kind of collided your elbow with Jaylin. Was part of his tooth in your elbow when that happened?

WALKER KESSLER: I'm not really sure. I just know that I wanted to block it and got pushed back and made contact with him. But I'm not too sure what happened there.

Q. Fun question for K.D. and Walker. What was your reaction to Jabari's dunk?

K.D. JOHNSON: Oh, my God, that's what I was going to ask y'all. Did y'all see that? That was crazy. I didn't know he was going to do that. He never did that in practice. That was the first time he showed me he can get that high, so that was crazy.

WALKER KESSLER: My reaction, whew. I don't think he's doing that on me.

(Laughter).

I mean, probably. It was a pretty nasty dunk, and it just shows how athletic and how good of a player Jabari is.

Q. Along the lines of that, Jabari, I was going to focus this on you. How did that feel to have that electric moment there at the end of the game? Also along with that, you seem very loose after this win. I want to know, is that the mindset you guys want to carry the rest of the tournament?

JABARI SMITH: Yeah, it was great. I just went to really attack the rim. I didn't feel like -- I knew he was going to foul me. I didn't think I could make it until I was like jumping, and I'm like I could really dunk on him. So I finished it. It felt good to really finish the game. The clock was winding down. We were trying to attack the basket. I kind of shot a three right before that, so I just wanted to get to the cup and finish the game.

Yeah, I feel like we're best when we're having fun. We're best when we're loose. We're best when we're defending. We've just got to get back to that. I feel like this game is really going to help us get back to that and get back to us. So I'm happy.

Q. K.D., this one's for you. Jabari kind of touched on people stepping up and playing together. What do you think you kind of attribute that to and the biggest difference between Texas A&M and now?

K.D. JOHNSON: I just let it come to me. I've been having a little hand problem with my hand, so my shooter has been a little off. I'm just looking to get my teammates more involved and let it come to me.

Q. Early on in the game when JSU was making those contested threes, did you all ever get a little frustrated by that? What kept you from losing your confidence there and continuing to play really tight defense?

K.D. JOHNSON: It's basketball. They're going to make shots. We didn't kind of lose our confidence. We just needed to make an adjustment and move forward. We got stops and won the game.

Q. Walker, the defense in this one, you guys kind of had to weather that early storm and stick it out, but they couldn't really get anything there in the middle of the game. Did you feel like it was just one of those things where you guys had to just ride it out and the defense would kind of take over?

WALKER KESSLER: Credit to them, they were hitting some really tough shots, contested shots, and really good shots. We knew, like you said, if we weathered the storm and stuck it out, they were going to start falling. We're confident in our defense, so we're going to play our defense the way we always play.

Q. Yesterday, K.D., Bruce Pearl said you're a maniac but his maniac, and Jabari, he really stuck by you. What does it mean to you knowing that your coach and your teammates, no matter what happens, still got you?

K.D. JOHNSON: I could be crazy and be myself I'm on this team. He wanted me to be here, and I wanted to be here all along. He let me just play how I play, and that's how I have fun.

Q. Bruce, this is for you. I think it was early in the year against Kentucky at your place that after the game you said sometimes we have No. 10 and they don't, speaking on, of course, Jabari Smith. His ability to get any shot he seems like he wants anywhere on the floor, rise up and shoot over people, if you were defending him, if you were coaching against him, what do you tell someone? How do you stop it?

BRUCE PEARL: Am I allowed to not answer a question? (Laughter).

THE MODERATOR: Up to you.

BRUCE PEARL: Today it came -- it comes in such rhythm for him. He doesn't force anything. I thought we did a good job rebounding and running without the basketball, and he got some really clean transition looks because of our guys actually sprinting without the ball and opening up the floor.

So that was really key. They pressed us a little bit. Again, that opened up the floor a little bit for our offense.

Jabari is ultra-competitive. He wants the ball, but he's not a pig. He's not a hog. It's not about him. It's about us trying to win. He knows he can win it for us. We got 10, and they don't.

Q. Coach, first of all, Happy Birthday today. Just wanted to ask you your thoughts, the last four minutes of the first half and the first four of the second half really seemed to be the turning point of the game. What are your thoughts?

BRUCE PEARL: Well, I understand why the last four minutes of the first half could be because, obviously, our defense and the way we guarded can take its toll. We talked to our guys about having great effort and energy. The offense had to work really hard to get open. When they were fresh, they were able to make shots.

To Jacksonville State's credit, they only turned it over eight times, and they're a hard team to turn over because the ball is always in the guard's hands. They were faster and quicker than we were.

I thought our impacting ball screens, I don't think that anybody's really jumped out and gobbled those guards up in the ball screen like we did, and we made it hard -- they got a couple runs at the rim, got the ball to the big guy a couple times, but I thought that was really good.

Wes Flanigan, Chad Pruitt, and their team had the scout, and I thought we had an excellent preparation.

Q. In terms of assists, you guys had 23 assists in the game, very few turnovers. Is that as locked in, effective, efficient, patient as you've seen you guys play on offense in a while?

BRUCE PEARL: We've not played that well in a while. So we talked about obviously sharing the ball. K.D. with seven assists and one turnover is just outstanding. He let the game come to him. He turned some things down. He got the ball back to his point guards.

But he mixed in those explosive plays at the rim and obviously played really, really well defensively. So that was -- we played well. If people hadn't seen Auburn much this year and they saw us play today, they would think we're pretty good. But it's one game. See if we can build on it.

Q. Bruce, there were reports out there that Todd Golden's going to get the Florida job. You had him on staff. Is he -- what's it going to be like potentially facing one of your guys?

BRUCE PEARL: I don't mind -- I'd love to answer that. I don't know that I should unless it's been announced, you know what I'm saying? I would love to talk to you about that because I love Todd, love him like a son.

But there could be some other people involved in that right now, and I just don't want to comment.

Q. Coach, how does it feel to get a win over a longtime historic rival, Ray Harper?

BRUCE PEARL: It feels good. I'm sure the people back in Evansville, Indiana, and Owensboro, Kentucky, were tuned into that game, as they should. Ray and I both treated our jobs like -- we had the best two jobs in Division II basketball, and we were in the same league, and only one of us were going to the Elite Eight. We had to get out of each other's region. If you could get out of the region, you could win a National Championship.

Between us and Wesleyan, Southern Indiana, Northern Kentucky, we did. So we have great respect for each other. I have so much respect for Coach Harper. I'm very satisfied with the way we played.

Q. Talk about the fast break points, which were big in your favor and the rebounds big in your favor, and you hit a lot of three-point shots.

BRUCE PEARL: When you get 31 defensive rebounds and they get 11 offensive rebounds, obviously we're bigger. Our league, the SEC versus the A-Sun, I thought our guys did a good job respecting Jacksonville State's ability. They could have hurt us on the offensive glass, particularly the Henry kid, and we didn't. Because we were able to rebound, we were able to get some transition.

I also thought we ran very well without the basketball, and that's why the floor was open, and we got down the floor and had some good spacing.

Q. Two things for you. One, as far as Jaylin's availability for potentially Sunday, where do things stand with that? Also, what did you think of Jabari's dunk?

BRUCE PEARL: Jaylin is going to get some work done today. They're going to have to obviously evaluate him, and he's going to have to go through a concussion protocol because the hit, so we really don't know.

He was playing well too, right?

Then as far as Jabari, it just na na na, na na na, it's going to be on SportsCenter tonight. Isn't that every kid's dream? He postered him. He really did. And those kids love it. They obviously love that. Like Walker said, you wouldn't be throwing down on me. He kind of said that halfway kidding.

Q. Quite a birthday gift. You heard Jabari said we're getting back to us. I want to know, that same mentality, the looseness, heading into a tournament. And again, with so much inexperience in a Big Dance like this, is that what you want to see and how does that play a factor with the team moving forward?

BRUCE PEARL: One of the things I talked about before the game, I addressed it right up. I wanted those guys to know, listen, everybody will say that Jacksonville State's playing with house money. They've got nothing to lose. It's David and Goliath, and all the pressure is on us.

Yes, there is a lot more pressure on the 2 seed. If Jacksonville State loses, they're kind of supposed to lose in that game. If we lose, we're making the wrong (audio interruption).

They want to win really badly. They do. Sometimes you can want something so bad that it gets in the way of your performance. I thought they did a good job because, you're right, we don't have -- we have lots of tournament experience now. We've got 40 minutes of tournament experience, and that's it.

Q. For you with that, did you mention the Kentucky loss, or do you just kind of not go there, or how do you kind of deal with that considering 215?

BRUCE PEARL: I talked about it a little bit. Jabari's answer was brilliant and spot-on. He's like, we were ready to play Jacksonville State. It's a very good question, but don't you believe him? They were excited about playing. They respected Jacksonville State.

So all I wanted to make sure -- you know, because there's a part of me that felt for Kentucky. I know it sounds odd or strange, but I felt for Cal and I felt for his players. He really loves this team. This was a really good Kentucky team. We played them. The way they beat Tennessee and the way they beat Kansas, it's tough. So I know they're disappointed.

Congratulations to Saint Peter's, but I wasn't happy about it. I don't think our guys really were. We're in the same league.