NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - MIAMI (FL) VS AUBURN

March 19, 2022

Wendell Green

Zep Jasper

Jabari Smith

Bruce Pearl

Bon Secours Wellness Arena

Auburn Tigers

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're ready to get started with the Auburn student-athletes.

Q. This is for Wendell and Zep. Walker and K.D. were asked about the dunk yesterday. Your reaction, Wendell, especially, has been blowing up on the Internet. What were you thinking when that happened, and what was your reactions?

WENDELL GREEN JR.: I told him that was like the best dunk I seen in person. So I was just shocked. I was amazed. So I went all out, and I told him, you look like LeBron out there for that play (Laughter).

ZEP JASPER: I was shocked when I seen it. I was amazed. I thought he looked like a young Kobe Bryant out there with the hops.

Q. Zep, what have you guys seen in your early scouts of Miami yesterday?

ZEP JASPER: Miami's a great team. They've got great guards, well coached. It's going to be a tough opponent. They're going to come out ready to play. They're underdogs right now, and we know it's going to be a good game tomorrow.

Q. Wendell, Miami only had three turnovers in the entire game on Friday. Talk about the importance of the guard play for you guys tomorrow against a team that doesn't make many mistakes at the guard spots.

WENDELL GREEN JR.: A little different. The pressure that Zep, K.D., and myself bring to the guards, but we're going to try to force them into turnovers and just play our game like we always do. Guard them, make them take tough shots over us.

Q. Jabari, how many times have you watched that replay? How many texts have you gotten about it? And then going forward, what are some things that you have learned from that first game?

JABARI SMITH: I watched it a lot, actually. Everybody tagging me in it. I watched it probably more times than anybody else really. I'm still shocked by it. Yeah, I watched it a lot of times, definitely. It's something I'm going to show my kids.

(Laughter).

One to remember. What was the next question you said?

Q. How many texts have you got?

JABARI SMITH: I got a lot of texts, texts from friends back home, family back home. My dad was real hyped about it. He said it wasn't better than his dunk at LSU, but he said he was real impressed by it.

Q. Jabari, people have been talking about how good you are and how well you play all season long. How do you kind of handle it, maybe put it aside, and concentrate on what you have to do for you and your team?

JABARI SMITH: It's really not hard really. Just keep focusing on winning, and everything else will take care of itself. If you go out there every night and focus on the win and not focus on yourself and stats and all of that, everything else is going to take care of itself.

Come out ready to defend, play hard, and just play to win because the next loss it's over with. Just focus on that, and everything else will take care of itself.

Q. Jabari, after the game yesterday, head coach Ray Harper over at JSU compared you to Kevin Durant. A lot of people when they watch your game, your ability to shoot over people, get shots where you go. Is that someone you model your game after? How cool is that to be compared to someone who's considered maybe the greatest in the sport right now?

JABARI SMITH: Yeah, it's real. It made me feel kind of good about myself a little bit. I'm a long way from him and a long way from what he can do on the court. I just listen to it, keep watching him, keep learning from him. Not necessarily modeling my game after him, but still taking stuff from him, looking up to him, and just learning from him at the end of the day.

Q. First question for Wendell, is there a player on the team who has not been blocked by Walker Kessler in practice?

WENDELL GREEN JR.: No, probably not. (Laughter). I don't think so. I think he's blocked everybody for sure.

Q. How did that help you guys prepare early on before the season even started? And then I have a question for Zep after that.

WENDELL GREEN JR.: He's the best shot blocker in the country. So as guards or anybody shooting over something like that, a person like that, there's no comparison. It's college basketball. It gets you ready to finish over guys that try to block shots like him, but he gets you ready for that.

Q. Then for Zep, how does Walker's presence behind you guys allow the backcourt to defend differently?

ZEP JASPER: When the guards are pressuring those guys in the backcourt, you know we always got a shot blocker. We always got somebody we can count on back there. So when the guys go past us every now and then, we know Walker's back there to clean up for us.

Q. For Wendell, you guys, Bruce talked yesterday about how you all were able to find Jabari in transition. Your transition offense was good. You were able to get it to Walker on the inside. How do you go about replicating that in this next game, and how do you think you did with your inside-out game?

WENDELL GREEN JR.: Yesterday was one of our better games. As a team, sharing the ball, we had 20-plus assists. So I feel like we just keep doing that, looking for each other, finding the open man. I think we did a good job of that against Texas A&M, too. We just didn't hit shots.

So I think we're coming along great as a team, just looking for each other, not worried about individual stats. So we just keep doing that, I feel like we're one of the best teams in the country.

Q. Zep and Wendell, part of that, it seems like, when you all are able to get out in transition, it seems like there's sort of a free wheeling style and it just leads to better offense. How much has that sort of been an emphasis going into that first game? Is it more fun to be able to run out in transition like that?

ZEP JASPER: No doubt. I think we're the best transition team in the country. When we in transition, we can't be stopped. So a lot of teams try to stop us in transition and try to make us play slow ball.

So I think that's one of our key strengths in winning these games down the stretch.

Q. Zep, Miami is a very guard-oriented team. What have you seen from them kind of early on in film, those guards specifically, and kind of the challenges they bring as a really good offense?

ZEP JASPER: They've got three guards that can go, three guards that can score. They all can get downhill, all can shoot. It's going to be a tough game for us. We haven't seen a team like this in a while, but we're a team that plays defense. We hang our heads high on defense. So I think we're going to come out hot and ready and be ready to go.

Q. Yesterday Bruce Pearl said that he just tried to take some pressure off of you guys before the game yesterday, and before the game he said, basically, go out there, have fun, play basketball. Do you feel that pressure every single time you're out there? And how much do those talks help pregame?

WENDELL GREEN JR.: I would say just watching the games before us, you see all the upsets. So it's kind of in the back of your mind like we're a 2 seed playing a 15 seed, anything can happen. We just want to go out there and have fun. Coach, he's a great motivational speaker, that's one thing he's great at. So he gets the pressure off of us, makes us feel good, and told us to go out there, play your game, and have fun. That's what we did yesterday, and the results happened.

Q. Jabari, you guys were plus-18 in rebound margin yesterday, and you personally had a high of 14. How big a deal is it for you guys to keep rebounding well in the tournament?

JABARI SMITH: It's a big emphasis. As of late, we haven't been winning rebounding wars. We haven't been dominating the boards how we're supposed to as us being one of the best frontcourts in the country. Me and him came together and had a talk about it and just say we can't get dominated on the glass like we did at Tennessee. We can't get dominated on the glass no more like we have early in the season. We just made that a big emphasis.

As we keep going deeper in the tournament, that's just got to be what we have to rely on, rebounding and defending. With us knowing that, we put more effort into it. And our guards are out there guarding making them shoot tough shots and making it a little easier for us, too, to get defensive rebounds, box our men out, and just end the possession. So it's been fun.

Q. Question for all three. How have you guys enjoyed the experience of the open practice, first tournament experience. What have you guys enjoyed about the time so far?

JABARI SMITH: It's really like a dream come true, really. Just seeing the March Madness logo all around, being in the hotel, everybody talking to you. It's just a real good experience. With this being my first tournament, it's something you always watch on TV, something you always want to be a part of when you're younger.

It's just a dream come true. Trying to take it in and just be here as long as possible.

ZEP JASPER: It's also a dream come true because I used to watch college games when I was young, and I used to see the Blue Blood schools winning National Championships. Now to put yourself in that position to have a chance to win a National Championship, I believe that dream can come true.

WENDELL GREEN JR.: For me, this whole season has just been like a dream come true. Just taking every moment in, soaking it up, but it's just a blessing. I always put God first. I thank God for the opportunity. So it's just a blessing to be here, and hopefully we can just keep winning.

Q. Zep, I know you think you all have the best transition offense in the country, but Miami actually has the best transition offense in the country. How does that change your mindset defensively when you're going against a team that has such a lethal transition attack?

ZEP JASPER: They're in the ACC. In the ACC, we're one of the best defensive teams in the country. I believe they've never seen a defense like us, where we come out and one through five can switch. So I think it's going to be a good game, and the pressure's going to be all on us.

Q. I guess a question for anyone that can answer it. You talked about how much you guys have been looking forward to the tournament. Have any of you all filled out a bracket with any friend groups or anything like that, or have you all avoided that?

JABARI SMITH: I didn't fill out no bracket.

ZEP JASPER: I didn't fill out a bracket.

WENDELL GREEN JR.: No.

Q. This one is for all of you, if you want to answer it. I'm curious, returning to the form that we saw to start off the year is what I feel like the game was yesterday. I want to know how much you guys feel that way, that this was one of the better games and how it compares to some of the best games you've had this season. And also with that, just the confidence to open up the tournament with that kind of style of play, how is that going to help moving forward?

JABARI SMITH: Definitely helps confidence. Just seeing us make shots, seeing us play with that joy that we had to start the season, that chip on our shoulder, just proving to everybody that we're here. I feel like, when we're playing like that, it's hard to beat us. You know, having fun, playing defense like that and just playing together, that's when we're at our best. So it was fun to get back to that.

ZEP JASPER: It's win or go home. We've got nothing to lose. The only thing we came here for is to win a National Championship. It's no doubt we should get back to the basketball we started the season off with.

WENDELL GREEN JR.: Like yesterday after the game, we're in the locker room talking, and we were like that was fun. We really -- I feel like we hadn't had fun out there in a few games. So just going back, playing how -- doing what you're doing, not worrying about anything else but just going out there and having fun and making the right play for the team. So we're getting back to that, and I feel like the past two games we've gotten back to that.

Q. For any of you guys, what was it like in the locker room after the game yesterday having Jaylin be the one to put the name on the next round over? How have his spirits been since taking that elbow to the face?

JABARI SMITH: We let him put it on there. He wasn't out there to just witness everything, just witness the atmosphere, winning the first game. So we let him put it up there. He's been good. He practiced with us today. He looks pretty good. He's taking it well. He can't talk a little bit, but that's all right.

Yeah, he's taking it well. He's good. So I think he'll be all right.

ZEP JASPER: You know what, when I saw Jaylin, I was the first person to come in the locker room, I told him, let me see that smile, man. (Laughter). He's like, man, I can't show you. When he showed me, he had a chipped tooth. I started laughing. He was like, man, I knew you was going to do it.

He was pretty excited that we got the win. He put the thing on the board. He was like on to the next.

Q. What does Miami look like? I know you guys play in the SEC and the SEC is always tough in football and basketball. Do they look like a team that you played against this season?

JABARI SMITH: Yeah, I mean, it's a basketball team. It don't really matter what league it's in. We haven't seen nobody -- we've played teams better, we've played teams worse. We're just going to come out ready to play.

THE MODERATOR: I think maybe he's talking about style of play. Zep, is there anybody in the SEC that has a similar style of play to Miami?

ZEP JASPER: I probably would say maybe like a Texas A&M or Alabama, probably those two. They're a tough team. Like I said, they've got great guards, their guard play. They can all score, pick-and-pop guys, like to shoot threes, get downhill.

THE MODERATOR: We're ready for Coach Pearl. Just make a short opening statement, and we'll open it up for questions.

BRUCE PEARL: We had to play well yesterday to beat Jacksonville State. I think Coach Harper probably talked about it afterwards, recognizing how we were playing in the last month or so versus when we were playing a little better basketball there in January. I'm sure they thought they had a chance based on what he had seen.

We really stepped up defensively, and we were locked and loaded. I thought our guards did a great job guarding their guards. Jacksonville State had very good guards. Miami's got great guards. So the question now is going to be are we going to be able to guard Miami? Because it's a step up, obviously, in class.

I thought the guys did a great job of sharing the ball, and we were very excited about playing and played well together, and they had fun.

We know that Miami is a nightmare to guard. They're one of the most efficient offensive teams in the country. They're running Bob McKillop's five out with just the kind of athletes that you can get in the ACC. It's really hard to guard, and it's not something that you see all the time.

We've guarded it, we've played Davidson before a couple years ago in a tournament at Navy. So we have an idea, but it's tough on a short prep.

Q. Other than getting the win, how did you celebrate your birthday? Any kind of cake? Also, how is the health of the team?

BRUCE PEARL: We actually had a couple of cakes. The hotel had a cake, and Brandi got a friend to drive a cake in from Knoxville at one of my favorite bakeries. But I only allowed them to sing me happy birthday once. We weren't going to go through that again.

I can tell you right now, one of the sweetest times for coaches, and any coach that has been in this tournament can tell you, is that after a win and then you're getting together with your coaches and you're getting ready for that next one. It's just -- these experiences are memorable. So we worked last night until I fell asleep, and it was good. So we stayed at the hotel, and we worked.

Oh, Jaylin Williams practiced today. He had some dental repair work done yesterday afternoon. He was evaluated last night and this morning with the concussion protocol. He passed. Doctors let him move around, and he wasn't bothered by it today in practice. We'll see if there's any residual effect later on tonight, then we'll check him again tonight and tomorrow morning.

Q. Jim Larranaga has coached over a thousand games, coached at small schools, coached at big schools. What's the identity of a Jim Larranaga coached basketball team?

BRUCE PEARL: I think the great thing about Coach Larranaga is he's been a system coach, but he's been willing to change his systems based on his personnel. So what they're doing right now is not the same stuff they're doing necessarily a few years ago, and that's one of the marks of, I think, a great coach.

Defensively, look, they turned USC over 18 times and had 22 points off turnovers. Turnovers has, at times, been an issue for us. So they had three guys in the top five in the ACC in steals, and they're going to try to get after us and be really handsy. In the NCAA Tournament, generally speaking, they let you play, so we're going to have to play through all the hands and all the strips and rips and be strong with the ball.

Q. Bruce, I'm sure you've broken down all of Miami's game yesterday. What do you take from that, the big lead, they lose a lead, the grit to come back, and the way they hold on at the end?

BRUCE PEARL: You know, it's been very consistent with their season. They're in a lot of close games, and they win a lot of close games because they've got great guard play. They're not fazed. They've got tough -- what have they got, three six-year seniors? Their best players have been -- how many? Four? My best player is 18. Their best player is 25. And by the way, Jabari really is 18.

Q. On the subject of Jabari, 14 rebounds, and you guys are plus-18 in rebound margin. How excited were you to see that? Also, you're facing a team that only turned the ball over three times Friday. That's pretty unusual.

BRUCE PEARL: Yeah, again, it goes back to their guard play. We rely on creating offense for our defense and turning teams over. We were able to win without turning Jacksonville State over. We tried. We just couldn't. We'll try against Miami, and we won't be able to. Miami's not going to turn the ball over much. Ball's in the hand of too many play making players.

So we've just got to guard throughout the possession and try to find -- we're not going to get as much in transition because they're going to get back defensively. So it will be more of a half-court game. I think we're just going to be good on both ends in the half-court.

The rebounding, look, you're in the SEC, and you're playing against those kind of athletes every single night and with that size. We did a pretty good job as a team rebounding against Tennessee or against some teams down the stretch, Mississippi State, big, strong, athletic. It was all we could do to keep people off the boards.

That's not the way Jacksonville State was built. It's not the way Miami's built. So we'll be okay on the boards.

Q. Bruce, you talked about it there for a second, Miami wanting to keep it a half-court game. What did they do against USC that obviously they were able to hold them down defensively pretty well? What did they do well in your scout? What did they do well in that game?

BRUCE PEARL: Again, when you've got great guards and great ball handling guards and great play making guards, those guys just -- they don't turn over. They take care of the basketball. They don't have a great post-up game. So when you're trying to throw the ball into the post, you need spacing. You need guys that can make those plays. There's a lot of contact. There's certain things that they don't do that don't require you to try to turn the ball over.

They're good in transition, but they're not out of control. The ball's in Charlie Moore's hands. He's going to make the right play at the right time. It's like, well, they're a great free-throw shooting team. Well, no, not really. The guys that go to the line all the time are great free-throw shooters and that becomes a great free-throw shooting team. The ball is in the hands of play making guards for Miami or even a play making big. The big kid can make plays and make shots, and that's why they don't turn it over.

Q. Bruce, what stands out to you about Miami's defense, yesterday held USC to 66, which is a little lower than they usually have been this year?

BRUCE PEARL: They switch like crazy. They double the post. They turn you over before you get a shot. Again, they just make plays. They're sunk into the paint, and they're going to have it all packed in. If you go in there and try to get in the lane, they're stripping and ripping. If you go in there and spin back the other way, they're coming off.

So obviously, they're going to look at our shooting percentages in half-court, and they're like, man. Every time Walker rolls to the rim, there's going to be three guys in there tagging him. We're going to have to -- again, they're going to force us to make some shots from the perimeter, and we'll have to make those to win.

Q. Obviously, with Jaylin out and Kessler out for a period of time, what was the biggest difference that you noticed on the court with both of them out?

BRUCE PEARL: That Dylan was getting tired because Walker wasn't available. I kept on -- I sent a manager into the locker room to tell Doc to hurry up because Dylan needed out. I knew Walker -- you know, put a Band-Aid on it. I'm not a doctor, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express. So let's get him out there.

Q. Bruce, I know you couldn't talk about it yesterday, but it's official now with Todd at Florida. Do you like going against your own guys? I'm sure it's happened to you before. What kind of a job do you think Todd will do?

BRUCE PEARL: That is an absolutely grand slam hire by Florida. Todd Golden is in that next generation of brilliant young coaches. The fact that Todd bet on himself -- and this is so important, I think, for anybody in any profession. If you want to be great, you've got to bet on yourself. So he leaves Columbia to come be my Director of Basketball Operations. And then after a year, he becomes one of my assistants.

Then he goes to San Francisco, gets back on the West Coast where he's kind of from because he's from Phoenix, to be the associate head coach at San Francisco. Some would say that's a lateral, but he's a heartbeat away from the job. His coach gets the Washington State job, he gets the job. He puts San Francisco in a position where people really think they can beat Gonzaga and Saint Mary's and BYU, and he does so.

When Florida's looking around for a coach, you've got a guy with some SEC experience as an assistant. You've got a head coach who's been successful in a very competitive conference. He played for a great coach at Saint Mary's. He's worked for some really good coaches. It may not have hurt to have Jay Jacobs as the Number 2 at Florida with Scott Strickland. I think Jay could vouch for Todd's character.

I'm not excited about going against him. Like I said to Scott, he's ten points better than I am. He is. I hope I have 15 points better talent when we go up against him. So, so very, very happy for Todd and his family.

Q. Coach, I'm interested in the crash course of getting ready for these games against out-of-conference opponents that you're not so familiar with in such a short period of time. You've coached in this tournament before and you've advanced. What's it like? Do you and your staff get together in the hotel ballroom? How much film do you watch? How difficult is it to put a game plan together on such short notice?

BRUCE PEARL: So what we've always done -- and this has been a really good system. I have three full-time assistants, Ira Bowman, Wes Flanigan, and Steven Pearl. Each of them have scouting teams. Those teams are made up of my Director of Basketball Operations, my Assistant Director of Basketball Operations, graduate assistants, managers. So Wes Flanigan and his team, along with Chad Pruitt, had Jacksonville State. Steven Pearl's team had USC. Ira Bowman's team had Miami.

Those two-thirds of my staff was not at all worried about our opening opponent. So we were working really, really hard for Miami as a staff. I wasn't, right? I took a peek at both teams early in the week just to look at them, just to see them.

So last night they were ready to get me ready. Then we showed the team a few things. Last night and this morning, they continued to work to get me ready. I got my team more ready. We went through a lot of stuff out there today, and we have tonight and tomorrow.

The short prep, it's not a problem. It really, truly isn't. What's going to take place on the court, especially tomorrow, is what Miami does is different. It's different. We don't have a lot of -- we don't have, I don't think anybody. We haven't played anybody like Miami all year. That's going to be really a challenge for us. Not the prep, but the actual contest.

Q. Bruce, you talked a little bit about the inexperience in the tournament, but a guy like Walker Kessler who has college basketball experience, one block away from a triple double. What do you take away from what he's been able to do, his growth from the beginning when you got him all the way till now?

BRUCE PEARL: I'm so proud of Walker. One of the things I talked to Walker about before the game was just to relax and have some fun. He wants to win so badly because he doesn't want to disappoint his teammates. He doesn't want to disappoint his coach. He doesn't want to disappoint his family. And sometimes that can get in the way of just relaxing and playing.

Every now and then it catches up with him on the foul line because he wants it so bad. If you're just playing, you don't have time to think, you don't have to have that pressure.

So for him to have success, for him to earn the respect of his teammates, and now be considered for the Defensive Player of the Year, as well as making first team All Conference and a lot of the other awards, it just validates what I've known since the first time I laid eyes on him, that he was special and he was a great player, and he's proved it this sophomore year.

Q. You mentioned Cardwell getting tired. He's always riding that stationary bike on the end of the bench.

BRUCE PEARL: Who, Dylan?

Q. Dylan. Every time he goes out of the game, he's always riding that stationary bike. Did you ever tell him to save his legs a little bit, or is it a superstition for him?

BRUCE PEARL: I think it's superstition, but I might tell him to stay off the bike so he can get up and down the floor a little bit more. Dylan is big, strong, fast and athletic. I'm sure he does it to stay loose. I'm sure it could be probably just -- it's probably good for his own mental work to just -- that routine. Players love routines. That's probably just his routine.

Q. I just got here a little bit late. I hope you didn't get this question already. Could you talk about Charlie Moore at Miami? Does he do anything -- he's really completely transformed the team. What is it that he does that's different or special, or what do you see in him?

BRUCE PEARL: Which Charlie Moore do you want me to talk about? The one in high school in Chicago, or the one that played at Kansas -- I know you want me to talk about him at Miami. Man, he's a really, really special player. He's the head of the snake now. He's the guy. He makes them all better. He makes them all go. He's got great courage. He reminds me of Wendell Green except four years older and having more experience.

Unbelievable range, great hands, great feel. Reminds me of when you go to a playground and it's time to pick up sides. He might not be the first guy picked because he's the littlest guy out there, but his team is going to win every single time. Those little guys are the best players on the floor.

Q. A bit outside the box, but Tara VanDerveer, the Stanford women's coach said for every three-pointer made in the NCAA Tournament, she was going to pledge 10 bucks to the Ukrainian war relief efforts and she challenged other coaches to join her. I'm wondering if you have you heard about that at all and about whether you would like to join or maybe even one-up her?

BRUCE PEARL: I sort of feel like this is a calling from up above (Laughter). This week the Jewish people are celebrating the festival of Purim. Purim is a celebration of what Queen Esther did. Queen Esther was with the King of Persia in the palace, and she was Jewish. Haman was a very close adviser to that King, and he was advising the King that maybe it was time to get rid of all the Jews. Queen Esther's uncle was Mordecai. My Hebrew name is Mordecai, and I think my family gave me that name for this reason. Mordecai talked to Esther the queen and said, look, Esther, you might survive this for a little while, but you won't survive this. He's really going to kill all the Jewish people and your family.

And he gave Esther the courage to try to see if she could turn the King's heart, and she did. And saved the nation. So some of you may be uncomfortable -- you guys asked the question, right? You asked the question about Ukraine. We say never again. I was born in 1960, 15 years after they opened up the gates, and they saw 6 million Jews were murdered and 3 million more people. So if Tara VanDerveer wants money for three-pointers, I'll up whatever they're offering. I'm in. I'm all in. Help the Ukrainian people survive that.

I'm very concerned about what's going on in Iran with the King of Persia now, and if we embody that government, give them all that money, sign a bad treaty, it's going to put the world in jeopardy.