NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - IONA VS UCONN

March 16, 2023

Rick Pitino

Walter Clayton Jr.

Berrick JeanLouis

Daniss Jenkins

MVP Arena

Iona Gaels

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We have the MAC Champion Iona Gaels. We have Walter Clayton Jr., Berrick JeanLouis and Daniss Jenkins.

Q. Are you guys aware of Coach Pitino's NCAA Tournament history, and does he ever talk to you about some of his big victories in the past?

WALTER CLAYTON JR.: Yes, we're aware. He talked to us and gave us stories and stuff. Just trying to give us some experience on how it's going to be and how it's going to go and stuff like that.

BERRICK JEANLOUIS: Yeah, he talks about it a lot actually. Talks about his Kentucky team, Louisville team, even his Providence team. He tries to compare us a little bit to them and what they did in the tournament during his time there as well.

DANISS JENKINS: Yeah, that's all he talks about from the beginning of the season to the end. Now he's just trying to get us to have that mindset that those teams had that he took to the Final Four and National Championship.

So he just tries to tell us some of the things they did and how they approached certain things.

Q. I have one for Berrick and one for Walter. Berrick, you've had the experience of going to an NCAA Tournament with Coach Pitino. Can you describe ways that it seems to excite him to be on this stage?

BERRICK JEANLOUIS: I feel like he lives for this. He loves basketball a lot, and he has -- he even says it in practice a lot. I'll die for basketball. I want to die on a basketball court. He talks crazy about it. He loves that.

So it's exciting for us and him. He just wants us to get the experience that he had and wants us to make memories with each other to have forever.

Q. Walter, right now there's obviously a lot of media attention on Coach Pitino, even more than usual, because he's sort of the subject of this will he change schools? How do you guys -- how does he tell you guys to deal with it, and how do you guys talk about dealing with that sort of thing that's floating out there?

WALTER CLAYTON JR.: The Internet going to talk. We just talk about who's going to win games, and that's it.

Q. Tell us a little bit just the last couple days since the Selection Sunday show. We saw you at the campus. Walter, you want to comment, the last couple of days?

WALTER CLAYTON JR.: Go ahead, D.

BERRICK JEANLOUIS: It's been normal as usual. Everything is straight business. We practice the same. We go about the same way as we do everything else, just prepare to get ready to win the game.

Q. Walter, tell us a little bit about, you won 14 straight, you had a struggle in January, but the team really came together in February and certainly in the MAC Tournament, winning three straight. What happened -- you were out for a couple of games, but how did the team really gel the last 14 games?

WALTER CLAYTON JR.: Sometimes it takes a few losses. I feel like these past games we are mentally locked in to defense, how fast they move on offense and just a lot of things. Everything is going good right now.

Q. I would just ask Daniss the same question about how the team gelled. Your game has improved so much this year. What has it been like as the team's gone on this run through February and in the MAC Tournament?

DANISS JENKINS: I think it's a testament to the whole university, my program. We've got great coaches. We have a great, great staff at the university and things like that. It just goes to the team. Me, as a leader, I try to go in each and every day and make us go hard because we know the games -- games are supposed to be easier than practice.

So at practice we just go hard. We're very competitive. That's just the things that make these games turn out the way they turned out in our favor, which is resulting in a W. So that's all we've been trying to do is practice hard.

Q. As one of the elder statesmen on this team, what have you told the guys about what to expect, and how have you gone about preparing for this one differently as one of the leaders?

BERRICK JEANLOUIS: I told the guys they everybody has to be super confident with themselves and believe in themselves. We have to stick as a team and just play together, play hard, stay focused, and everything will work out well.

I feel like the first year when we played 'Bama, we played great the first half, and then in the second half we crumbled and kind of went away from what we did. So I try to let them know, if we do what we do, play hard, stick together, anything can happen.

Q. For all three of you, having Coach Brown on the staff who's familiar with UConn, having been there last season, how much has he been a help in preparing for this team and what to expect?

DANISS JENKINS: I mean, he knows who they are. He knows what they're about. He's just trying to tell us some of the key things they pride themselves on so we can take that away from them. Preparing us very good for the scout because he knows this team very well.

Q. Berrick, how would you describe or define the buzz or the vibe that Rick Pitino brings to a program when he arrives and his presence?

BERRICK JEANLOUIS: I think it's unreal. The excitement level goes up from 10 through -- it just breaks the scales. It's super good, super exciting.

Q. You guys have all played for various coaches through the course of your career. People talk about Coach Pitino as one of the best. What makes him so good at what he does? Can you pinpoint one thing?

BERRICK JEANLOUIS: The one thing that makes him the best is he coaches everybody the same and tries to bring out the best in every sing person on the team, and staff, and managers, everybody in the program.

Q. When you guys look at UConn, what do you see on film? What do you see from them? Do they do a lot of the things that you guys like to do? Do you see a little bit of a mirror there?

DANISS JENKINS: A little bit. We're trying to rebound as good as they do. They rebound very well. We try to do that part.

As far as some of the other things, we're kind of similar. We like to shoot threes. They will play fast with you. They will pressure you. So some of those things are very similar to our style of play.

Q. Welcome back to Albany. The last time you guys were here, it didn't work out in your favor. That was actually the last time you lost. What have you learned in that time since being here at MVP Arena that has brought you back to MVP Arena this season?

DANISS JENKINS: That game, I told the guys, we talked about it, and we don't know what happened. We were up at the half, and they came out, made two threes -- they made two big threes for them, and that was the game. We never grabbed momentum after that.

So after that game, we understood why we lost, and we weren't running our plays like we were supposed to. It was just a bad breakdown in the second half of the game. So moving forward from that game, we just tried to stay together throughout the course of the game.

That's one thing I tell the guys before every game, no matter what happens, we're going to stick together through adversity because that's all Coach P has been telling me personally throughout the whole year is how I handle adversity. So I just try to grab the team together and make sure we stay together through adversity.

Like I said, I really think the way we've gelled together as a team on and off the court is really the reason why we've been having success.

Q. Coming here and playing here frequently, how much does this give you an advantage, especially as an underdog, coming here, being familiar with the court, being familiar with the locker room, being familiar with the arena?

DANISS JENKINS: I mean, personally, it's like -- it's a neutral game regardless. No matter where we're at. But it does help that we're still in New York because we hope to have a lot of fans here at the game. We also played on this court. So it does kind of help a little bit. We're familiar with the rims and things like that.

But at the same time, we lost last time on this court. So like I said, it didn't really matter where we're playing at. We're just going to come out and play our game.

Q. For Berrick and Walter, what was it like watching St. Peters' run last year? You guys were the team that was supposed to come out of the MAC, obviously didn't happen. How much did that motivate you kind of seeing what they did?

WALTER CLAYTON JR.: Obviously they were a MAC team, so it was nice to see them go on the run they went on. But as far as watching them and having that feeling, me personally, I didn't really have no feeling. I don't really compare me and my team to other teams.

If we were in that same position, it could have went a completely different way. So just happy for them.

BERRICK JEANLOUIS: Same as well. We didn't really compare the situation, like we felt we should have won the conference, but we didn't. We voted. So seeing them do that run was amazing. It was good for them, good for their program. That's about it.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you to our student-athletes. In a couple minutes, we'll have Rick Pitino.

Welcome back. Thanks for joining us. We're joined by Iona Head Coach Rick Pitino, and we'll open it up to any of your questions.

Q. Good morning, Coach. Welcome back to Albany. Welcome back to the tournament. I don't know if you saw on Twitter, but President Barack Obama announced his bracket and chose Iona to go to the Sweet 16. Having met the president back in 2013, does that have any weight to you? Is that exciting to know that he has that kind of faith in your Gaels?

RICK PITINO: Well, I did tell my team that. I've always said that President Obama was one of the most intelligent presidents we've ever had, and this lends credence to that (laughter).

No, obviously, we're all big fans of President Obama, and it was really special for him to pick Iona. Obviously he didn't see Connecticut play. But it was exciting for my guys to hear that as well.

The one thing about these brackets, and as my granddaughter said, Pop Pop, could you fill out a bracket for me for school? We're doing it. Prior to that, I didn't look at the bracket at all. I kept saying, should I put Iona in here? She wants to win (laughter).

I looked at it, and I sent it to her, and there are so many games that, when you say who's going to win, you just can't pick it. I then texted her back and said, honey, I'm not real good at this stuff. So don't think you're going to win because of me.

It's anybody's ballgame. We've got great respect for Connecticut. They're not a 4 seed. I think we all know who have watched them, they could go to a Final Four and win a National Championship. They're so deep. They're so talented. And we're a pretty good team as well.

Q. What have you tried to tell your team about past experiences at Kentucky, Louisville, Providence, about making deep runs in the tournament and what they could potentially do to win this game and go forward?

RICK PITINO: I think the last thing is to win this game and not look ahead at all. It always comes down to the little things in a tournament, and the big things are if one team shoots a high percentage from the three-point line, you're going to have a difficult night. Connecticut's the Number 1 offensive rebounding team percentage-wise in the nation. That's a little bit of our Achilles heel, so we've got to do a good job on the backboard.

But you have to go over all the little things, from underneath out of bounds plays, to sideline out of bounds plays, all the little things you've got to change to get ready for UConn because they're going to have all our films and you've got to make subtle changes to things so they don't know everything you're going to do.

Q. Rick, this isn't the first time you've sat at a podium and your name is swirling around elsewhere. To be in that position that you are at this point in your career, how is it different? How are you handling it any differently than you might have at another point?

RICK PITINO: Well, in 1996, I was lucky enough to have about five or six pro teams that I spoke to after it was over interested in me. Back then, there were no agents and so on. It was always popping up. But I didn't ever address it at all.

Today I would say that you're not hired by the Internet. My players, it's not a distraction for them at all. We have a lot of fun together. It's really not a distraction. I've always taken it as a compliment throughout all the years that if somebody else is interested in you, I'm very thankful for that, but I never pay attention to it. We never talk about it.

The players expect everything I have as a coach to try and win this game, and that's it. It's all about Iona. And the great thing about Iona is, if you all looked at that thing that was just sent to me, in the last seven years, there's a group of teams, like eight teams, that have been in the tournament 6 out of 7 years, like Gonzaga, like Kentucky, like those schools. I think North Carolina, Villanova, and somebody else didn't make it. But you look at those names, it's who's who in college basketball, and Iona is in there, and that's pretty special.

Going back to Jim Valvano, every coach at Iona has had great success. You name it, Timmy Welsh, Kevin Willard, Pat Kennedy, Jim Valvano, Jeff Ruland. They've all had great success. It's a special place for basketball. Well, it's a special place to be a student. So I'm real proud to represent them.

Q. Steve Masiello told me yesterday he thinks you could coach for another decade. What are your thoughts on how much longer you could coach?

RICK PITINO: Well, I'm physically fit, and mentally I think I still have it. But my wife always says, if you want to make God laugh, make a plan. I just think that you take it one year at a time.

Now, my desire would be to coach that long because I really -- the two years I was out of coaching was the most miserable two years of my life because I missed it so much. I love teaching. I love coaching. I love motivating. Everything about it, and I missed it terribly.

That's why I went to Greece. That was a big thing for me. So I hope I can coach for another 12 years, but I'll take 6 or 7.

Q. You've been in the tournament, I think, 23 years now. Most of the time you're the higher seed. This time you're the lower seed. Are there any advantages to being the lower seed?

RICK PITINO: Sometimes the -- you probably remember this as well as me. We were the Number 1 of Number 1 seeds and the largest favorite in the history of the NCAA. It was something like 34, 35 points against San Jose State. At halftime we were either up one or down one against a 16 seed.

As you're walking out, my Kentucky players were tight as the big favorite. I just had to get them to relax and say it's going to be fine because you could see how tight they were.

Now, at Iona -- and I say this numerous times -- I have felt more pressure at Iona than any other time -- Kentucky, Louisville, the Knicks, Celtics. I feel so much pressure with these three games you have to win to get in the tournament because I love this tournament so much.

But regardless, we played a very good schedule this year. We played Bonaventure in the Barclays Center, we played at New Mexico, we played out in Hawaii, we played Santa Clara in Las Vegas at 2:00 in the morning, we played Penn in Princeton. We really beefed up our nonconference schedule. Unless you win all of them, it doesn't matter. It comes down to those three games to go to the tournament.

Where Kentucky or Louisville or Providence for that matter, if you lose in the tournament, okay, you go from a 2 seed to a 3 seed or a 4 seed. Those three games in this MAC Tournament, there's no home court advantage. It's the most pressure I've experienced as a coach. I know it's hard to fathom because all of a sudden you're 26-7, and it's over, and you don't make the tournament.

So with us, I know one thing. We're not going to have the advantage being a lower seed. Connecticut knows we can play. So it's not going to work that way.

I think in the 1-16s, the 2-15s sometimes, those teams take it a little lightly. But I know Connecticut, I know their staff, they will not take us lightly. We're going to have to play great to beat them.

Q. Looking at UConn, first of all, any sort of nostalgia playing them for the first time, I think nine years? More to the point, what do you see in them, what are their strengths? How difficult of a task will that be tomorrow?

RICK PITINO: I think everyone in this room realizes they could go to a Final Four. They're good enough to do that because they're deep, they're fundamentally very good at what they do. They shoot the ball really well. Their bench is outstanding. They're very good defensively.

Even the games they've lost, they've been flat out great games. I think they've only had one game where they played really poorly. But outside of that, their losses are very close, hard fought, Big East games.

So they're physically very talented. The team was put together very well.

Q. When it comes to NIL at this time of the year, how much do team goals sort of trump individual ones, where guys are more focused on winning a few games than possibly their next contract?

RICK PITINO: So you're asking me --

Q. Because NIL has become so prevalent, do you see a mentality that has come about where, if a team like Iona or a team like Charleston wins a few games, then those guys can make more through an NIL deal, it will sort of take care of --

RICK PITINO: If they'd left and go to another school, you mean?

Q. No, no. It sort of takes care of itself if they play within the team framework, rather than caring more about making their next NIL deal.

RICK PITINO: I think nobody thinks that way this time of year. I understand what you're alluding to, but I think everybody just wants to advance and all they're focused on is team.

The NIL, nobody knows what to do, what not to do. The NCAA has always been reactive, never proactive. This was coming because of congress enacting some of their laws. But this is free agency now. Every person that goes in that portal is not only thinking about what coach they want to play for, what style of play, but they're all free agents. What type of contract could I possibly get?

I think that a lot of coaches have left the business because of that, quality coaches, great people in our game. But it's here to stay. I certainly don't know what to do about it, and the NCAA doesn't know what to do about it because now everybody's a professional athlete. There are no more amateurs.

Q. You guys obviously have a lot of familiarity playing in this building. Does that help your team at all? And do you expect to hear it from Siena fans here this weekend?

RICK PITINO: I'm sure they'll be for us because we're part of the league. This building doesn't have great memories. We got our ass kicked two years in a row, so we don't have great memories.

We took the loss for the Siena fans to make them feel good that night, so they should be behind us.

Q. We've watched Nelly Junior Joseph and Os Shema really improve their game. They're two big front players. They're going to have quite a challenge against UConn. How do you see that matchup? What are you working with them on?

RICK PITINO: Well, Osborn is 7 feet, 195 pounds. So we gives you every ounce of perspiration he has in him, but he's physically weak. That's one of our rebounding problems there.

So we've got to rebound from all five positions. I think those guys have had a terrific season. We've had -- the thing I'm most proud of with our basketball team, this is the most minutes missed of any team I've ever coached. Each guy has been -- Walter Clayton was out two to three weeks. Berrick has been out over a month. Cruz hasn't played in close to a month. Quinn Slazinski, our starting power forward, fractured his foot. He's out for the season. And then we've had a few other guys. Mike Jefferson missed a month.

And these guys didn't let it stop them. They just kept winning, and the next-man-up mentality helped us. So Nelly and Osborn have been there. They haven't gotten hurt. They've been there. They've had remarkable seasons. I think we've won 14 straight now. Through all that adversity, they only got stronger as a basketball team.

So Nelly and Osborn are two of the guys that did not get hurt.

Q. Rick, when you became the coach at Louisville, you helped restore a once great team to being great again. When you took over Iona, it was a team that was already winning. What is the difference for you in taking a team and rebuilding it back to where it had been versus what you have to do with a team that's already winning?

RICK PITINO: There's one common denominator in every job I've taken over; poor facilities, poor culture. Each coach I've taken over for was a great coach. Tim Cluess was fabulous at Iona. The bad part about it, Iona hadn't changed their facility since Jim Valvano.

What I looked at what's the most deplorable situation. In three years we've become a university -- nothing to do with the basketball team. We've become a university. We bought another college, Concordia College, and now it's called Iona. The facilities, the campus, everything has changed remarkably, but the facilities are always way down.

This is going to strike you crazy, but Kentucky was awful. They didn't have a weight room. They didn't have -- they had a dormitory called the Wildcat Lodge. But everything else was subpar.

Louisville, the same thing. They didn't have a practice facility. Providence played at Alumni Hall. You should see the Providence facility today. It's amazing to me.

So they all had a bad culture except for Iona. They didn't have a losing culture. They had a winning culture. It's just remarkable what Iona does, every coach along the way, from V on, Pat Kennedy and Timmy Welsh, Kevin Willard, Jeff Ruland, they all won because it's a school that builds great basketball teams from Jimmy on. It's always been great that way.

But we changed the facilities and we changed the culture academically as well as athletically.