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

March 16, 2023

Dan Hurley

Jordan Hawkins

Andre Jackson Jr.

Alex Karaban

Tristen Newton

Adama Sanogo

MVP Arena

UConn Huskies

Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: The UConn student-athletes are with us. We have Jordan Hawkins, Andre Jackson Jr., Alex Karaban, Tristen Newton, and Adama Sanogo.

Q. Andre, just what does it mean to you to be able to come here and play in the NCAA Tournament in your hometown?

ANDRE JACKSON JR.: It's awesome, being able to be around my family and also my friends. Just being in a place that's really familiar is awesome.

Q. For anyone really, Coach was saying how he wanted to keep things looser this year, a little more relaxed than going into the tournament last year. Do you feel a little bit more relaxed and looser this year? How has that gone about over the last week or so?

ALEX KARABAN: I'd say so. We're really trying to enjoy the moment we're in right now. We've worked hard for this moment. Coach made it clear it's hard to make it to March Madness, so we've got to enjoy it and take it all in. And then when it's game time, just show up and be ready to play.

Q. Hi, Andre. Nice to see you again. We talked to Marcus yesterday. We asked him who the better basketball player was. He said overwhelmingly him before he started to talk praise about how great of a basketball player you are. Who is the better brother basketball player, one? And, two, what kind of similarities in your games do you think you two have with each other?

ANDRE JACKSON JR.: I would definitely say myself, but I think we both bring an intensity to the game and a passion to the game that you don't see all the time. We really grew that from playing against each other growing up a lot.

Every day in the backyard playing against each other, beating each other up. So I think we both play similar for sure.

Q. I'd like to ask Jordan and Alex, what are some things you've learned from Andre in regards to what it takes to be a college basketball player and what it takes to be a successful member of your particular program?

JORDAN HAWKINS: Effort every day in practice. He brings that every day. Just the competitiveness he brings every day in practice, I learned that the most from him. He brings it every day. You've got to be an everyday guy to succeed in this program.

ALEX KARABAN: I agree with what Jordan said, and I'd also just say the communication skills he has, how he is as a leader just bringing the best out of everyone. And then not always being afraid of what he says to help better out the team. Just always picking out the details on what to do better.

Q. Andre, was getting to this weekend knowing that it was here in Albany a goal for you all year? And beyond that, did you kind of keep that out of your head? Also, how quickly were people in touch with you as soon as the draw came out last week?

ANDRE JACKSON JR.: I wasn't really thinking about where it was going to be. I was just thinking about trying to make a run and just try to have as good a season as possible.

Once I found out it was in Albany, it was definitely a cool thing. Definitely something that not a lot of people experience is playing an NCAA Tournament game in their own hometown. But I'm definitely looking forward to just getting out on the court and playing.

Q. Alex, how do you guys -- obviously the favorite to win this game. How do you go out and be able to play pressure free, just go out and play your game?

ALEX KARABAN: Coach has been talking about respecting our opponent every time we step on the court, so not to take them lightly. We know they're a great team from scouting them. They've won the MAC. So we know we'll be in for a test.

So we've just got to go out there and play our style of basketball. We're going to be excited we're playing in March Madness, so that should get us going. And we always have last year in the back of my mind, so just to overcome that, and I believe this team has something special in us.

Q. This is for anyone. Earlier Coach Pitino said that UConn is not a 4 seed, almost alluding that he expected you guys to be higher. What does it mean to have that confidence from a legendary coach like Rick Pitino before you've got to battle against him tomorrow?

JORDAN HAWKINS: That's real nice for him to say that. We've been working hard all season to get ourself in this position. So we're just going to take care of business.

ALEX KARABAN: He's a Hall of Fame coach, so just to hear him praise us like that is something special for him to realize how good of a team we really are.

So we're just going to go out there and play our style of basketball and continue to prove why we should have been a higher seed.

Q. For Andre or Jordan, you guys, third year in a row you're in the tournament. You've had previous two years very good, but you haven't had the March you've wanted. How much do you guys hear about how important this month is, and how has Coach tried to loosen you guys up?

JORDAN HAWKINS: He's done a great job of just keeping our head level, not getting too high, not getting too low. I think that's the perfect approach you have to take with this type of tournament, so yeah.

Q. How important is this month for this program?

ANDRE JACKSON JR.: This month is obviously important. We work all year long in practice and in games to get to this point. Not every team gets to make it here. This is definitely the biggest stage, but at the end of the day, we're just going to stick to our identity and stick to what we do all season.

I think that's good enough to get us some wins in this tournament. We're one of the better teams in this tournament for sure.

Q. Tristen, your first tournament. What's this experience been like for you? Do you feel loose? Do you feel ready for tomorrow? Is it a lot of energy and excitement?

TRISTEN NEWTON: It's definitely a lot of energy and excitement. I feel like I'm ready. I've had a few guys that have been here before tell me what to expect, and that's definitely helped me so I'm not too overwhelmed. Definitely excited and ready to play.

Q. What have you learned so far about Iona and specifically what kind of challenges they'll present for you tomorrow?

ANDRE JACKSON JR.: They have really good two lead guards. That's going to be the key focus of our offense is try not to let those guys be effective as shooters and not get any open shots.

Also just running through the scouts and the plays and stuff like that, remembering that, and really just locking in on the details and also not forgetting about ourselves and going out there and play with each other and play with that same energy that we do every time we step on the floor.

Q. Adama, how can last year's tournament experience kind of help you kind of get into this game?

ADAMA SANOGO: I think like losing our first game last year, watching that game, we did a lot of mistakes we're going to make sure we don't do that tomorrow. We'll play much more naturally.

So we're going to make sure we don't make the same mistakes from the last year, those same mistakes this year. We're going to learn from it.

Q. Adama, can you talk about the matchup in the middle tomorrow? And how important rebounding is to tomorrow's game and the entire NCAA Tournament for the Huskies?

ADAMA SANOGO: You know Iona is a team that are good offensively. I think they are averaging 12 offensive rebounds in the game against Villanova. We watched film on them. We know we're one of the best teams offensively in the country, so we've got to make sure we do that tomorrow. For us to win a game, we've got to box out because we know they're going to blast through.

Q. Andre, just what were the conversations like with, especially family, when they found out you were going to be coming here to play and they could come watch you?

ANDRE JACKSON JR.: I haven't really had too many conversations, but my mom texted me as soon as it happened. She said she's so happy. That's really the only person I talk to a lot.

Yeah, that's all. I talk to my brother a little bit, but other than that, I've been kind of just keeping my circle small right now, focusing on the team.

THE MODERATOR: Head Coach Dan Hurley will be here in a moment.

Thanks again for joining us. We have UConn Head Coach Dan Hurley here.

Q. Dan, you guys have obviously done very well the last few years, but you know how important March is. The players said you've tried to loosen things up to take some pressure off. What exactly have you done, and how important do you think that is for them not to feel the weight of the world on them to have to win games here in this tournament?

DAN HURLEY: I think, number one, we have the best team we've had. We've played to the quality of the Top 10 team this year, overall body of work. Obviously at the high end, we've probably played as well as anybody in the country.

The middle part of the season, we went through a tough stretch. I think schedule caught us. Then the last 11 games, obviously we've won 9 of them. Then we lost a one-possession game at Creighton, and we obviously lost that semifinal game to an outstanding Marquette team where we just didn't shoot the ball well.

The message with the group is just play to your identity, be who we have been the whole year. We don't need an extraordinary performance. We don't need a Kemba moment from anyone. We've got a deep team. We've got a strong team. Enjoy the open practice. Enjoy the media. Enjoy everything that comes along with this being invited to this exclusive tournament.

Q. Have you played anybody like Iona this year? Can you compare them to anybody?

DAN HURLEY: Yeah, I think at times, with some of the pressure we've seen from, I'd say, Marquette, the way they'll get into you at the defensive end of the court, they may resemble it. Obviously they've got the matchup zone. They'll play the man with some switching. Get a couple different pressures. You get a diamond, you get a face guard man, a run and jump.

I think Sunday we had a pretty good chance -- before practice on Sunday, like I was watching the Yale game before we practiced because I was pretty convinced we were going to play Yale or Iona. So we obviously started to work on press offense that Sunday even before the selection show because you could almost read the mind of the committee.

Q. Bobby won last night. Did you get a chance to speak to him today at all? What's it like for both of you to be in the tournament? Has your dad said anything new or interesting lately? What would it be like if both you and Bobby are able to keep going in the tournament?

DAN HURLEY: We obviously hope that we have a great showing and are successful. It was awesome to watch just his team come out and just make shots. Coming out early in the game and just making shots takes a lot of pressure. So getting off to a fast start certainly helps with Bob.

My dad gave me -- on Monday he gave me his full assessment of Iona and how I exactly needed to play this game out. So it was a long conversation. I have not talked to him since.

It will be cool to have my parents here. My dad, I know he takes a lot of pride in his two sons being on this big stage. I know it means a lot to him.

Q. Obviously anywhere Pitino is, it creates a certain buzz around him. Does that make it more difficult to do what you've set out to do, which is to have your team more relaxed, less uptight going into this game than maybe another opponent that didn't have a coach like him?

DAN HURLEY: I would say probably maybe the opposite just because Coach Pitino is involved, it's taken some attention from maybe our performance last year versus New Mexico State.

But I just think our mentality right now, enjoy the lead up to the selection show, obviously enjoy the opportunity to be in this incredible sporting event. It's one of the biggest events, sporting events our country has to offer, along with the Olympics and the Super Bowl, right? And just stick to our identity.

We don't need to stray far from who we've been this year. We play Top 20 defense. We're a Top 10 offense. We can dominate you on the backboard. We just have to go out and do what we've done for the last five months, and that should put us in a pretty good spot.

Q. Andre coming home is getting a lot of attention. What kind of year has he had and how do you feel about the way he's playing coming into the tournament?

DAN HURLEY: Obviously the foul trouble in the Marquette game really hurt us. He's an invaluable player, the impact he has all over the court. What he does on the backboard, both glasses, as like a shutdown cornerback on the defensive end. Then he's figured out how to play offense when people are playing him soft.

So I think coming into that Marquette game where he got in foul trouble, he had really found kind of how to crack the code based on how he was being guarded. When he's on, he's one of the most exciting players to watch in college basketball. I mean, Action Jackson.

Q. I know nothing's settled, but let's pretend for argument's sake that Rick Pitino comes back to your league. You're getting ready to play against one of his teams now. How much harder and better does that make the Big East?

DAN HURLEY: You're going to make me speculate (laughter)? Sometimes you look at the Big 12, you're a little -- Big Ten, Big 12, they're very fortunate where pretty much every conference game that those guys play are Quad 1 or Quad 2 games. So anything that happens relative to programs being super strong in our league is only going to be beneficial to the Big East.

So I'll leave it at that. I don't want to be unfair to those kids at Iona that have won 14 in a row and have played their tails off to put their team in this spot.

But every team in the Big East being at their absolute best is best for everybody.

Q. Sort of a similar take to Dana's question but a little bit different. With this thing about Pitino and St. John's sort of in the back of your mind, how did the addition of Miller coming back to the conference and coaching and being successful, how do you think that that was good for the conference?

DAN HURLEY: I think my first year, the COVID year, we were three at large, and obviously Georgetown won the tournament. So we got four in. We really only got three in because Georgetown made a run after not having a great season.

So I just think the more at large quality programs that are going to be, again, like Quad 1, Quad 2 games at the worst, I think is just -- it's what's best for the league. It's what we all want. The worst games you play on your schedule are the ones that can wreck your resume, so...

Q. You mentioned last year's performance. Do you feel pressure to win in March?

DAN HURLEY: Yeah.

Q. Obviously you've recruited really well. Top 20, Top 10 team, but you haven't won a tournament game yet.

DAN HURLEY: Yeah, you feel pressure, but you feel pressure the whole year. You feel pressure when you lose at Providence and you've got Providence coming to your campus and you have to win that game. You feel pressure when you go play at Xavier, at Providence, you lose two games in a row, and now you play Creighton at home who's beaten you five straight times since you've been in the league.

This is the pressure business. I'm fortunate that the way I was raised, my upbringing in the game, I've been around this my whole life. I wear -- I've existed in this world. I've been like engineered to experience this since I was like a little kid.

Yeah, you know what's on the line. You want to honor the season we've had. I think probably the most pressure comes from knowing that you have a team that potentially can do some special things this month.

Q. Aside from the Action Jackson in-game stuff you just described, can you just tell me about what's so valuable about the way Andre carries himself as a member of your program and what you've tried to build here?

DAN HURLEY: When the game starts feeling -- college game starts feeling like the G League sometimes, with players leaving and getting a better deal somewhere else, just the gratefulness to be able to coach somebody that's like a throwback, an old school, all he cares about is the team, doesn't care if he takes a shot, doesn't care about his valuation, I don't know, his NIL valuation.

He's just a throwback, man, that only cares about UConn basketball. I don't want him to want it so bad tomorrow for us and for his teammates and for the program so he can't go out and perform because, when he's at his best, he's such a unique and exciting player.

I just think you're not going to get an opportunity to coach many old school, true captain-type players like him. They're just going to be so rare.