NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL SEMIFINAL - ARKANSAS VS UCONN

March 22, 2023

Dan Hurley

Andre Jackson Jr.

Jordan Hawkins

Tristen Newton

Adama Sanogo

Alex Karaban

T-Mobile Arena

UConn Huskies

Sweet 16 Pregame Media Conference

Q. Jordan and Tristen, I think you guys are often most dangerous when you guys can push in semi transition and hunt 3s. I'm curious for you two guys as guards and Tristen often the distributer and Jordan often the shooter, what makes you guys so dangerous in those settings?

TRISTEN NEWTON: Just having a great shooter around me, having A.K. and Jordan, they can shoot. And the rim (indiscernible) we have, Andre catching any lob I throw in. And obviously Adama can score from anywhere. Credit to them. I have the easy job giving them the ball. That's pretty much it.

Q. Jordan, where did you learn your shooting mechanics and who was the dominant influence in teaching you how to shoot?

JORDAN HAWKINS: My pops. He taught me how to shoot. So all credit to him for my jump shot.

Q. (Off Microphone)?

JORDAN HAWKINS: I've been doing it for so long, it's like second nature to me. I just know when the ball's going to go in and when it's not. I know what to do when I'm doing it wrong. And when I'm doing it right, keep doing it.

Q. I think you guys are the top rebounding team left in the country margin-wise. You're number three, I think you're the top offensive rebound team. Arkansas is a plus-16 if you combine Illinois and Kansas games. Number one, what makes you guys such good rebounders? And what do you see about the matchup inside versus Arkansas?

ALEX KARABAN: Arkansas is a tough rebounding team, as you said. We know it's going to be a battle on the boards tomorrow. And I think we get it from Coach Hurley instilling it every day in practice. He wants us to be the toughest team every time, stick to our identity, which is toughness and rebounding.

So I think that just happens every day in practice, and we've just been getting better at it throughout the season. And that's the same way with Arkansas, too.

ADAMA SANOGO: I can say Arkansas, they're good offensive. So it's going to be a fight on our offensive end because we know they're going to go for it. And we work on offensive every day in practice. Coach Hurley, that's one thing we do, we work on that every day in practice. I feel like, go on the glass and gain the offensive, that's something we work on every practice.

Q. What are your thoughts about having this regional in Las Vegas of all places?

ALEX KARABAN: Las Vegas, it's a nice city, bright lights. It's a place that everyone wants to play at. So to play here is something special for us. And we don't get the opportunity to play in Vegas a lot. So I know as a team we're excited for it. We can't wait to get out here and play. It's the bright lights. So we're all excited.

Q. The last two games you guys played, did you notice a difference -- did you notice you had an advantage in the way teams kind of prepared for you that they're not really able to prepare for everything that you guys can throw at them?

ANDRE JACKSON JR.: I think we just kind of stick to what we do, and then going into the game we also scout them. So just really sticking to our identity, like Alex said, and really just trusting in each other, playing for each other.

And I think it's hard for teams to be able to guard the 3-point line and also guard the dominant forces we have inside with Adama and Donovan coming off the bench. We have a lot of different tools and a lot of different guys that can affect the game in different ways. It's definitely hard to prepare for us.

Q. Just talk about tomorrow night and what it means for you guys making it to the Sweet 16 and knowing that the program is getting in the right direction.

JORDAN HAWKINS: I think the team, continue playing how we're playing, playing tough, rebounding. We know they're a really physical team, matching their physicality, coming at them (indiscernible) the break. And I think we'll keep winning if we do that.

Q. I'd like to ask you about Nick Smith, a highly touted guy, a projected lottery pick. But he's been struggling the last couple of games shooting wise. In preparing for Arkansas, the scout, what do you see from Nick Smith? Do you think, he's such a great player, he might break out tomorrow because he's had a couple of tough shooting games?

TRISTEN NEWTON: He's a good player. We just have to (indiscernible). They have a lot of good players and a couple lottery picks. We pride ourselves on defense. Whoever it is, we feel like we can go out there, shut them down and make sure they have an off night. That's what we're going to try to do tomorrow night.

JORDAN HAWKINS: He's a really good player, but he has to guard us too.

Q. Andre, you guys have fallen behind like midway through the first half in each of the first two games, overwhelmed opponents. Have you felt something where you settle into a game and just start to take over?

ANDRE JACKSON JR.: It's getting through the first part where it's a little bit anxious, you know what I mean? Once we get passed that, we all get lost into the game, that's where we're all able to break out and really special what we can do.

I think tomorrow's definitely going to be a different type of game, a team that we like to play against, more fast paced, athletic game. So it's definitely a game I feel like we can definitely break out early and have some more success in the first half as well.

Q. Jordan, you're from Gaithersburg, Maryland. What's it like representing the state of Maryland in the Sweet 16?

JORDAN HAWKINS: It's amazing, not a lot of guys coming from Gaithersburg get this opportunity. Very few. It's real nice for the state and city. And I'm excited for it.

Q. Alex, what was it like to hear from Coach Calhoun before you guys made this trip and have a guy like that who was part of the program's history, hearing from him? And second part, what was Coach Hurley's message coming out here?

ALEX KARABAN: For your first part, it was special to hear from him. He's won three national championships. He's a UConn legend. And he was really the one that helped build this place up. So to get his experience, to get his insight on our team and to tell us how good of a team we can be is something special as we took it to heart.

And Coach Hurley's message, the same as last week, to enjoy everything that we're capable of doing what we can do, and just enjoy everything.

COACH HURLEY: Thrilled obviously to be here. Excited to play in T-Mobile, fabulous arena. Obviously really exciting, four programs here and should be an unbelievable challenge versus an Arkansas team that was playing like the top-10 team that they were projected to be in the preseason.

Q. I just wanted to ask you about the new changes in the Big East with Rick Pitino coming and Ed moving to Georgetown. What do you think it means for the league in general?

COACH HURLEY: For me it means I get a bunch of months rest before I gotta deal with this new and even more powerful conference. Obviously you love the hires. You know what Rick's going to do at St. John's. You know what Ed is going to do at Georgetown. As I sit here, I don't know who Providence has hired or is hiring. I am not on Twitter right now.

But it's great for the league. For me, I want the league to be as powerful as the league could be, as many quad 1 games as you can get across the board. As exciting as the league is, a great St. John's and a great Georgetown is great for all of us.

Q. Obviously the women's side of UConn also had a lot of success. You also have had a lot of success being in the Sweet 16. What's it like to represent UConn as a university?

COACH HURLEY: It feels great. Obviously from a basketball standpoint, the history on both sides, and it's a special thing to play basketball and to share the practice facility together with the history of both programs.

It's great for us to be holding up our end of the bargain in March there. We've put together, I think, some pretty strong regular seasons, but it's great to be joining them this late in the year.

But our programs, I think -- our players and my relationship with Geno and our coaching staff, there's a really close relationship that we all have with each other that I feel is really galvanizing for both.

Q. Wanted to ask you about Nick Smith, very (indiscernible) player, has dealt with some injuries. Last couple of games he hasn't shot well, although Eric says he's due a breakout. What's your take on Nick? And are you concerned he's not going to be keeping shooting like that?

COACH HURLEY: He's really an electrifying player to watch, just in terms of his abilities with the ball, just how twitchy he is with the ball. Obviously his size, his length. I saw him a bunch in high school so we know what he's capable in terms of the 3-point shooting and perimeter shooting.

We're obviously preparing for him like we've got to guard one of the best scoring guards in the country.

Q. How valuable is it to have Coach Calhoun to come in speak to the team before you made the trip? Does your message change at all from the first two rounds to the team versus now?

COACH HURLEY: First on Coach, I've always been smart enough to try to get as close to Coach Calhoun and Geno as I could possibly get. So much for me to learn from both. And I just thought going into the tournament, I know I wanted to be around Coach. Maybe get some of that magic on me a little bit.

And then the second part, I just thought that a message, a confident message from Coach to the team about what he expected from them in Albany, I thought it landed. I thought the players, it landed on them. Obviously it worked. And we want Coach to come back.

And this time of year it's identity. It's like, fellas, play to our identity. You deal with nothing but quality here, especially in this little four-team bracket. I think anyone in this bracket is capable of getting to the national championship game and winning it. So we know how loaded this four-team field is. We've just got to play to our identity.

Q. I don't know that I've ever seen a UConn player smile and laugh as much as Adama --

COACH HURLEY: Adama?

Q. Yes, he seems to carry himself with a joy and appreciation for everything every day. I'm wondering what do you see in his personality that enables him to do that and the way he carries himself?

COACH HURLEY: Great family background. Comes from great pedigree. And I think he works so hard at everything that he does. I think innately he just feels like he's got a lot of confidence because he knows he's putting in tremendous work. And he's had a heck of a career.

He's getting to a Final Four. He's advancing in this tournament further. If he does that, we'll be talking about being one of the all-time great players in UConn history. He's at the doorsteps of that.

So I just think he's grown and he's comfortable in his own skin. And I think he just believes in himself.

Q. 3-point shooting percentages are down across the board compared to previous years. Any explanation for that?

COACH HURLEY: I think there's a lot of fouling going on on the perimeter, in particular. I think, we talk so much about freedom of movement, and I just think there's a little bit of physicality that's going on with dribble drivers and people trying to utilize screens on the perimeter that muddies and mucks the game up.

Obviously tomorrow it's important for us how the game is officiated because we do need the freedom of movement. We run a lot of things offensively. And we need our players to be able to run without being held, being grabbed.

Q. You're talking about perimeter defense. Could you say a couple of words of defense of Tristen Newton. He held Saint Mary's leading scorer to 3-for-15 shooting the other night. How has his defense improved this year, and how important is he to UConn's 3-point defense that led the Big East?

COACH HURLEY: The one thing that really helps us because the tough thing going into the Arkansas game is their perimeter size. They have huge guards. And a major plus with Tristen is he's 6'4", close to 6'5". And obviously that was big was his matchup with Logan Johnson.

He'll need all of that versus this Arkansas team. I don't think we'll be able to get away with -- as deep as the Saint Mary's guards got with the ball against us in dribble penetration -- Arkansas will finish those plays at the rim. We'll have to do a better job of keeping their dribble drivers -- and they're constantly attacking. We've got to keep those guys outside of the paint.

Q. Eric really uses the transfer portal quite a bit as much as a lot of other coaches in the country. You've used it effectively but not as much. Is it kind of an interesting contrast in how to build the team between the two of you?

COACH HURLEY: Yeah, they've had tremendous acquisitions, the three 5-star NBA lottery or first-round pick level talents in Smith and Black and in Walsh. And then they seem to be getting some of the best portal players that are available.

So I'm obviously very familiar with the Mitchell twins with my Rhode Island history, and following their careers pretty closely.

So we probably go about things in a different way in terms of the way we probably build our team. But I think our teams both kind of play in a similar way in that we both play incredibly hard. Both coaches coach with a lot of passion and so some similarities, some differences.

Q. Jordan Hawkins, from Gaithersburg, what kind of kid is he and how great is he on your team?

COACH HURLEY: The best thing about Jordan is obviously his skills and his talents and abilities, but his parents, he's got great parents. And they have held him kind of accountable all his life. And they allow us to coach him. They don't make excuses for him.

They've done just a hell of a job raising their kid to not make excuses or blame coaches or blame other people for their struggles. And you add his type of NBA-level talent, with that type of mindset that was instilled by his parents. And now it's hard for me to screw it up.

Q. Each of the first two games your team has used that first ten minutes to settle in a little bit and then just overwhelmed your opponent. What's it about your team being comfortable in that and knowing, all right, we're fine, we're fine, we can be behind a little bit and just take over?

COACH HURLEY: We were confident in the depth of the team. We go nine, 10 deep. And our bench helped us win a lot of games this year. Obviously, too, I think when you're UConn and you're playing in the first round of the tournament, maybe even the second round, there's a lot of pressure on you, the pressure of the brand that you carry.

So I think we're maybe a little bit uptight going into those first and second round games, and hopefully some of that pressure has been alleviated and we can go out tomorrow and let it rip. I don't think we can afford to have a slow start versus these guys with the way that they play.

Q. I think you guys are the top rebounding team left, plus 9-3. I think you're the top offensive rebounding team by Kenpom Analytics. Arkansas is a plus 16 combined, and Des Moines, against two pretty good rebounding teams. How do you see the rebounding and the physicality and everything about the matchup?

COACH HURLEY: It's going to be -- obviously a part of this game is going to be played in a really physical way on the backboard. For us, I don't know that we have maybe quite the same level of athleticism. So we've got to be more fundamental in terms of putting a body on a body, being in inside position, and then being really physical at that point. But we pride ourselves on winning the rebounding battle as they do and it's going to be a war when the ball goes up tomorrow on the glass, no doubt.

Q. Can you describe what's unique or special about Jordan's shooting mechanics? And also if you see some similarities between his shooting ability and Azzi Fudd's shooting abilities, (indiscernible) the results?

COACH HURLEY: He has this unique ability to move at a speed off of screens as using a stagger, using a pin, sprinting at full speed and getting it to his shot in a fluid, athletic, natural way that you just aren't used to seeing at the college level. Maybe you're used to seeing it a little bit more at the NBA level. I would not compare him to a Klay Thompson, but a college version, in terms of just how unique the skill set is.

And I think sometimes his first half, he's got to remain a little bit patient because defenses wear down over the course of the time. That's where he's been able to expose some people in the second half by getting on a run. I'll take him shooting as good as Azzi shoots it in this tournament and it enhances my chances versus Arkansas, which is unbelievable.

Q. As a coach, how similar are you, would you say, to your dad?

COACH HURLEY: You know, that was a brutal last question, Buddy. Just the coaching part, you know. I'm just happy that my dad's at the games.