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

March 23, 2023

Dan Hurley

Jordan Hawkins

Adama Sanogo

Andre Jackson Jr.

T-Mobile Arena

UConn Huskies

Sweet 16 Postgame Media Conference

Connecticut - 88, Arkansas - 65

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by UConn.

COACH HURLEY: I thought obviously we just played pretty much exactly to our team identity. We played elite defense. Offensively the 22 assists, the inside, the outside, and the rebounding dominance, and really where we are right now is exactly where we talked about where we would be, when we got together. After we lost the first-round game last year we met in the boardroom, we sat together and said this is where we're going to be. We're exactly where we thought we would be. And obviously we're thrilled to play one more to go to the Final Four.

Q. What's the difference in this game as far as the quick start?

JORDAN HAWKINS: We knew we had to come out real fast on them. They're a really physical team, but we had to come out with a first punch. That's how you come out with teams like that. That's what we did. We jumped out to an early lead, and just continued playing physical, crashing the glass.

Q. You hit nine 3-pointers. I know you've hit more than that in other games, but the team hit nine of those within 12 minutes left. Seemed like daggers. What did you think of the 3-point shooting tonight? Seems like whenever they were trying to make a run you guys buried them with 3s?

JORDAN HAWKINS: It shows we can beat teams with our inside presence, taking it to a hole, getting to the foul line. And we can beat you with many ways. We can get the 3-point shot going. We can beat you with that. If not we'll take it to the hole. We've got our big man, a dominant big man.

Q. Andre, speak to your defense and how were you able to stop them so much especially in the first half when you guys were running?

ANDRE JACKSON: Coaches did a good job with the scout every game, and everybody bought into it every day in practice, just locking in to the preparation, knowing what kind of tendencies the guys are going to try to get to. We were in the gaps a lot, not allowing guys to get straight-line drives and that caused them to shoot questionable shots and some bad attempts.

And that leads to stop and low shooting percentage. That's really what we did. We just stuck to the game plan.

Q. Why is this team playing their best basketball at the most important time of year?

ADAMA SANOGO: I think we just have to sit -- we're playing our best basketball right now because we know we have a good team. We play for UConn. UConn is the place, people care about you, people want to see you do good.

We know it's awesome (indiscernible) and every time we play we want to show people wrong, we try to show people why we play at UConn. We have something on our shoulders. Every time we play basketball, we're trying to show people wrong.

Q. Coach referenced the conversation that you guys had after, I guess, the first round last year. What are your recollections of that, where did they take place, what was said?

ANDRE JACKSON: We were in Coach's office and he really just told us things are going to change now. And he just told us we're all captains. And we hold part of that on our shoulders, too -- we're going to take part of that blame when you feel that pain.

We really, from that moment on, from that day on, we just really held each other to a higher standard and just told each other we're going to push for a national championship. We're going to push for that type of standard every day in practice and we're going to hold each other to that.

Q. What can you say about having the energy of Coach Hurley and just what that's meant to you, how you feed off his energy and how you really did believe the words he said when he said you would be back but in a different way this season and get farther?

JORDAN HAWKINS: I say this all the time, Coach Hurley is my favorite coach I've ever played under. He gives me the confidence, gives me the green light. He believes in me. Just hearing that, after the season, I knew I had to change my game in a big way. Had to take a big step. That's what I did it.

Worked on my game all summer. Worked really hard. Met with these guys all the time and talked about our goals.

Q. Jordan, you were perfect at the free-throw line, 9-for-9. Is that something you're working on during the year to be good at the foul line, or is it something better with your 3-pointers?

JORDAN HAWKINS: Absolutely, as a shooter, you have to be able to hit free throws. They're the easiest points you'll get in the game.

Q. You guys outrebounded, they'd been plus-16 their first two NCAA games. You outrebounded them 43-to-31. What was the key to outrebounding them?

ADAMA SANOGO: Coming into a game, like in practice, Coach Hurley was saying this team is tough, they want to try to to box us out by going to offensive (indiscernible). And we know one important thing for us, that's one of the things we do good at it. So we were talking about it before the game; in our mind we were like they wanted to play tough but we were going to tough them out.

Q. To be in this moment as you reflect on all the adversity you went through, what's been that turning-point moment for each of you this season that you felt was that moment where you saw this team starting to shift in the right direction?

JORDAN HAWKINS: We had a really tough January, but we play in a really tough conference. We knew we had to flip the switch. When it hit February I think that's when things changed for us. We started to play better. We knew that time was coming where guys had to step up. And we have a team full of guys that could step up.

Q. Jordan, you're 40 minutes away from going to Houston. What are you going to do tomorrow to keep yourself from not getting so excited?

JORDAN HAWKINS: Practice. Stay with my team. Prepare for the next game.

Q. The three that just left, what did you know about them intangible-wise when you had that meeting that they could become this?

COACH HURLEY: I just thought you'd have kind of a do-it-all, all-out action player in Andre, a facilitator, defensive stopper, somebody that would ignite our transition game. You obviously had the low-post dominant scorer. And you had the big-time shooting guard.

I apologized to them for not having enough around them in that New Mexico State game in terms of enough shooting and enough different ways to open up things for them, and that I'm going to build a roster around you. You're going to have enough help around you, both through Donovan and Karaban coming in, and then some strategic additions via transfer that we will not be back in this position feeling like we do again next March.

Q. There's a play where Tristen misses a 3, Andre flies in for the rebound and kicks it out to Jordan. When he makes plays like that how does that change things?

COACH HURLEY: He's a unique player. He's maybe the most exciting player in college in a long time that maybe doesn't even, that doesn't average, like, double-figure points. Like Andre Jackson, you can't take your eyes off him, getting you extra possessions on the offensive glass that leads to open 3, because those are sometimes the best 3s you get.

And what he does in transition when he takes it off the defensive glass, and he's our best post feeder. And we've got two dominant big guys.

Q. You just won the Sweet 16 game by 23 points. Your son's on the court, your dad and your family is in the stands. Your college coach is doing radio on press row. I don't want to oversell it but where does this rank among the best days of your life?

COACH HURLEY: Best day of my life was when I met my wife Andrea and got married. I've obviously got to say that. But I actually mean it. Some men wouldn't mean that. I mean it.

I would just say, basketball for me, as a player, it wasn't a joyride. My career, fired at Rutgers as an assistant, high school coach for nine years, had to prove myself at every level. And I'm proud of the way that my career has unfolded where I've had to prove myself at every level I've coached at.

Q. Five years ago today was your introductory press conference at UConn. What sort of goals did you have on that day and where do you feel like you are right now in terms of getting to those goals?

COACH HURLEY: I feel like it's coming. There you go, you have that now, right? I did that at Villanova so I'm sure that will play somewhat our fans. I feel we've built this the right way. When I got the job it was pre-portal. It was pre-portal and NIL. So you couldn't fix things as quick when I took the job. You actually had to rebuild the culture and rebuild the talent base. It was a different time then.

I'm just proud of the way we've built this thing. We've built this with classy individuals in Luke, Kimani and Tom. I've got three guys that are head coach caliber that have helped me build this.

And we've got an incredible group of players. And we get the right type of people and we've got great culture. We're right where we thought we would be.

Q. I think you hit nine of your 3-pointers in the first 29 minutes. Seemed like barrage, barrage. (Indiscernible) three free throws on a foul on a 3. How big were those 3-pointers, would you say?

COACH HURLEY: Because they made a little bit of a run, I don't know what we were up, 27 -- we were up 29 and they cut it to 21 or 22 or something.

But in non-conference, we're 15-0. Obviously when people see us for the first time, it's a great advantage to us because we are not a ball screen heavy team. We have a lot of movement on offense. We've got the two centers that can dominate a game.

We're a unique game to play against if you haven't seen us.

Q. (Off microphone?)

COACH HURLEY: Mean we make 3s a lot. And it's hard to get 3s against Arkansas because they do such a great job. They've got such great length on the perimeter. Those guys are so athletic. But, again, when you have dominant centers, it creates pretty good looks at 3. And honestly I thought we probably could have made one or two more.

Q. Jordan had zero points in the first half in both games, both previous games of the tournament. He had 10 in this one, led all scorers. What was it you said to him, what was it you coached going into his game to allow him to put pedal to the metal?

COACH HURLEY: The Saint Mary's was a different game got in foul trouble the first half. He didn't play a lot in the first half of the Saint Mary's game. And against Iona, he just missed. He got really good 3s.

We just talked about we needed to start fast, we couldn't play a first half like we did against Iona or Saint Mary's or we would likely be down at the half. And you just didn't want to get behind this Arkansas team.

They were a 13-loss team coming in. We knew that if we played at a high level, they potentially could start to fracture a little bit because just the way their season's gone.

Q. Your defense, is that the best your defense has played tonight or do you feel there's a couple more games in them?

COACH HURLEY: I thought we guarded Alabama great. Because Alabama is like the hardest team for me to guard in the country with all the answers they have. But this was right there.

Our plan was to try to take away paint points and make them shoot perimeter shots, tough 2s, middies, and make them shoot 3s, which is a little bit different than what we try to do defensively. But I thought Kimani crushed it with the scout, and we just got in the gaps and made them kind of one dimensional.

Q. You had spoken about the history over the last few seasons at UConn. From the moment that you decided to take this job to where you stand right now, there's a journey that a coach takes behind the scenes that nobody sees. What are you most appreciative of that journey as you sit here tonight?

COACH HURLEY: Just the way we've done it. We're not a transactional program. We just think that we recruit great people that want to come to UConn for the right reasons. We don't lie to them. We don't cheat to get them.

We develop our young players and mix in transfers to supplement. So we're all about player development. We're all about our culture. And just the way that we do it, the way we go about things, I think, I'm proud of. I'm proud of how we've gotten here.

Q. I know the first NCAA Tournament games you were up one, or down one, then up one. Today against Arkansas you're up 17 and how big was a difference was that? I don't think Arkansas ever led.

COACH HURLEY: We got off to a fast start offensively. We were really sharp, our passing was sharp. And I thought we just had a great mix of creating openings for our shooters, feeding Adama and Donovan in the ball-screen game, in and then the low post.

We were coming at them from so many different places offensively. I think we just had them on their heels and when we did get defensive rebound opportunities we were able to create some things in transition. I just think we were able to get them on their heels like straightaway in the game.