NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST FOUR

March 20, 2024

Donte' Jackson

Jourdan Smith

Jimel Cofer

UD Arena

Grambling State Tigers

Media Conference

Grambling State - 88, Montana State - 81 (OT)

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the Grambling Tigers. Coach, talk about what this means for your team and how your team performed tonight.

DONTE' JACKSON: First, I want to give a lot of credit to Coach Logie and Montana State. They were incredible today. They shot the cover off the ball. Incredible. The offense they ran, the way they moved the ball, just have a lot of respect for him and what he does.

What this means for our program, it's an understatement, to be totally honest. I couldn't even tell you. To play in a NCAA Tournament, get a first-round win, this is amazing. I think it's major exposure for our program.

And just let these guys know when they could have went to all these other big schools and things of that nature that they chose right by coming to Grambling. And just really thankful, just all our guys that's here and just the way they prepared and how they played today.

Q. Jimel, what was kind of going through your mind after the first half? Don't play at all, even though you didn't play in the last game either. And then obviously what went into that huge second half that you had?

JIMEL COFER: To be honest, nothing was really going through my mind. I was just trying to stay locked in the whole time. Even when I'm not playing I'm locked in the game because I know eventually my name is going to be called. Once I'm out there, I've gotta do what I have to do.

Q. Coach, you spoke the other day about, of course, they put us against the hottest team in the country. They came out it like in the first half. What were the adjustments? How did you change up the game plan at halftime?

DONTE' JACKSON: Actually, it wasn't any adjustments. Well, the first adjustment was we had to guard the ball screen better. We had to do a better job of getting in their bodies and controlling the ball screen. The main thing was, when I walked in that locker room, they had already made the adjustments.

That's the best part about having a team that's led at times by the seniors. They knew what the magnitude of this was and us going out here and competing at a high level.

Q. Jourdan, last go around. What does a game of this magnitude mean to you on a personal, but also the coach of HBCU basketball? The world is watching. What's this win mean for you and being a part of this?

JOURDAN SMITH: With this being my senior year, with everything we've got going, I didn't want it to be the last game, especially with the way things are going now, as a player. Playing with this type of team, with this (indiscernible) type of team, I had to give my all to do that.

For the coaches, it's the same thing. It's even more reason for me to fight hard. I've got family that I haven't heard from that wasn't able to see me in a while. They're finally reaching out and saying they're watching me playing, things like that.

So when there's people like that reaching out to you it means even more people that are watching that I don't know. Just gotta give them a show and give it my all.

Q. When they went on the run, what did you guys say to each other at halftime? And what was the vibe like playing in the arena?

JOURDAN SMITH: When they went on the run, at halftime, it was a lot of mixed emotions going on. There was a lot of arguing at first. But like I said last week, we're a team that, once we argue, five, 10 minutes later -- might not even be five minutes -- we're going to get back, high five and it's all about adjustments.

We know where we're coming from. It was just mixed emotions, things like that.

The atmosphere, it wasn't too much different for us. Like Coach said, he made the schedule he made this year for a reason. When we came in here, we knew what we were coming into. The atmosphere wasn't too much different.

Q. Jimel, halftime and the atmosphere.

JIMEL COFER: At halftime, it was somewhere we'd already been before. We knew what we had to do.

And the atmosphere, like he said, we played a big schedule in the regular season, so it wasn't nothing new.

Q. Jimel, you had the tying layup near the end of regulation. You take Robert Ford to the basket. Is that an intentional play call, that switch to go at him with four fouls? Or is that just who happened to be in front of you?

JIMEL COFER: That's just who happened to be in front of me at the time.

Q. What is it like for playing for one of the best coaches in the country, not just Black college basketball, but just one of the best coaches in the country?

JOURDAN SMITH: I love it. That's the reason I, like, transferring has never been in my mind ever since I've been here. Coach has always been a guy that is going to show you love and let you do your thing. At the same time he's not going to make sure you get outside of what you do. He's going to put you in the right situation to make you be perfect.

And at the same time, he's an honest guy, he's a truthful guy. He's going to keep it honest with you. There's nothing else you could ask for from him.

JIMEL COFER: Just a lot of knowledge. You ask him questions, he's going to give you the answer. The best answer he can give you.

Q. Explain what the reasoning, what led you to call Jimel into the game.

DONTE' JACKSON: We needed to be bigger on the court. I felt at that point in time Kintavious was playing well. He had a few bad ball screen coverages. And we wanted to be a little bit bigger, more athletic. And Jimel has been playing his butt off. And every day I tell him, just be ready, be ready.

He had a game right in our tournament where he came in and sparked us. And he's been a big spark and the tough part of it is we got really good guards. It's a lot of depth. And sometimes seniors aren't there, and they've been in those moments. But he's a sophomore, Mikale Stevenson is a sophomore, Antwan Burnett is a sophomore. Those guys are young guys, and sometimes you gotta let them play, let them play through the mistakes. Today he got hot and just really proud of him rising to the occasion.

Q. Around the 12:20 mark, right before that timeout, seemed like something switched coming out of the break. What was the message to the team? You came out in a full-court press. What was the message that moment? That really changed the game. What was your message there?

DONTE' JACKSON: I think at that point in time we might have been down maybe six, if I'm not mistaken. I told them at that point in time, it's a two-possession, maybe three-possession game. We're right where we want to be.

And if we can get a stop, one or two stops right here, stop and score, the pressure on them. We were down nine at half and we found a way to get that turnover and that turnover went for a layup. A little bit more pressure.

And then later in the game, Ford had three and four fouls, and we wanted to try to attack him because on the other end he was punishing us. So we were trying to make sure we could attack him. And Jimel did a good job going downhill several times on him. It worked to our advantage.

Q. Tell me, there was a point right there in the beginning of the second half where you thought about going zone. You got out of it quick. But tell me what the thought process was to try zone against them?

DONTE' JACKSON: Well, I felt coming out of the half that they were playing so well moving the ball against our man. And I just wanted to try to give an illusion of making them having to think about something else.

And then we showed the zone. And once we showed the zone we jumped right back into man because the other part of it is, it will slow down their offense. And then we can get into that ball screen later, like earlier and defend maybe one action of a ball screen instead of defend a multiple.

Q. I don't know how much you've thought about Purdue, but the last three years they've gotten beat by double-digit seeds, I believe 13, 15 and 16. What's your thought process of playing them? And what do you have to do to continue the trend that the other three schools have done?

DONTE' JACKSON: My first thought process is Coach Painter is one of the best coaches in the country, first and foremost. They're going to be ready to play. I'm sure Coach Painter had them ready to play.

My thought process on trying beat them, I have to go watch more film and try to devise a plan and figure out what we need to do. They're not the No. 1 season for nothing. They've got best big guy in the country. We've got to come ready to play.

A lot of film tonight. I haven't been sleeping much, anyways. I might not get much sleep, but it is what it is.

Q. What was your message to the guys in the locker room after a game of this magnitude? What was the message to your guys?

DONTE' JACKSON: I'm just extremely proud of you all and happy for you all. I'm happy for our program. I'm just proud of y'all.

I know those guys. They don't have any quit in them. There's a lot of fight in them. And I told them our life has been built off adversity. I've got a lot of guys that come from under-privileged situations and things of that nature, and adversity is part of life. It's about how you bounce back when you get in a bad situation.

And you've got to keep your head up no matter how bad it gets. And you've got to keep pushing and pulling and going in the right direction.

And I told them, we're going to play defense. You all figured out the plays. It's one thing to scout and go through the plays. It's another thing for them to run the plays at the pace that they run them at and shoot the ball at the pace they shoot it at. But at the end of the day, we locked in and those guys found a way to get it done.

Q. A special night like this to be able to do it in Dayton. What can you say about that, being back in this area?

DONTE' JACKSON: It's special. I told maybe the earlier press conference, I became a man in Dayton. I remember my uncle dropping me off at Central State University. I transferred from Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Was there for two years playing basketball.

Probably wasn't making the best decisions in life. And then I came over to Central State, and they just gave me the foundation to be who I am.

I met my wife here in Dayton. I had my kids here in Dayton. Then you turn around and my former team and my former players are here from Central State. Little tidbit about me; I actually coached tennis also. I've got tennis players in the crowd. I've got former basketball players in the crowd. I've got friends and family in the crowd. And some of my best relationships in life are from my teammates that live here in Dayton or that I met here in Dayton.

Dayton is a second home. Dayton is special. Just meeting my wife alone is special just being here in Dayton.