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00:00 Well, very good first half, I thought we did a lot of good things.
00:07 You know, the second half wasn't as good, but I thought, Kevin, if you watch that team,
00:12 they weren't as good as us, they weren't as big as us, we hurt them in some areas, but
00:16 as far as moving the ball and moving bodies, even the officials said something, my assistants
00:22 all said, man.
00:23 So we had our work cut out for getting around screens and things that those freshmen weren't
00:28 ready for, and a couple of them got lost to say the least.
00:33 So I was disappointed in that a little bit, I was disappointed in our free throw shooting,
00:37 and we've been shooting the daylights out of it.
00:39 AJ's been 90% every day, and he missed them.
00:43 Now Coop, you know, he has a tendency to shack it, so we'll have to wear it.
00:50 Sorry, Shaq, if that gets public, I don't want to insult the guy, because I love him.
00:55 You know, he's, he played his tail off, I mean, he played as good as anybody played,
01:02 and yet when you go one for four or five from the free throw line, it's not acceptable.
01:07 But the real thing that bothered me was the rebounding.
01:10 I mean, they had 17 offensive rebounds, so they got 68 shots.
01:15 They did not rebound very well, I was disappointed in Malik rebounding the ball, I was disappointed.
01:20 You know, Coop rebounded, Malik didn't rebound, you know, he had six, but it was good.
01:25 But our wings did not rebound very well.
01:28 Jaden was sneaking out of there, Colin, I thought, snuck out of there, and Books got a rebound better.
01:35 I mean, his lack of strength has reared his ugly head, but we'll get through that.
01:43 You know, because if it doesn't get better by the next game, we'll get killed, and I mean that.
01:49 I mean, they are very physical, very good, very well coached, a lot bigger,
01:54 and they got many more players, Tennessee has great depth.
01:58 So this was a good game in some ways because we played a team that moved the ball real well.
02:03 I thought we moved the ball real well the first half.
02:06 The second half, we took a couple bad shots.
02:10 Even that shot Stephen took, he's lost some inheritance money on that one.
02:16 But I was happy and proud and excited, and our players were that he got his two free throws and made them both.
02:22 So he got the game ball, but other than that, we got some work to do, but there were some positives.
02:29 27 assists on 33 basket is a real positive.
02:34 Eleven turnovers, you know, Jeremy had four.
02:38 They were kind of sloppy, but when you're playing that many people for the first time, there's not a real good feel for one another.
02:47 So it was good. It was good in a lot of ways, and I thought they missed some shots they could have hit,
02:53 but I thought they were very well coached and really moved the ball.
02:59 Questions?
03:03 I'm wondering about two things. One, early, and both kind of started with the early part of the game.
03:09 Do you kind of like that line change approach with the guys right now with how they're playing together?
03:17 No, no, I won't do that. There'll be no hockey game here.
03:23 I leave that to my man over there.
03:26 We just wanted to get everybody in. They did play together.
03:30 There was an excitement. There was a nervousness, but we're not going to be able to do that on a regular basis.
03:37 I might even do it at the exhibition game again. That's something my staff and I'll talk about,
03:42 but it gives me a chance to get everybody similar minutes in this game, which we did.
03:49 You know, we all did a decent job of that. It was from 21 or something to 15,
03:55 but by giving everybody a chance, Davis got to play some, and Steven and Nick got to play some,
04:05 because we know that's not going to happen as often.
04:10 I figured the second half was probably a little closer to what it'll be in reality.
04:14 The second thing was the early pressure, the full-court pickup.
04:20 Is that something you feel you can do more with these guards?
04:23 Yeah, that's what we really want to do. Tyson is unbelievable, and that's against anybody.
04:29 I was a little disappointed. I think AJ can do a better job than he did.
04:35 It was funny. I sat the freshmen down last night. We had a little walk-through,
04:38 and then we had a little free-throw shooting, which our team shot the highest.
04:42 We shot all year. We're almost 90 as a team.
04:46 I talked to the four freshmen about different things, and one was they're all cool and casual
04:52 because you were all--but tomorrow, you'll be nervous as hell when you take the floor,
04:58 and your wind will probably go. Jeremy was dying, and he's been in pretty good shape.
05:03 Book was dying when he went through the warm-up, so he's got to--those things are all normal.
05:09 And so we're going to have to rotate our guys, and we are going to pressure like that a little bit more.
05:18 And then we didn't do as well the second half, and so it's just something we've got to keep working on
05:23 and get better at it. Once we get a real rotation down instead of guys didn't know how to play,
05:30 they were playing with a lineup of sometimes five guards, and it really created some problems for us
05:37 on that pressure because Book had to be up, like his man to the ball, to the court half the time.
05:42 So those are things that we're going to have to deal with most of the time.
05:46 - Hey, Tom. Good to be back. Great atmosphere.
05:51 Talk about what you shared a couple days ago about leadership.
05:54 I know it was just a few days ago, but is there any way to kind of track how the leadership is moving,
05:58 particularly AJ, Malik, and just what have you kind of gotten--
06:03 - I thought they did a pretty good job in that area.
06:05 I thought--believe it or not, what was really encouraging, because it was one of the things--
06:09 I had each assistant coach write up four things that they wanted their guys to do,
06:15 and one of them, when Tyson was the lead, a little bit better.
06:18 And I thought he did a very good job of that.
06:22 So we got a little bit more--Jayden a little bit better.
06:25 Malik's got to continue to communicate better.
06:28 But that's going to be--communication is still a big part of this whole thing,
06:33 and we've got so many different guys playing, which won't always be the case.
06:37 I mean, we'll play more than normal, but we're not going to play 12 guys, 13 guys.
06:42 So as we go, hopefully we can do a little better job,
06:47 and they can do a little better job because they have a feel who they're playing with.
06:50 - All right, thank you.
06:52 - Sorry if I made a mistake.
06:53 With Jackson Kohler, obviously you're going to need somebody to step up and fill that void.
06:57 What did you think about--I know you weren't happy with his free throw shooting tonight,
07:00 but what did you think about Carson Cooper and what you did,
07:04 and how has he grown over the course of the summer?
07:06 - Oh, I loved Carson.
07:08 I mean, he played as hard as anybody.
07:10 He rebounded as well as anybody.
07:12 He let us in rebounding, let us in points, let us in free throw misses.
07:18 Two out of three ain't bad.
07:20 And he's--but you can see how much I think he's improved.
07:26 And Motty, you know, as crazy as it sounds, but Motty went five for five from the line
07:31 and got six boards, and I guess he only played 17 minutes,
07:35 so that's probably per minute a pretty good stat.
07:39 We just--we think we've got to give more to Malik.
07:42 That's normal.
07:44 And Cooper was--he was the star inside tonight.
07:49 He played really well that night, you know, trailing and played really well.
07:53 So there's some guys that played really well.
07:55 He was one of them.
07:57 - Tom over here.
07:58 Jeremy, you assisted Spurlock in the four turnovers tonight.
08:01 Where's the answer in terms of learning how to be aggressive but also be smart about it?
08:06 - Well, I think Jeremy's problem is that he got tired tonight.
08:08 He got really tired that first half, and I only know him a little bit.
08:13 Like I say, like Mateen, I mean, Mateen gets so jacked for games.
08:16 He was like that early on too, and Jeremy was so excited to play.
08:21 But eight assists is really good.
08:23 Before turnovers, there were some sloppy ones, and that was one of the things on his list.
08:29 So he hasn't done that in practice as much, but first time out in front of people, it's different.
08:35 And that team ran so many things with motion that it was hard to scout that team,
08:43 and they did it very well, as good as anybody will play.
08:47 I'm not saying the players are the same, but as far as the motion, I give them and them a lot of credit for that.
08:52 That was difficult for us, and Jeremy, I think, got tired chasing, got tired pushing,
08:58 and then got some sloppy turnovers.
09:00 But he knows it, and he'll do better.
09:04 -Hey, Coach, Sid with NextUp Michigan here.
09:08 You know, tonight I've seen a couple of error passes, a couple of defensive lapses.
09:12 With Tennessee, as you mentioned, a physical team coming in on Sunday,
09:15 how do you learn from this the best possible way?
09:17 -Yeah, well, we're going to watch a ton of film because I think there's a lot of things we got from them.
09:23 And, you know, we played Tennessee last year.
09:26 Most of our veterans know what they're like.
09:28 I mean, they'll climb into us like we climbed into them a little bit.
09:33 And so we got a lot of work to do in four days, but that's the beauty of it.
09:38 That's the reason you do it.
09:39 It's going to be so good.
09:41 I still like playing one team where there are fans and one team normally there wouldn't be.
09:46 But this even works out better for us because they'll come in here, and it'll be a hell of a game, I hope.
09:54 I mean, I hope we play well enough because we're still, you know, four freshmen are playing.
10:01 We've got some freshmen that aren't playing as much because they've got even more depth.
10:06 So it'll be interesting to see how that works out.
10:09 But we're going to have to improve a lot on the boards.
10:12 We're going to have to improve a lot on, I think, some swapping turnovers if we're going to be a team like that.
10:19 -Coach, you talked about the depth of your team, which I think is probably the deepest since 2018 or maybe 2001.
10:28 What's the ideal number that you want for a rotation?
10:34 -Is that a do we want to listen to you guys or to the fans or to --
10:39 Because remember last year you guys were -- we didn't have enough.
10:43 Now we're worried we have too many.
10:46 I love you guys because then it's always a little controversial.
10:49 What's the best number?
10:53 You know, I'm hoping that we play 9-10, guys.
10:55 I'm hoping we do what you just said earlier, that we put some pressure on with the guards.
11:03 But one year I think we'll go practice playing 10 minutes a game with 11 guys.
11:11 If we wear ourselves down by playing hard, and Tyson's in the best shape of anybody, he can just go.
11:18 He's like never anybody.
11:19 James is in pretty good shape, too.
11:21 It's the guys that I think realize tonight they're not in the condition they need to be, too.
11:27 And it's fine because it's the middle of October and we've got a long year ahead of us.
11:33 But I don't know.
11:35 Hey, there's a lot of coaches that tell you eight's the magic number.
11:41 We had eight last year, and it wasn't so good because you had those injuries and we're down to eight guys.
11:47 We played much.
11:49 So I think we're in good shape where we are.
11:52 And some guys are--there were some guys that did play good enough to play more minutes.
11:56 And it's going to take a little time.
12:00 Coach, I just wanted to ask about the leaders as well.
12:03 Where are we?
12:04 ESS scored just two points, but I was wondering what you saw from him as a facilitator tonight.
12:09 I love Jeremy.
12:10 I've been probably as complimentary of Jeremy as anybody on our team.
12:14 But tonight, you know, he struggled a little bit, which is so normal.
12:19 I mean, he didn't even faze me a bit because I knew he wasn't yet struggling a little bit.
12:24 He still looked damn good to me.
12:26 I mean, he still did some things that I see that's going to make him a great, great guard.
12:32 But he's just trying to figure it out, too, and he's playing with so many different guys.
12:36 And that's going to be a little bit of a challenge for these first couple weeks ahead of us.
12:42 But, you know, I love Jeremy and I love Book.
12:46 I mean, Book came in, he had some three.
12:50 He didn't matter and just knocked it down.
12:53 And he did some good things.
12:55 He had a couple blocks, and that was good.
12:57 He just physically, when they started banging him around under there, he's--
13:02 all of a sudden, his size, he played smaller than he actually was,
13:05 and he's got to play bigger than he actually is because he's got an incredible vertical jump, too.
13:10 You just didn't see it.
13:12 It's not Cohen.
13:14 I can't believe Cohen missed a dunk.
13:15 You guys should write about that.
13:17 That's ridiculous.
13:19 [laughter]
13:22 Four of your starters were on last year's team.
13:24 Is this your starting lineup that you plan to have tonight, one, or is that fifth spot included?
13:32 You know, I mean, I don't know what our--
13:34 I mean, this looks like the best lineup to me right now
13:39 because, you know, I mean, Mahdi and Cooper are going to share some time there,
13:46 and we'll work those other guys in.
13:49 But as far as starters, it's my veterans.
13:51 It's guys that have been through the war.
13:53 They've been through losses.
13:55 They're illegal aliens because they actually failed and didn't leave.
13:59 So it's really cool that they're still around and they've been through it all.
14:03 I think that's really going to help us in the long run.
14:06 But it's hard to say, you know, lineup might change.
14:08 I might throw in one other.
14:11 You know, not last year, it's not the year before.
14:13 I mean, I'm sick of finishing before April.
14:18 So, you know, guys are going to have to play, and that's up to them, not up to me.
14:24 A couple more starting with Jack and then Chris.
14:27 Tom, as much as Mahdi has worked on his offensive seven shots tonight,
14:31 did you ever--
14:33 Yeah, I told you, man, offensive dynamo, Mahdi.
14:37 You know, he did.
14:38 He made a nice jump shot, too, you know.
14:41 And, I mean, Mahdi has been really, really good on ball screen defense.
14:47 Believe it or not, he did not do as good a job tonight on that.
14:50 But he knew it, too.
14:52 And I absolutely love when a guy comes over and says--Jeremy, a freshman,
14:57 said, "My fault on that, Coach.
14:59 That wasn't James.
15:00 I didn't switch."
15:02 I absolutely wanted to kiss the guy, you know.
15:04 I mean, that was great.
15:07 And I think Mahdi did the same thing, you know, a couple of step-ups.
15:10 But he is better offensively, and Koop is better finishing than he was last year,
15:15 you know, and it's a shame because he's working on those free throws, guys.
15:20 You know, it's going to triple in the next couple days, as I told him tonight,
15:24 but he's working on it.
15:25 Could you imagine Mahdi free-throwing for Stags five times as high as AJ?
15:32 I'll tell AJ that tomorrow.
15:34 That'll tick him off.
15:36 But, no, I can't imagine that, you know.
15:39 And in fairness to AJ, I'm just a guy.
15:42 Last night he shot 93.
15:44 You know, we tracked him for 15 minutes.
15:46 I think he was, you know, like 94 of 102 or something.
15:50 You know, he shot the daylight side of it.
15:53 So I'm not worried about AJ this year as far as that goes.
15:58 And he was good.
16:00 I mean, he was fun to coach.
16:02 He was easy to coach, and yet he knows he's got to play a little better
16:06 in some areas.
16:07 But I have no problems with anybody right now.
16:12 When Cohen missed the dunk and then he--
16:14 I had a problem with that.
16:15 What did you say to him?
16:16 What the hell are you doing?
16:18 Embarrassing yourself, I said, your family and everybody else.
16:21 No, I'm just kidding.
16:23 I just said, what happened?
16:24 He goes, I think I was up too high.
16:27 I said, well, lower it down.
16:30 He says, how do I do that?
16:33 I coached, and now a good answer for him, to be honest with you.
16:36 So I just said, don't miss the next one.
16:40 But, you know, you can see where he plays with some energy.
16:44 You know, he's not freewheeling yet because I think he just doesn't know
16:49 everything he's got to do.
16:50 But, I mean, him and Booker, you know, and all those freshmen.
16:55 And Norman's been hurt.
16:59 He did okay.
17:00 You know, he's got a ways to go yet.
17:02 But he was hurt, and he sprained his ankle bad a couple days ago,
17:06 so I didn't even know if he was going to play, to be honest.
17:09 Steve.
17:10 Yes.
17:11 You mentioned about Trey early.
17:13 His ability to kind of float between the one and the two.
17:16 I mean, there was something different, it seemed like,
17:19 confidence about it today.
17:21 You know, I can't believe--I'm glad you brought it up.
17:24 Trey Holden might have been the most steady.
17:27 He guarded.
17:29 It was four for five, one for two from the three, missed the free throw.
17:32 He's a great free throw shooter.
17:34 Only had one rebound, four assists, one turnover in 20 minutes.
17:38 I mean--and he played both positions, which was really cool.
17:43 Yeah, if you asked me who's been our most improved player in the year,
17:49 he would be right up there.
17:51 I remember sometimes the police would tell me people said,
17:55 "I've never watched a film with you."
17:56 I've had some guys who I've been getting soft on myself.
17:59 But he has done a good job, and he did a really good job tonight.
18:04 Yes, Coach.
18:05 Coach, we got to see what makes Cohen exciting tonight.
18:09 Where's he at defensively, and will that determine how much he's able to
18:12 help you going forward this season?
18:15 You know, I don't think he's bad defensively, but, you know,
18:18 sometimes we're playing him at the three, sometimes at the four.
18:20 He's the one guy we're moving around with, especially with Jackson out.
18:24 And that's hard to do as a freshman to try to learn two positions,
18:27 especially when he's switching on one and he's not on the other.
18:30 I think all in all, he did a pretty damn good job considering that.
18:36 You know, shooting's got to keep improving, you know, which it will.
18:40 But if he can defend, then he can rebound.
18:43 And that was the only area I thought he got, you know,
18:48 one offensive rebound and only two rebounds.
18:51 Is that right?
18:52 Yeah, three rebounds.
18:55 You know, not bad at 15 minutes, but not what he's capable of.
18:59 And what we really look at is how many times did he go.
19:04 And a lot of times he just got caught on the perimeter like people do.
19:08 Jaden's still doing that, although Jaden's starting now.
19:11 He'll do a better job of going, and I think what he ended up with,
19:14 six boards but no offenses.
19:16 So he's getting there, and we'll get there.
19:20 But I think we've got some good combinations of guys at these positions
19:23 that can rotate him in.
19:25 What will the minutes end up?
19:27 You know, probably not going to be 50-50,
19:29 but they're probably not going to be 90-10 either.
19:32 Thanks, Coach.
19:33 All set?
19:34 Anything else?
19:36 Well, I promise you Sunday will be a lot different.
19:41 And I don't say that insulting to Goosevelt,
19:43 because I thought they did a great job of moving the ball.
19:47 I just think they were outmanned.
19:49 But Sunday they won't be outmanned, and Rick's a hell of a coach.
19:53 It's going to be fun for him and I because it was last year.
19:57 It'll be good for Maui.
19:59 I think it's going to be great for our fans.
20:01 You know, how many times have we had two top-five teams playing in here?
20:04 It doesn't happen all the time.
20:06 So I'm still hoping because it wasn't on the season ticket package,
20:11 I hope it's half.
20:13 I know it's getting close, but that'll be big too since it wasn't on that.
20:20 We're going to promote that a little bit, I guess.
20:22 But I'm looking forward to it, and I'll see you all Sunday at 3:30.
20:27 Is that when it is?
20:28 Yep.
20:29 See you at 3:30.