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00:00 Who's having the party?
00:07 I'm sure you're going to ask me, so I'll ask you, are you concerned about three point
00:27 shooting?
00:28 I'm going to tell you I'm not because we did it all summer, all fall, shot the ball really
00:35 well.
00:36 I didn't go in, on the other side of the coin it was great to get to the free throw line
00:43 a lot and make a lot of free throws.
00:45 The positives, our defense was very good early, we had a few lapses in the second half, but
00:52 it was very good.
00:54 Turnovers were ok, we tried to throw a couple of lobs, and I, like I credit AJ, tried one
01:04 tip booker to try to get him going, and that's book's fault, you can see the strength is
01:09 still a factor with him.
01:13 But we didn't get the ball to Tyson enough early, but we tried to do what we did and
01:20 did exactly what we wanted to do.
01:24 You know and I know we're not going to play everybody 20 minutes, 10 guys 20 minutes.
01:28 We almost did that tonight for a reason, and we'll use a lot of that to see now, start
01:35 separating the playing time a little bit more.
01:38 Still play a lot of guys, I guess there were disappointments, I was disappointed in Cohen
01:42 because he was so good the other night, and he did not guard very well and do the things
01:49 he's got to do, and he was the first to admit it after.
01:52 So, you know there were some bright spots in Motty early, Motty going to the free throw
01:56 line, Motty getting 10 rebounds, I thought Malik was more aggressive early, but when
02:02 you're subbing like we subbed, and again we did it all on purpose, you know we were going
02:09 to expect some bumps on the road, especially in a game like this.
02:13 Questions?
02:15 Tom, what did you think about how your team bounced back in general and specifically Jadon
02:21 Ingoes?
02:22 I thought Jadon did some good things, but I mean honestly, Jadon's a lot better player
02:26 than he played, you know there were some turnovers and there were some things, decisions that
02:30 were made.
02:31 He's a better player, he knows it, and I know it, but he did bounce back and make some shots,
02:36 he had two wide open threes, and he makes those all day long.
02:41 But he gets 13 points, and what he has continued to do is rebound the ball, and that's one
02:47 thing we asked of him after the Tennessee game, and to his credit he's done a phenomenal
02:52 job on that.
02:56 So we'll keep growing from there, but we just didn't get enough shots, 52 shots, not enough
03:02 shots, it really wasn't because of the turnovers, we didn't get a lot of offensive rebounds,
03:07 and that hurt us a little bit, but I think the biggest thing is, they had 28 free throws,
03:13 and our defense was good enough where they did not score early in their possessions,
03:19 so that took up clock time, and I thought, you know, I'd like to get 60 some shots up,
03:26 but when you get 28 free throws that really doesn't happen.
03:30 Hey Tom, congrats on the win.
03:32 Going back over these three games, a combined lesson you think your team can get from this
03:37 that you may use in the future possibly?
03:41 Yeah, well, I haven't thought about that, we've got to rebound the ball better, I think
03:49 is one lesson.
03:51 We have to play a lot more physical, but we've got some guys that aren't as physical right
03:57 now.
03:58 We've got to play more physical, I mean Tyson's not a physical guy, although he plays pretty
04:03 hard.
04:04 I thought AJ has to play better, you know, he was okay, but I think maybe a little bummed
04:12 out that he didn't play as many minutes on a couple stretches, but we told him that was
04:17 going to happen until he starts playing harder all the time, so I haven't put a lot of pressure
04:23 on AJ because he's one of my better players.
04:27 Tyson, I mean he gave me everything because his back is very solid, he had a brace on
04:33 some of it, so we need to get him a couple days here.
04:38 I just think that our best players, Malik and Jaden and AJ have to play better than
04:46 maybe they've been playing.
04:48 Tom, after the James Madison game, you said you were going to make some changes, what
04:53 were the changes and what are you happy with?
04:55 I did make some changes, I didn't bench anybody because my man back there would probably have
05:01 a bird, so I didn't want to get any controversy, no one's self-intended, but I'm looking right
05:07 at you.
05:08 But I think in general, you know, we just told guys that they don't play harder, you
05:14 know, and push the ball more and do more things, I'm not going to play it, I'm just going
05:19 to take you out.
05:20 So there were a lot of subtle changes made, we just didn't want to make monster changes
05:25 because we didn't want to have a quarterback controversy this early in the season.
05:29 Coach, you mentioned a lack of physicality in this game today, can you assess your confidence
05:38 level and is it still going to guys with Filipovski and Mark Mitchell coming in to support you
05:42 guys going into Chicago to face them on Tuesday?
05:45 Yeah, you know, I mean, you know, Mitchell is very physical as we know and so is their
05:51 other center who played at Northwestern, but Marty can handle himself.
05:57 I was a little disappointed in Carson tonight too as far as being physical, you know, but
06:03 he is a physical kid, he got punched in the ribs early in the game, knocked the wind out
06:08 of him and I think he let that affect him a little bit, but you know, we just got to
06:14 get a lot more out of Cohen, you know, because he is physical and he will play physical and
06:24 then AJ's got to really man up, I mean for AJ not to get a rebound on a free throw.
06:31 And he played pretty good, you know, if Book makes three dunks that he should have made,
06:40 that's three more assists and he has a big assist tonight, but I think he's got to do
06:47 more, he's got to have his hands on the ball more, rather than guys taking the ball up
06:50 and those guys are better shooters, he's better with the ball, so we'll have to make some
06:55 adjustments still and some of that will be my fault, some of that I've got to get better
06:59 at and some of it will be, you know, their fault.
07:02 Tom, they scored I think 12 in the row earlier in the second half, but it was, some of your
07:07 guys, you served the kind of, you led the charge after that, I mean with Book and Trey
07:10 and Jeremy, I mean how encouraging was it to see those guys have a good time?
07:14 Well it was, you know, and the encouraging thing is they did, the discouraging thing
07:17 is our veterans let that kind of go, but they hit some shots too, you know, and they haven't
07:23 been shooting the ball real well and I think they hit three threes in a row, now they only
07:28 hit five in the second half, but they hit three of them in a row, so it made it really
07:33 look bad, but you know I'm not, I knew there would be a little process to this, I did not
07:41 think we would shoot this bad from the three, so if there's a controversy that's where
07:46 the controversy is, but I'm not making it one, I leave that to everybody else, I see
07:52 them every day, not even something I talked about once to any of you, and yet, you know,
08:00 stuff happens and we just have to work our way through it, so mentally tough we are.
08:07 Coach, you talked a little bit about Xavier Booker's play tonight, but what did you see
08:12 from him in that extended minutes he had?
08:14 I love Xavier Booker, he's just, he's just got to get, you know, a lot, a lot stronger
08:24 and a lot tougher mentally, you know, and we knew that, he knew that, his family knows
08:30 that, and we're just going to work on it every day, I mean believe it or not he's made some
08:35 progress, but I mean those two dunks he should have had, he just kind of went up soft, you
08:40 know, and that's not how he's been, so you know maybe getting a little tired playing,
08:47 what did he play, 18 minutes?
08:49 How many did Book play?
08:52 16.
08:53 16 minutes, 17 minutes, I mean that's more than he, you know, has been playing, and so
08:59 it's all part of the growing process, but you know, he's just got to learn how to keep
09:05 that motor running, you know, we have a free throw cut out, you know, he doesn't do it,
09:10 he's got to do that, and he knows it.
09:13 I think the guy that was most disappointed in him, and it was really good for a freshman,
09:17 was Cohen, you know, he was mad at himself and anybody, and that's always a good sign.
09:23 Hey Coach, obviously Jeremy's a great player, that's why he's here, but can you talk about
09:28 how much, how important it is having a young guy with such developed leadership skills
09:33 on the team?
09:34 Yeah, he does have leadership skills, and you know, he's got to continue to use them,
09:39 and you know, all those guys, I think, you know, we do such a poor job in high school
09:47 and everything, you know, that's why everybody's gone to the transfer portal, to be very honest
09:51 with you.
09:52 I mean, you look around the country, there's so few freshmen playing on significant teams,
09:58 there's just not nearly as many, because everybody knows the process takes so long, and these
10:04 guys think they can come in and just be factors immediately, and it's not easy to do that.
10:09 So, but at the same time, when we get through it and get it done, I think it's going to
10:16 benefit us a lot.
10:17 He is the one guy that he is tough enough, and he is vocal enough, but like, you know,
10:24 I think he came here to push the ball, but we want him to push the ball.
10:29 He's got to push the ball, and I bet Imani was on him about that more than anything tonight,
10:35 you know, but he can guard, he can get after it, made a nice jump shot, he threw a couple
10:42 lobs that should have been, ended up with five assists and no turnovers, I believe.
10:49 That's incredible stats for him.
10:52 Pretty good defense, five turnovers, no, or five assists, no turnovers, 18 and a half
10:57 minutes of play.
10:59 That's a good night, because he should have had three more assists, the guys would have
11:03 made some shots.
11:05 Steve, one last question.
11:07 I'm wondering about the, the jump that you mentioned about the minutes, and the bumpy
11:14 road that might be ahead while you do that.
11:17 What do you expect, I mean, I guess how long do you expect that to be a situation, and
11:23 do you think it's something that, do you have like a date or games where you kind of want
11:29 to have an iron out a little bit by it?
11:31 I don't mind answering this question in a bad way, because you asked it in a worse way,
11:36 like you've stunned it 13 times, and so I haven't allowed a couple of stumbles on my
11:41 answer, but there's no, there's no date, there's no magical time, I mean, this is,
11:47 this is going to take a little time to get these guys, I mean, I look at it as I've got
11:52 five veterans, and I've got five lookies really, you know, because Carson and Trey did not
12:00 play enough minutes to make that a factor, and so, you know, sometimes too, the way we
12:07 saw tonight, get them all in there together, you know, I need to have Book in there with
12:13 the four starters, I need to have Cohen in there with the four starters, you know, we
12:19 got to do a little bit of that, I don't think I'm going to try to experiment at all next
12:24 week, and that game, I think it'll be a little bigger, so, you know, we'll see what happens
12:30 in the four or five days of practice, we'll see what we get out of the film session, but
12:35 the stronger, tougher guys are going to play more, and this is going to take a little time,
12:41 so I'm going to answer it like you asked it, you know, I don't have a date, I don't have
12:47 a game, I don't have a number of games, for the most part I'm still a big picture guy,
12:53 and I'm worried about what happens, you know, a month from now, not what happens a day from
13:01 now, and that's the way we'll do it.
13:03 All right, we'll wrap up here with Molly.
13:05 Obviously, the season is a marathon and not a sprint, but two games in, just where are
13:10 you think this team is at, are you surprised by some of the issues that you guys are facing,
13:16 especially now that your schedule gets a lot more difficult with Duke, Butler, Arizona
13:21 on tap?
13:23 You know, I can't be surprised by the lack of three point shooting, you know, I mean,
13:30 it's, because I am not, you know, a month from now I might be saying, speaking differently,
13:40 but I just went five months and watched guys shoot, so that doesn't phase me.
13:44 The free throw shooting is more important, and I think we'll get that handled, but, you
13:51 know, if we win the game the other night by one, because the shot doesn't go in, we all
13:55 probably feel different, you know, and then the phony fans and the internet people don't
14:00 get all upset, and, because I was upset about the loss, I wasn't upset about the things
14:06 that happened, I mean, you just can't go one for 20, you can't go 23 for 41, you know,
14:14 it's not happened in my career, it's not happened in my lifetime, and I don't think it'll happen
14:19 in my lifetime.
14:20 So, just one more basket, one more free throw and we win the game, and then it kind of solves
14:26 everything, and that wouldn't have meant we were any better.
14:31 So, yeah, I'm disappointed, I'm upset about it, but I'm a little more disappointed that
14:41 our veterans have to, you know, have to play better, but this is a good learning lesson
14:47 for AJ, this is a good learning lesson, you know, we can't have play like we did the other
14:54 day and just let it happen, so there might be another loss, there could be a couple more
15:00 losses as we figure out what we gotta do, but we're gonna play harder and we're gonna
15:07 play a little better, and we've got our free throws, now we're gonna start attacking the
15:12 physical part, you know, the rebounding, and then defending, I mean, I don't know, that
15:20 team was pretty good, they shot their, before, you know, JMU, they shot 36 and 27, this team
15:28 shot 31 and 29, I mean, you take those against good teams, bad teams, any teams, so that's
15:37 not the problem, offense is a little bit of a problem right now, because guys are making
15:42 shots, so we just have to continue, but I got time for another question if you want
15:50 one.
15:51 Probably a little better, I hope.
15:54 Me too.
15:56 That 12-0 run that they had in the second half, I think the starters were out there,
16:03 and then you subbed in that group with Cooper and Holloman, I guess, what did you see on
16:10 both ends of that run?
16:11 Well, I think you guys are looking for Magic Johnson to fly in, you know, those freshmen
16:17 aren't gonna be good, just, again, go around the country, go around the Big Ten, and tell
16:25 me how many are playing.
16:27 So, they're not saving the day on Tuesday, they're gonna get better, but the day's gonna
16:33 be saved by the veterans that have been through the wars, and then those guys are gonna supplement
16:38 in, and there's two of them now that are ready to do it right now, there's another one that's
16:42 gonna take a little longer, and we knew that from day one.
16:46 So, I'm not, I don't look at that as anything big, but because they came in and gave us
16:57 a little run, I'm not, let me see, gambling's legal now, I wouldn't bet that I'm gonna start
17:05 those five on Tuesday.
17:07 What about the 12-0 run of the four, what was the starters like?
17:11 Disappointing, yeah.
17:13 They hit a couple of threes, we had a couple of misses, we didn't get a couple of rebounds,
17:17 they had kick-out threes, yeah, disappointed.
17:21 AJ's gotta go in there and get some, because he's strong enough, tough enough to do that.
17:25 For him to have no rebounds is not good, but I think he was, I think he was a little upset,
17:31 so, misery loves company, you know, maybe him and I'll spend the night together and
17:39 talk about it all, have some fun.
17:41 All good.
17:43 Thanks.
17:45 No questions.
17:47 Man.
17:49 Man.