Chris Holtmann Press Conference After Win vs Miami (OH)
Chris Holtmann Press Conference After Win vs Miami (OH)
Transcript
00:00 I thought we really fought as I expected them to do.
00:04 Travis's team's tough, hard, he's got a tough, hard nose group,
00:08 young bunch of really good young talented players that are gonna be really good.
00:13 So we'll coach the group.
00:14 So good luck to them on a great season.
00:19 Yeah, some good things, things we've gotta work on.
00:21 Moving on, questions.
00:25 >> Moving on, what was your level of concern?
00:30 You talked about this the other night, but playing this game midweek.
00:33 >> Yeah. >> Between Big Ten games,
00:34 how did you feel your team handled that preparation?
00:36 >> Good, yeah, pretty good.
00:38 I thought they had a readiness to play.
00:41 I did think we looked a little fatigued, a couple guys looked a little fatigued.
00:45 And I was cognizant of that, Adam.
00:49 But overall, I thought we had a good readiness to play.
00:53 I thought we knew this was a group that was coming off beating Marshall and
00:57 that was capable.
01:00 So I didn't really have any complaints with that.
01:03 I'm not sure our effort was always right where it needed, or
01:06 maybe our focus and our concentration.
01:08 But it was for good parts of the game.
01:10 >> And I know you were worried about their three point shooting.
01:13 I know they shoot well.
01:15 They shot a high percentage, but not nearly as many as they normally do.
01:18 Were you able to take away some of their looks?
01:21 >> That was one of the keys.
01:22 They were shooting about 44.5, about 45% of their shots.
01:28 Fewer attempts for threes, that was the number one team we had played.
01:30 That was more than Alabama.
01:32 And then their effective field goal percentage was one of the best things
01:37 they do, is one of the best of anybody we had played.
01:40 So those numbers combined certainly will put a scare into you as a coach.
01:45 So we had to make sure we had a game plan that was ready to take away.
01:49 And there's a lot that goes into that in terms of your ball screen defense and
01:53 how you're playing things.
01:55 But we got spread out a little bit, got back a little bit, but
01:58 I thought we were able to take away clean looks.
02:01 More than anything, eliminate the volume of threes.
02:04 >> Chris, in the first half, it looked like you had a bench heavy lineup in there.
02:09 I think four guys, Dale, I think Scotty, Devin, and
02:13 Zed were all in there with Roddy.
02:14 What do you like from that group, and just this bench in general?
02:16 You talked about the depth of this team.
02:18 What is special about this bench right now?
02:20 >> I thought our bench was good tonight.
02:21 I did, I thought our bench was really good.
02:23 I thought Devin continues to grow.
02:26 That's what young players have to do.
02:27 They have to grow in the minutes that are given to them, and
02:29 they've gotta grow in practice.
02:31 And I think Devin's gotten a little bit better in practice.
02:35 Can't emphasize that enough.
02:36 Guys think they've gotta, guys say, well, guys don't say it, but
02:40 you hear this all the time, that kid's a gamer.
02:41 Well, I'd like to see him be a gamer in practice first.
02:46 And Devin has done that, and to his credit, I think as a byproduct of that,
02:51 is he's gotten better, he's produced in games.
02:54 Now, he's gotta foul less, his technique has to get better, normal freshman stuff.
02:58 But I thought he was good, I thought Scotty was good, I thought Zed.
03:01 Six offensive rebounds were tremendous,
03:03 really good effort on the glass there in the first half.
03:08 And Dale continues to give us a good pop there.
03:12 >> Yeah, and then the offensive glass, you just mentioned it.
03:14 I mean, yeah, first half wasn't perfect, but the offensive glass carried you guys,
03:17 I felt like.
03:18 How much of that was an emphasis coming into tonight, and what did you see from it?
03:22 >> Yeah, their defensive rebounding percentage is not good, so
03:24 we felt like that was an area we could attack them.
03:27 They did not have a good defensive rebounding percentage number, so
03:32 we did emphasize that.
03:33 But more than anything, it's hard to emphasize that going into a game.
03:35 I think that's gotta be a part of what you do.
03:38 Our numbers this year are better than what they've been in past years.
03:40 We continue to emphasize it, it's what we need to do.