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00:00 Where the hell all the media go? Go Christmas shopping for me or what?
00:03 Well, there were some really good things and the best thing for me was
00:13 when you looked at the last two days and see UCLA get beat by Northridge,
00:19 there were just a bunch of games and there were some that were, you know, Indiana
00:26 down 13 late. There were so many games that
00:30 the Judd-Heathcote rule is, as I told you before,
00:34 the last game before Christmas and the first game after Christmas is when most upsets happen. So we were concerned,
00:42 you know, we thought this team and I talked to Gino and I think he's a really good coach,
00:48 a really good coach, and he just
00:51 said our defense was so good early that they lost confidence in their shooting. They have to make shots and
00:57 you know, our defense wasn't good in the second half again.
01:01 That was a negative. Our rebounding wasn't good in the second half, but I guess in some ways I got a
01:09 you know, 20, 30, 40 points up. It's probably
01:13 hard. It's hard to coach, hard to play. The positives were
01:18 33 assists on 38 basket with Jeremy and
01:21 AJ getting 10 assists each. It's, you know, AJ gets a double-double and I thought did a hell of a job.
01:28 You know, Jeremy getting, we put him in a middle of that zone and he was very good in there and he's never been in
01:35 there before.
01:37 The other big positive, Tyson had a stretch where he was really good and he missed some good shots,
01:42 but Jay Nakens probably had his best game in a long time.
01:46 He shot the ball well in practice the last probably 10 days to two weeks and he's just
01:52 little adjustment on his shot and I think it's really helped and he's really done a nice job.
01:57 So that's encouraging.
02:00 You know, Mahdi and
02:04 Koop, Koop struggled a little bit tonight and Book played a little better tonight.
02:08 We're getting a little more and more out of that position. We tried to get Book some time because
02:14 you know, it's these kind of games he's got to get some time in so he can get some confidence and
02:19 he's making progress and that's all I can ask.
02:25 You know, all in all get 64 shots up, there were all kinds of positives there, just a free-throw shooting,
02:34 rebounding, give up 16 offensive boards and
02:37 40-some points second half was
02:40 discouraging, but other than that
02:43 it was a pretty encouraging night.
02:45 Tom, when your two guys like Tyson and AJ out of the shoot just sort of take control of a game
02:52 that you know could be right before Christmas all that stuff, treat it almost like it's Baylor and you get that,
02:57 set that tone, you get up 13-2 and it allows for everything else that happens.
03:00 Can you speak to the focus you saw from those two and how that changes?
03:05 Graham, that's what I'm most excited about. You know, I talked to AJ and him a lot in the last couple days, almost paranoia.
03:12 If you want the truth from me because coaches do that.
03:15 But last night I text AJ about some team that got upset and
03:19 his text back was don't worry, I'll have them ready to play. I said well that means he's starting to take over the team.
03:25 That's very encouraging, very encouraging. I thought he did a phenomenal job of that.
03:30 He's actually had his best semester academically.
03:34 So he's done some good things and I thought what he did tonight
03:41 was he just controlled the game, controlled our team and got people involved and made shots when he had to.
03:47 Didn't take that many shots and
03:50 you know made most of his free throws.
03:53 I was hoping he'd rebound a little better and so was he but
03:56 yeah, when he does that in Tice, I mean he actually missed some wide-open shots
04:02 but his defense for a stretch early, I mean he
04:07 got his hands on every ball there was to get his hands on. I mean it was, I was impressed.
04:13 I don't know if anybody else was but I was impressed.
04:15 You kind of mentioned about the assists.
04:18 I mean 33 is up there with that, kind of close to that 2000 game against Michigan in terms of sharing the ball.
04:25 What is it, what have you seen from this group?
04:27 I mean there's a lot, it seemed like there were a lot of unselfish moments where guys were making extra passes or just looking for someone.
04:33 You know again, there's watershed moments in a game.
04:35 There's things you look for. You know I thought a couple times Tyson took a couple of shots that were too quick
04:41 and I thought Jayden took about two and I told him that and the next time he passed one up
04:47 and I can't remember who he hit it was a phenomenal play, and I think it was Trey and
04:52 that as a coach makes you feel good, you know because guys are listening, guys are hearing, and then guys
04:59 put what you told them to work, and so I was impressed.
05:04 Jayden's whole demeanor, I mean you know I mean as I told him now what he's got to do is when he doesn't shoot well
05:11 he's still got to have that same focus, but
05:13 he took good shots for the most part, but he's been shooting the lights out in practice, so you know
05:20 even though we didn't shoot it 38% or 7% whatever it was, I think at halftime
05:26 it felt like we had a lot of threes that went in. I thought Malik's was a three and it was a two.
05:30 It seemed like we had a lot that went in and I said at halftime we're shooting 28% you know.
05:35 Then the second half we started making them, and I just said you know where were these shots
05:39 beginning of the year you know, even the ones we missed were right there.
05:43 Beginning of the year ones we missed were like scud missiles you know, and so
05:48 that's really encouraging when your misses look good. I think that's another encouraging part.
05:55 Hey coach, Nick Sanders hit a three-pointer tonight.
05:58 What's it like watching him as a walk-on every day in practice and then seeing that moment tonight?
06:03 You know there are things. I don't know who was more excited.
06:08 I think Steven was more excited than Nick you know, and that was pretty cool. You know Steven's first assist I think,
06:15 Nick's first bucket.
06:17 You know Barry was in the locker room, and I had with his sons, and it was
06:22 you know those are cool moments man. Those are really cool moments, and Nick is an
06:28 incredible student, and so much like his dad with his humbleness and his humility.
06:34 It's just I've had some good walk-ons over the years you know. I mean started with Matt Ishbe have way back, but
06:44 you know
06:48 Davis Smith has been so good for our program and
06:52 Nick Sanders has been unbelievable, and I think you could tell by the bench you know.
06:58 Those guys have a real love for him because they know what he does every day, and
07:03 they were happier than he was. He's got the Barry coolness, but
07:09 Steven and the bench went crazy, so that was cool.
07:12 I think it was
07:15 Xavier Booker. He missed his first two shots,
07:17 but that third one the alley-oop with the feed from Jeremy Fierce. Everyone just celebrated that. I think Tyson like jumped up on him.
07:24 And to see him have the game that he had after you know all of the
07:29 questions about his playing time and stuff. Just what is a game like this do for a freshman like Xavier?
07:34 Well you can still see you know, and I talked to his parents about it, so I can say it to you.
07:39 I mean he still gets pushed around sometimes, but he's doing some more things against certain teams. Now you got to do those against
07:47 other teams like in Nebraska or like the team we're gonna play. He's got a center who's really good.
07:53 But he's making progress you know, and that's I
07:56 think too many people look at the end goal
08:01 instead of the journey to get there. And the journey to get there is hard, so what does this do?
08:06 This probably proves that I'm a bad scheduler because maybe if we could have had some games where he could have played in earlier
08:13 a little bit more. But it also proves that
08:16 you know putting him on the scout team two and a half weeks ago was probably the greatest thing I've done.
08:22 And I did it with Xavier Tillman. I did it with Valentine. I did it with a lot of guys over the years.
08:27 But it's really helped him, and I think what you're seeing is those guys
08:32 you know want him to play harder. Want him to get that motor going.
08:38 And so when he does something like that, because he missed that earlier dunk.
08:43 I mean I keep telling him he's got a 42 inch vertical. I mean that's up there
08:47 not quite with Cohen, but
08:50 not quite with Jay Rich, but up there with him.
08:53 I mean those guys, those are rare error guys. And yet he doesn't always use it. Now he's starting to block shots.
08:59 He hasn't done that all year. You know he's just playing with a little more aggression. I mean and
09:04 you got a long way to go, but I like the journey he's on and that's pretty cool.
09:12 On Xavier, you said, or at least the guys say he doesn't show a lot of emotion.
09:16 Did that come up with the game he had? Did you see a little?
09:19 No, I chewed him out the last time out for that. You know I said you hit a three and you just went cool.
09:25 I said I don't care if you rant and rave, but you know you've got to show some. You got to, when he missed the dunk
09:33 nothing, okay. How about, hey Ty, thanks for the pass.
09:39 Hey coach, that won't happen again. You know those, these are all part of the teaching points, and they might not matter in some programs.
09:46 You damn well better understand it matters in this one. So,
09:50 Book is
09:52 taking baby steps and
09:54 I really, I really love the way
09:58 players responded to him. I love the fact that
10:02 he is moving his feet better. He's in practice. He's being more physical.
10:07 I mean it's just like
10:09 it's all again, I keep saying part of the journey, and the journey for him started a little lower than maybe some others.
10:17 But the journey is what gets you to the rainbow, you know the pot of gold at the end, and that's
10:23 kind of how we're looking at it.
10:25 Okay, so I
10:29 know that in the first half you guys had a shutout half. In the first half you held Stony Brook to 12 points.
10:37 You all scored 20 points in total off turnovers. My question is how have you guys
10:43 focused on Lockheed and Keegan on
10:46 their defensive principles now
10:49 from
10:52 back to the first couple of games?
10:54 You know, believe it or not, if you look at our first couple games, and you look at our defensive field goal percentage and our
11:00 three-point, it was off the charts. We were ranked seventh in the nation, and then as the shooting started going down,
11:06 we weren't guarding as well. I think it affected some guys.
11:09 But I'd say the biggest thing too is the health of Tyson.
11:14 You know, the hip and the weight he lost and the sickness. Because Tyson, he had his hands on more balls today than...
11:21 I just couldn't believe it. I mean I sat there and said, you know, he looked like Professor Gadget.
11:27 You know, his hands were everywhere, and he was just knocking balls loose.
11:31 And then AJ, I think those two have decided that we're gonna guard people, you know, and then Jaden can do it.
11:38 I think Jaden was affected by the shooting, and you know that affects us. Where those two guys,
11:43 Ty has just been a terror defensively these last couple of games.
11:48 And then Marty, I think, has improved some too on the ball screen stuff. So,
11:54 yeah, we're better defensively.
11:56 Malik did an unbelievable job on the kid from
12:00 Oakland. He really did. He scored 17, but on Malik it wasn't many, and I thought he did a great job. So,
12:06 we're starting to put our defense together. Then if we rebound and run, we get a running game going. We did have
12:13 fast break points.
12:16 You know, 27. We had 21. We had 23.
12:19 That's getting better. And yet you got to rebound. I am concerned about our rebounding.
12:26 We're not only not rebounding great, but we're not getting a lot of clean rebounds.
12:30 I'm wondering over the course of the last week and a half since the Nebraska game, the teacher in you, and seeing the guys kind of
12:40 absorb the things that you want them to do and then translating it. How has that been?
12:44 Well, you know, as we talked at
12:47 Nebraska, you know, we
12:53 weren't making shots. We weren't making any shots. Then we started to make some in that game even. I just felt like
13:01 our defense wasn't as good, but they made some shots. You know, when you make three or four Chrysler's, you know,
13:08 that's the difference in shooting 42% or 30% because you don't have that many
13:16 shots, you know.
13:18 So that's what's hard for people to understand. Sometimes the other team just plays good, you know.
13:24 They make shots. I don't even know if they played good. They made shots.
13:27 That's why I think our rebounding is so important. Our defense is so important because that should be more constant.
13:34 We did have a lot of meetings and a lot of talks.
13:38 You know, we think we got some things straightened out with Jaden's shot. We think that...
13:44 I mean, AJ's been, you know, pretty good for the last four or five games.
13:49 You know, he's had, I want to say, six or seven double-figure games now, and he's shooting a higher percentage. He's
13:56 getting assists, not turning the ball over a lot.
14:00 You know, I'm really pleased with how he's played.
14:05 You know, we'll find out because things change here quickly.
14:11 Most people think they're going to change when the Big Ten starts.
14:14 I've done some weird scheduling things, but this one,
14:20 this team is good.
14:22 They're well coached.
14:24 They've got five guys that are shooting over 40 from the three, including their center.
14:30 Everybody I talked to,
14:33 you know, it was more like, "Why would you do that?"
14:37 And so, like a good head coach, I blame KP.
14:41 You know, that's because that's what we do. But at the same time,
14:45 it's not me like they're better than a lot of the Big Ten teams, so maybe it's a good progression into it.
14:50 We'll see. We'll see how our guys come back. We'll see what kind of condition they're in. We'll see if they come back. Today,
14:57 they came with some vigor, you know.
15:00 That was a really encouraging part because that showed maturity, and Tyson and AJ deserve a lot of credit for that.
15:07 I think that showed really maturity on their part, and when AJ texted me that back last night,
15:14 I believed him, and that hasn't always been the case.
15:17 So I think he too, we're all growing
15:21 different ways,
15:24 but I think it's towards the same goal.
15:26 Man, we've been through hell now. I mean, you guys know it's been a tough run
15:33 when you shoot as poorly, not losing the games, just shoot as poorly as we shot.
15:38 But,
15:40 and those starts, and now we've corrected some of that, and
15:43 like people say, you got to go through some hard times. Makes the good times better, so we'll see if that's true.
15:50 Anything else?
15:53 Well, let me close by saying to everybody on TV and news that I hope you have a
15:59 happy holiday, and whatever way you're celebrating it, I hope you get to spend some time with your families.
16:04 As you get older, you realize that
16:07 your family is important, and that you got to find a way to spend some
16:13 time with them. Christmas usually brings everybody together,
16:16 the holiday season in general, and
16:20 I hope you have a great time. I hope you take care of yourself, and I hope you show up here the game after Christmas,
16:28 because I think it's going to be a hell of a game.
16:30 Thanks.