• 2 years ago
Iowa basketball players post NIU
Transcript
00:00 to be able to get the ball
00:07 Question for both of you guys.
00:08 Just kind of what changed there
00:09 in the second half. First half
00:11 was a lot of up and down a lot
00:12 of scoring, but then you guys
00:12 kind of took over there in the
00:13 second half. I think at halftime
00:16 coach just kind of addressed
00:17 our defensive intensity. I mean,
00:19 they came out and shot in the
00:21 high sixties, I believe and hit
00:23 eight threes 184 11. So. Just
00:26 kind of address our activity on
00:27 the ball kind of off the ball.
00:29 Offensive end and obviously
00:31 struggled with that in the first
00:33 half. I thought we got off to a
00:34 decent start. And then there was
00:36 a stretch there where we
00:37 struggled and then we got it
00:39 back and you know throughout the
00:40 second half. Can each of you
00:42 just describe what you like
00:43 playing with each other? I mean,
00:46 Ben just has so much experience
00:48 and so much knowledge about the
00:49 game that obviously just the way
00:51 he shoots the ball and the way
00:52 he's able to just move
00:53 confidently on the floor. I just
00:55 I really enjoy playing with them.
00:56 I mean, we're able to like find
00:57 each other and we're not really
00:59 playing each other's game a lot
01:00 more. So just being able to like
01:03 kind of pick his brain about
01:04 things like in practice or
01:06 whether it's on the court and he
01:07 helps me out a lot. So I really
01:09 enjoy playing with them. Yeah,
01:10 and no one's been great about,
01:12 you know, taking advice and
01:13 trying to apply it and bringing
01:15 the energy each and every day.
01:16 And it's definitely not playing
01:17 like a freshman. He's got a
01:18 bright future ahead and you know
01:20 he's he's a tough guy to guard
01:22 and obviously a great shot
01:23 blocker and rebounder as well.
01:25 So was transition defense maybe
01:26 the biggest problem in the first
01:27 half? Not necessarily. I think
01:32 our ball screen D, we're back a
01:34 little bit and then just closing
01:36 out to guys just a little bit
01:37 short, you know, the last couple
01:39 of days we wanted to close out a
01:40 little bit higher contest
01:42 shooters, not not really give
01:43 them a thought of shooting and
01:45 we're just a little short. So
01:46 they got those shots off. Well,
01:48 you just talk about, you know,
01:49 how important the assist the
01:50 turnovers tonight were. I mean
01:51 23 assists for you guys to seven
01:53 turnovers, but you guys forced
01:54 21 turnovers as well. Yeah.
01:56 These past two games. I mean,
01:58 we've shared the ball extremely
02:00 well. I think we had 33 assists
02:01 against UMBC. So I think that
02:03 just comes with learning each
02:05 other's games and everyone's
02:07 just starting to click more and
02:08 you kind of see that on the
02:09 offense starts clicking. And I
02:10 mean, there's that that run the
02:11 second half where we were on
02:13 pace for like a hundred
02:14 something. I mean even more than
02:15 what we scored. So I feel like
02:18 that's where all just starting
02:19 to click more now in the
02:20 offensive end and being able to
02:21 get stopped on the defensive
02:22 end allows us to run out and
02:23 that's where that's where we're
02:24 at our best. Do you feel
02:26 ready to reenter the Big 10 now?
02:28 I think so. Yeah, we I feel like
02:31 the last couple games is given
02:33 us given us our confidence back
02:34 and you know, we'll continue to
02:36 practice hard and address things
02:38 that we need to address and keep
02:39 coming together as a team and
02:41 playing off our strengths and
02:42 we're obviously a very deep team
02:44 and I think we're ready. Six
02:46 guys in double figures tonight.
02:48 I'm sorry if that's already been
02:50 addressed before I got in here
02:51 but product of just the pace of
02:54 the game 142 total shots.
02:56 Just the way things are clicking
02:57 like you guys have talked about.
02:58 What was that? I just feel like
03:00 we have so many weapons on this
03:01 team that can that can go and
03:04 coach address that in the
03:05 locker room. We have so many
03:06 different kind of guys that we
03:07 can we can beat teams with. I
03:08 mean everyone just again start to
03:11 click and once we get in the
03:12 transition, I mean it's a free
03:14 for all. I mean, I think that's
03:16 what this team is like. We don't
03:17 really care about who scores the
03:18 most we care about just getting
03:19 out and getting wins and that's
03:21 how we do it and I'm just being
03:23 able to produce all those
03:26 guys can produce and that's just
03:28 the confidence we have in each
03:29 other. How good was it to get
03:31 Price going? I mean he gets 12
03:33 points tonight. How big was that
03:34 for him? Yeah, that was huge. I
03:36 mean not only for the team but I
03:37 think for his confidence to just
03:38 know that he can come in and
03:39 affect games and obviously did a
03:41 tremendous job of you know
03:42 coming in and playing his role
03:44 well and I thought I thought he
03:46 did some good things on the
03:47 defensive end too and and
03:48 obviously he came in and hit
03:49 some shots. You play at such a
03:51 fast pace you take a lot of
03:52 shots. Does that maybe put more
03:54 pressure on defense because
03:55 there's just so many possessions?
03:56 Absolutely. I mean we we want to
03:59 run the entire 40 minutes of the
04:00 game and and keep attacking. I
04:02 think teams wear out you know
04:04 defensively because we're just
04:06 trying to be relentless and get
04:07 easy easy layups at the end of
04:08 the day. So we work on that
04:10 every day in practice. I just
04:11 want to go back to your
04:12 recruiting process. Just what do
04:14 you remember from that and why
04:15 did you decide to come to Iowa?
04:17 Oh, yeah, so it started pretty
04:19 early. I'm just I had a lot of
04:21 offers my sophomore year and I
04:23 kind of want to get it over
04:24 quickly and after I after I had
04:26 my official visit to it was the
04:28 week Iowa played Penn State in
04:30 football. I just knew and I was
04:32 kind of praying about it and
04:33 that's I just knew this is where
04:34 God wanted me to be. So just
04:36 made that decision super easy.
04:37 So with the amount of shots that
04:39 were put up tonight did you guys
04:41 kind of feel like they were
04:42 trying to be your own game? I
04:44 mean you guys like to run up and
04:45 down every night like you
04:47 mentioned. Coach kind of
04:49 explained to us before that they
04:50 they like to get up and down and
04:51 we knew coming in that we had to
04:53 get back on defense. So it was
04:54 kind of like yeah, it's kind of
04:55 like we're playing against
04:56 ourselves a little bit.
04:58 DeSante Bone and Josh Dix both
04:59 had good nights off the bench.
05:01 Talk about you know what they
05:02 were able to do tonight. Yeah, I
05:03 think both of them came out with
05:05 aggressive scoring mindsets and
05:06 trying to attack and when they're
05:08 aggressive it opened things up
05:10 for other guys to you know
05:11 shooters in the corner or just
05:12 driving lanes and cuts so good
05:14 to see them come out and be
05:15 aggressive.
05:17 Perfect. Thanks guys.