Matt Painter Post Iowa 12024

  • 9 months ago
Matt Painter Interview
Transcript
00:00 Ryan, go ahead.
00:01 Matt, what changed the tide of the game in your effort
00:04 against [INAUDIBLE]
00:07 Yeah, just trying to settle in and take care of the basketball.
00:12 I thought we had a couple unforced errors.
00:15 Just giving ourselves a chance in terms
00:17 of playing through the post, playing through ball screens,
00:20 and just kind of taking what Iowa gives us.
00:22 And not trying to have predetermined thoughts.
00:25 At times, we get a little carried away with it.
00:28 And if we can get the basketball inside, then great.
00:32 If we can't, and they try to take that away,
00:35 then really look for those shooters coming off pin downs.
00:37 And just getting shots and then trying to live on the glass.
00:41 We have a great rebounding team.
00:42 And tonight, our ability to rebound the ball
00:45 was probably the difference in the game.
00:47 Out-rebound by 26 and getting 19 offensive rebounds
00:50 was pretty impressive.
00:51 Coach, it looked like Iowa had a potential to get back in it.
00:56 I think like five minutes left.
00:58 You held them scoreless from the field over that final 444.
01:02 What was working for you guys?
01:03 Yeah, I thought it was--
01:04 I thought both teams got pretty fatigued there,
01:07 to be honest with you.
01:08 I thought we had some good looks.
01:10 Sanford got away from us a couple of times.
01:12 We're very fortunate that he just
01:13 missed some of those threes.
01:15 He got that one flare and wide open.
01:17 Then he got a couple more right after that.
01:19 And you thought-- and you've seen
01:21 how he's single-handedly in those situations
01:24 and get it rolling and make it really difficult.
01:27 But that's what I looked at.
01:29 I thought Zach was pretty gassed.
01:30 I thought Braden was pretty gassed.
01:32 Then some of the looks on the Iowa guys' face,
01:35 I thought everybody played really hard
01:38 and just got really fatigued.
01:39 And sometimes late in games, that happens.
01:41 And you see some shots get short and not go in.
01:44 Just to stretch you personally, you and Zach had a--
01:48 Cam gets a putback.
01:49 Caleb gets a putback.
01:50 You get basically four straight points from each.
01:52 John, you mentioned it.
01:54 Kind of weathering that.
01:56 Yeah, just being active.
01:58 Obviously, we prefer Zach to be in the game.
02:01 But how are we going to play when he gets in foul trouble?
02:04 Or how are we going to play when we're
02:05 trying to give him a breather right there?
02:08 And I thought those guys were very active.
02:11 Sometimes when you get into rotations--
02:13 and I know he's not in during that thing.
02:15 When you get into rotations and you're
02:16 doubling and doing some different things,
02:19 now you don't have great blockout responsibility.
02:21 And that's the downside of it.
02:22 Because we scheme at times, and that really affects us.
02:26 But he normally saves the day for us,
02:28 which I call satellite defense.
02:30 If you can get him on somebody that he
02:32 doesn't have to cover on the perimeter,
02:34 he can just stay in there.
02:36 But I thought Caleb and Cam and Ethan
02:38 right there in that stretch really helped us.
02:40 And I think Mason, just in general, when he subs in,
02:43 his ability to stretch the defense as that other big
02:46 really helps.
02:47 Matt, you've coached a lot of really good big men.
02:49 You've played against a lot of really good bigs.
02:51 Owen Freeman, there's a lot of excitement in Iowa City
02:53 about him.
02:53 I know he had a little bit of foul trouble tonight.
02:55 But I was just curious what your scouting report
02:57 and your early perception of him is.
02:58 Yeah, for us, we went back and forth
03:01 about who should guard who, like Owen Freeman and Kriki.
03:05 Because Kriki can stretch you out a little bit more right now.
03:08 And then we don't like to get Z-Bo away from the basket.
03:11 So we put Zach on him.
03:13 But it's not fair because he gets into foul trouble.
03:15 But he's got a combination of size and athleticism.
03:18 He can move.
03:19 And so sometimes the guys that can move
03:21 don't have the strength.
03:22 He has both.
03:23 And now he's got to build to where now he can drive that
03:26 ball from the high post.
03:27 He can shoot from the perimeter because he's
03:29 got the other stuff.
03:30 He's got the intangibles.
03:32 His competitive spirit's high.
03:34 And that's sometimes what you don't see with bigs.
03:36 You wonder about their motor and getting going.
03:38 He's got a really good motor.
03:40 And he's in a great place.
03:42 If you look at the bigs and the combo forwards that Fran's had,
03:45 he's really utilized them and got the most out of them
03:48 offensively just with--
03:49 now he's got to add a piece to his game.
03:52 Because look how many times he's been freshman of the week.
03:55 Look how productive he's been.
03:56 He's been a very productive player.
03:57 Now he needs to make that jump and be an all-conference type
04:00 guy.
04:01 And he has the ability to do so.
04:03 You saw Iowa earlier in the year.
04:04 Yes.
04:05 You've seen them now.
04:06 Has there been much growth?
04:08 Yeah.
04:08 And in what ways?
04:10 Yeah, without question.
04:11 They've won six out of seven, three games in a row,
04:14 coming in here.
04:15 We have the distinct ability to be
04:18 able to have somebody in the game
04:20 that they can't have in their practice.
04:22 And it's just hard.
04:23 And it's just different.
04:25 So when you don't do that and they spread you out
04:28 and they attack you, it's hard.
04:30 I told our team, I said, you're not
04:31 seeing the same Iowa team that we saw earlier in the year.
04:34 And that's a human nature thing.
04:36 Because we had a pretty substantial victory
04:40 in that game.
04:41 So human nature, guys are like, OK, this will be all right.
04:43 I'm like, it's not the same team.
04:45 All those guys have made progress.
04:47 They didn't have Patrick today.
04:49 And I think the place--
04:51 Patrick helps him in that press.
04:53 Patrick gets on that point of that press and causes havoc.
04:56 And now he has an interchangeable piece.
04:57 He's got length.
04:58 He's got athleticism.
05:00 But no, I just think that Owen Freeman making the jump,
05:05 Dix, me and Moore, of a main guy to go along with Sanford.
05:09 Perk didn't have a good game against us at our place.
05:11 And he was fabulous tonight.
05:12 And I told those guys that.
05:14 I said, hey, the kid's got a lot of pride.
05:15 He's a good player.
05:17 He torched us in that Big 10 tournament championship.
05:20 That was nice of Iowa to put that up there,
05:22 about them beating us in the tournament championship.
05:26 But no, they're going to keep getting better.
05:29 You want more.
05:30 There's not a fan base in the country that doesn't want more.
05:33 No matter what your record is or whatever,
05:36 people want more from you.
05:37 And that's OK.
05:38 Because we're all competitive.
05:39 And we want more, too.
05:40 Matt, how has your bench expanded just defensively
05:43 to make an impact?
05:44 This seems like two games in a row
05:45 where Ethan and Camden both were kind of sparks.
05:48 Yeah, both those guys have really helped us.
05:50 I thought Mason did a good job tonight.
05:53 He had a couple of real physical box outs.
05:56 Didn't allow those guys to get angles on him there.
06:00 But no, just playing the role, it's hard, man.
06:02 People don't realize when you look at people
06:04 and they play eight minutes, nine minutes, eight minutes.
06:09 And they're still productive.
06:10 Most people, like when you sub in twice
06:12 and you play eight minutes total,
06:14 it's hard to get in the flow of things.
06:16 It's hard to understand that.
06:17 But if you just accept those type of things
06:19 and just keep getting better in all those areas,
06:21 you're going to give yourself a better chance.
06:23 But you're also going to help your team win.
06:25 You got some timely shots.
06:26 You mentioned the fatigue down the stretch.
06:28 But I think you had three turnovers and four possessions.
06:30 But Braden hits a three that kind of stops a run.
06:32 And then Lance, obviously, with the step back
06:34 that pretty much ended this game.
06:36 Is that just guys that have played a lot of ball
06:38 and kind of going out to win?
06:39 Yeah, just trying to be positive with them.
06:41 When they take good shots and they
06:43 miss them, just trying to encourage
06:44 them to keep shooting them.
06:45 And that's all we do.
06:47 And Fran's one of the best at that,
06:49 at making guys feel good about themselves.
06:51 And you harp on them about rebounding.
06:53 You harp on them about guarding.
06:54 You harp on them about playing harder.
06:56 But then when it comes to taking good shots and missing them,
06:59 you can't harp on them.
07:00 They're not trying to miss it.
07:02 That's where you got to be positive and just engage them
07:05 to understand.
07:06 Like when that comes back around again
07:07 and you've missed those two, you got to take it again.
07:10 For us, we've really gotten that way
07:12 because our ability to rebound and offensive rebound,
07:16 we've been able to do it at a high clip.
07:17 So sometimes our misses generates points for us.
07:21 But our turnovers don't.
07:23 And that generates for the other team, especially the pick sixes.
07:26 So that's all we try to do with those guys,
07:27 even if they've missed.
07:29 Just keep encouraging them.
07:30 But those were both really big shots for us.
07:32 Just trying to look for Lance to play the same role as he did
07:36 in SIU.
07:38 That leading score mentality he brought from NBC,
07:41 helping him as well in situations like that.
07:43 Yeah.
07:44 He's not scared of the moment.
07:47 Sometimes that helps us.
07:48 Sometimes that hurts us.
07:49 But God bless him.
07:53 But no, just understanding.
07:55 Like in the first half, he's got Zevo three or four times
07:58 when he's taking those shots.
08:00 And so if he's wide open and they're not being contested,
08:03 there's nothing wrong with that.
08:04 But when they're getting contested,
08:06 you've got to throw that to big fella.
08:08 One thing you're not going to do is
08:09 you're not going to get into the bonus.
08:10 You're not going to wear people out.
08:12 You're not going to get to the free throw line shooting
08:13 tough threes.
08:14 You're just not.
08:15 And you might have a game where you can make a bunch
08:17 and good for you.
08:18 But over the long haul, get those starters on the bench,
08:22 get to the free throw line, and just keep wearing people out.
08:25 And if they want to come double and get in rotations,
08:27 now we're still going to get an open shot then.
08:30 But now, see the rotations are people
08:32 that don't double a lot.
08:33 It's really hard for them.
08:34 They get a good double, but their rotation is not good.
08:37 But their rebound balance isn't good.
08:39 And so we get doubled all the time.
08:41 So that's what it gets.
08:42 So we've learned to try to generate offense
08:45 when people fly at us and they're rotating around.
08:47 Now they don't know who they have because somebody
08:50 went and doubled the post.
08:51 Is he OK?
08:52 Do you know what--
08:53 Trey, I don't know.
08:54 I didn't check with him.
08:55 I didn't.
08:56 He seemed to be OK.
08:58 But he had took a hard--
08:59 I'm just glad he boxed out.
09:02 Is there anything else?
09:04 Thank you.
09:04 Thanks, man.