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00:00 >> Yeah, heartfelt, I mean, you look back at all the years playing Cincinnati and
00:04 the Big East days and that physicality that they play with.
00:09 I mean, it reminds me of those old Big East rivalries.
00:12 So it was certainly a huge challenge with us in terms of,
00:17 as well as they rebounded to come out of here with a victory.
00:22 And all that being said, they got 18 offensive rebounds.
00:25 So down the stretch, we're down 10.
00:29 I think it's probably the first time all year we've had a double digit deficit and
00:35 had enough resolve and enough resilience and
00:38 enough poise to make that comeback and get a victory.
00:42 So credit to our guys for staying in it and staying positive and
00:47 grinding one possession out of time to get us the victory.
00:51 Looked like we had a 12-0 run from the 629 mark to the 147 mark.
00:55 So those are critical stops that we had to get and we had to get production on
01:00 the other end and we found a way to kind of grind each possession out to find
01:05 a way to get a win.
01:06 >> Do you think you could get that out of Jesse this quickly and
01:09 did you see his confidence sort of developing over the course of the game?
01:13 >> Yeah, you could see it probably early.
01:16 His confidence was probably tailing on me early because the free throws weren't
01:21 falling for him early and that's gonna be a frustration with him getting
01:25 completely healed.
01:26 But I tried to instill some confidence in him,
01:30 like we're not playing any different.
01:32 We're gonna play aggressive and play to win and if you end up at the line,
01:36 we'll live.
01:37 And so he had all the confidence in the world and from there on out.
01:43 And 25 and 10, it's a difference maker having Jesse out on the floor.
01:50 I can imagine being out with a rebounding thing like that,
01:54 not having Jesse.
01:56 But with the way he can rim run and the threat of a rim run early,
02:01 he's gonna open up everybody on the floor and should be able to play inside out,
02:06 kind of way I envisioned playing from the beginning.
02:08 >> Cincinnati scored us five points in the last about 630 of the game.
02:15 What did you guys step up defensively and
02:16 maybe what did you see Cincinnati not doing so well that led to that?
02:19 >> I don't know, we did much different.
02:23 They made some shots there for a stretch and just kind of cooled off.
02:28 Day Day Thomas came in here and hit three threes.
02:31 It's kind of uncharacteristic of him, but
02:35 credit to him making big shots there in that stretch to put them up 10.
02:40 But we didn't do anything different.
02:42 I think they didn't mourn anything.
02:43 They just kind of cooled off and basketball is a funny game.
02:48 You get that 10 point lead and it gets cut.
02:54 It's a huge swing and momentum and
02:58 confidence when that starts to dwindle a little bit.
03:01 >> Coach, as those pick and rolls high ball screens with Jesse and
03:05 it wasn't always with Curry, sometimes it was Quinn or basically whoever had it.
03:09 Do you feel, did Cincinnati make adjustments on that at all?
03:15 Because it seemed like it was there most of the game.
03:18 >> Yeah, I mean, late in the game, they were doing a really good job of not
03:21 letting not letting Kerr get the ball back.
03:26 And sometimes not always pick and rolls,
03:27 sometimes handoffs that were executing their top of the key.
03:32 But we put even to start the game, I thought the strategy is to go to a four or
03:36 five ball screen and put Quinn in the action and
03:39 make those two bigs guard a ball screen and see what they're gonna do.
03:42 So yeah, I mean, Kerr was he was excellent on his seven assists.
03:48 Two turnovers, Kobe was excellent, three assists, no turnovers.
03:52 So yeah, those guys, it's heck a lot easier being a guard
03:58 with a rim threat or rim run threat like Jesse out there on the floor.
04:03 >> Raekwon was kind of quiet tonight, but
04:05 maybe the biggest shot of the game on the right wing.
04:07 >> Yeah, huge shot and credit to Raekwon.
04:11 I mean, he's had his struggles last couple games, he's been frustrated and
04:15 we've had a lot of conversations.
04:16 And he only took six field goals outside of the couple three
04:22 point shots he got fouled on and went to the line.
04:24 But all that being said, he had 10 and three, or 10 and two.
04:31 And the glaring stat on the box score, he was plus 20 when he was out there.
04:37 So that's a glaring stat to me that he was playing winning basketball for
04:41 us tonight for sure.
04:43 >> How dangerous can you be with all your guys back?
04:47 >> It's gotta be, we gotta build that consistency.
04:51 And that chemistry, it looked at times the chemistry was there tonight and
04:58 it's just gonna, we're building that chemistry in the greatest league,
05:02 in college basketball.
05:04 And so I preach to the guys, we gotta have that discipline,
05:09 we gotta build that consistency from game to game.
05:13 So yeah, we can be dangerous on the way out and I told our guys going into this
05:18 game, I mean, let's treat this like an 11 game season.
05:21 What's stopping us from having a great run here to end this season?
05:28 And let's maximize our potential,
05:30 what's stopping us from maximizing our potential on the way out?
05:33 We were 20 games in and we finally completely got our roster
05:38 that we thought we'd have from day one.
05:40 So there's nothing stopping us from maximizing that potential on the way out.
05:46 >> Josh, the big thing is I guess having the roster back finally, but
05:49 just yesterday you mentioned making waiting plates, the enemy had to do that.
05:54 You were 0 and 10 with a double digit deficit before tonight.
05:57 Those things have to come off the board eventually, right?
05:59 Is that more important than just having everybody together?
06:02 >> Yeah, I mean, that's gonna be a huge confidence boost for us.
06:04 And like I told them, credit to them for
06:08 having the resolve and the resilience and
06:11 the poise to continue to battle and fight.
06:14 Because for a team that's, with 7 and 13 going to this game,
06:19 it's easy to shut it down and say we're done.
06:23 But that's not my message.
06:27 We're gonna fight every single possession, every single game.
06:31 There's no quitting us.
06:32 >> Did it seem close at all tonight to not quit, but
06:35 that look on their eyes, their heads down, anything like that?
06:37 >> No, I didn't see that at all.
06:39 I saw a different mentality out there tonight.
06:41 So like I said, we just gotta continue to build on these things.
06:46 And certainly winning and having the lead and
06:51 keeping the lead's one thing, but to come back from down 10 and a tough situation,
06:57 and continue to fight and battle and find that victory at the end,
07:01 that's gonna be huge for our confidence.
07:03 >> Coach. >> You mentioned Jesse's ability to
07:05 rim run is one of the keys in getting those block passes.
07:09 But there are a lot of really good point guards and a lot of guys built like Jesse
07:14 that aren't as good as that one play phase.
07:18 Is there something else that they do that a lot of other people either can or
07:22 don't do that makes that so successful?
07:24 >> Who's they?
07:26 >> Kurt and Jesse.
07:27 >> Kurt's got great vision.
07:28 He reads defenses as well as any point guard in the country.
07:33 So that was what made us so attracted to him.
07:37 Like when we were recruiting him, he's a coach's dream in terms of having him on
07:42 the floor making the right read.
07:44 And but you have to have those threats around you and
07:48 you have to have a balanced threat.
07:50 And I feel like we finally have those balanced roster to where
07:55 you have threats outside of what they can do to.
07:59 They can certainly key on certain people, which they've keyed on Raekwon,
08:02 without Jesse in the game because they knew that was probably our highest,
08:06 our biggest threat out there on the floor.
08:11 So now we're more of a balanced attack.
08:13 >> You were talking yesterday,
08:16 like you sound like you weren't sure where Jesse was physically and everything.
08:23 So as you're going into this game today, are you still kind of in that mode or
08:27 was there something that made you think, okay, yeah, he's ready to start.
08:31 We're gonna get this from him or I mean.
08:33 >> I mean, he was definitely ready to start.
08:34 I didn't know how many minutes he was gonna get.
08:35 You could see a couple times like he just didn't have that game conditioning, but
08:42 it was a heck of a lot better than what we saw in Stillwater.
08:46 So he gave us nearly ten more minutes than he did the other night and
08:51 he looked like a lot fresher center than I saw against Oklahoma State.
08:57 So we're definitely going in the right direction fast with him.
09:00 It was unfortunate injury there late, but I think that helped us to get our bearings
09:07 under us and get our wind and kind of regroup during that stretch.
09:11 They're late in the game as well.
09:13 >> Was there a point or a moment tonight where you thought, okay,
09:18 we've got Jesse back now?
09:21 >> There's a couple of them, yeah, certainly.
09:23 Put a little twinkle in my eye to see that combination.
09:27 So it certainly makes things easier on me as a coach to have those threats.
09:32 >> Kobe got a lot of runs the second half.
09:35 Defense, what was it that you liked about him that you decided to keep with him?
09:41 >> I've talked about it a lot before in terms of having Noah run the point and
09:45 Kobe can do the same thing.
09:47 And Kobe is one of our best defenders.
09:49 So having him out there and showing up some of our defense, but
09:53 also understand that he can take care of the ball.
09:56 I mean, three assists, no turnovers, five rebounds.
09:58 Defensive rebounds, it's a huge issue here.
10:02 And if I got a guard with his size and go out there and grab five boards,
10:05 it's definitely gonna be beneficial in a game like this.
10:09 >> What did it mean to outscore them in the paint?
10:11 >> That's huge.
10:13 It's huge.
10:14 We haven't outscored a lot of teams in the paint here of recent.
10:17 I don't know when the last time we did.
10:19 So they got two very formidable bigs down there that we were going against.
10:25 And I thought we did, for the most part, a good job of handling all that one on one.
10:32 In those situation, really didn't have to use any double teams.
10:34 But you always worry when you send a double team,
10:38 what type of rotations get on the backside and what type of guys are gonna get open.
10:42 And you don't wanna leave shooters open.
10:45 >> Josh, one more on Curry.
10:46 Can you just take me to the end of the first half with the foul to give that
10:50 kinda stopped them on a drive and didn't hurt the line.
10:52 And then, I guess before that, the decision he makes in the bounce pass to a cook is-
10:56 >> Yeah, there are several situations,
10:57 like even in the first half where we had guys down on the floor.
11:01 And we're definitely at a disadvantage with them coming downhill that we didn't
11:05 utilize that foul to give.
11:07 Even O'Frey at one point did try to use a take foul to shore that up,
11:14 but they didn't even call it in that instance.
11:15 But it was convenient to have fouls to give in a late game situation like that.
11:22 When you try to make them catch that ball in the backcourt and
11:27 immediately burn five or six seconds and then foul and do it all over again.
11:32 That's certainly a nice advantageous
11:36 point in the game to have that late.
11:40 >> End of the first half though, too?
11:42 >> Yeah.
11:43 >> And then the timeout, kind of exactly as you drew it up, I guess,
11:47 the bounce pass to a cook dunk.
11:50 >> Yeah, I mean, if they don't tag on the back side and
11:52 we make the right read, that's gonna be open.
11:54 >> Anything else?
11:57 >> Thank you.