Penn State head coach Mike Rhoades speaks to the press following the Nittany Lions men's basketball game versus the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday, February 3, 2024.
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00:00 - Well, first of all, just awesome basketball game
00:05 and fire me, this is my first time ever at Assembly Hall.
00:11 I've watched many, many Indiana games growing up
00:14 and it's an honor to be on the court today,
00:16 coaching my team and being a part of this historic
00:20 atmosphere arena.
00:24 So, really proud of our guys.
00:26 I thought we had a really good practice yesterday.
00:30 Our game plan wasn't very complicated,
00:32 it had to be simple so we can play really hard
00:34 and play with a clear mind.
00:35 I thought we did that and I thought we shared the ball
00:38 on offense and really helped each other on defense
00:40 and we did a good enough job rebounding
00:42 to get our offense going a little bit.
00:45 So, just a great team effort, really proud of our guys.
00:48 - What enabled you to come back from a double digit deficit
00:53 in the first half to just, you know,
00:56 close at the four and then you just took off
00:57 in the second half?
00:58 - It's been a good experience.
00:59 We've been doing it all year long.
01:00 So, we've been very inconsistent throughout this year.
01:05 So, we've had leads, given them up,
01:09 we've been down a lot and have come back
01:12 and we got down on the road at Purdue and Ohio State,
01:16 bad, that we can never connect,
01:18 get back connected to the game.
01:20 So, we've been through a lot of stuff this year,
01:22 which is you're always your best teacher.
01:24 So, I think we settled down a little bit.
01:27 I thought we just got, after getting down,
01:31 I thought we just got some better shots
01:34 and made some shots.
01:34 And when we don't turn the ball over
01:36 and we keep that ball moving,
01:37 and we do get good shots,
01:38 and a guy like A's can hit down the middle
01:40 and create for himself and others.
01:42 That's sort of, we got going with that.
01:44 And of course, we made three steals,
01:45 but we didn't shoot 12 for 22,
01:48 we had a good shot like that all year long.
01:49 So, we made three steals.
01:51 - Mike, if you didn't know you didn't have contact clarity,
01:56 if you came to the gym today,
01:58 didn't know that, you would never,
02:00 would have realized it.
02:01 What do you think has forced the connectivity
02:03 that you've had in his absence in the last two games?
02:06 - Well, it's sort of the mentality
02:08 I've always had with my teams.
02:09 It's like, there's sickness, there's illness,
02:13 things happen.
02:15 They don't cancel the season for players injured.
02:17 They don't cancel the game because somebody's sick.
02:20 It's gotta be the next man up.
02:21 So, you can go into it already making excuses,
02:25 you can say, let's figure this out anyway.
02:27 It's still a game, it's the same game you play.
02:29 Now, there's some things we had to do differently
02:31 without having Kanye, but it's still basketball.
02:34 These guys were playing, so let's not overcomplicate it.
02:37 Next man up has sort of always been my mentality.
02:40 The next guy wants an opportunity,
02:42 all right, you're gonna get one no matter what today.
02:44 Take advantage of it, Jamil did, and Zach did.
02:49 And I thought Nick and Marco had it in the ball,
02:54 really helped Ace without having Kanye.
02:56 So, just be really unselfish, help each other,
03:00 stay connected, you're missing a good player,
03:04 you get in foul trouble, the next guy has to go.