Kansas Jayhawks head coach Bill Self addresses the media after his team defeats the Baylor Bears 64-61 on February 10, 2024. He discusses the changes in the gameplan caused by the short bench, looks ahead to Monday's game against Texas Tech and more.
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00:00 >> Bill, when you're down to seven regulars like that,
00:03 is there a change in instruction or preparation pregame?
00:08 Do you even mention it or
00:09 is it one of those things you don't talk about it necessarily?
00:11 >> No, I talked about it.
00:12 I talked about it's a great opportunity for somebody to step up and
00:17 get some confidence and be the best they can be come March.
00:21 Yeah, we talked about it.
00:21 >> How about as far as- >> I did every positive spin I possibly
00:24 could, okay?
00:25 >> Little work?
00:26 >> Well, the way I feel right now, hell no.
00:28 >> [LAUGH] >> But I thought at the moment it was
00:31 actually, I'm hoping they believe it.
00:32 That was what I was thinking at the moment.
00:34 >> How about in terms of, you probably don't want to go to eight or nine tonight.
00:39 So do you have to remind them, we've only got the seven, let's knock down?
00:43 >> No, no, no, I didn't do that at all.
00:44 I told them that Wilder and Jake, if we needed two, they were gonna play.
00:47 >> Okay, so what I tried to do was, so
00:53 six for one, one for two, two for three, three for four.
00:59 And so that way, and then Parker and Huffey, the two subs.
01:03 So that's what I tried to do, and I didn't do it as well.
01:07 But probably got KJ and Juan at least out four times for a minute.
01:16 >> Sure.
01:17 >> Which is probably more they've been out some of the other games.
01:21 >> Bill, Baylor opened up in a zone and you all built an 18-6 lead.
01:24 Did you feel like- >> It wasn't against their zone though.
01:25 They only played two possessions, I think.
01:27 So, or three, they may have played three.
01:30 But I thought we actually did a good job against their zone.
01:32 We got it where we wanted to.
01:34 And then Huff missed a couple of shots early against their zone.
01:37 But I actually thought we did a good job early on.
01:41 It was actually surprising to me that they did open up in a zone.
01:45 >> And Bill, what do you think you all were able to do effectively to stop Missy from
01:48 getting so many rolls later in the game?
01:51 >> Well, he only got, what did he get, about three?
01:55 And he got one dunk off of it.
01:58 But I think the biggest thing was is that our ball screen defense was good enough
02:03 that when Dennis picked up his dribble,
02:04 he was well outside the scoring area, outside the three.
02:07 Which makes for longer passes.
02:08 So you don't have to worry about the skip near as much.
02:12 You can actually load up more because the skip pass hopefully is in the air long
02:16 enough that you can actually recover.
02:17 So we actually did a pretty good job.
02:20 >> And Coach, did we just get a sound bite on Tech?
02:22 Obviously he starts with a pop.
02:24 They won today, I can see that.
02:25 >> Yeah, how bad did they beat UCF?
02:26 >> Seven.
02:27 >> Seven?
02:28 Yeah, I've watched them play.
02:29 They're a lot like Baylor in that they're gonna put four guards around a big.
02:34 And their big is, did their big guy play today?
02:36 You know?
02:37 >> Yeah. >> Cuz he was sick the last game,
02:39 didn't play.
02:39 So, but yeah, they got a room protector and
02:44 obviously a guy can get out of the ball screen with the best of them.
02:49 So it's gonna be very similar to Baylor, I think.
02:52 So that may be something good from a scouting report standpoint that we could
02:56 still probably not have to change a ton in a very short amount of time.
03:02 >> From an execution standpoint,
03:03 what does your team need to do going into a little bit more of a win?
03:08 >> Well, I thought that execution,
03:12 I think it's a good question, I think it's a good question,
03:17 I think it's a good question, I think it's a good question.
03:23 I think it's a good question, I think it's a good question.
03:26 I actually thought we did a good job and could have easily shot 50% tonight.
03:30 Hunt, he was the one for eight the second half and
03:33 had some bunnies and that kind of stuff.
03:36 So to me, that's a little bit encouraging that we at least took some good shots and
03:41 got the ball where it wanted to go.
03:42 But when I think of execution, I'm thinking of late game, what did we do?
03:48 Did we play the right way?
03:49 Did we give ourselves the best chance?
03:51 And we put ourselves in harm's way because we didn't execute the last four or
03:56 five minutes.