Here's notes from the conversation with the head coach postgame...
Opening Statement:
"What a tremendous atmosphere. I thought our students were unbelievable. I think that's a credit to this program and what's been built here previously to us getting here and there's a lot of belief in this building is a blast to be a part of. Kansas State is a physical big team and just in big 12 Conference play the best defense so far. I haven't been very far through it, but I thought their defense has been tremendous. And I felt it tonight. I mean, today, just their close outs, their length, their verticality at the rim, I mean, they blocked a couple of our threes where I thought we had prettygood looks and then they just got a deflection on it and just give them credit because I thought there it really did bother us. And then the first half, we got on our heels and they they beat us on on the glass they were they were more physical everywhere. they came out second half and made some really tough shots. I thought they were actually ones we wanted them taking but they made them and that's what I love about our team. Just in timeouts even early in the second half. There's like a hey, we're gonna win this game. Let's get stopped to do with the defense. And that's what we did."
On Lamar and a shoutout to head athletic trainer Mike Neal:
"I thought Lamar Washington got us going. When he got in the game. He got an offensive rebound a couple of possessions, a couple of them got put backs. Y'all don't know but Darrion Williams tweaked his ankle two days ago and Mike Neal went 48 hours around the clock to be ready for this game, he didn't practice. Mike is literally one of the best teammates I've ever been with. He's like a culture stakeholder in who we are every day. And honestly our guys respect him. They love him and his heart and just what he does every day is big impact on winning as anybody is."
On message coming out of the break:
"We needed to be more physical, definitely. And like our flow was terrible. The first half it was we just we over dribbled and we got too deep into the paint. And then our defense. We let our we let our offense affect our defense and our physicality. I mean, like a few shots didn't go in so we kind of just we're waiting for the ball to come to us on defensive rebounds. I thought they were quicker to get to the ball. I didn't think we were terrible trying to put our body on. It's just like we lost a little bit of will to fight them defensively and then go grab the basketball. Maybe a little bit discouraged but I thought our guys really regrouped at the half, I looked in their eye and I knew we were going to win. I didn't know how, but I knew we were going to win."
On the extremely physical nature of this game:
"Well, the fact that we turned them over 18 times I thought our activity was there. I mean, I did think our activity and help and our ability to play to a lot because they got they've got good individual offensive players. But really the story is on the glass to me and our ability to get to the free throw line in a game where we needed to create some offense in different ways we did an offensive rebounding we got did it by getting to the free throw line. Joe didn't shoot very good. I felt like he forced some things over the course of the game. But at the end he showed a lot of patients and even when shots weren't falling we got good looks which led to offensive rebounds. This team just learns, we learn as we play and that's what I love. Their heart is to get better. Like we weren't discouraged by shot going in."
On how they were able to find offense elsewhere:
"I thought Warren Washington's offense gave us a lift we needed it. I mean, he had a couple of really good paint touches that got him to the free throw line. It didn't create the basket but it gave Darrion Williams the opportunity to offensive rebound to get it so it's just it's a team cumulative physicality. You just got to keep putting pressure on and I thought our ball movement was better the second half that helped us."
"Yeah, I mean, we shot 61% from two in the second half and got to the freefall. We honestly just didn't make threes and which led to some offensive rebounding, but I thought we got some pretty good looks. I thought were good, pop out a couple that look good, but you just can't let that dictate how you play the game. And so what our guys are believing in is like we can win this thing with defensive rebounding. It's not that complicated. I mean, it really isn't but whether you do it is complicated because it takes a lot of guts to do that. I thought our guy showed a lot of grit to compete when the ball wouldn't go in."
On how Tech managed the final possession on defense:
"Well, ultimately, we saw in practice so hard every day you put yourself in position where you don't have to do anything different than what you do. In practice every day. I did consider calling a timeout when Joe hit that free throw just to talk about what we wanted to see. I asked Matt Braeuer if he liked what he saw And we decided to roll with it. And we did a great job garden and he kind of pushed him right and Perry on the ball on the right wing and they decided to call timeout. Then there's seven seconds you come out and you see how they're lined up. You're like do we want to call timeout? And we just felt like we had the right group on the floor and we were gonna play the game."
On Darrion:
"Yeah, go ask our team who I'm the hardest on, and it's probably him. Because I do think he's got the most potential in regards to his ability to score rebound, defend and facilitate. He just got a great combination. And I thought his three really was huge for us and so that's the combination that makes him difficult as he's such a mismatch problem. I mean, if you're making threes and you're passing and you can rebound at that rate, then you really are a guy that can can navigate and win games, and that's where he is he's got a great nose for the ball. And he's embraced very difficult things. With his ankle, thankful for him to go out and do this just shows how much guts he's got."
On clock:
"Yeah, I mean, unfortunately, I've been coaching them too long. And I've seen all kinds of crazy stuff. You know, I didn't I wouldn't really panic and how do you control what you control and I did the math in my head pretty quick. And I did hear a buzzer go off even though I don't know what it was whether it was wasn't running, but I saw it wasn't running, but I felt good about what we were doing. I wasn't trying to draw attention to it. I'm gonna let the game play out. And and, you know, once that happens, just get your team ready in case you gotta throw the ball in bounds."
Opening Statement:
"What a tremendous atmosphere. I thought our students were unbelievable. I think that's a credit to this program and what's been built here previously to us getting here and there's a lot of belief in this building is a blast to be a part of. Kansas State is a physical big team and just in big 12 Conference play the best defense so far. I haven't been very far through it, but I thought their defense has been tremendous. And I felt it tonight. I mean, today, just their close outs, their length, their verticality at the rim, I mean, they blocked a couple of our threes where I thought we had prettygood looks and then they just got a deflection on it and just give them credit because I thought there it really did bother us. And then the first half, we got on our heels and they they beat us on on the glass they were they were more physical everywhere. they came out second half and made some really tough shots. I thought they were actually ones we wanted them taking but they made them and that's what I love about our team. Just in timeouts even early in the second half. There's like a hey, we're gonna win this game. Let's get stopped to do with the defense. And that's what we did."
On Lamar and a shoutout to head athletic trainer Mike Neal:
"I thought Lamar Washington got us going. When he got in the game. He got an offensive rebound a couple of possessions, a couple of them got put backs. Y'all don't know but Darrion Williams tweaked his ankle two days ago and Mike Neal went 48 hours around the clock to be ready for this game, he didn't practice. Mike is literally one of the best teammates I've ever been with. He's like a culture stakeholder in who we are every day. And honestly our guys respect him. They love him and his heart and just what he does every day is big impact on winning as anybody is."
On message coming out of the break:
"We needed to be more physical, definitely. And like our flow was terrible. The first half it was we just we over dribbled and we got too deep into the paint. And then our defense. We let our we let our offense affect our defense and our physicality. I mean, like a few shots didn't go in so we kind of just we're waiting for the ball to come to us on defensive rebounds. I thought they were quicker to get to the ball. I didn't think we were terrible trying to put our body on. It's just like we lost a little bit of will to fight them defensively and then go grab the basketball. Maybe a little bit discouraged but I thought our guys really regrouped at the half, I looked in their eye and I knew we were going to win. I didn't know how, but I knew we were going to win."
On the extremely physical nature of this game:
"Well, the fact that we turned them over 18 times I thought our activity was there. I mean, I did think our activity and help and our ability to play to a lot because they got they've got good individual offensive players. But really the story is on the glass to me and our ability to get to the free throw line in a game where we needed to create some offense in different ways we did an offensive rebounding we got did it by getting to the free throw line. Joe didn't shoot very good. I felt like he forced some things over the course of the game. But at the end he showed a lot of patients and even when shots weren't falling we got good looks which led to offensive rebounds. This team just learns, we learn as we play and that's what I love. Their heart is to get better. Like we weren't discouraged by shot going in."
On how they were able to find offense elsewhere:
"I thought Warren Washington's offense gave us a lift we needed it. I mean, he had a couple of really good paint touches that got him to the free throw line. It didn't create the basket but it gave Darrion Williams the opportunity to offensive rebound to get it so it's just it's a team cumulative physicality. You just got to keep putting pressure on and I thought our ball movement was better the second half that helped us."
"Yeah, I mean, we shot 61% from two in the second half and got to the freefall. We honestly just didn't make threes and which led to some offensive rebounding, but I thought we got some pretty good looks. I thought were good, pop out a couple that look good, but you just can't let that dictate how you play the game. And so what our guys are believing in is like we can win this thing with defensive rebounding. It's not that complicated. I mean, it really isn't but whether you do it is complicated because it takes a lot of guts to do that. I thought our guy showed a lot of grit to compete when the ball wouldn't go in."
On how Tech managed the final possession on defense:
"Well, ultimately, we saw in practice so hard every day you put yourself in position where you don't have to do anything different than what you do. In practice every day. I did consider calling a timeout when Joe hit that free throw just to talk about what we wanted to see. I asked Matt Braeuer if he liked what he saw And we decided to roll with it. And we did a great job garden and he kind of pushed him right and Perry on the ball on the right wing and they decided to call timeout. Then there's seven seconds you come out and you see how they're lined up. You're like do we want to call timeout? And we just felt like we had the right group on the floor and we were gonna play the game."
On Darrion:
"Yeah, go ask our team who I'm the hardest on, and it's probably him. Because I do think he's got the most potential in regards to his ability to score rebound, defend and facilitate. He just got a great combination. And I thought his three really was huge for us and so that's the combination that makes him difficult as he's such a mismatch problem. I mean, if you're making threes and you're passing and you can rebound at that rate, then you really are a guy that can can navigate and win games, and that's where he is he's got a great nose for the ball. And he's embraced very difficult things. With his ankle, thankful for him to go out and do this just shows how much guts he's got."
On clock:
"Yeah, I mean, unfortunately, I've been coaching them too long. And I've seen all kinds of crazy stuff. You know, I didn't I wouldn't really panic and how do you control what you control and I did the math in my head pretty quick. And I did hear a buzzer go off even though I don't know what it was whether it was wasn't running, but I saw it wasn't running, but I felt good about what we were doing. I wasn't trying to draw attention to it. I'm gonna let the game play out. And and, you know, once that happens, just get your team ready in case you gotta throw the ball in bounds."
