Fun one. Into the convo with the head coach...
Opening statement:
"I'm so happy for our seniors Joe Toussaint and Warren Washington. When you watch them come out when their name was called to have the United supermarkets arena full with people that early. To have everybody there in the building already and how emotional Warren got, their families. You don't get senior nights that end in victories all the time so I'm thankful for those guys. I loved our defense, especially early in the first half how we stretch the lead and give Baylor credit Coach Drew knows what he's doing. And they put pressure on us. I thought they were getting to the paint they were getting to the foul line. And then finally we were able to you know, punch back and made a couple of huge shots when we had made open threes and thought we have some pretty decent looks, but just finally just broke the game open with getting stops and playing in transition."
On defensive effort over the last week:
"The first half, it was connected. They've got one of the best passing point guards in the country. He puts you in binds all over the court. I thought our effort was tremendous foul trouble really messed up our rotations going into the second half and so we lost a little bit of that intensity having to play too many minutes on some guys but you can tell our defenses improving. But the biggest area I thought that was improved was our rebounding 40 to 29 on the glass and the half they didn't have an offensive rebound. We had six. And then the second half, we gave them seven, but we ended up you know, outrebounded them in the end, which I think says a lot about this group and in our grit to find a way to get better on that end."
On defensive effort after Baylor took the lead:
"McMillan had a few tough possessions to start when he came into game in the second half with foul trouble and give him credit because they've got great drivers. This team we played today is one of the best teams in the country love getting back healthy will really help them and I thought his energy and his ability to drive to the basket caused us problems. But Chance's on ball defense in that stretch where we got all those stops. He was extremely physical and I think he just responded after them scoring of angle after angle, forward roll thrown to the forward and kind of really operating on that middle ball screen. We just didn't have a lot of resistance out that Chance finally stood his ground and was tremendous down the stretch that led to some stops."
On breaking it open with the three and the trust he has in his team:
"Rob Jennings was tremendous today. It just it everything defensively offensive rebounding, and and we were effective. And obviously we missed some free throws But Rob going two for three and I think when you look at getting to the free throw line like that really helps open up and I know our guys will make shots eventually. Honestly, I mean I've seen it every day these guys don't miss very often. So when you see it in practice and they don't miss very often have ultimate confidence in our guys because they work on their game. You stay after practice you'll see them all shoot, you come back at night they're in the gym shooting and they just love to play the game. It almost feels like if Kerwin misses four, for sure he's making four. That's honestly how I feel. Same way I feel about Pop. As long as we're on balance and we're shooting the right shots obviously believable make make them and we'll win."
On defensive effort with the foul trouble:
"I said to our staff, let's see how, let's see how mature we are responding to this foul trouble at the end. Can we still be physical and play the game the right way? D5 was the one that I thought really set the tone for how it would work, he and Pop. They were switching a lot of those ball screens and their offense of sharing the basketball and then still driving it not just settling for threes. Darrion got fouled a couple of times going to the basket to get and-ones. On the other end, to compliment that, their activity was great. The physicality was great without fouling, and I thought it showed a lot of maturity of those two guys, not to lose composure, and to continue our whole team. I mean, they took the lead, if I'm not mistaken."
On guarding the perimeter:
"Baylor plays a lot of ball screens they go four around one. With Warren and with our lineups, we've been in a retreat mode and kind of played backing up and this team we're being more aggressive. Our activity off the ball and our help is more active and our coaching staff has just done an awesome job of helping create more more attack defensively as opposed to retreat. We're just more active more deflections, and we're there on the catch and we're making it more difficult. Then it's just about where do you want to drive and and that's where we made a lot of mistakes today, and that's what we're gonna have to clean up."
On handling the moment of losing the lead:
"Our team can handle those moments. And this is what I'm saying about our team caring for each other. There's not like a 'how's this not going to work out?' look. They know what we need to do. We know what we need to do in order to win the basketball game. And there's a different there's a belief in this team and each other that's legit. And it's fun to watch. It's fun to be a part of and it's all attributed to their hard work and the way they care about each other and the way we know we need to win."
On EY:
" The first half, he may have been one of the best players on the floor. He was scoring it and the only thing he didn't do is make free throws. And he's working on that and he will he's a great shooter. So I know he'll make those. We chart him everyday, he's around 80%. He'll make em, he's just young and he gets out there and he wants to make it so bad. You saw the last one he made I mean, finally kind of settled into it. We've been tweaking it to and that's not fun, but I can tell you this we get into most meaningful games he's gonna make em, he will."
Opening statement:
"I'm so happy for our seniors Joe Toussaint and Warren Washington. When you watch them come out when their name was called to have the United supermarkets arena full with people that early. To have everybody there in the building already and how emotional Warren got, their families. You don't get senior nights that end in victories all the time so I'm thankful for those guys. I loved our defense, especially early in the first half how we stretch the lead and give Baylor credit Coach Drew knows what he's doing. And they put pressure on us. I thought they were getting to the paint they were getting to the foul line. And then finally we were able to you know, punch back and made a couple of huge shots when we had made open threes and thought we have some pretty decent looks, but just finally just broke the game open with getting stops and playing in transition."
On defensive effort over the last week:
"The first half, it was connected. They've got one of the best passing point guards in the country. He puts you in binds all over the court. I thought our effort was tremendous foul trouble really messed up our rotations going into the second half and so we lost a little bit of that intensity having to play too many minutes on some guys but you can tell our defenses improving. But the biggest area I thought that was improved was our rebounding 40 to 29 on the glass and the half they didn't have an offensive rebound. We had six. And then the second half, we gave them seven, but we ended up you know, outrebounded them in the end, which I think says a lot about this group and in our grit to find a way to get better on that end."
On defensive effort after Baylor took the lead:
"McMillan had a few tough possessions to start when he came into game in the second half with foul trouble and give him credit because they've got great drivers. This team we played today is one of the best teams in the country love getting back healthy will really help them and I thought his energy and his ability to drive to the basket caused us problems. But Chance's on ball defense in that stretch where we got all those stops. He was extremely physical and I think he just responded after them scoring of angle after angle, forward roll thrown to the forward and kind of really operating on that middle ball screen. We just didn't have a lot of resistance out that Chance finally stood his ground and was tremendous down the stretch that led to some stops."
On breaking it open with the three and the trust he has in his team:
"Rob Jennings was tremendous today. It just it everything defensively offensive rebounding, and and we were effective. And obviously we missed some free throws But Rob going two for three and I think when you look at getting to the free throw line like that really helps open up and I know our guys will make shots eventually. Honestly, I mean I've seen it every day these guys don't miss very often. So when you see it in practice and they don't miss very often have ultimate confidence in our guys because they work on their game. You stay after practice you'll see them all shoot, you come back at night they're in the gym shooting and they just love to play the game. It almost feels like if Kerwin misses four, for sure he's making four. That's honestly how I feel. Same way I feel about Pop. As long as we're on balance and we're shooting the right shots obviously believable make make them and we'll win."
On defensive effort with the foul trouble:
"I said to our staff, let's see how, let's see how mature we are responding to this foul trouble at the end. Can we still be physical and play the game the right way? D5 was the one that I thought really set the tone for how it would work, he and Pop. They were switching a lot of those ball screens and their offense of sharing the basketball and then still driving it not just settling for threes. Darrion got fouled a couple of times going to the basket to get and-ones. On the other end, to compliment that, their activity was great. The physicality was great without fouling, and I thought it showed a lot of maturity of those two guys, not to lose composure, and to continue our whole team. I mean, they took the lead, if I'm not mistaken."
On guarding the perimeter:
"Baylor plays a lot of ball screens they go four around one. With Warren and with our lineups, we've been in a retreat mode and kind of played backing up and this team we're being more aggressive. Our activity off the ball and our help is more active and our coaching staff has just done an awesome job of helping create more more attack defensively as opposed to retreat. We're just more active more deflections, and we're there on the catch and we're making it more difficult. Then it's just about where do you want to drive and and that's where we made a lot of mistakes today, and that's what we're gonna have to clean up."
On handling the moment of losing the lead:
"Our team can handle those moments. And this is what I'm saying about our team caring for each other. There's not like a 'how's this not going to work out?' look. They know what we need to do. We know what we need to do in order to win the basketball game. And there's a different there's a belief in this team and each other that's legit. And it's fun to watch. It's fun to be a part of and it's all attributed to their hard work and the way they care about each other and the way we know we need to win."
On EY:
" The first half, he may have been one of the best players on the floor. He was scoring it and the only thing he didn't do is make free throws. And he's working on that and he will he's a great shooter. So I know he'll make those. We chart him everyday, he's around 80%. He'll make em, he's just young and he gets out there and he wants to make it so bad. You saw the last one he made I mean, finally kind of settled into it. We've been tweaking it to and that's not fun, but I can tell you this we get into most meaningful games he's gonna make em, he will."
