The Red Raiders return home this weekend and are set to take on the Cincinnati Bearcats, who are coming off a road loss to West Virginia. Here's the notes from this afternoon's conversation with Grant McCasland.
Opening Statement:
"In this league, you're going to face a lot of different challenges and I think playing against Cincinnati on Saturday. They have strengths where we have our greatest weaknesses. I mean, they're one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country. And obviously against TCU we struggled, it was a big part of our loss. And so just starting off with it, Coach Miller's doing a fantastic job, life on the road's difficult in this league. Everybody knows that but coming home and playing at home, we've got to play our best we got to be more physical rebounding, and this will be one of the greatest tests we'll face all year long based on their ability to expose our weakness. I just like the roster. I mean, I like their upside. I think this is a team in our league that will keep getting better over the course of the season. They've got great size, and they've got great athletes in space and their physical when attacking the rim. So just doing a great job on personnel and rebounding will be a big deal in order to win this one."
On how this team handled foul trouble v TCU:
"I mean more specifically, Darrion Williams, as much as Kerwin but you know, I think that's where we're a work in progress with our team is how do we handle foul trouble? How do we manage the game when we get in situations where we've got to go deep in our bench. I've got to do a better job as a coach just making sure not only do we know what we're doing defensively, but what we're doing offensively to take advantage of other teams weaknesses. A real strong part of our team is not just shooting the basketball but putting guys in position that we want to score offensively. So I've just got to keep getting better and helping guys understand what we do when we get in foul trouble. And when we go to our bench and we're playing different lineups."
On Cincy's depth:
"I think it just highlights the fact that you need to know personnel and like how prepared are you going into games. I think the key to what we're doing really is how well can we prepare and know team's personnel. When you go that deep in a roster, in a short turnaround especially, it makes it a little more difficult but when you have three days to get ready I think there's a better understanding of the teams that play more people because let's be honest, the more you know a teams strengths and weaknesses, the better your defense can be. And when you have a team like ours that may not be able to physically overpower you. You got to make the right decisions on how you're defending people."
On where Tech could find success v Cincy:
"I think anytime you look at our team, you look at our ability to shoot three point. when you make threes at the rate you do that, I think he can open up drive lanes and give people opportunities like Warren to make decisions in space. I tell you, they've got a physical team, they're really aggressive defensively. And to your point earlier I mean they're in every game they play, and they do it because they play so hard and they play connected. So I think, you know, obviously teams have to prepare for us shooting, shooting the ball well and the teams that take us out of that and do a good job."
On Toussaint:
"I love what Joe did going back and watching on film against TCU. A majority of the game and a couple of its turnovers or more about what other people weren't doing exactly what we wanted. I thought he made the right decision just didn't connect the way we wanted it to. So I don't think a lot of its decision making. I think his decision making is actually improving. Maybe it's more, how do we keep improving our whole team in regards to what we're looking at? I think Joe's balance is how do we keep up aggressive where he's still thinking score? Because you know that that part where you start to feel the bottle up, you have a tendency just to look where you're going to pass it all the time, and he's such a great player at getting fouled. I think that's already struggling, as he's been trying to draw fouls, as opposed to make shots. And then he's trying to pass as opposed to think score. And so I think you can get discouraged in this league when maybe you feel like you're getting fouled some and it's not what's happening in the game. So finding that toughness and that grit to withstand, you know, the difficulties of the physicality of this league. And he's played a lot in this league, but he hasn't played to this extent, this amount of minutes with this amount of time with the ball in his hands. So it's still a growing curve for him. And it's not to say he's not capable of it."
On what will be key to slow down Cincy on offense:
"I think they keep bringing people at you and they do play the game of the physical nature. So just making sure that we've got good spacing around it and it simplifies the reads. I mean, a lot of times in spacing. You can squeeze those ball screens with guys that are open, but their defenders are closing gaps. I think good spacing against them is going to be key."
On McMillian's ankle:
"He responded really well to treatment and we would anticipate Chance being 100% for this one."
On Jennings and end of bench:
"I mean, that's what I talked to the staff about when we got back. How do we how do we help not just rob Jennings improve, because he's gotten better. And I thought that game he had a couple of things go wrong, which kind of dominoed and a few other things. I think he was trying extremely hard and sometimes you get games where you're trying not to mess up and you mess up more. And I think that's just what happened with Rob in the game, but his heart is to win and to get better. And that's what I've challenged, not just rob and our whole staff and myself is like how do we keep growing the guys that are on the bench? Because I do think somebody on that bench that's maybe not playing right now is going to end up impacting us. And these guys are working, they're getting better, but they're not quite ready for what we need to do in the games. And I do think we're moving in that direction. And Rob being one of the guys that keeps improving."
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Opening Statement:
"In this league, you're going to face a lot of different challenges and I think playing against Cincinnati on Saturday. They have strengths where we have our greatest weaknesses. I mean, they're one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country. And obviously against TCU we struggled, it was a big part of our loss. And so just starting off with it, Coach Miller's doing a fantastic job, life on the road's difficult in this league. Everybody knows that but coming home and playing at home, we've got to play our best we got to be more physical rebounding, and this will be one of the greatest tests we'll face all year long based on their ability to expose our weakness. I just like the roster. I mean, I like their upside. I think this is a team in our league that will keep getting better over the course of the season. They've got great size, and they've got great athletes in space and their physical when attacking the rim. So just doing a great job on personnel and rebounding will be a big deal in order to win this one."
On how this team handled foul trouble v TCU:
"I mean more specifically, Darrion Williams, as much as Kerwin but you know, I think that's where we're a work in progress with our team is how do we handle foul trouble? How do we manage the game when we get in situations where we've got to go deep in our bench. I've got to do a better job as a coach just making sure not only do we know what we're doing defensively, but what we're doing offensively to take advantage of other teams weaknesses. A real strong part of our team is not just shooting the basketball but putting guys in position that we want to score offensively. So I've just got to keep getting better and helping guys understand what we do when we get in foul trouble. And when we go to our bench and we're playing different lineups."
On Cincy's depth:
"I think it just highlights the fact that you need to know personnel and like how prepared are you going into games. I think the key to what we're doing really is how well can we prepare and know team's personnel. When you go that deep in a roster, in a short turnaround especially, it makes it a little more difficult but when you have three days to get ready I think there's a better understanding of the teams that play more people because let's be honest, the more you know a teams strengths and weaknesses, the better your defense can be. And when you have a team like ours that may not be able to physically overpower you. You got to make the right decisions on how you're defending people."
On where Tech could find success v Cincy:
"I think anytime you look at our team, you look at our ability to shoot three point. when you make threes at the rate you do that, I think he can open up drive lanes and give people opportunities like Warren to make decisions in space. I tell you, they've got a physical team, they're really aggressive defensively. And to your point earlier I mean they're in every game they play, and they do it because they play so hard and they play connected. So I think, you know, obviously teams have to prepare for us shooting, shooting the ball well and the teams that take us out of that and do a good job."
On Toussaint:
"I love what Joe did going back and watching on film against TCU. A majority of the game and a couple of its turnovers or more about what other people weren't doing exactly what we wanted. I thought he made the right decision just didn't connect the way we wanted it to. So I don't think a lot of its decision making. I think his decision making is actually improving. Maybe it's more, how do we keep improving our whole team in regards to what we're looking at? I think Joe's balance is how do we keep up aggressive where he's still thinking score? Because you know that that part where you start to feel the bottle up, you have a tendency just to look where you're going to pass it all the time, and he's such a great player at getting fouled. I think that's already struggling, as he's been trying to draw fouls, as opposed to make shots. And then he's trying to pass as opposed to think score. And so I think you can get discouraged in this league when maybe you feel like you're getting fouled some and it's not what's happening in the game. So finding that toughness and that grit to withstand, you know, the difficulties of the physicality of this league. And he's played a lot in this league, but he hasn't played to this extent, this amount of minutes with this amount of time with the ball in his hands. So it's still a growing curve for him. And it's not to say he's not capable of it."
On what will be key to slow down Cincy on offense:
"I think they keep bringing people at you and they do play the game of the physical nature. So just making sure that we've got good spacing around it and it simplifies the reads. I mean, a lot of times in spacing. You can squeeze those ball screens with guys that are open, but their defenders are closing gaps. I think good spacing against them is going to be key."
On McMillian's ankle:
"He responded really well to treatment and we would anticipate Chance being 100% for this one."
On Jennings and end of bench:
"I mean, that's what I talked to the staff about when we got back. How do we how do we help not just rob Jennings improve, because he's gotten better. And I thought that game he had a couple of things go wrong, which kind of dominoed and a few other things. I think he was trying extremely hard and sometimes you get games where you're trying not to mess up and you mess up more. And I think that's just what happened with Rob in the game, but his heart is to win and to get better. And that's what I've challenged, not just rob and our whole staff and myself is like how do we keep growing the guys that are on the bench? Because I do think somebody on that bench that's maybe not playing right now is going to end up impacting us. And these guys are working, they're getting better, but they're not quite ready for what we need to do in the games. And I do think we're moving in that direction. And Rob being one of the guys that keeps improving."
"We specialize in high quality autographed sports memorabilia."
@B-Run
