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5-HOUR ENERGY PUERTO RICO TIP-OFF MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 1, 2011

Matt Painter

TIM SIMMONS: Coach Painter, thank you for joining us. Can you give us some thoughts about pre-season practices to date.
COACH PAINTER: Well, it's been going pretty good. It's been a little bit difficult for us. We've had some guys banged up with some injuries, so some guys have been in and out of practices. Lewis Jackson has some foot problems. Terone Johnson had meniscus surgery in August. He's not quite got back into the best condition. It's been hard for him because it's kind of been nagging, his knee has been swelling up a little bit. He's been in most practices.
John Hart had a second surgery on his foot, fifth metatarsal, put a screw in that. Rob Hummel is looking good. He's been cleared to play. We go every other day with Rob. But he's really played well in practices and done a good job, looks better every single day that he gets out there. We're being really cautious. Go back-to-back days with him once a week. He's been able to respond with everything we've thrown at him. Like I said, we're trying to be careful with him.
We've tried to be competitive. We're mixing and matching. What we've really tried to do is be competitive through the years in our practices and at times with some younger guys not understanding our system quite yet, that's been difficult to do. But I do like the progress when we do have everybody out there and the strides we've made so far.
TIM SIMMONS: Your thoughts on the format in Puerto Rico, two games back to back, off a day, then play on Sunday. Do you feel that's going to work to your advantage?
COACH PAINTER: If we win the first two games I think it will (laughter). I don't know if we can do that.
Anytime these tournaments come out, it's more of getting into a quality tournament like Puerto Rico against quality teams like we have here. I don't get caught up in the format, whether we play three neutral, four neutral, two at home, doesn't matter. It's getting quality competition early in the year, and seeing where you stand.
TIM SIMMONS: Iona is picked to win their league. Any thoughts on Iona right now?
COACH PAINTER: Well, we've played the winner of that conference tournament the past two years in the NCAA tournament in Siena when Fran was there two years ago and last year St. Peter's had a team that played hard and defended, really played well in their conference tournament. We had a chance to Iona. Was unbelievably impressed with their league while watching those two teams the past years. That's the only time I've been able to watch them.
Very impressed with their overall league and obviously with Iona. They got the transfer from Arizona to go on top of what they already had returning. It's going to be a difficult task for us. A lot of times when I see those teams like Iona, it reminds me like our teams at Southern Illinois. Waiting for the opportunity to get on that neutral court whether that's early in the season in an exempt tournament or the NCAA tournament to make your mark. We know they're a good team, they're hungry and we're going to have our hands full.
TIM SIMMONS: Any thoughts on Temple or Western Michigan who you might face in the second round?
COACH PAINTER: I haven't seen either of those teams much. Coach Hawkins does a great job at Western Michigan. We are going to play them after the tournament again. We have to be prepared. We're going to eventually play them if we don't play them in Puerto Rico. Obviously, Coach Dunphy at Temple has done a great job at every stop he's been at.
We know both of those teams are very good. I'm kind of simple in our approach. I always try to focus on some things that are right in front of me. Right now we're worried about our exhibition game tonight.
TIM SIMMONS: When will you be departing and arriving into San Juan?
COACH PAINTER: We're going to arrive a couple days before our first game. I think that's always best to get there a couple days before, get your legs under you, get a couple practices under your belt, really get prepared. It can be a great trip, anytime you get an exempt trip traveling to Puerto Rico. But it's also a business trip, get them established and focused on the game of basketball.
TIM SIMMONS: Any new players on your roster that caught your eyes in the pre-season practices?
COACH PAINTER: We have a kid that sat out for us last year, Anthony Johnson, a redshirt freshman, has done a good job for us in practice. Can score the basketball, athleticism, does a good job of moving his feet, guarding the ball. We have two freshmen 6'8", Jacob Lawson and Donnie Hale, that both give us some athleticism on the frontline. They're in a bit of a different situation because they chose to attend Purdue with Robbie Hummel leaving Purdue, then obviously with him tearing his ACL, he is still here. So we are kind of jammed up at that spot, a little bit of a logjam.
They're going to get some time in the exhibition games, we'll see where they are. I think all three of those guys give us some more athleticism and allow us to get out and extend and pressure.
TIM SIMMONS: Big Ten added a team in Nebraska. Now you have two divisions. Is that the way it is in basketball or is it one division?
COACH PAINTER: It's one division in basketball. They have two divisions, the Legends and Leaders, in football.
TIM SIMMONS: Any thoughts on the Big Ten this year?
COACH PAINTER: I think obviously Ohio State has been picked to win our league. They have a lot of talented players. Jared Sullinger may be the most talented player in the country. They have a lot of experience. They've had a couple of McDonald's All-Americans. So I think that's the team everyone is picking to win it, and rightfully so.
I think there's a lot of stretch after that in terms of who can be picked second could end up eighth, who is picked eighth could end up third. We have a lot of good teams and coaches in our league. It's not something where there's a separation after two or three teams in my opinion.
TIM SIMMONS: Coach, thank you very much. See you in San Juan in a couple weeks.
COACH PAINTER: Thanks, Tim.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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