|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
EA SPORTS MAUI INVITATIONALNovember 24, 2014Isaac HaasJon OcteusMatt PainterKendall StephensLAHAINA, HAWAII Kansas State – 88 THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening question from Coach Painter. Coach, if you want to start with an opening statement about this morning's game? COACH PAINTER: I thought there were a couple things, kind of the difference in the game, obviously. Their ability to rebound in the first half and our inability to take care of the basketball. I thought once we settled down and competed better in the second half we did a better job on the glass and obviously took care of the basketball. That's why you saw a better offensive performance from us in the second half. I thought the split of the game was kind of some of those big baskets. Once we got up to two or three possessions, Marcus Foster hits the bank in three, a tough 7 footer at the end of the shot clock. And I thought Gipson, right there, even though we played good defense, he knocked that shot down right there. We were getting it to two possessions and we needed to get a stop, and we weren't able to do that. That's part of digging too big of a hole. When you have to fight like that and scrap like that, everything has to go your way down the stretch. Give them credit. I thought they were quicker to the basketball. I thought they were tougher than us in the first half. We weren't ready to handle that. Q. Jon, what was it in the first half you kind of sensed that sort of led to all the turnovers? Were guys getting a little rattled? JON OCTEUS: I'm not sure exactly what it was. We just didn't come prepared to play. We always say first five minutes we've got to go out there with the most focus that we can, and we didn't do that in the first half. Second half we came out. First five minutes we did a really good job. So we've just got to focus in when it comes to things like that. We can't be rattled by that environment. Q. Kendall, this is the first time you guys have faced a situation like that where the other team is sort of take things over. I guess just talk about how you did or didn't respond to that problem in the first half when all the momentum was going the other way? KENDALL STEPHENS: I thought we came out in the second half and we changed our intensity. I think we put more focus in on what we needed to do. I think the game is over with now. I think we showed that we can play with intensity like we should have, and we're about to see for our next game if we can bounce back. If we're going to get hit and knocked down or if we're going to stand up. So I think our next game is going to be really big for us. Q. Isaac, just how physical was it inside? It seemed like Kansas State sent three different guys at you. What was it like to go against all three of them? ISAAC HAAS: They were pretty physical. But I think it was more about angles and being physical and not fouling. We really, me and A.J. tried our best to post up, keep our hands high, and not try to push back whenever they were pushing. It didn't work out, but I think that the next game that we should be able to post up and do very well. Q. Kendall, you were part of the Oklahoma State game last year. Was this kind of the same? KENDALL STEPHENS: Yeah, I was actually just talking about that with Coach Painter. Yeah, it's a very similar scenario that we went through with being down 20 points and having to battle back and just digging ourselves into a hole was too much. The best thing about this is we're in a same situation, and we're going to see how we respond. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Painter. Q. What kind of things were they finding on the baseline with their offense? Was that a breakdown in your zone or a function of A.J. being out? COACH PAINTER: Little bit of both. I thought they did a good job of getting the ball in the short corner and then were really working that base line. They were posting up our center in the zone and we have to get in front of that guy so we can rotate and cover that, and they were doing a good job of posting those guys up. Then they got into foul trouble and those guys tried to slide behind at that time and that just made it worse. But we weren't handling that outside screen against the zone well. We were supposed to go under it with Marcus Foster. Stay into it, and if you go under and pick up the basketball, the guy can push back and cover the short corner. I don't know if I lost you or not, but that was kind of the breakdown. We made some adjustments with it and did a better job. Then when we subbed, they exposed us again. We really wanted to switch up our defenses and not stick with the zone as much as we did. But once we got into that foul trouble, it was hard to do. Q. You guys had talked about the turnover issues through those first three games. Even though it was obscured by the lopsided victory. What went wrong from an offensive standpoint today as far as taking care of the ball? COACH PAINTER: When you turn the ball over 11 times and you try to generalize and you have 11 particular different scenarios that led to them‑‑ the ones that were difficult were the pick sixes, threw it right to them and they score the lay‑up. So we had a couple of those, and missed two front end one and ones. We had an eight‑point swing in a short amount of time and it really hurt us. But we just‑‑ we panicked. We had a couple bad shots that don't go in the turnover column that are light turnovers or worse than turnovers at times. So we just got into a rush and didn't show patience, and we just have to do a better job at taking care of the basketball and being sure of ourselves. Q. Coach, they used a new starting lineup and threw a lot of subs at you in the first half, even broke out a full court press. How much of that was surprising to you? COACH PAINTER: None of it. They pressed the other night against Long Beach State. I actually wrote their starting lineup on the board before they gave it. It's not a hard one when you've been with somebody for a while and something goes wrong what they're going to do. So I wrote their starting lineup, they brought it to me, and I already had it up on the board. So they're going to be better playing small in my opinion. I love Nino Williams. I think Malek Harris is only going to get better and better. With those two big guys, rotating them because you get into foul trouble, and I just thought they would attack us that way. We'd have liked to play more man against them if we could have. But they were very physical, and they were very quick to the ball. I just thought they played so hard in the first half. I thought that was the difference in the game. We turned it over, but you have to give their pressure a little bit of credit there in my opinion. Q. Like you said, very physical games. What did you think of how Isaac did down low? COACH PAINTER: I thought Isaac was great. You know, they went and they pressed us and did some different things. We saw a press earlier and sometimes against Samford we did some good things that will take a big guy out of the equation. But I thought once we got into the half court and were able to get him the basketball. He's going to have to learn little things about the game. He's going to have to learn to get rebounds and not swing his elbows. He's going to have to be physical with fouling. He's so big, I think it's also difficult for people to rep, to be quite frank with you. But he's got to learn some basic things to really help himself. But I thought he played hard. I thought he competed. Getting good, low post position against Thomas Gipson is not easy. Thomas Gipson is a load. He's a good player, man, he's a good, physical player. I thought Isaac was great tonight. Q. Understanding that obviously every team is different, every season is different, this was very similar to Oklahoma State last year. After Oklahoma State last year, the Washington State game happened. Just generally speaking, are there any pitfalls your team has to watch out for tomorrow? COACH PAINTER: No, I think we have to examine some of our shortcomings that happened in this game and get them corrected. But we have to play hard. You've got to remember the past but not focus on it. I think it's important for us to just take care of the basketball, and be able to handle somebody's pressure whether they're trapping or pressing or man‑to‑man heat and take care of the basketball. I don't think it's anything different. You are going to play a different team tomorrow and a different style, whoever that might be. So just get prepared for them, but you also have to focus on yourself. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|