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EA SPORTS MAUI INVITATIONALNovember 26, 2014Thomas GipsonBruce WeberLAHAINA, HAWAII Pittsburgh – 70 THE MODERATOR: Coach, your opening thoughts on this afternoon's game? COACH WEBER: Not much we can say. Obviously we're disappointed. They just out toughed us. I thought we got off to a good start. I thought a key was going to be our bench because we had played two very, very hard fought games the last two days. We used a lot of energy, so I thought the bench would be key. So probably put too many guys in at one time where we were up 10‑4 or something, and they made the run to get it back. We never really got going again. They just had more toughness, more will to win, competitive spirit. We have guys play 34, 34, 34, 34, and they had the same schedule as us. They came over and played Hawaii, so there is no excuses. I thought we had very‑‑ we had to share the ball better. When we move the ball and get it to open people, we're a better team. There was one possession in the first half where we moved the ball and got Nino a little jumper. After that we didn't seem to make the extra pass, get it to where we didn't have much continuity. That's my fault. We've got to go home and learn a lot about our team, and see we can make some strides. Q. Thomas, I know you can't use fatigue as an excuse. But how fatigued was the team? THOMAS GIPSON: I felt like we put everything in on the first two games. But like you said, it's not an excuse. We needed to come out and play, and they out-toughed us. So we just all have to overcome that fatigue and just play harder. Q. Thomas, you played four games away from home now. How would you rate your experience? Where do you think the team is at this point? THOMAS GIPSON: It's a good experience. Hopefully we can learn from it and go back home and get ready for the Big 12. We've still got a long ways to go, but I feel like this was a good first step for our experience in away games and neutral games. Q. What were they doing defensively that maybe the other teams weren't that caused you some problems? THOMAS GIPSON: They weren't really doing anything. We just got out-toughed. I don't know if we got outrebounded or not. But we weren't as aggressive as we were in the first two games. We weren't making the extra pass to the open game. That's just what happens when fatigue hits. Like I said, it's not an excuse. We've just got to keep moving forward. Q. You mentioned that mass substitution in the first half. Is that something you were maybe trying to see rotation‑wise? COACH WEBER: There were two or three guys out all at the same time. Obviously other games at Long Beach or Purdue, that bench had played pretty good. But this game, we probably had too many guys at one time and didn't get a good mix. We didn't shoot the ball well. Pittsburgh, I'm sure Jamie will tell you they haven't shot it real well. And tonight they had some guys jump up and make shots. And then you feel better. I think they got energized when they made shots that last stretch of the half. We still have a good close to the half, and we were one possession. But first five minutes of the second half we just couldn't seem to get over the hump. We just didn't make the right read, the right play. You know, I think we had some guys trying to make plays on their own instead of doing things as a team. Q. You said this is the kind of deal where you learn a lot about your team. So now that it's over, what would you say you learned about these guys? COACH WEBER: I'd like to take this game out of it, but obviously you can't. But I thought we showed some competitive spirit since Long Beach. We showed a little better defensive intensity. We just got to find a little better niche offensively. I don't know what we got against Purdue, 80‑something, but that was a lot against zone. We were horrible yesterday against a very good defensive team. But we can't rely‑‑ if we don't make shots, we've still got to find ways to win games. We've got to go back, watch film, figure it out, and move forward. Q. Justin had a little better game today. What does he need to do to take it even further and get going? COACH WEBER: I think he played a little tentative. It was good. He got the dunk down, got a little excitement, I think he got a little better intensity. Now if we've got to make some shots, that would help us because we need some other offensive weapons. If we were like totally on Marcus, people pinch Marcus. So some other people have to make some plays and make some shots. We had hoped Justin would be a guy. Wes can do a little bit with slashing. Nigel can jump up and make some shots, but we didn't have anybody doing that today except really Thomas. I think Jevon had a good‑‑ he still had the best energy of anybody. He still has to learn how to play and hopefully he loves the game. He wants to learn when we go back and watch film and figure some things out. Q. Bruce, is that something you still have to emphasize with Marcus is other guys have got to make plays? COACH WEBER: He drives. We've got some actions where we're creating opportunities for him. Now you've got to pinch on him. We told him an assist is a good stat too. Just besides, sometimes we've got to take away the three ball and make some other plays. We've got to help them with that. That's our job as coaches. Q. In hindsight, that Long Beach game, is it still a good thing for you guys to have done that? This is a tough tournament, three games in three days? COACH WEBER: I'm sure it is. And if you asked Jamie, should we play Hawaii, and we both talked about it this summer, people go home. There is one team 3‑0, 3‑2‑1, 3‑1‑2, or somebody 0‑3, and we're one of that group with 1‑2, and now we have our schedule, power rating and all that stuff will be good. But we've got to get better and get some wins here quickly. It's not going to be any easier with Nebraska‑Omaha. Long Beach, we learned about ourselves. It helped us with Purdue, helped us with Arizona, but obviously we didn't have enough ammo in the gun for today. Q. How would you assess the way your team played defense today? COACH WEBER: I didn't think it was bad. Halftime it's 30‑27. I just think we got to that point in the second half where we had a lot of guys hit walls, and we couldn't make baskets. Just a little disappointed in that competitive spirit at that point to keep fighting it out and keep it where it's at 8 or 10. I mean, that's where the game should have been, probably, and we didn't do that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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