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MAUI JIM MAUI INVITATIONALNovember 22, 2016Dana AltmanCasey BensonDillon BrooksLahaina, Maui, Hawaii Oregon - 69, Tennessee - 65 THE MODERATOR: Coach Altman is joined by Dillon Brooks and Casey Benson. COACH ALTMAN: We're not playing very well, but we had to find a way to win the game. So any way we could do to figure out a way to win was really important for us. Fortunately, Dillon made a couple of plays down the stretch. But it shows how far we have to go. 21 turnovers, didn't execute down the stretch. Defensively, we take chances and get ourselves out of position. We're not playing good basketball. I think we can get a whole lot better because I've seen these guys play and I know what they're capable of. Between the coaching staff and the players, we've got to get much more disciplined. We've got to get much more ball movement and playing for each other, and we're just not doing a good job of that right now. We obviously read too many press clippings, and we're not playing anywhere near that level and anywhere near the level we're capable of playing. So it's going to be a growth. We found a way to win today, which was critical. We've got to try to find a way to win tomorrow against either Chaminade or Connecticut, and then we've got to get back and get some home games, and we've got to grow as a team. But we've got a long way to go, but I am glad that they found a way to win the game. Q. Dillon, on that last one, did you think about the drive? Were you going to pull it up? What was kind of going through your mind with seven seconds on the shot clock? Were you kind of figuring they might guard the drive, and you wanted to get a shot up? DILLON BROOKS: They were bunched in, and we weren't really in no plays or nothing. So I just shot one I've been practicing a lot when I've been hurt, and it fell. Q. How about the one at the end of regulation? Happy to get a chance again in the overtime after the one in regulation came just short? DILLON BROOKS: Yeah, I knew I had to redeem myself. I left it short. That's me being out of shape. But my players, you know, they gave me confidence, and they made big plays before I made that big play, with Casey's and one. Casey knocked down two free throws. Guys were -- Chris grabbed a rebound, blocking shots, same with Jordan. We just had a couple missed errors, and we let Tennessee back in the game. Q. How are you feeling in terms of through two games? How's the foot? Are you kind of feeling like you're getting back into it out there? DILLON BROOKS: Yeah, I'm feeling good. I'm feeling great. My foot doesn't hurt at all. I'm just ready for this next game and ready to get back and work and work with these guys and get better and get to that level that we need to be at. Q. Casey, thoughts on coming off the bench today, that kind of adjustment for you? And in that overtime, you were really aggressive driving to get a couple of baskets. CASEY BENSON: Yeah, at the end of the day, just whatever helps our team win games. At this point, obviously, we kind of had a rough start. So whatever I can do to help our team win. That's what I wanted to do today. Q. Can you talk about being aggressive in the overtime. CASEY BENSON: Just wanted to make plays and take what the defense gives me. Ball went in the basket, made some free throws, and helped our team get the win. I was excited about that. Tyler made a great pass on the kick out, which led them into a close-out situation and was able to get to the rim. THE MODERATOR: We'll dismiss players back to their teams and take questions for Coach. Q. Coach, do you feel like there were certain mistakes made against Georgetown that were corrected in this game? COACH ALTMAN: It's a grind right now. Nothing's coming easy. We got a lot better start. We were trying to transition, and guys were just trying to make plays that weren't there. So I think the first half, we were maybe 1 for 7, 1 for 8 in transition. We had some pretty good opportunities. Everybody's just trying to do too much right now. They don't trust their teammates to make plays. So the ball's stopping with everybody. Everybody wants to make a play individually, and that's just not good for ball movement. So our ball movement's very, very poor. I can't get them to understand. We've had a very efficient offense running the same thing in years past because of our ball movement. We've struggled to get the ball movement. I think eventually we'll get that going. Got to try to do something to help them by tomorrow, but our ball movement's got to get a lot, lot better, and we've got to start making more plays. 9 assists, 21 turnovers -- that's not an efficient offense. I thought defensively there for a long time in the second half, we really did a good job. They were stuck on 32 for a long time. But we just weren't getting anything at the other end. Q. Did you think Dillon was going to shoot that? Did you think he was going to drive it? COACH ALTMAN: I thought he was going to drive it. When he pulled it up, it was one of those no, no, great shot. I really like the shot he got at the end of regulation. He squared up and had a 15-footer uncontested. I mean, we'll take that. Pick and pop and 15-footer, nobody there, end of the game. It's a pretty good play. No, it was one of those that I was hoping he'd drive and make the play for somebody or get to the free-throw line. Q. Coach, can you just speak to the Maui experience and how much fun you guys have had and how much you might like to come back in the future. COACH ALTMAN: We're not having much fun because we're not playing real well. That's always a big part of it. This is the greatest tournament. This is my first time. I've never had an opportunity at Creighton, and Coach was good enough to invite us. This is the best tournament I've ever been in, and I'm sure some other promoters won't like me saying that, but it is. It's a great location, great environment. The teams this year, unbelievable. Wisconsin and North Carolina. The opportunities -- even in the losers bracket, you're playing Tennessee, a Southeast Conference school. No, the teams -- the hospitality is unbelievable. Maui Jim and their sponsorship of it, the people at the hotels, people here at the gym, I'm not sure we've ever been treated better. Great tournament. We'd sure love to come back sometime and represent our school and our program a little better because we are a better team. I think eventually we'll get there. We've got four starters back from a Final Eight team. Elgin Cook was a good player, and Dwyane gave us something, but those four guys are still pretty good. Dylan Ennis is a lot better than what he's playing. Payton Pritchard, Kavell, Keith -- we're going to make some progress. Right now we're stuck in the mud, and we got to get through tomorrow and figure out a way to grind one out again tomorrow and then hopefully get back and put some things together. We've got a little home streak. We've been out on the road. Baylor on the road. We've been out a little bit. We need to get home. We're just not very fundamentally sound right now. That's my fault. We've got to get a lot better. I've got to be a lot more demanding. We will. I've got faith in these guys. Chris, Jordan, Dylan, Tyler, Casey -- these guys have been through it. They've been through it. They've won a lot of games. They finished second in the Pac-12 and first. They won a tournament and went to the finals in the other one. They'll bounce back. We've just got to get through tomorrow and get back. Q. Switching up the starting lineup and talk about Casey in the overtime, he got really aggressive there for you. COACH ALTMAN: We're not going to be settled on a lineup here for another month. We're going to move guys around. When you're not playing efficiently, you just try to shake things up, and Payton played pretty good. Casey had been struggling a little bit. Just trying to free him up. That's the best offensive game he's had. There's nothing to it. Those guys are more concerned about who's starting than I am. We've got nine or ten guys. We've got to figure out the rotation. Somebody else, Dillon Brooks comes back 100 percent, somebody else -- we're going to have rotation problems here. So they're going to be either all about the team and want to come off the bench, or I'll just have to go a different direction. This is about us. This is not about individuals. This is about us getting better. We'll have to find a way that way. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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