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MAUI JIM MAUI INVITATIONALNovember 21, 2018Sean MillerChase JeterLahaina, Maui, Hawaii Auburn - 73, Arizona - 57 MEGAN GODFREY: We'll start with an opening statement from coach. SEAN MILLER: I think that we played one of the top teams in the country. We knew that before the game started. And we really struggled in the first half to score. Credit their defense. And then we really hit our stride, I think really the first eight to 10 minutes of the second half. And a very similar story to Gonzaga. Right in around that six minute mark. Last night's game against Gonzaga with six minutes and 20 seconds to go, we were down two points, I think it was 64-62, and they really put it on us down the stretch. Tonight was very similar. I think right around the eight minute mark, although it was a little bit more than two points, I think it was a game that maybe could have gone either way if we play well down the stretch. But we didn't. We didn't have enough in either game and obviously playing against two really, really talented teams, well coached teams and experienced group as well. MEGAN GODFREY: Take questions for chase. Q. Chase, what can you take home from this experience, these last three days, playing some really good teams. You get a win and then I'm sure you learned some things. What kind of things can you take home? CHASE JETER: Well, I think first and foremost, the flow of the game, a lot of stuff happens and good things and bad things can occur. And I think one of the things we need to work on is not getting too excited when the good things do happen and kind of carrying that same dog and that same fight to the end of the game. Kind of like Auburn and Gonzaga did these past two days against us. So the biggest thing that we need to learn is that there's 40 minutes in a game and that at the end of the day no matter how good or bad we're doing in one segment, it's always on to the next thing and we got to stay strong. Q. Chase, last night coach talked a little bit about the number of assists. Tonight I think you only had about nine assists. He's looking for more ball movement. Who on the court really helps to kind of settle you guys down? How do y'all get each other more involved in the offense and get more touches? What can you do to try to do that with your teammates? CHASE JETER: Justin Coleman co-captain, he does a great very good job of being vocal on the floor and keeping guys' heads level when we're out there. I think it goes back to the same thing like I said in my previous answer, just there's 40 minutes in a game and I think one of the good things that we do need to add is ball movement and swing the ball and working together a little bit more on offense. MEGAN GODFREY: We'll take questions for coach. Q. Same question for you. What do you take home from this week? SEAN MILLER: Well, thank God we took one win home. Very easily you can leave this tournament 0-3. And we knew before we ever took off from Tucson Arizona that the field was incredibly strong. And I'm very proud of our guys that we were able to be as resilient as we were in the first game against Iowa State. And I think we lost to two really talented teams. I think Gonzaga, obviously will be fighting for one of the top seeds in the tournament. Really ditto for Auburn. If you look at the team that they have returning, who they have added and what they were able to accomplish last year, I mean those are two really tough teams. For us, we played some excellent basketball in both of those games. We were the furthest thing from a team that could finish. And sometimes that's depth, sometimes that's talent, sometimes that's a little bit of everything. Coaching. So for us it's a matter of when you play against great competition you learn your strengths and weaknesses. And for us the other part of it is confidence. If you watched us in the first half we were 1-7 from three. I think if we had taken 20 threes I think we might have made one or two. In the second half same team we're 9-18. Much, much more confident after halftime. And when guys haven't been there and done it before, sometimes you go through this in November, specifically if you're playing here in Maui against the talented groups that we played against, really all three nights. But we have learned a lot, we had some great moments in each of the games. Justin Coleman, I would imagine he has a chance to be on the all tournament team. He was outstanding. If he didn't play the way he played, I'm not sure where we would have been in any of the three games. His second half against Iowa State and just watching him play for 40 minutes, that's something that I think gives us a lot of confidence moving forward, because he did it against the best. And Justin is an experienced player as well. Q. Probably just a continuation of my last question. I think there's, I know some things that you want to, you have a lot of great players and trying to get touches. What are some of the things you want to do over the next few weeks to kind of get your team to where you think you want it to be going down the stretch? SEAN MILLER: You play in a tournament like this in November, you learn through trial and error, you learn through baptism by fire. We're going to be a better team when we return to Tucson because we came on this trip. We had two practices here. We had to prepare hard for all three games. All of our players kind of got a sense of what it's like to play against the best. And now it's a matter of us getting back to practice. It's still very, very early and building and growing and hopefully down the road we'll look back at this tournament as one of the reasons that we had a successful season. But we need to get a couple players who aren't starting the game. Our bench in particular to play, help us contribute. I think in all three nights if you add up the minutes they played and the production, that's something that I hope can grow as the year goes on. And we haven't tried Devonaire Doutrive, who I would say is our ninth or tenth guy and I think it's up to us to get him in the game now, give him a try. And sometimes a young guy like that will come in with confidence and maybe bolster what we have. Q. Beating Iowa State the one maybe down side was that you had to play two Top-10 teams in a row and like you said, you learned a lot from it, but with all the things you're having to deal with this kind of new team, was that maybe a little too much to ask in that sense? SEAN MILLER: Evidently so. I mean, if you followed the patterns of both of the last two games, again, last night it doesn't feel that way because of the final score. But with six minutes left it was a 2-point game, we had as much of a lead I think as 13 in the first couple minutes of the second half. We played some really, really good basketball in the first half against Gonzaga. Tonight I thought our best was kind of like an eight to 10 minute segment in the second half, but we also played some great defense in the first half. Auburn is a team that can score and we really held them in check for about, I don't know, 24, 28 minutes and then they finished. Had a couple deep threes go in but that's what they do. They have confident players, some great guards that have been there before, and you feel that when you play against them. Q. You alluded to it there, but I was wondering about the defense. It's been pretty strong and just kind of got away from you there at the end. I was wondering about that. And also at the beginning you had a lot of turnovers and a lot of them were charges that maybe could have gone either way or whatever, but if that was, you know, anything you were concerned about. SEAN MILLER: Say that again. Q. I guess the turnovers early in the game and the defense late in the game. SEAN MILLER: Auburn, they turn you over. That's what their defense does. Part of our lack of ball movement, when you play them, you really have to dribble the ball, you have to penetrate, you have to be able to drive, make good decisions. No matter who plays against Auburn, the ball isn't going to move around the perimeter. They don't let you play a certain way and you have to be able to kind of adjust. At times we did a tremendous job of that. Certainly the first 10, 12 minutes of the game we struggled. But that's who our team is and it's up to us to improve and become the best that we can become. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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