MAUI JIM'S MAUI INVITATIONAL

November 22, 2021

LaVall Jordan

Ty Groce

Jair Bolden

Butler Bulldogs

Postgame Press Conference

Houston - 70, Butler - 52

LAVALL JORDAN: Obviously Houston's really, really, really good. Just look at last year. A lot of those guys back, and coach Samson's, I have an extreme amount of respect for him and how they play. I thought just toughest team sets the rules as we say. So coming out of the gates obviously the physicality on the defensive end that set a tone for the game and had us on our heels.

I thought we showed some good fight in the second half that little stretch there, probably eight to 10 minutes where it looked like Butler basketball on both ends of the court. We've got to figure out a way to get that from the beginning. So we got to kind of break everything down and take a look and respond at that point in time. 20 turnovers is not a formula for success against anybody. So we got to just go back and look and the thing about a opportunity like Maui, it's a quick turnaround so you don't have time to feel sorry for yourself and nobody else is going to feel sorry for you. So we got to take a good look in the mirror and make sure we're looking at things and make sure we're getting ready for Texas A&M tomorrow.

Q. It looked like you made some adjustments to start the second half and made some headway. What kind of adjustments did coach have you guys make?

TY GROCE: Just coming out with more energy, coming out being more physical and bringing more life. I think that was the biggest difference.

Q. For both players, how do you guys bottle that energy you had in the second half and use it earlier. This is the third straight game that Butler has fallen behind by double digits early.

JAIR BOLDEN: I just think it's our mentality more than anything. We have to change our mentality if we don't want that to happen. It's not a talent thing. It's a mentality and a heart thing.

Like coach said, we got to look ourselves in the mirror, each and everyone of us, and decide if we want to have a season like that or if we want to be the team we can be and we have to be moving forward.

TY GROCE: We showed spurts of being a really, really good team. We got to bottle that and play it and do that for 40 minutes.

Q. These last two games, especially, it's been uncharacteristic with some turnovers, but then still shooting a high percentage of threes. What have Michigan State and Houston done in that regard?

LAVALL JORDAN: Yeah, I think they obviously loading up on the paint and they do a really good job defensively. Guys are in their gaps. They had good pressure on the ball, and so your timing and your cutting and your execution and all of those things come into play.

Look, we got to be stronger with the basketball. I mean, a couple of times it was just we got to get stronger on the drives where we're we got bumped and lost the ball or just got it taken out of our hands. It's just some of those where -- opportunities where we did try to attack the paint where we got to be stronger with the ball when we do that.

Q. (No microphone.)

LAVALL JORDAN: As the guys said, mindset. There's a mindset to all of it. I mean, your preparation, it doesn't just start when the ball tips up. So their engagement and preparation and how you prepare, how we prepare ourselves heading into it and to be able to come out with more force in the beginning and then obviously taking care of the basketball, got to be able to do that to give yourselves a chance. You got to make sure we're not beating ourselves.

Now Houston had a ton to do with it, give them credit, they were really, really good. But if we don't have 20 turnovers, where a couple of those were unforced, so we got to take care of the basketball better.

Q. (Question about injuries and Bryce Golden.)

LAVALL JORDAN: We got to get Bryce back to where we know he can be. Obviously he's better than what he's playing right now, that's not a -- we got to put him in better positions also, it's not all on him. He's a good player, he's had really a lot of success in a Butler uniform and there's a ton of belief in Bryce.

D.J., it's all about practice. There are guys that say, Play me, coach, and I'll show you, and for us it's like, Show me and we'll play you. D.J.'s had really good practices the last two weeks leading into it, obviously the injury affects things, and it's just an energy thing, he brings good energy every day in practices, he's attentive in the film room, those are the things that are required to earn an opportunity to get in there and compete when the ball tips up. So he's got a lot to learn obviously as a freshman, but he's been bringing those things to the table.