MAUI JIM MAUI INVITATIONAL

November 21, 2022

Greg McDermott

Ryan Nembhard

Arthur Kaluma

Lahaina Civic Center

Creighton Bluejays

Postgame Press Conference

Creighton - 76, Texas Tech - 65

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with an opening statement from Coach and then take questions for the student-athletes.

GREG MCDERMOTT: Well, as you saw by the start of the game Texas Tech is really hard to play against. You can prep all you want but it's so hard to simulate the physicality of their defense and the quickness of their rotations.

We were in a little bit of a hurry the first half and obviously created some offense for them with some of our turnovers. As I told the team in the locker room and in particular Art and Trey after the game, I thought they did an unbelievable job of adjusting to the game. Every game's different. You've got to kind of feel it out, what's the ball screen coverage, where's the help coming from, what are they doing in the post.

I thought those two, while they got rushed a little bit in the first half and made some mistakes, I thought they really settled in and made plays for themselves and for their teammates the second half, and that has to be who we are.

I'm really proud of the team because this is a really good win and anytime you can beat a team coached by Mark Adams you feel pretty good about it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Ryan, there were times in the second half when you kind of asserted yourself and kind of got the tempo, it seemed like you kind of put yourself in and kind of asserted. When do you decide that you need to kind of pick it up and kind of take control and kind of get the team going in the right direction?

RYAN NEMBHARD: Yeah, I just kind of take what the game gives me. There's flows in the game. There's different runs that we go on as a teams. There's lulls in the game. So I just take what the defense gives me, try and make plays for my teammates and try and just help us get a win anyway possible.

Q. Coach talked about kind of adjusting to the game. You're used to running off the high screen and lobbing it to Kalk. That wasn't there as much today. How did you go about adjusting to the game and the flow of the game? And who were you kind of looking for there in the second half? Because the thing seemed to flow a lot quicker.

RYAN NEMBHARD: The way they played defense they ice a lot of things and they switched a lot of things and their bottom side help, really helps over a lot. So it's hard to get those flip-ups. So we just made some adjustments at halftime. We kind of had a game plan going into the game and we just kind of executed in the second half a little better than the first half.

We got to get a little more comfortable. Their pressure didn't bother as much in the second half. We just felt a little more comfortable out there.

Q. Art, what did you feel like in the second half that made you more comfortable? You had a big second half, obviously. What kind of worked for you in the second half?

ARTHUR KALUMA: Well, we had a good game plan coming in, so just listening to what the coaches had to say and then really put it into action in the game and just easing into the game. We're in a big place. This is a big tournament, Maui Invitational, it's just fun to be here. Got it going in the second half and I'm glad we got the win out today.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you. We'll take questions for coach.

Q. What are the keys to a game planning and then executing against Texas Tech's defense?

GREG MCDERMOTT: Things look open. They sit on your side and they really force you to that baseline, try to keep you out of the middle. As you start to probe, it looks like it's open, and then everything gets closed off. Then you have to make the right read. You have to space the floor such that the guy with the ball has some options. If two guys are standing next to each other or too close to each other they can cover that.

When we got spaced and then played on our second attack on the other side, we had, we got pretty good shots. So it's hard to simulate. I thought we had a good plan. We scrimmaged Iowa State in October, who has a very similar plan defensively. I think that helped us some.

But I don't know, first time on the road with this team, maybe the anxious and excited, we certainly weren't ourselves early in that game. We had as many turnovers in the first 20 possessions I think as we've had in four games. So once we settled in, I thought we were pretty good. But it's not easy to prepare for.

Q. Some of those second chance points and the way y'all attacked the offensive boards were key. Was that something going in you thought y'all could do or was that just a part of the game plan?

GREG MCDERMOTT: We always want to try to put some pressure there. When they're in rotations and you shoot it, a lot of times you got a guy running free on the offensive glass, it's hard to get to that crack down in time.

Thank goodness Kalkbrenner was tough enough to play through a pretty good sprained ankle because his presence at the rim and on the glass for us is so important.

Q. Baylor with double-digit rebounds again. He's come close or hit that almost every game. What makes him such a good rebounder?

GREG MCDERMOTT: He's very instinctive. Some guys can watch the ball leave the shooter's hands and have an idea where it's going to go and some guys can't. He's blessed with the ability to have an idea of whether it's going to be long or short, coming off right or left, and then he goes and gets it.

He's got a great nose for the basketball. He's not afraid to stick his nose in there with a lot of contact, a lot of physicality, and go get basketballs. Now, it requires that we got to create some space with our boxouts, and I think for the most part we did a good job of that. Still have to get better. 11 offensive rebounds and whatever they had, 35 missed shots. I would like that to be a little bit lower. But for the most part I thought we were pretty good in that regard.

Q. Did he surprise you a little bit, his all-around game? Rebounding, he's able to push it up the floor and obviously great shooter.

GREG MCDERMOTT: Yeah, I had watched him a lot simply because a bunch of my former staff members are coaching at South Dakota State. I think the head coach played for me and worked for me and two of the assistants. So it's a team that I followed and watched. So I've known about Baylor's game and obviously being from Nebraska saw him some in high school, and then watched his development at South Dakota State.

Then when he made the decision to leave, just really fit seamlessly with that group we had coming back. He obviously can shoot the basketball and, as you mentioned, really good rebounder. But his ability to move the defense with his eyes and with pass fakes and shot fakes is really elite. We're so glad we have him. He's been a great addition to this team.