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NIT SEASON TIP-OFFNovember 28, 2008Al SkinnerNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK Q. Coach, what was it in your opinion in the second half that kind of set Tyrese Rice off and allowed him to go on that run? COACH AL SKINNER: Well, the thing that happened was that we obviously were able to get some stops and got us into transition and our wings really ran the floor extremely well. So they weren't able to coral him. Like when our wings stand around, then it allows the defense to settle to really focus in on them but because they ran the wings and ran hard, it created some spaces, because if they stop, which they did a couple times, to look for him, then he's good enough to create some other opportunities. So one, it really started on the defensive end because of the stops, and then the others because our wings consistently ran hard and got up the floor. And then created some openings, some opportunities for him, and of course, you know, he made some shots. So you know, what a difference a day makes. Q. Talk about Reggie (Jackson) a little bit and what he gave you. I mean you're playing him in key spots now? COACH AL SKINNER: Yeah. What he gives you is, you know, he wanted to take the challenge. He wanted to guard 24 and he wanted to defend and you know, he's not afraid to make some plays. He's got a little better understanding of what we're trying to do offensively. He's not thinking as much. I thought he gave us obviously some very good minutes, so we're obviously pleased about that, but I'm happy about the fact that he's grown to take the challenge on the defensive end and try to make it work there. And then recognize -- try to recognize some opportunities on the offensive end. Q. Coach, just something that you talked about Wednesday night, turnovers went from 16 Wednesday night to nine today. Just that improvement on your part or -- COACH AL SKINNER: Well, I thought, you know, I thought even in the first half I didn't think we did it well. I thought in the second half we did it much better. We just moved the ball better. We took the ball from one side of the court to the other side and again got some movement in our offense. We were very stagnant even a little bit in the first half in our previous game. This game we had a lot more movement because the ball was moving, so that was clearly a point of emphasis for us, and you know, we finally got it, and because of that, again, it created some opportunities for us. The other thing we did was we talked about -- with our day off we talked about calming ourselves and not being in a hurry. I thought when we played against Purdue we hurried ourselves. We slowed down and because we slowed down we were able to see the floor better and make better plays and some good things happened for us. Q. Are you happy with the spacing you're getting running that flex today as opposed to the other day, the offensive spacing? COACH AL SKINNER: Yeah. I like it for people like -- I like running it tight. I want it tight. We want people -- I don't have a problem with people guarding us, and that's what we tell them because we think over 40 minutes when we do that, we're physically going to be better for it, and we are eventually create some opportunities for ourselves. So it's offense playing defense, I guess, but I run it tight. We want to execute it. We want to set our screens. We want to move and eventually we're going to get the shot we want. That's the part I think we're really trying to get to. We don't have it quite yet, but I think we're going to eventually get there, because again, like anything else you gotta have a little success with something, and we had some opportunities today that we missed. And when guys were coming off the floor, they said, hey, I missed that one. I missed that one. I gotta get that. So they're starting to get it. And once we get it, that just makes us that much more effective. End of FastScripts |
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