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MAUI INVITATIONALNovember 22, 2011Jerime AndersonBen HowlandTyler LambLAHAINA, HAWAII Kansas – 72 THE MODERATOR: Coach, we'll start with an opening statement. COACH HOWLAND: Obviously we got off to a terrible start. We allowed their defense to take us out of any good shot selection the first six, seven minutes. We really, really did a poor job of trying to execute anything offensively. We were just rushing to do things. And it's been reminiscent of our first couple of games at home. And we had the big deficit. I was really happy the way guys fought back in the second half. We had the deficit down to five and missed a decent shot. We had it down six I think a couple other times with the ball. And then I think we ran out of gas. I thought the squad we had in there, with these two at the guards, the twins and Reeves was our best lineup tonight for our team to give us a chance to win. I thought Jerime did a very good job handling the ball and doing a good job of distributing the ball in our comeback, and so hopefully we can learn something from this, because the second half we started playing a lot more physical and tougher with just our screening offense. And they're a very good team. This is a very good Kansas team. They execute. Robinson's a very good player. Elijah Johnson really took it to us. He really played great today. And you have to give him credit. Their three best players, the guys that really played well for them tonight. We had 11 turnovers in the first half. Second half we did a better job, only three turnovers. We got hurt on the glass. Our doubles of Robinson in the posts have got to be better because he handled those pretty good for the most part. I thought Reeves gave us a good lift off the bench with those two back‑to‑back 3s, which was key to us coming back, starting it. And he played pretty decent defense on Robinson. Questions? Q. What was the thinking moving Josh back in the starting lineup? And didn't get much out of him tonight, fouled out. What happened there? COACH HOWLAND: I thought giving us some size in there to try and go to them early. They doubled him, and that bothered him tonight when he got doubled. He was standing up instead of staying down low. His foul trouble was what really hurt him. And he fouled out in how many minutes of play? It was like 11 minutes or something, if that. 13 minutes he fouled out. And we need him to be in the game, obviously, longer. Q. Is his conditioning‑‑ is it an ongoing issue right now? COACH HOWLAND: Yeah. It's evident. Q. Given the way Jerime played, Jones continued to struggle, any thoughts to giving Jerime more time at the point guard? COACH HOWLAND: Yes. Q. Tyler, two nights in a row you guys have sort of started slow and turn it on in the second half. Can you pinpoint anything there that contributed to the slow start? TYLER LAMB: I can't really pinpoint anything. I think it's just within ourselves. We just have to come out and hit the other team first. And we'll continue to work on it, and I think we'll be ready to do that. So we have to. Q. Jerime, the way that the team played in the second half against a good opponent, does that give you confidence that this could be a good thing going forward? JERIME ANDERSON: Yeah. Definitely. I think that personally I believe that our team is a very good team and that we have a lot of things to work on. But if we continue to play hard and play with the intensity that we played with in the second half, that the sky's the limit for us. And I really do believe that. We just have to collectively believe that, everybody on our team, and play together as a team. And play together as a team coming out. We can't keep coming back and trying to come back, because it's difficult to get over that hill. Try to get to the top of the hill; it's difficult to get over it. I'm very inspired by our team's comeback and our will and fight. But we just need to put ourselves in a better position to win the game. Q. How important is tomorrow's third‑place game against Michigan? COACH HOWLAND: It's really important. They're a very hard team to prep on a few hours, because they have so many things within their offense. And you saw us try to play a little zone tonight. We haven't spent enough time to be a good zone team. We're not doing a good job defensively. They shot 51 percent. They're a very good team tonight. So we have to play really smart tomorrow. We have to get more inside scoring. We had eight baskets inside the 3‑point line, 16 baskets total. We've got to get more of a presence inside. We've got to get someone to score in there for us and do a better job there. And they're going to be playing that 1‑3‑1 zone that they're famous for. So we're going to have to handle that zone and be really skilled. Q. Tyler and Jerime, what was the biggest challenge going against Tyshawn Johnson and Elijah Johnson? TYLER LAMB: They're very good guards. They play within themselves. We were right there. That comeback in the second half is much easier if we're even or closer than the first half. And some things don't go our way. We come back, and then if the team makes another run, that's the hardest thing to do is to come back from two runs. But they played a great game today and yesterday. This whole tournament. They're two very good guards. I take nothing away from them. Q. What's so impressive about their game? JERIME ANDERSON: I mean, I think they're just‑‑ they're polished guards. They play solid. I'm not saying that I'm overly impressed by their games. I've seen them play for a long time. And I think that it's nothing that we couldn't handle. I think Elijah played really well today. And Tyshawn, he played pretty well. I think for us and our team it's really never on the other team and guys being that much more talented than us. It's really about us. And we have to look into ourselves and figure that out quickly. Q. Coach, is there any update on the injured guys? David Wear, how is he doing? COACH HOWLAND: You know, he stopped at the end there, thought he heard‑‑ he was like in a daze. But I don't know‑‑ I don't think that was‑‑ I think he was more just winded because he hadn't done anything really a whole lot in four days. And I played him a lot of minutes tonight. Although statistically he didn't get, you know, a lot of the scoring done, he did a good job out there for us defensively. His size‑‑ we've just got to‑‑ both Travis and Dave, it's like their freshman year almost in terms of they didn't play much as freshmen. So they are playing a lot of minutes for the first time in three years. I think they'll keep getting better. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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