Opening Statement

At this point in the season, we're relatively happy to be 9-3. Despite leaving a couple on the table, they were very winnable games. This was a game that I thought would be a real challenge. They spread you out, they're small, they shoot to three really, really well. They have guys that can get anywhere they want to at the ball. And a lot of people haven't picked to win the Horizon League, which is obviously a really good basketball conference. And then after the two heartbreaking losses, you never know how your guys are gonna respond. Our guys came back with great spirit and practice, really intentional about working. And continuing to develop our chemistry. And I thought we saw a lot of carryover from what we've been focused on to what we did in the game, other than the obvious T-O's, turnovers.

On Roddy Gayle's effort on the offensive glass

I thought we were, especially early, we're moving and cutting. And when we generate, if you just watch the game of basketball, when the team generates a really good shot, typically there's players on the glass. They can anticipate the shot, they see it coming, and there's a synergy to it. And I thought that really helped him. It seemed like our cutting, our screening gave us great looks, and then the guys were on the glass. Yeah, I thought Roddy played really well tonight. I thought he made a lot of invisible plays. Obviously, getting 12, 6, and 4 is a great line. But I thought his decision-making was sound. I thought defensively, when we didn't play him in long stretches, the second half, he made a big jump defensively in the second half as well.

On how shooting well in the first half builds confidence for the game

We felt like coming back home, as long as we got more paint touch 3s, rhythm 3s, that we would shoot it well, cuz we have good shooters. And so I think the last couple games, there have been times when we're pulling away from the basket, we're on our heels. We didn't have a chance to get our feet ahead of the pass, and we shot it anyway cuz we were open. But the percentage of those shots are certainly lower than step in 3s. But also, we just have too many weapons to shoot okay shots. I thought for the most part tonight, we turned down a lot of good shots to get really good shots.

On who the backup point guard is and Justin Pippen's minutes

Yeah, Rubin Jones has been at times, LJ, Pip have all been bad at times. And then usually when Trey's out, we try to have Danny Wolfe in, just help relieve some pressure and alleviate some of those things. But Justin Pippen's a good player. I mean, if he doesn't get hurt, when he showed up this summer, he was ready to play in a college game. And then when you miss a summer or a fall of practice of, there's certain things in the game that if you play, then you know what your teammates are gonna do. You can anticipate. There's just a, when guys are playing for each other, there's a synergy to it. And he's developing that now. He's sound, seeing those shots go in were great. But I thought he defended well, his communication was good. I think he's gonna be a really good basketball player.

On what he's learned about his rotations

Majority of coaches think that that's important. I don't know. I don't wanna lose. I don't wanna tighten up our rotation because a game is going a certain way. If those guys continue to practice the way they've been practicing and compete, not one day, not two days, the Maize team, they can't play really well for a day or two and think everything's just gonna flip. But if they continue over to work like that with longevity, with intention, put in extra time, then their roles will grow. And to be honest, I told the staff come out at halftime, I said, if any of these guys really decide to communicate at a high level this half, their minutes are gonna go up. So it's not as if we're sitting there saying, hey, if Pip comes in and bangs in 30, he'll be in safe. These guys show that they're gonna value the details that win and lose in games at the Garden and games in the Big Ten Tournament. And they have a real opportunity to improve their minutes and their role in rotation. And we've been relatively injury-free. Rubin got dinged a little bit today. But over the course of a season, there's gonna be guys rolling ankles. There's gonna be illness. So if those guys can stay ready, they have some bright spots coming up.

On the impact Sam Walters has had when the shots aren't falling

I wish Sam appreciated as much as we do the gravity that he provides on the court. And what I mean by gravity, when he checks in a game, they're worried about his shooting, his floor spacing. And Pip's threes, he got three wide open threes. And I think if I go back and look at the film, it's a direct result of Sam running the same lane. And the defender committing, fully committing to Sam and leaving Pip open, and then Sam made the right play. So it's tough, because as coaches, we've been around the game a long, long time, and we value, and I think our staff does as good a job as anyone in the country of valuing all those details and invisible plays. But he does that for us at all times, so he's gotta take the pressure off of making and missing and hunting shots. He had a couple of nice drives today. He stepped his heels on the sideline. The court geography he'll continue to get better at as we get more fluid with our stuff, but the shots went in, they were on good balance. Sam's gonna, once again, we believe in Sam. Just him being on the court makes everyone else significantly better.

On how he feels about the team heading into Big Ten play

No, today, I mean, the way we practice, the way we interact with each other, our attitude every day, those are the things that give me hope or bring fear and anxiety. I love our staff, I love our players. So if we continue to grow together and support each other and do it for each other, then I think this team has a really high ceiling. A mentor of mine said this a few years ago, unfortunately, there's gonna be about five of those in the entire nation of teams that are really committed to doing it with each other for each other. And so if we can, then we're gonna have a great season. If not, there's gonna be bumps in the road, and there'll probably be bumps in the road either way. But I like the direction we're going. I see our turnovers are different now, we're not making the same ones. I think we're getting better on the glass, our communication. The things that are gonna give you long-term success are improving.

On whether he feels the team could be undefeated if they could close games

Yeah, we certainly could be undefeated, but we also could have lost to Iowa. We could have, there's some other, it's just, yes, we wish we had those games back. There's been a lot that went into losing those games. But at the end of the day, we played really, really high-level basketball for about 25 to 30 minutes in all three of them. And our goal is to just get closer to 40 minutes of high level basketball. And I think as coaches, we're not looking for perfection. We're just looking for intense, passionate effort for 40 minutes. And like I said, because we have good players that know how to play this game, we trust that the chips will fall where they may.

On LJ Cason's game

His practice habits have to improve, his day-to-day work. There's no way that I've lost any faith in him, we've lost any faith in him. He's a player. And just sometimes you go with guys that have done it at this level, and there's a comfort level of guys that are 21 versus 18. But he's gonna get there, if he stays committed to the process of working and growing, and I guess embracing, I don't wanna call it failure, cuz it's all temporary, none of it's final. But just embracing that this is gonna be difficult, and everyone goes through it, almost everyone goes through it. And if you bust that wall down, then you're usually like where you are on the other side.

On the team playing for each other right now

I do, I do, in practice, you can see the guys communicating better. Like we just told him, we've played 12 games together. We've played 12 basketball games as a group, we have a new staff, the majority of us haven't worked together. As far as the players, staff, the unity, we just haven't. And so I would love to be firing all cylinders right now, but realistically, I don't think anyone's doing that. And should we expect to be doing that, it would probably be a little bit, I guess, naive. But yeah, I like the direction we're going. I don't think we've been discouraged at all, except maybe just a few decisions in place here and there. There's never been discouragement about our level of competitive spirit and things like that.

On the emphasis of the team playing for each other

And one of the things that we preach internally is that when people watch it, when fans and people watch us play, man, that looks like a team that enjoys sharing the ball, that are playing for each other, and it shouldn't jump out at you. And I think, and we ask people that know the game that aren't in our circle advice, and what they see just for curiosity, cuz we're in the fire. And most of them say the same thing. Your guys, they share the ball, they wanna do the right things, and that's how you get there, whether it's in two weeks, a month. But like I said, if you're really peaking now, you're probably not gonna be playing great ball in March, cuz there's gonna be so much extra outside noise and the diversity that you probably won't be able to sustain it.

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