Opening Statement
Big 10 play after what we feel like played, where we played our best basketball down in Florida, especially against Xavier. We showed what we're capable of doing when we're not turning the basketball over. And so we're excited to see where we stand against one of the best teams in the country on the road this early, but it'll be a great test.
On playing Wisconsin
Well, they're impressive on a number of levels. They have a really unique mix of downhill drivers that get to the line and converted the line better than anyone else in the country. Their post guys can shoot it, they can score one-on-one after the dust settles. But they're really, really efficient as passers, which I think gives the cutters even more confidence to cut, the shooters even more space. And so it's gonna be fun, because they played the game the right way. They're playing with great tempo. They share the basketball. They live in their strengths. Hats off to Coach Gard. I don't think anyone expected them to be where they are right now, but they've done a nice job, and they're obviously playing extremely well together.
On Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin playing together and here he would like to see improvements
Together, they figured out a real nice pick and roll combination in half court, and we've tinkered with it all summer. We didn't execute it very well. Our angles weren't great. We were probably over-dribbling at times. And so, and then the other three guys spacing off the ball wasn't great. We've added more to our package to go at that a little bit. And also just the trust that we're gonna make the simple plays. It's sometimes, when you put guys in new situations, they wanna make the play. And then sometimes it's simply just starting a reaction, so someone else can make the play. But those guys have done really, really well together. They're figuring some things out, when to look for each other, when to go away from it. So we're excited what those can be, cuz that's a different type of weapon, two 14 plus feet in a pick and roll.
On what he liked and needs to see improve about the first part of the season
Well, there's a number of things that we need to improve on. The most, the glaring improvements need to be on the defensive glass. We have to rebound the ball better on the defensive end, especially with our size. It's not as if that should be a weakness for us. And then I don't think anyone's unaware of our turnover rate. And we have to do a better job. Some of them have been bad fortune. We get two offensive goal tens, where we're active on the glass. And you tip it in and you just, some things just kinda happen. Or we get an offensive rebound and we get bumped and lose our balance cuz maybe it's a freshman or whatever the case. So it looks worse than it is. We do think we're a lot closer to cleaning it up than, I think, some teams in this situation. And it's not as if we don't have what we need to get it fixed. We have good guard play, we have steady wings, we have bigs who are good decision makers and ball handlers as well. So we think we'll get it fixed. We tried some different things in practice. We've been really focused on the last several weeks. And to see us not turn it over against Xavier is a good sign. But we think we have a really smart group. So we should be able to get this fixed.
On things that have improved
The defensive side of the ball, and the way we play defense, there's a lot of decisions that need to be made on the fly. We're not real black and white. You gotta do this and you gotta do that. There's who am I, who is he, who's the guy next to me? So there's a lot of just really quick decisions that need to be made. And it seems like our guys are making those correct decisions a lot more frequently than they were three or four weeks ago. And part of that is just getting used to playing with guys and us not having a set system of rules, per se.
On the improvement of team defense
Coach Boynton's done a great job. I mean, the implementation, it's been in bits and pieces. It's been nuggets. And when you see it come together, obviously it's been layered properly. And so, but most importantly, it's our players. They're fighting like crazy. They're giving great effort. They're communicating better. They're moving. They're staying intense for longer periods. So it's been a lot of work by a lot of people. And now we get a chance to see where it stacks up against an elite offense.
On his team in Indiana can help him prepare for the Big Ten
Well, obviously there's, I guess, a feeling of you know how tough it is to win in Wisconsin and how infrequently teams win there. But as far as anything else, it's been a long time. The game's changed a lot. Personnel's changed. Coaches have changed. Everything's changed. But just the familiarity, we've leaned on Roddy Gayle on some of these situations too, and the guys, the returners here, about what they remember about playing Wisconsin, what they remember about playing at Wisconsin, and things like that. So it's a cumulative effort as far as my experience at Indiana. Nothing more than just sitting in our first row thinking, man, this is very daunting at times. But we built this roster to be in position to win games like this. So we're confident, yet excited. Yet, like you said, breaking the season up into three parts, that's typically what we do. It's very difficult right now because we need to, that first part's not over, but it needs to be now. We need to be ready for part two and then flip back to part one. So once again, I don't mind it. It's different if this adds attention to the game. This is good for TV, I don't care. Ideally, you get through a non-con play conference. But if this helps the game, helps our university, helps the league, whatever the case, then I'm all for it. It'll be fun. Both teams have the same thing going on.
On leaning on Roddy Gayle for Big Ten play and his reaction to Saturday
Well, in the group chat, there was definitely a reaction from Roddy Gayle. He's a Wolverine, so he was excited about that. And what an inspiring performance by that group to go on the road in that situation against a team that's stacked with talent. And obviously, they've played at a very high level this year. And for us to go in and be consumed with winning and doing it together like they did, it was an inspiring performance by our football team, but back to Roddy. Roddy, when he's locked in, he's extremely disruptive. He's making shots at a high rate. I think he'll get to the foul line a little more than he is now. And part of that is with the bigs and figuring out the spacing and when to drive and when not to drive. But we need Roddy to impact the game, every possession he's on the court because he's capable. He's such a good athlete. He's such a good rebounder. He's got great lateral quickness. So his role for us is simply to be one of those guys that impacts every single possession through the big plays, but also the invisible plays.
On whether he likes the two-game mini slate of Big Ten games
If I was a czar of basketball, I'd probably finish the non-con first. But like I said, if it's different, I don't know the reasoning. I guess just to get them all in and you don't have to play around league games around Christmas. I'm not really sure, but I'm all for it. Whatever it is, if both teams and everyone in our league has the same thing. But it also, see where you are. You play two games, and it could be 2-0, 1-1, 0-2. And you realize you still have a lot more left, and it just shows you exactly where you are in early December. And then you gotta be a much better team in January if you haven't performed well.
On his expectations of the Big Ten this season
I've watched just about every team play at least one game. And there's some high-level basketball being played in our conference. Obviously, to see Oregon go to Las Vegas and win that tournament was incredibly impressive. UCLA's finding their stride. Washington, what a job that Coach Sprinkle's done. They beat some, maybe not marquee name teams, but they beat some good basketball programs that are playing better. And it seems like the guys on the roster are outperforming their expectations. So those are just the ones from the West Coast. And then obviously, Purdue and Michigan State played really well in Maui. So it is what we thought it was.
On getting the team locked in against Xavier
Coaches, we can sometimes be a little bit too much coach speed. But when you're playing a ranked team for the first time, you're playing a great program like Xavier. Xavier's, they've been doing this at a high level for a long time. So our guys all have a lot of respect for the players and coaches they have there now and the history of that program. So I do think they're a little more excited to play because it was a ranked team naturally, I think playing for a championship for the first time. Obviously, it's not as if there's one champion of all these things. But if you're playing for a tournament and you're playing for a trophy, then I think there's a little bit of added incentive to play harder. But also the feeling that we're getting better and we're playing better as a group, I think, is another thing that gives us energy.
On offense and defensive assists
A little bit surprised that I think we're seventh or eighth in giving up assistive baskets. Usually we're one or two in the country and that's the goal, especially now with our positional size to force tough contested twos. I would say that's probably a result of us turning the ball over and some teams getting some assist in transition because of our offensive lows at times, but yeah, we like where we are defensively. When you look at our shot charts, we took probably a few tough mids, I tend to shot clock that we still could have generated a better look in Florida. But our guys have bought in to taking the highest value shots, that's getting to the rim and catching shoot threes and doing it together, getting assistive baskets. We're hunting assistive baskets for a number of reasons and hopefully our guys enjoy that they're all involved. They should all feel good about every basket because they had a role in creating.
On stressing the value in every shot in practice
We provide information, it's expected points for every single shot on every single spot on the floor our guys are aware of. Every single game we have our shot profile, our shot diet numbers, and usually we're one for two on floaters, we're one for two on middies. And you're going downhill and you're open and that's the best shot. They stay at home on shooters, we're gonna shoot a mid range shot. But if you're gonna help on a drive, then we're gonna expect our guys to pass to the open guy. It's not as if we have these ironclad rules, but we're all committed to hunting the best value for everybody. And I think it's been a more seamless transition than I thought, cuz it took us a couple years at FAU to really, I guess, convince our guys that that was the best way for us to play.
On halfcourt offense
Overall, in between pleased and disappointed. The reality of it is, is we think long term for us to be our best, we need to stay in flow and be able to figure out matchups on the fly for our guys to recognize how they're being defended, who's defending who, and that takes time. It would be a lot better for us tomorrow if we controlled a lot more possessions in the half court, we would probably be able to get a little bit better shot that particular possession, but we think we'd be stunting our growth long term. And so that's always the give and take, especially early in the season. Now, in the Xavier game, we had such a margin that we controlled it a lot more down the stretch than we typically would, because we wanted to make sure that we won the game, and the only way for us to lose at that point was to probably take some tough shots or turn it over, whatever case, when you stay in the flow. So there's always gonna be that juggling act, but we wanna get it up as fast as we can and initiate and trigger good offense before the defenses get set. And also, not allowing them to get the right matchups. Most teams wanna control who's guarding who. That's less of a concern for us, but for other teams, so if we can get it up quickly, because of our switching, they're usually cross-matched initially. So if we can find those matchups, if we can find those advantages before having to call a set, then usually the other team's gonna be a little bit more disorganized than they'd be otherwise.
On Trey Donaldson's leadership
He's who we thought he would be. It's been extremely gradual. Trey is a guy that, on game night, he has a different gear, especially as we've seen in the second half when he comes out of halftime, really motivated. He's putting pressure on the other team's defense by pushing it up quickly. His defense continues to improve. He's shooting with efficiency. He's finishing around the rim better. His assist to turnover ratio is creeping up to three to one, which is elite level. And so, yes, Trey is the best part of it, though. He's continuing to improve. He's playing really, really well. He's playing like an all-league guard, and he's improving incrementally as well.
On whether this feels like a veteran team
Yeah, these guys have all been through conference battles. Trey Donaldson played at Auburn, and they were in a lot of big games. And he's just playing a bigger role. And sometimes that's the reason you leave a place, just to have more opportunity, more of a role. He played a lot there. He started there at a really good time. So, yeah, he's been as good as we'd hoped. And we need him to keep getting better, cuz he's got much, much more room to grow than a very, very high ceiling. He's a talented, talented young man.
On whether he looks at the NET ratings and AP Polls
I personally don't. When I see it, then I'm happy, cuz it helps our fan base. It helps in recruiting. It hopefully helps our players, as long as we take it the right way. But also knowing that it can be gone. You get ranked, and then you can be unranked the next week. So it doesn't really matter in December or January. But it does matter, because it shows you played well, and you're positioning yourself to be where you wanna be towards the end of the year. But yeah, me personally, I don't look at it. It's distracting information for me, but for our fans and our students and everyone else, I think it's awesome.
On Xavier and Wisconsin being highly ranked
One of our players said that, and I had no idea that they were ranked this high. And there was a little bit, so absolutely. I think it gives you a little bit bigger of a target. It gives you a little more incentive, and it's part of the game. I mean, when we play Purdue, they're the conference champions. I'm sure there's gonna be a little bit extra juice for that. It's human nature. But yeah, especially with Wisconsin, I don't think anyone saw this coming out while they were playing this early. We've got time for a few more.
On whether turnovers decrease with more time a team spends playing togethr
Yeah, I said the other night that we did a deep dive in trying to figure out what's a theme, cuz you're not playing whack-a-mole. You're not just in a period and everything. And so what are the things that we can fix now? Is there a type of turnover that's maybe 30% of them that we can fix? If we're turning over every other post feed, do we need to work on post feeding? Do we need to stay away from the post? So when we did a deep dive, we were shocked at how few of them came in transition, in open floor opportunities. In advantage breaks, our guys were doing really, really well except the one-on-ones and two-on-twos in the open court. That's really the only transition opportunity. We're not scoring at an efficient rate. It was more of just not showing hand targets, not meeting passes, kind of just taking for granted that I'm gonna swing the ball and you're gonna be open. So there were some things that we needed to fix internally. And then the other side of it was just some guys were simply trying to do too much. We were trying to make the great play instead of, you know what, they defended that pretty well. Let's just get to the next thing. So there's layers on layers, but I do think guys getting more comfortable playing with each other has helped that. Because if you don't force the over, you're gonna be in a crowded space, and you're more likely to turn over in a crowded space. If you're setting a ball screen and you do force the over, you're probably gonna create some form of advantage, and then we're at least gonna have the next thing to make, next play to make.
On whether he would like Vlad Goldin to be more aggressive around the rim
Yeah, the beauty of being a big guy, you get a lot of unsolicited advice from a lot of people. Like, all you have to do is just dunk, right? Like there's not another seven footer between you and the basket. Yes, do I want him to dunk it more? Absolutely. Do we need to generate more dunks for him? He had a very high dunk rate last year. What I've told him personally is, I trust you, your instincts. I do want you to be a little more aggressive and not hungry around the basket, a little more powerful. Dunk it, sometimes you have to slide around a defender to avoid a charge. Sometimes, whatever, he's proven over time that he can do it around big bodies, over big bodies, whatever the case. I don't trust his instincts, I don't really care, just get the ball in the hole. You've been doing this, he's been playing this game at a high level for a while, and he's done it. And so, I don't want him overthinking, trying to dunk everything, or trying to not dunk, or whatever the case. Just be a little more aggressive, be more determined to put the ball in the hole, and I think he'll naturally figure that out, which he has. He's done a much better job of late.
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