Opening Statement

The opportunity coming up this Friday at Purdue, obviously, a great venue. It will be a great environment against one of the best programs in the country. So it'd be a good barometer for us to see where we are going on the road to play the Boilers.

On Vlad Goldin's decision-making with threes

To be honest, step in threes, I thought we turned down a lot as a group yesterday. As far as offensively, we're searching for a rhythm. And I guess the decision making process, the decisions are made before the catch. And last night, I thought the ball stuck a lot. I thought we caught and looked for our own game. There's gonna be a lot of opportunities for Vlad to shoot threes cuz fives gravitate towards the rim. And so the decision making piece would be big. And even when we're playing with Vlad in that delay spot, that trail spot of looking for the actions, looking for the cutters. And then if they're not there, then falling into some isolation drives and some different levels of creation. So we're all still learning each other and diving into different roles at a deeper level. So I wasn't happy with our flow last night. But as far as Vlad shooting threes, if it's a step in three and he's open, I mean, he's gonna make it more than one out of three opportunities. And that's good enough to shoot it.

On production being the same with Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin after non-power four play

Great question. I think the situation's different for everyone. And style's a play, system. And I know Danny coming from Yale, their pace was much, much slower. So his production might have been a little bit greater there when you factor in the number of possessions. Vlad, for us, he's probably even more involved here than he was there, just because of the way our roster's constructed. Last year, we had a lot more smaller guards who were great playmakers by nature. So they would playmake a lot more. And now, Nimari Burnett's really became a proficient score playing off of those guys. So a lot of it's situational, part of it's their development. Those guys have spent time in the gym, in the weight room, working on their bodies, whatnot. And so they're much better basketball players. And it's just the way the game, the way it's played out for us. That's the happy medium. We're taking today off. Hopefully, the guys stay away as much as possible. And then tomorrow, get back after it with a real solid plan for what we're gonna see and what we need to do. And this is one of our longer breaks of the season. This is the most prep time we'll have. So we'll work on us, we'll work on Purdue. And at this time of the year, you're trying to fix problems. Cuz the teams in our league, the coaching in our league's so good. They find some holes in what you do. And now we have to counter that and continue to get better.

On what's on top of the list to fix now they're in Big Ten play

Our rebounding has to improve. We've gotta find ways to be more disruptive on the defensive end. We've had to force a few more turnovers to try to find some easy baskets. But offensively, just playing, we have to screen better, we have to cut better. Most of us hadn't been in the big ten for a long time. So there's certain things that you just, you forget. And I catch myself saying, no, next fall, next summer, we'll work on this more. But we have to play with much more physicality in our league. We have to adjust to the game better. And so we can't get knocked off our screens. We can't pull away from screens. We've gotta be the aggressor when it comes to playing with physicality. And we have the size and bodies to do it.

On what stands about Matt Painter and Purdue

I think he's as good of a coach. I don't ever say anyone's the best coach cuz there's so many great coaches and there's 360 plus division one teams now. But I think Coach Painter's one of the best coaches in all facets. I mean, I guess you picture what great coaches are. He's a great teacher. He knows what he's looking for in recruiting. His humility, the staff he's assembled around him, just he's excellent in all areas. And for him to have the longevity and build the type of program where they're this good every year is extremely difficult. I mean, they've climbed the mountain and now they're managing to stay at the top of the mountain pretty consistently. So, I can't say enough good things. It's an honor to compete against them. And we look forward to going in there and seeing where we're made of.

On any good or bad memories from going to Mackey with Indiana

They're all bad. Those guys, that arena is gonna be. We better have our hand signals ready. We better be poised. We better meet every pass. We better have our fakes and footwork on point. But it's as tough as an environment as there is in the country to play in. I think anyone that knows that. So, anyone's played there, competed there, knows that. So, we got our work cut out for us. But like I said, we're anxious to see where we are.

On how he's framing the rest of the conference slate

It's exciting on one hand. The other side is our physical health, our mental health, our stamina. It's from a coaching standpoint, not to get too high, too low. From a player standpoint, to not be consumed with a good game or a bad game. And just continue to work, keep one foot in front of the other. And good things are gonna happen for us. But if we get too low because of the way we performed individually and collectively, then that will turn into two to three to four or five losses if you're not careful. So, I think we have to just have a real consistent approach to what we're doing, and just make sure that we're not beating ourselves.

On what stands out about Purdue

The role definition, Brayden Smith, he's a surgeon. His ability to make his teammates better, to make the right play. I was watching courtside when they lost to FDU in Columbus his freshman year. And to see his growth, back then you could tell, they pressed him the whole game, he was tired, he was winded. Now he never looks tired, he never gets sped up. You rarely see him make even a solid decision. He makes good decisions repeatedly. He knows what he's looking at, his ability to think the game, manipulate your defense. I could go on and on and on, and then Trey Kaufman ran, what a story. They have these guys go there with all these accolades and everything that goes with being a young player now who's really good. And they just become Purdue basketball. And now he waits his turn behind Zach Eady, who's an NBA starter. And now he looks like one of the best bigs in the country, or one of the most efficient bigs in the country. So, and then Foster Loyer, I mean, I'm blown away at his development. He's gotten so much better as a player. He's more complete, he shoots it deep, he shoots it off the bounce from deep. He's mid-range, he has floaters now. And so it starts with those three, and then there's probably a couple guys on that bench that are playing a complementary role that we'll be talking about in a year or two in a similar fashion. So that's their culture, that's their, they have a real program. We're on the left with Megan.

On whether he thinks he has a handle on the Big Ten

No, not at all, no, I'm going in. Our league's so big, if you watch a team now and three weeks ago, or you look, fast forward to three weeks, they could look completely different. An injury, an emergence, a shooting swamp. It's just us trying to figure out the best way for us to win the next game. But as we all know, just college basketball, you have no idea. TCU's banged up, they're missing some guys. They go in and win at Baylor last night. It's just literally every single night at the four, power five level, whatever you call it. It's as unpredictable as ever, and the teams that hold it in the road and continue to get better will be the ones still standing.

On his strategy of using timeouts

Other than the data, the data says, I did good examples last year. We're playing Arizona and Vegas, and they jump up nine to two. And I call a timeout, and then a couple minutes go by, and they're up 17, 18 to two. It was 18 to two, I believe, and said, hey, coach, use one. And I said, I just used one, and they're on a 9-0 run. And so let's try to get this game loosened up, opened up. And it's knowing your team. There are times when I've said, I should have called a timeout there. But there's also games where I look back and said, I should have called a timeout there. And Vlad banged in a three, I should have called a timeout there. Sometimes it's getting the game opened up to play in our environment. The choppier, this is just my opinion. With the teams that we've coached and the way we play, the choppier, the more stoppages in the game is bad for us. We wanna get this game flowing, and you watch every other team play. After we score, they're running down doing this to their team to hold them up, because they want it to be choppier. So I mean, I guess I could stop play five more times over the course of a game. But even there are times late in the game, you look out on the floor, and they have their two best offensive players who happen to be their two worst defensive players in the game. On our guys, it's okay, if I call a timeout now, they're gonna bring in their two best defenders. They're gonna control the matchup. What's better for us? Are we trained to play and flow? Or do I wanna stop and get their best defenders on our best offensive players, and try to figure out what happens next? It's just, it is what it is. I mean, I know Phil Jackson got criticized for it. Coach Knight got criticized for it. I wish that there was that magic one where you call a timeout and it immediately starts a 6-0 run. But it just, the numbers say that that's not the case.

On what it would take to beat a Big Ten team twice in a season

Possession by possession. I think if you beat a team twice, usually you match up well with them. Your strengths might be their weaknesses. Nothing more than that. How you counter what they did well against you in game one. What adjustments can you make? Do you have time to make those adjustments? And do you have the personnel to make those adjustments? And there's a lot of times when, man, this team really did this well. Well, they have a 6-7, whatever the case. So a lot of times, if your team doesn't have that, you can't mimic what Oregon did, or you can't mimic what Arizona did if you don't have their players, and you have your players.

On whether he feels like Danny has enough tools to handle being a play creator

Yes, and I think he's gonna be able to figure out a lot of different situations. Having the smaller guards get underneath them and play with great physicality, he's gonna have to trust some other things. Our execution spacing were perfect on a few of his possessions, where we could make life a little bit easier on him. They changed their coverage, as we called one play. They forced him into a certain direction, and the spacing wasn't perfect. So he's just gotta be a little more patient there. But the more reps he gets, the more different scenarios he gets. But yeah, and obviously when teams go into it, when they're gonna game plan to stop this, then we're gonna have to counter. And sometimes the counter's just skipping to a close out, and then it's a read and react situation. Do you shoot it, do you drive it, do you keep the dominoes falling? And I didn't think we did a very good job of that last time. I thought we turned down some good looks, and we ended up getting lesser shots later in the possession.

On the three freshmen and how they will contribute down the stretch

I do, LJ Cason had a really good week of practice. I thought going into the game that he was gonna get an opportunity, but it just didn't shake out like that. If he continues to work and continues to progress, I think we'll see him getting some live game action here soon. And then hopefully he takes advantage of it and plays a good solid ball.

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