Arkansas Razorbacks' Joseph Pinion, Jeremiah Davenport and El Ellis on Red team's big comeback to win the game with Joseph Pinion, Jeremiah Davenport and El Ellis.
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00:00 off pretty, pretty hot. Just what were you feeling there in the first half? And I
00:04 think you only maybe only got a couple of shots the second half. Just kind of
00:07 what was the difference between the two halves? I'll say first half, you know, it came out hot.
00:12 As y'all know, second half, you know, didn't go my way, obviously. But, you know, that
00:18 happens sometimes, you know, just a scrimmage. But, yeah, first half, you know, I was in
00:24 my element, you know, but second half, you know, kind of, you know, slipped a little
00:28 bit. But I'll be better for sure. For Ailey, you had a solid set line, 16 points, 6 assists,
00:37 one turnover. Just how did it feel to get out there and run the show a little bit
00:40 for the first time? And just how do you evaluate your performance? It felt really
00:44 good just to get out there for my first time playing in front of fans, being in
00:48 Arkansas, like that felt really good. And just be able to run a show like I feel
00:51 like I was capable of. That's why I came to Arkansas. I wanted to be able to run the
00:55 show, so that I could get my teammates involved. So I feel like I had a solid night.
00:59 As a guy running the point, I know you only played with one of them tonight, but to
01:01 have a couple shooters like those two guys there, how much does that help you do your
01:05 job? Man, it helps me a lot because the floor is space, you know, guys can't sit in
01:09 the paint. And just when I get into the lane, just sit there and pack it in. So I'm
01:14 glad just being around great shooters like them. Yep, for Joe and Jeremiah, I guess
01:18 I'll kind of flip that question around. What's it like playing with a guard that
01:20 can almost get into the lane whenever he wants, spit it out to you guys for
01:24 open looks? You know, it's a really good feeling to have a guy who can just put the
01:28 defense and then my guy crashes and then, you know, he swings it out to me or
01:32 Jeremiah's guy crashes and he swings it out to him. You know, you've seen today,
01:36 you know, we can shoot it a little bit. So I feel like it's a good thing to have a
01:39 point guard like him. Yeah, I'll piggyback on that. Also, like, being a shooter, you
01:45 know, like you would love to have a PG that knows how to facilitate and knows his
01:50 players. You know, that's the great thing about being a shooter. You know, knowing
01:54 who's around you and knowing who can get you the ball.
01:56 I guess for Joe's finale, I guess you guys shot, the red team shot 68.5. What
02:05 do you think was the key to that? Was it bad defense on the white team or was it
02:08 very good offense? What do you guys think of that? I would say the white team was
02:12 just a little tired and that's when we matched the gas and I just felt like we
02:17 just shot the right ones. We shot the open ones. We really got into the lane.
02:20 I feel like we really played together. You know, I'm with El on it. You know,
02:24 we really just shot the right shots whenever we were, you know, our
02:28 transition offense was pretty good. We were getting out, we were running and I
02:30 feel like that was the key, you know, the transition offense. Just being able to
02:33 make them, we have, we run, they have to run with us and then we ultimately
02:37 normally get a good shot out of it. Eric was saying today, you know, I know it's
02:41 a, it's an inter-squad scrimmage, you're not playing Duke yet or whatever, but was
02:46 this a good break from just the everyday practice and, and for you guys on the
02:51 red, how good was it to win? But maybe each of you could tell just how much fun
02:53 was it to play in front of a crowd and do something a little bit different than
02:56 practice? I feel like it was really good to be in front of a crowd, you know,
03:00 compete against your teammates. I feel like it was just really good for all of
03:04 us to be able to just showcase our abilities, you know, and I feel like it
03:08 turned out really good. I'm the same way I was ready. Yeah, tired of practice, need
03:14 a game to get into. Same, to be honest. El, just your first kind of meaningful
03:22 action with Devontae in the backcourt playing together. What's it like, you
03:25 know, playing with him on offensively and defensively? I mean, he really kind of
03:28 turned the screws a little bit at times and, you know, what's the most impressive
03:32 thing, you know, playing alongside of him in the backcourt? Really, he just keeps me
03:35 on my heels because I know if he's defending like that, like I got to and
03:39 when I need a break on the ball, like I know that he's gonna be there for me, you
03:44 know, pick the ball up and offense like if I need, if I need him to run a point
03:48 like he can run a point as well. So I just feel like that's a good tandem to
03:51 have in the backcourt and I just love playing with him. Coach, for any of y'all,
03:58 coach was mentioning the other day that y'all have to get better at conditioning
04:01 and that'll come over time. Just how do y'all feel after four eight-minute
04:05 quarters and how does your body feel just in the moment right now? So tired.
04:10 It's our first scrimmage, you know, going up and down. So if you wasn't tired out
04:15 there, you won't play hard. I don't know what you was doing, you know, but yeah,
04:20 definitely, definitely being the first scrimmage, you're definitely gonna be tired,
04:22 you know, I say that down the line, you know, but you know, as things get going,
04:29 you know, a season start approaching, you know, practice started amping up a little
04:32 bit, you know, we started getting more in shape, you know, first couple games, you
04:35 know, might see a couple players, you know, not there yet, but you know, games down the
04:41 line, you know, like in the NBA, you know, LeBron said it takes him about ten games
04:45 to get in shape. So I say like down the line, you know, eventually we will all get
04:51 in shape for sure. If you're not tired the way we play, I don't know. There's only
04:57 one person I know that wasn't tired tonight and that was Devo and coach said
05:00 he run on batteries and that boy was not tired at all. So I still got you playing on
05:07 both sides of the ball. So if you want, especially those newcomers, I know too, he
05:11 was tired, like Joseph was even tired. He'd been here for a year. So it's
05:15 different. Definitely. For Jeremiah and El, this team just looks like a mature team.
05:22 Does that have a lot to do with just how much experience you guys have come in
05:26 with the other guys who have come into this this team with how much basketball
05:29 you guys have been able to play to gel quickly together and play mature
05:34 basketball? Yeah, you know, what, how many, what, the four of us came in together?
05:40 We all been old. So just knowing what we know coming from, you know, where we came
05:46 from, you know, now we together, you know, and also along with the other guys being
05:51 here that's older, you know, it's the game of basketball, you know, we're all
05:55 gonna adapt to each other because we're here to do one thing, you know, win games
05:58 and, you know, advance. So I feel like all of us, you know, coming together from
06:03 different places and being older, I'm a fifth year, you know, spent four years and
06:08 you know, playing college basketball, you know, we're all like, it's kind of like a,
06:12 you know, we all know we got to do, you know, innocent. So yeah. Yeah, most
06:18 definitely. I would say like with us being older, like we picked up on things
06:22 a lot faster than other guys would, freshmen's coming in. But the freshmen's
06:26 that we do have, I feel like they, they're along, like they, they, they going about
06:30 their selves. They're very mature, like, so I just felt we just got a really good mix
06:33 of older guys, like guys that's only been in college for a year. And I feel like
06:37 all of us older guys are doing a really good job, you know, setting a standard, even
06:40 the guys that aren't even, that's our first year being here, like me and two,
06:43 I feel like we're setting a great standard. Quick question for you, Joseph, just how
06:47 have you felt your game has gotten better since the end of your freshman
06:51 year to where you are right now, going into your sophomore year? You know, I just
06:54 feel like I've matured a lot being around, you know, the whole team's older,
06:58 like I'm probably, I'm the third youngest, or the third, yeah, third youngest guy on
07:01 the team so far. So, you know, I really had to mature, you know, these guys being
07:05 older, just having to deal with their physicality, you know, just how good they
07:09 are, just having to do, go against that every day, you know, it's automatically
07:12 going to make you a better player. Speaking from a team standpoint, you guys
07:17 are a month out from the start of the season. Anything you guys think you need
07:20 to work on, or you ready to bring it on? No, I'm going to say there's a lot of things
07:26 we can work on, most definitely, as y'all saw, but definitely ready to go, you know,
07:31 no matter what. That's the type of coach we're coached by, and the type of players
07:35 we have, you know, no matter what, we're going to be ready to compete, you know,
07:39 that's just the Arkansas way, but yeah. I like that, Arkansas way, I like that.
07:46 Joseph and Jeremiah, you guys picked up where you left off in the open practice
07:51 on Thursday, trading those daggers. What's it like now, because Arkansas has been
07:55 kind of through a drought two years in a row, coming into this one. What's it like
07:59 to be knocking those down at that high clip? You got it. You know, I've been doing
08:05 this for four years, so it's, I'm kind of used to it, not to, you know, be cocky
08:12 or anything, but, you know, my work speaks for itself, but like, this is regular to
08:17 me, to be honest. That's what I've built over time, you know, I put myself, you
08:22 know, in game situations in my head to make me prepare for situations like today
08:27 or tonight, but I'll say, yeah, it's just preparation for me, just knowing what I
08:32 can do. You know, I feel like I've always been the only shooter that's been here
08:36 at Arkansas, I feel like, but, you know, we bring in JD, now I got some competition,
08:40 you know, it's just competition make everything better, that's how you win more
08:44 games, is competition, and you know him, he's really been pushing me, and I feel
08:48 like I've been pushing him a little bit to be the best shooter that we can be.
08:50 I was about to say, he's been pushing me for sure. He's been pushing me just to
08:56 knock down shots, you know, I'm seeing him knock down shots, I was like, oh man,
08:59 now I got to knock down shots, you know, it's after practice, we're shooting
09:03 together, you know, things in that nature, so definitely helping each other,
09:06 definitely.
09:07 Y'all don't even shoot better than me.
09:10 I didn't even worry about that.
09:11 (laughter)
09:14 Jeremiah, did you tell the red bench I'm like that after you hit one of your
09:17 corner throws?
09:18 Oh yeah, they was talking, you're not going to hit this.
09:21 Scoreboard.
09:21 As soon as I hit it, and look, right at, I looked at Trevin, because he was the one
09:27 that was talking, but yeah, definitely, definitely said that.
09:30 What was the score?
09:31 Chill, chill.
09:32 (laughter)
09:34 Chill.
09:35 L, for you, where do you feel like your greatest growth point is since you've
09:39 gotten here?
09:40 I mean, just from sitting right behind Eric, it seems like he's got a lot of
09:44 trust built up in you already.
09:46 Yeah, I would just say my vocal leadership, being able to really run a team,
09:50 that was really the main reason why, like I've always said, like I came here.
09:54 And Coach Musselman, he's really instilled that in me, like being a leader,
09:57 you know, being vocal, trying to get guys in their spots, get guys shots,
10:00 because you know I can score the ball, but like he knows I can really facilitate
10:03 as well, so I feel like just being able to be in a position that I'm in and have
10:07 that trust in him, like it really helps me a lot out there.
10:10 Coach?
10:11 For any of y'all, I think it was about some point during the third quarter,
10:13 Coach stopped playing, came out there and talked to y'all.
10:16 Just what was the message during that little huddle?
10:19 It was my team.
10:21 It was to, you know, we got to pick it up.
10:23 Like we was out there just doing what we weren't supposed to do.
10:28 And, you know, he came out there being who he was and let us have it for like
10:33 two seconds, so.
10:34 Dane's been back on defense?
10:36 Yeah.
10:37 We can spread, you know, turn the ball over, six turnovers.
10:41 Yeah.
10:42 Sound like me from last year.
10:43 Yeah.
10:45 Def got to do better.
10:47 Yeah, I guess for Joseph and Al, you guys, the Red was down 11 early and ended up
10:51 winning by 18.
10:52 What was the key to that?
10:53 I know you probably go at it every day, you know, scrimmage some, but is it good
10:58 to have some bragging rights, you know?
11:00 Yeah.
11:01 I would say I would take ownership of us starting slow.
11:03 We wasn't getting us in our sets at first.
11:06 We were just trying to get the feeling.
11:07 We were just really just running up and down.
11:09 But I feel like once we got that feeling, we started really running our sets.
11:12 Like we started executing our offense and then we just picked it up on defense.
11:15 So, but yeah, we do got that bragging rights, too.
11:17 So, we beat them by 20.
11:19 That's bragging rights.
11:21 Yeah, I'm the same way.
11:22 You know, I felt like once we really got like adjusted to everything that was
11:25 going on, I feel like it was easier to go about things.
11:29 And, you know, having Devo come in, obviously, you know, you bring a dog onto
11:33 the court, it's going to get a lot easier.
11:35 So, I just feel like Devo really makes the game a lot easier.