• last year
Arkansas Razorbacks Joseph Pinion with the media Thursday afternoon looking at the Friday night exhibition opener against UT-Tyler at Bud Walton Arena.
Transcript
00:00 Hey Joseph, it seems like the couple times we've been able to watch you guys
00:03 this year you've been matched up with T mark quite a bit.
00:06 Uh just want to ask you kind of what your take is on on his game that might
00:09 make him unique on both ends of the floor and then how have you benefited
00:12 from that matchup? Oh you know what T mark does really good
00:15 is he scores really well and he defends his
00:17 matchup really well. So you know I feel like just having to go against that all
00:21 summer like it's made me a better player because T marks are great a great
00:25 defender you know having that every day will
00:27 just make you a better player for sure.
00:30 And then you know it wasn't too long ago that you were a freshman in your first
00:34 year of college basketball just curious what you've seen out of out of
00:37 your freshman this year and in Layden and Bay
00:39 and just kind of wondering if maybe you've uh I don't know served as a
00:43 mentor or offered those guys any advice since you were in those shoes not too
00:46 long back. Oh you know I've definitely been trying
00:48 to help them out because I know the feeling coming in here the freshmen so
00:51 you know I've been trying to help them out
00:53 but you know they've really been good they've been holding their own you know
00:55 Layden's really mature for his age and you know Bay he's really you know
01:00 Bay's really good at basketball so you know it's really good to see those two
01:03 guys out here you know they're working hard
01:05 and it's just helping it's just helping everyone out.
01:09 Thank you. Bob. Hey how you guys doing? I guess for both y'all
01:17 Joseph maybe you can take it first and then Denajay
01:21 I know you're not playing Kentucky but you know
01:24 playing Texas Tyler just what are your thoughts on the exhibition game?
01:29 You know we're going to go out there play every game like we're playing
01:32 against you know the best so you know we're
01:35 just going to go out there we're going to play as hard as we can we're going to
01:37 play the way that we play and you know we're going to be prepared
01:40 and we're going to be ready for it. Let's go Joseph now and I'll bring in
01:44 Denajay second. Okay I got you and then Joseph I don't know if you can
01:49 remember this but Eric got a Eric Musselman got a technical last year
01:53 when you guys were playing Rogers State. I think it was Makai was going in and
01:57 got a basket and then they call him for a charge
02:00 you know we're talking about Eric and he says he doesn't get you know that
02:02 excited about stuff and I said yeah technical against Rogers State last year
02:05 I don't know what you remember about that
02:07 how intense do you think Eric gets for these for these exhibition games?
02:10 You know his eyes every game is the same so you know he's going to coach as hard
02:14 against any team that he will against any other team so
02:17 he's just going to coach hard he's going to be intense
02:20 he's going to be really into the game you know he might get a technical but
02:22 it's just it shows how much his passion for the game. And I heard
02:26 he's going to give you guys you know as you know he has very detailed scouting
02:29 reports but maybe kind of a little primer on this game
02:34 you know not different than what you'll get for Purdue and then obviously
02:37 regular season games but just kind of what do you guys do you guys know
02:42 anything about Tyler is it hard to get it for D2 team or how do you all
02:45 approach that? You know we approach it the same way we
02:48 approach everyone else we're gonna have the scout report we're
02:51 gonna have their best players and you know obviously it's the first game of
02:53 the year so we're gonna have their best players from last year
02:56 who they brought in who we suspect is going to be their starting lineup and
03:00 you know we're just going to prepare for them like we would any other team.
03:04 And is it just exciting to play somebody else other than yourselves?
03:08 Yes definitely you know I've really been excited for the season to start
03:12 so you know I'm really excited to play against someone else other than my
03:14 teammates. Okay I might have a couple more but I'll turn back to Mike thanks.
03:20 Anybody else have anything for Joseph?
03:24 I had a couple more if nobody else does.
03:28 It looks like Daniel's got it. Hold on let Daniel
03:31 take a couple here.
03:34 Joseph we talked to you right after the scrimmage and you know y'all hadn't had
03:38 a chance to look back at the film I wonder if there's anything that you saw
03:42 particularly from the red white scrimmage or any other scrimmages you
03:46 all had behind closed doors? You know we got to be a little bit
03:49 better conditioning for sure we weren't all
03:52 as in shape as we need to be but I feel like we've we're probably about to that
03:56 point where we need to be in shape and you know
03:58 it should be should be a good one tomorrow. Thanks.
04:03 Okay Bob.
04:06 Hey Joseph I heard you guys were getting shown films of teams losing
04:12 some of these exhibition games and is that right and kind of what's
04:16 what's the impact of that? I guess they're trying to show you hey
04:18 and I know it doesn't count on the record but obviously nobody wants to
04:21 lose an exhibition game. Oh yeah you know they're basically
04:24 just showing us that like it happens like if you overlook the team
04:27 they can come in here and they can you know they can win it and we don't want
04:30 to be the team that loses. You know Al unfortunately rough season
04:34 in Louisville they lost one of these games last year to
04:37 Lenore Ryan or Ryan Lenore or some some school
04:42 from North Carolina. Has Al talked to you all about that and
04:45 or anything? No we try to we keep the losing we keep the losing memories in
04:49 the past and you know we just move on from what we learn from
04:52 and we just you know we're just trying to win every game. And then just your
04:56 game how would you say you know taking where you were at this
04:58 time last year where you are now where do you where do you think you've grown
05:02 the most than just I mean you obviously looked bigger and stronger you filled up
05:05 pretty nice with just what do you how do you think your games evolved
05:08 since in the last year? One thing that I really feel like I've
05:13 gotten better as you know I feel like I'm more in shape like I'm
05:16 in better shape like I've gained 16 pounds of muscle since last year so you
05:21 know I feel like I'm just more in shape for everything just more
05:24 built for whatever is thrown at me I feel like I'm ready for it now.
05:28 And you had some good games last year I mean you helped them against Mizzou and
05:31 I think it was Ole Miss had 13 both of us but how much more ready do you feel
05:35 like you're to contribute and you're still one of the younger guys
05:38 really with all these seniors and juniors? I just feel like I'm ready to
05:42 contribute you know whenever it's my time
05:44 whatever is my time to be my time I know I'll be ready
05:47 and I'm just really excited for whenever that moment is.
05:51 Okay thanks. Curtis final question?
05:56 Yeah Joe's fine I know he's sitting right beside you but you can still be honest
05:59 with us just what what have your impressions been of Denege and what he
06:02 brings to the table for you guys? Yeah he's a dog uh there's a guy he's
06:06 gonna play hard no matter what's going on
06:08 the calls aren't going our way he's still gonna play hard rebounds really
06:12 well he's really strong he finishes well around the basket you
06:16 know he's just been a really good player really good addition for the team I feel like.