UC Forward Viktor Lakhin Media Day Interview
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00:00 Victor Locken, you see center joining us here.
00:06 Vic, a couple days away from the season, you've obviously added to your game over the past
00:11 few months.
00:13 What are you most excited about going into your third year here as a legit piece in this
00:18 rotation?
00:19 Before I start answering, a little remark.
00:22 You see power forward.
00:25 And what I added, shooting, that's what makes me power forward now.
00:30 And not stretch five?
00:32 Sure.
00:33 I mean, if we don't get Jamil and Aziz, I'll play five more.
00:36 But hopefully they both get eligible and I'll play four more.
00:40 But yeah, I added the three-point threat now, making really good percentage in both scrimmages
00:47 against other teams, against each other, through other practices.
00:49 The whole summer was working on it.
00:52 Talked to other guy, and I just said that Joey Burton, the shooting coach, he has a
00:57 lot of NBA clients.
00:59 He just came here yesterday to work with me right before season to tighten things up and
01:03 make sure there are details.
01:05 Like I keep him on track and keep paying attention to those details.
01:09 He fixed.
01:12 What else?
01:13 Just fundamentals, just chaining the ball, making the right read, like an eyes and a
01:18 pocket and stuff like that.
01:20 Just being like a veteran, kind of, you know, like playing with my own pace, stuff like
01:25 that.
01:26 You've really transformed your body over these past couple years.
01:31 What's it been like working with Coach Mike Riefeld?
01:33 Yeah, it was challenging, but I like him.
01:37 This morning lift, he like brings energy.
01:40 I don't really have energy in the morning, whatever.
01:44 But yeah, we've been working hard.
01:45 He helped me a lot with like maybe changing some program for me personally to personalize
01:51 it to like focus on things I need to work on more.
01:54 Yeah, just he did a really good job, and I just bought into whatever he gives me.
02:01 How has that helped with your stamina, with the type of style that Coach Westmore wants
02:05 to help you with?
02:07 Definitely helped.
02:08 Like I'm right now lost like eight pounds of fat.
02:11 That was a body fat count, so that just trying to make my like what he calls like I'm trying
02:18 to be like a Bugatti, so like I have to take care of myself like and everything.
02:22 Like no fat, nothing, just like lean muscle.
02:24 So throughout the season, it's like easier for me to not carry all the weight on my knees
02:28 and stuff like that to prevent it from injuries.
02:30 What's your guilty pleasure food then?
02:33 I mean the thing that you can't have that you really crave.
02:37 Really I can have whatever I want.
02:39 It's not going to affect me like others, but because I'm skinny.
02:44 But what I like to eat, donuts probably, Krispy Kreme, yeah.
02:48 Tell me about the three-point shot, and was it there all along, and you found they're
02:55 going to unleash the Mighty Vic this year?
02:58 They will, and yeah, it's there now.
03:00 So they have to scout that too on top of everything I've done before.
03:06 Was it consistency?
03:07 Was that the biggest thing with finding the shot?
03:09 Was it just making sure it's consistent enough to get access in games?
03:13 Sure, yeah.
03:14 Part of it was, yeah, because once I get consistent, the confidence just raises up.
03:19 And that kind of, you work on it, consistency goes up in practice, then confidence goes
03:26 up, okay, now I can make this shot like every day regardless, like good day, bad day, like
03:30 I'm still making like 70% let's say on the workouts.
03:34 And then I shoot him a game and I feel confident in it.
03:36 So yeah.
03:37 If you guys get eligible, you probably answered this already, but I mean, how does that change
03:43 this team?
03:44 Is the sky the limit if everyone is here?
03:48 Tremendously, and we all, me, Sage, and Odi as bigs can play even harder because like
03:56 we don't need to save ourselves on like trying to get a stay out of foul trouble and stuff
04:01 like that.
04:02 We can both, we just can play like with free mind and just do what you do best and like
04:10 people like Jamil, players like Jamil and Aziz just only will add to it.
04:15 Defensively, what was the biggest thing you tried to work on this offseason?
04:19 Was it being more of a rim protector, adding more to that side of your game, or was it
04:22 more maybe getting more agility and being able to maybe guard in the open floor a little
04:25 bit more succinctly all positions?
04:28 To be completely honest, it didn't really work on defense.
04:31 The big emphasis for me was shooting, but like I said, lost a lot of, not a lot of weight,
04:37 lost fat and should add agility for me and like mobility on the perimeter to guard like
04:45 smaller players.
04:46 So I think that if I can say I worked on something, that was it.
04:50 They might already hit on it.