John Newman III, Jizzle James Detroit Mercy Postgame
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00:00 you talked about trying to find that rhythm
00:01 and getting back into that way that you were playing
00:06 that hurt last year.
00:07 I feel like it was pretty close to that.
00:10 Yeah, yeah, I definitely think starting
00:13 to find my rhythm offensively.
00:14 Just continue to put the work in every day,
00:16 you know, stay on my routine, trust what I work on.
00:21 You know, that's pretty much what I was going to do anyway.
00:23 So I knew it was, like, kind of only a matter of time,
00:26 but the thing with me is just continue my work.
00:30 Don't be satisfied with anything and just keep it going.
00:33 Get a little easier on that first three years.
00:36 A little easier for sure.
00:38 You guys are 13 points down.
00:42 Is it starting to get more comfortable
00:43 as you get more playing time?
00:45 It's starting to come to me more.
00:47 So they've started to believe in me more and just let me play
00:51 and just really just trust in what they think I can do,
00:56 my abilities, so, yeah, I think it's coming.
01:00 John, you just come to this quickly.
01:03 Is there a point where you have to find another job
01:06 after that?
01:08 I think for me, I think probably for everybody
01:16 who goes through, like, a surgery process,
01:18 it's always, like, that little bit of doubt,
01:20 like, if you'll be able to come back the same or even better,
01:23 but all I did was just attack it.
01:25 Like, I didn't really worry about the fear
01:27 of not being able to, like,
01:29 or lose a step or anything like that.
01:31 I try to stay in the pool a lot to keep my feet moving,
01:35 keep my explosion, so I think it's just,
01:37 like, a credit to the work.
01:41 I can't really say anything other than that,
01:42 and then Bob, he did a great job at helping me,
01:45 you know, get my strength back and all that,
01:47 so, you know, that process, it was tough sometimes,
01:51 but I'm just glad to be back.
01:54 How do you feel, like, the speed of the game
01:56 has felt as a guy that's been at the top already?
02:01 It's a big difference from high school,
02:03 so just not really adjusting that,
02:06 just really just being under control at that level,
02:09 so that's what I've really been trying to work on,
02:11 just being under control and at my own pace.
02:16 Are you at a point where you're almost surprised?
02:19 Roger? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
02:21 He's one of the best shooters I've ever played with.
02:24 You know, it's just the consistency,
02:27 and it's pretty much like, yeah, whenever he's open
02:30 or not open, contested, not contested,
02:32 I think it's a good ball, so, yeah.
02:35 Biggest fan?
02:37 [Sighs]
02:39 Ooh, that's a good one. Ooh.
02:41 They're different kinds of shooters, though.
02:43 They're different kinds of shooters.
02:44 I thought so.
02:46 [Laughter]
02:48 That's a good one, though.
02:50 What does it do for a team when you see teammates
02:52 knocking down threes at the rate you guys did in the first half?
02:56 It felt like it just -- it gave us that confidence
03:00 just to keep doing what we're doing,
03:01 just keep doing how we practice,
03:04 and our practice just translated to our play tonight,
03:06 so that's what -- I'm glad to see that.
03:12 Josh Green, how much of a help is it to have a bench?
03:20 It's awesome. It gives everybody a lift.
03:23 Me and Odie were actually talking about Josh rebounding
03:26 on the bench in, like, the last two minutes.
03:28 I'm like, bro, you know what I'm saying?
03:29 And he said 12, right?
03:32 Yeah, that's big time. That's big time for Josh.
03:35 He's one of those guys that's just going to show up every day,
03:37 do his job, and stay consistent,
03:39 so it's always great whenever your bench
03:42 comes in and plays well. It just gives everybody a lift.
03:44 It just gives your team more life.
03:46 Just let me talk about your confidence a little bit more.
03:49 Talk about what you were able to learn
03:50 from these veteran guys and Josh these days.
03:54 Just talk about the knowledge
03:57 and what they were able to give you so early in your career.
04:00 They've been telling me just trust in my abilities
04:03 and just, like, play our game, play the Cincinnati Wave,
04:06 and just implicate my game in that Cincinnati Wave.
04:09 So it's been a lot to learn from them.
04:11 Just been glad to see it day by day.
04:13 So I'm thankful to all you veteran guys.
04:16 Sean, obviously, the 60 points and the 13-pointers
04:20 in the first half of the straight,
04:21 but they only scored 27.
04:23 Their coaches have been very happy with this effort,
04:27 especially to start the game
04:28 when they only had three points in the first half.
04:32 Yeah.
04:34 Coach kind of got us in the locker room
04:36 about the difference between the first half and the second half.
04:39 I think one of the things we got to focus on
04:40 is playing a full 40.
04:41 That was one of the things that we wanted
04:43 to really put an emphasis on at the beginning of the season
04:47 and the way that we approach practice
04:49 and how we practice from start to finish.
04:52 So I think that -- I think we got some work to do.
04:55 It just shows we have some work to do.
04:57 Great first half, but second half,
05:01 I think our intensity dropped.
05:03 We didn't play with as much intention.
05:05 So I think that's the area we can improve on for sure.
05:09 How much of an emphasis is Coach Miller
05:13 put on rebounding for us?
05:15 Is that happier with the effort on Monday?
05:19 Yeah. Yeah.
05:21 It's always going to be emphasis for us.
05:23 We feel like we can be one of the best
05:24 rebounding teams in the country,
05:25 best offensive rebounding team in the country
05:27 just because we have so many long guys.
05:29 We got a lot of length, a lot of athleticism on the wing.
05:33 So I think that's just one -- I think that thing --
05:36 that for Coach West is going to be one of the consistent things
05:38 that he preaches to us is just crashing the boards, you know,
05:41 because the more possessions you get,
05:43 the better your chance of winning is.
05:44 So...
05:47 Yep.