UC's Viktor Lakhin, Dan Skillings Eastern Washington Eagles Post Game Presser
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00:00 didn't exactly necessarily show how my preseason went
00:03 because it was really good in both scrimmages.
00:07 I played really well, so it didn't show.
00:09 But I mean, I'm mature enough to handle it the right way.
00:12 And yeah, now it's start paying off.
00:15 Dan, you guys hold up a 5.3 from outside.
00:18 You say it's really clinical,
00:21 printer, print, presentation,
00:24 trickler, do a couple skills,
00:25 step in kind of what you were trying to make the mark
00:28 early part of the season with?
00:30 [Indistinct]
00:33 Yeah, man, every day we come in
00:34 and coach really enforces defense,
00:36 like really hard for us.
00:38 And we know if we come with that,
00:40 offensive rebounds and rebounding and defense,
00:42 you know we'll end up with a W.
00:45 Big UIC printer, all our lineups.
00:49 [Indistinct]
00:52 True big on the big matchup.
00:53 [Indistinct]
00:58 Yes, but not just that.
01:04 So coach emphasizes game as there are better teams
01:07 than we ever faced,
01:08 maybe exceptional Maryland in scrimmage.
01:10 And I just not necessarily changed my mindset,
01:14 but adjusted to that.
01:16 And all right, we can't lose that one.
01:19 It's just beginning of the season.
01:20 So yeah, just having coaches, us preparing us
01:23 and making sure we're locked in.
01:25 I got locked in, so yeah.
01:28 Was there a side relief when that first three goes down?
01:30 Oh, yeah.
01:32 It did not feel good, I'll tell you that.
01:33 But it went in, I'm all right.
01:35 Second one felt good, I made it.
01:37 If you saw it before I went in, I was celebrating.
01:40 And then third one also felt good,
01:41 just came a little short.
01:43 So hopefully after the first game,
01:45 my confidence a little got down, but coach believed in me.
01:47 I believe in my work, what I've done.
01:48 So we'll see more of them coming games.
01:52 Yeah.
01:53 What was your career high before you picked the 926
01:55 and started coaching?
01:57 There are a couple of things that you talked about
01:59 that were important for you that allowed you to point out.
02:04 First of all, my teammates found me.
02:07 Coach drew the first play for me.
02:09 So since I started shooting threes,
02:13 it was hard for me to readjust my game a little bit
02:16 because I started feeling it
02:18 and I'm all the time on the perimeter now,
02:20 which happened probably in the first two games
02:22 more than it should happen.
02:24 So now I'm trying to figure it out
02:26 to still be me, Victor Larkin,
02:28 and then trying to find the threes
02:30 because if I'm just being on the perimeter,
02:32 it takes away a lot from the game and the pain.
02:33 So I just got myself going in pain,
02:37 find easy buckets, one-on-one and post, stuff like that.
02:40 Teammates found me, and then coach drew the play
02:43 for me to shoot, so everything worked out today.
02:47 Can this game day try to help some people practice like that
02:49 or is that just a game day where he's hunting bodies?
02:53 He's really quick, man. Dede's really quick,
02:55 and I believe anybody can get by.
02:58 He's going to go up and try to dunk on you no matter what.
02:59 And, yes, he gets those off in practice for sure.
03:02 I don't know who dunks on him.
03:05 He didn't dunk on nobody yet.
03:06 Not nobody yet, but he's coming, though.
03:08 But, yeah, you'll see a lot of that from Dede.
03:11 With Gisle, you just see game by game
03:14 it's already slowing down for him.
03:16 He's picking things up fast.
03:18 Yeah, Gisle's a hard worker,
03:20 so he's going to get it good for real.
03:22 He's every day in the gym grinding.
03:24 He believes in coach, and he believes in his work
03:27 that he puts in a lot, and every game
03:29 he just keeps seeing progress.
03:30 And the whole team believes in him.
03:32 Coaches believe in him, so that helps him as well.
03:34 And did the defensive looks they were giving you guys
03:39 for you for a little bit of a wicker
03:40 for a mix of Heisman and Buster?
03:44 No, not really. We really stayed poised together.
03:46 We believed in our controlling the ball
03:48 and handling it and making smart plays and stuff like that.
03:51 So that really worked out for us.
03:52 You guys anticipated them taking away the three
03:54 as much as they could today?
03:55 That's probably what you guys thought?
03:57 I mean, yeah, yeah, but we just believed in hitting
03:59 the easy passes, not trying to force things,
04:01 and we knew we were going to get good shots from that.
04:04 Seems like you guys were able to get downhill
04:05 in the back early.
04:07 You were able to get in there in the first half.
04:09 What was working to allow you guys to get downhill?
04:12 Just spacing and people off the ball
04:14 doing the job and stuff like that.
04:17 You're taking over every question.
04:19 You're looking at me, so I don't even know.
04:23 Go ahead, Nick.
04:25 Nick, how good is John,
04:27 the guy you've been here with for a couple of years,
04:30 starting to really get back into his form?
04:32 Great. I love John, and especially some of you
04:36 all were in the Big 12 media day,
04:38 and you were talking about that Coach Miller praised him
04:42 in the scrimmage game, and he was one
04:43 of the better players.
04:44 He was not one of the better players in preseason.
04:47 So now he's starting to pick it up,
04:48 and I'm very happy for him.
04:49 They did it right time, happening for him,
04:52 so I'm really happy for him, really, really happy,
04:54 because I've been in his shoes,
04:56 and I know how hard it is to miss a year.
04:58 It just -- I don't know.
04:59 It's just very hard for an athlete
05:01 to see other practice, and you just --
05:03 I mean, you just -- you want to cry, literally,
05:06 because it's what do you do, what do you leave.
05:10 Like, another good example,
05:11 I'll just -- a little personal story.
05:13 I'm -- I said I'm mature enough to not get --
05:19 those two games get over me, get bigger than me,
05:21 but that's what we do, and I'm, like, falling asleep.
05:23 I'm like, "Damn, I didn't play well."
05:24 You know what I'm saying?
05:25 So, like, it is really hard to be a basketball player
05:27 and not play.
05:29 That's why I leave, so I'm really happy for John.
05:32 -Also, to piggyback on that, I'm really proud for John, too,
05:35 because when he went through that injury last year,
05:37 he stayed positive with the team on the bench last year.
05:40 He was picking us up.
05:41 He wasn't pouting, and he was being that leader
05:43 off the court, too, and now coming back this year,
05:45 seeing him play so well, playing so hard,
05:47 and looking so healthy,
05:48 we all really love to see that from John.
05:50 Really proud of him. Happy for him.
05:52 -Pound him. -Yeah, for sure.
05:55 Sure, every game, three for three.
05:57 -Dave, could you talk about how you guys were struggling
06:00 early on in the first few games,
06:02 and then, like, five on your defense.
06:05 He challenged you to try to have a better night?
06:09 -Five on offense and six on defense.
06:12 -Yeah, I knew he was gonna come off.
06:14 -You're good. You're good. I'm just teasing.
06:18 Yeah, I mean, it's, being honest,
06:20 just to give away my little tricks,
06:22 it's harder for me to rebound against taller players
06:25 because shorter players get in my legs,
06:28 and it's hard to get around, so once I guard the guy my size,
06:31 it's a little easier to rebound,
06:33 but also, Ball was just lucky, I guess,
06:35 and I just jabbed him in my hands a couple times.
06:38 -Oh.
06:40 -You had a better rebound than me.
06:42 -He thinks so, but no.
06:45 -Any other questions, guys?
06:47 Thank you. -Thank you, guys.
06:49 -Go Bearcats, baby. -Let's go.