Josh Eilert, Quinn Slazinski Pitt Postgame
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00:00 I think we all know the story of the game.
00:03 Blake Henson, 9 for 15 from 3.
00:07 They came out and he rattled us for sure.
00:12 No, but they brought the fight.
00:14 They brought the fight and we didn't have probably enough dog in us tonight
00:19 to compete every single possession.
00:22 I thought the first half we did a pretty good job with our ball movement and
00:25 the offense was clicking a little better and probably got a little too stagnant
00:32 in the second half and didn't have that cohesiveness and
00:35 offensive end in the second half.
00:37 But when a team comes in, makes 16 threes, that's hard to overcome.
00:44 And I thought we did a pretty good job limiting them on the offensive glass.
00:48 They only had six and they didn't have any second chance points, but
00:52 that's hard to overcome, 16 threes.
00:55 >> Questions for Quinn first, please.
00:58 >> Quinn, so defensively, were there things you guys could have done better
01:03 defending the three or did they just hit shots?
01:05 >> I think you can always do a better job on defense.
01:09 Coach Eilert said in the huddle, let's not hope they miss the shots,
01:14 let's make them miss the shots.
01:15 Like he said about this Henson kid, I'm not gonna sit here and
01:21 say we could have done something different on him.
01:24 The kid's feeling it, we just gotta have him put the ball on the floor,
01:27 shooting comfortably from half court.
01:29 But that's his six, seven, three, leading up to it.
01:34 I think Josiah Harris, I think he did a really good job on making him
01:39 uncomfortable, just he's a 23 year old who's been playing college basketball for
01:44 a very long time.
01:45 So some of the stuff I do, like the rip throughs to draw fouls,
01:51 I mean, that's just experience.
01:54 So I think you can always do a better job on defense.
01:58 He shot the ball better than Kevin Durant does tonight.
02:02 So is that us not, could have done something different or
02:08 just someone who came ready to play and we couldn't have him get comfortable.
02:12 Felt like we were there on a lot of shots.
02:16 Some of the shots, three points he would shoot,
02:18 I had the biggest smile on my face, like that's what we want.
02:21 And then net, you know what I mean?
02:23 Nine for 15, I mean, people don't even hit that when they're wide open.
02:27 But there's no default on my teammates.
02:33 I felt like they played pretty hard on him.
02:35 [BLANK_AUDIO]
02:40 >> Quinn, kind of along those lines, I mean, like you said,
02:45 sometimes a guy's just feeling it, all the games that you've played in different
02:49 schools, have you ever seen a shooting performance like that?
02:53 I mean, giving all credit to the kid here.
02:55 >> Yeah, giving credit to the kid, and I know I'm mad.
02:57 So, but yeah, I mean, I can look back on it.
03:02 I've never seen it before.
03:04 That's just credit to the kid.
03:04 I've watched basketball a lot too.
03:07 And I think he was pulling up from half court.
03:12 He's a great player and we knew that coming in.
03:15 He leads the country in three point makes and we're trying to have him decade.
03:20 I mean, sidesteps, I mean, we felt like we were there.
03:22 Kid's unbelievable player.
03:25 Just unfortunately, you never wanna say that, but I mean,
03:30 we were there on a lot of these three point shots.
03:34 Like going back, you can always do better on defense.
03:37 But yeah, the game meant a lot to him.
03:41 I mean, he was here, I think he was here last year.
03:43 So he understands the history behind these things.
03:45 And we just gotta know a talented player like that.
03:48 We just really can't have him get comfortable.
03:51 If he missed his first three shots, he wasn't gonna pull for
03:55 half on that fourth one.
03:57 So credit to him.
04:01 We put on a shooting performance that's gonna get him paid.
04:03 But we gotta turn the page and we play a really good Drexel team.
04:10 I'm so glad a cook was back and being able to help us and
04:14 when we get one of our point guards back, hopefully we get good news on Raekwon.
04:20 We're still praying and still thinking positive about that.
04:22 But yeah, there's only one way to think about this and
04:28 it's learn from it and try to get the next one.
04:32 >> I was gonna ask you next, what was it like to be in that moment when they
04:35 announced a cook coming into the game?
04:38 You probably heard the crowd.
04:40 >> Yeah, just so happy for him.
04:42 I mean, that's a good kid.
04:44 I talk about my teammates character so much.
04:47 We got such great kids in this locker room.
04:49 And I mean, Cook is just, I mean, he gets this scare.
04:56 He doesn't know where his life is gonna go, just like all of us.
05:00 And he's in practice clapping and laughing with us and
05:04 telling us you need to dunk that.
05:05 And I mean, dude, I don't wanna get emotional, but I love that kid.
05:11 And he's been through so much and I'm just so, so happy for him.
05:16 Obviously, this one's gonna hurt, this game.
05:21 But looking back, I'm so happy that a cook came in and do what he loves.
05:27 We love basketball, that's been our life.
05:30 It's the only thing we talk about.
05:31 We dribbled the ball in the hallways in high school.
05:32 Like that, this was our love.
05:35 To some kids, it's like he's just a stupid jock, always think about basketball.
05:39 But I mean, this is our life.
05:42 And going back on Raekwon, I mean, I don't wanna get too controversial.
05:46 I mean, you're taking this kid's life away.
05:49 This is what we do.
05:50 So to see him back in his element as a basketball player, I'm just so
05:54 happy for him.
05:55 And we were praying for him.
05:57 I'm just really glad that he was able to wear a jersey and compete with us.
06:00 >> Quinn, in trying to protect Tom on the court with your short numbers,
06:04 you're probably not able to play as aggressive defensively as you'd like.
06:08 Challenge a couple more shots a little more closely.
06:12 Do you think that's affecting you, either front of your mind,
06:15 back of your mind a little bit?
06:17 >> No, I gotta defend better.
06:19 I gotta understand that there's two sides of,
06:23 I know that there's two sides of the floor.
06:25 They hit some tough shots tonight.
06:27 I mean, they went on a little run where they got some layups.
06:30 But I mean, the first half, we were locking down the paint.
06:33 They were getting nothing in the paint.
06:35 And we were securing rebounds.
06:37 I mean, everyone talked about we couldn't rebound.
06:39 And I think we rebounded the ball really well today.
06:41 There's some things that we can clean up towards the second half,
06:46 just not getting so stagnant on offense.
06:48 But I think we got good defenders on our team.
06:53 The potential for defense is really high.
06:57 But going back on what you said, I don't like bringing up our numbers,
07:02 just cuz I feel like some of those things are mental.
07:05 But I think Kobe Johnson,
07:09 taking and being a defensive maniac for 36 minutes,
07:15 it's pretty difficult for anyone to do.
07:19 >> Just kinda connecting the dots a little bit to knowing somebody could shoot
07:25 like they did in this game potentially, and then knowing the numbers of the team.
07:29 If you had a deeper bench, do you think maybe you could have been more aggressive?
07:33 Or what else do you do when someone's putting up Steph Curry threes out there?
07:38 >> I think in reality, yes, more players would just mean less exhaustion on
07:44 everybody, players can get a couple more offensive rebounds.
07:48 And I think we understand that, but we can't have that stuck in our head.
07:52 We gotta be able to compete, not think about our numbers.
07:55 Even though it's the reality and it's something that people talk about a lot,
08:00 it's not gonna do any help us just kinda thinking about it.
08:03 So I feel like we just need to come and just fight through it.
08:07 And that's the word, it's fight, being resilient and busting through that wall.
08:12 I feel like, yeah, Steph Curry threes, I mean, he had some tough shots.
08:19 And I know you can say, hey, you need to be there a little quicker, but man,
08:24 he played well tonight.
08:27 >> Is it fair to say maybe that aggression or
08:29 what would be the answer normally to try to stop something like that?
08:33 Cuz obviously in the middle of a game, you're not just throwing the white flag.
08:35 So like what?
08:36 >> I don't think aggression was the problem with him.
08:39 I think he got no open looks.
08:41 I think he got maybe one or two.
08:43 We made it tough on him.
08:44 I mean, everyone's gonna say this Henskin kid came in and
08:48 did this, which he did.
08:50 But I mean, I keep saying he had some tough, and you can say even pressure.
08:55 I mean, JoJo is there, Kobe Johnson, these kids are there on the catch.
09:00 And I just don't wanna sound like a broken record, but he played well tonight.
09:06 And I think coaches came up with a great defensive scheme for
09:12 us to be able to slow him down and stop him.
09:15 It's tough when you come out the gate,
09:17 you knew he was gonna have a little fire to him just being a big rival game.
09:20 And like I said, as a shooter myself, when I see my first two shots go in,
09:26 that hoop becomes three times the size.
09:31 And maybe if he missed his first three, then this can be a whole different game.
09:36 But shooting is really based off confidence.
09:39 And like I said, you hit your first two shots.
09:42 I mean, it's like shooting into an ocean.
09:44 >> Quinn, thank you.
09:47 >> Thank you.
09:47 >> Questions for Coach?
09:50 >> Josh, sort of follow up, defensively, did you think you guys gave it a decent
09:54 effort performance and they just hit shots?
09:57 Or were there things you could have done better defensively?
10:00 >> Always things we can do better.
10:01 [BLANK_AUDIO]
10:05 I talked on the radio before, that is the matchup that I worried about the most.
10:11 And I didn't see a guy on the roster that I could say, okay,
10:15 that's the one that can really slow him down.
10:19 Especially his size and his skill set on the perimeter.
10:24 It was certainly something going into the game that I was concerned about.
10:29 Changing the defenses, I thought maybe we could throw him off a little bit, two,
10:35 three, maybe a two, two, one, slow him down a little bit.
10:38 And probably should have changed things earlier, even in the first half.
10:42 But we were right there with him early in the first half.
10:44 Our offense probably just got too stagnant.
10:48 And we certainly didn't make him, I mean, credit to him.
10:53 Credit to him, nine for 15.
10:55 But we didn't obviously make him uncomfortable whatsoever.
10:58 We can look back at all his shots and we'll review it and
11:03 take a look at what we can do better.
11:05 But I told those guys in there, I need to get you guys out of there.
11:09 We gotta flush this.
11:11 We gotta flush it quick.
11:13 We gotta turn the page.
11:14 We got Drexel on Saturday and they're a really good team.
11:18 They just went into Villanova and got a win.
11:20 So they're gonna be playing with confidence too.
11:23 We can't have that down on Saturday.
11:25 >> Coach, I mean, obviously, like you said, Henson's performance stands out.
11:35 But Carrington, a couple of his threes were step back,
11:39 kinda like I think one of them was on one foot, that kinda stuff.
11:44 When that's happening, I mean, two, three, man, I mean, is there any,
11:51 I mean, some of that stuff, there's nothing you could do, right?
11:56 I mean- >> Yeah, I mean,
11:57 the game is all about momentum and confidence.
11:59 Like Quinn was saying, I mean, last year we had that in their house.
12:04 And things were going our way early.
12:07 And we built that momentum and we fed off of it and we fed off of it.
12:11 And they saw shots fall early and they built that confidence and
12:16 that momentum snowballed in their direction.
12:19 And Blake by himself hit three times as many threes as our entire team.
12:26 We were three for 20.
12:28 And I don't know how I can fix that with our guys.
12:32 Even I don't yell that much, probably yelled at Seth.
12:36 I was like, Seth, you gotta take open shots.
12:38 What are we doing?
12:40 That's what you're out there to do.
12:41 You get an open look, you gotta take it.
12:44 And JoJo, same thing in the corner.
12:46 I mean, we can't be taking, it's too hard and
12:51 too hard a game at this level to turn down open shots.
12:55 And when they're there, you gotta shoot it with confidence.
12:57 They're shooting it with confidence on that other end.
12:59 We gotta shoot it with confidence.
13:01 >> Coach, to that end with Seth in particular,
13:03 is there anything else you feel like that could be done?
13:06 Cuz it's been several games in a row now where the same thing's said,
13:10 not taking open shots.
13:12 It's kind of still an ongoing thing now midway through this.
13:15 >> Yeah, I don't know.
13:16 I'll probably start stealing tonight and figure out how I can do a better job
13:19 coaching him.
13:20 I do it every night, trying to figure out what can I do to,
13:24 I'm not the type of guy that's gonna tear him down whatsoever.
13:28 And I'm always the guy that's trying to build him up.
13:32 And, but obviously that's not resonating right now and he's in a slump.
13:38 We thought we got JoJo out of the slump after that last game and
13:42 he was 0 for 5, 0 for 4 from 3.
13:45 So it continues to kind of linger a little bit with all these guys.
13:50 And so- >> Are there any numbers of shots you
13:54 would like these guys to take?
13:55 Like you mentioned 0 for 5, would you rather see an 0 for 8 rather than 0 for
13:59 4 or something like that?
14:00 >> No, I mean, it's just they get a flush misses.
14:04 I mean, I think it's a confidence thing.
14:08 >> Josh, you hinted yesterday that a cook was coming soon.
14:12 Obviously soon was today.
14:13 So what do you think of his performance?
14:15 Obviously his conditioning's not quite there yet, but
14:18 what do you think of him overall?
14:19 >> No, he gave us a defensive spark.
14:22 That's kind of his forte.
14:24 He's a guy that you can do a lot more things,
14:27 especially in ball screen coverage, you can switch with him.
14:30 He can sit down guard guards and he can help us protect the realm.
14:34 He's active, he really runs the floor well.
14:36 I think we can utilize him in offensive transition.
14:40 But you could see out there he is limited because he hadn't been cleared.
14:46 But for three, four days, so there's certainly we weren't gonna,
14:53 he's not in game shape yet.
14:56 So seven minutes, eight minutes is probably top for him at this point right now.
15:00 So that's gonna continue to improve.
15:02 But we certainly don't wanna force the issue with him to make sure we're doing
15:08 right by him and that's first and foremost.
15:11 >> Sounds like you've known for a couple days then that he had been-
15:17 >> Yeah, I mean, ultimately,
15:19 it was a day by day situation.
15:23 Any hiccup could have in game preparation and
15:28 practice would have certainly hindered that.
15:32 So did I know for sure that he was gonna be going today?
15:36 No, but leading into it, he had good solid through two,
15:43 three days of practice and that's limited as well trying to figure out where he's at.
15:47 So we got to a point where we thought we could use him for
15:52 a limited amount of time, we're gonna use him.
15:54 And that's- >> Take us through the moment like,
15:56 does the call come from a doctor and to you or to him?
16:01 >> I can't get into all that medical stuff in terms of his rights, so.
16:05 >> I mean, at some point someone says it's okay.
16:08 And then what was that moment?
16:10 I mean, there's gotta be a moment of jubilation, joy.
16:14 >> Yeah, I mean, we're so happy for the kid.
16:18 Like Quinn said, so much of these guys' life is built around the game of basketball.
16:23 And the fear of him losing that, just like it's going on with Ray right now.
16:30 The fear of him losing basketball is crushing, it's crushing.
16:36 Especially with, even going back to Ray, with mental health and so
16:40 much of his hope and positivity is built around the game.
16:43 And it almost seems like he's being forced to choose between education and
16:48 the game of basketball.
16:50 Because there's all kinds of people reaching out to him to try to get him to go
16:53 a different direction, and education is important to him.
16:57 And the fact that we haven't got the go ahead on him is a complete shame.
17:06 >> Going back to the George Mason, you had a cook in your starting lineup that night.
17:10 Do you think there is a chance, possibility down the road,
17:14 kind of getting him back into that kind of role, or are things changed?
17:19 >> I mean, I can't look that far ahead.
17:21 I mean, I'm gonna go day by day and figure out what puts us in the best position.
17:26 Right now, Quinn's in a way better spot for us at the four.
17:31 So we're gonna go with Quinn.
17:33 >> Josh, if I can go back for a second.
17:35 Says something that caught my attention.
17:37 People are reaching out to Ray Kwon to try to get him to go in a different direction.
17:40 >> There's a lot of people in the game of basketball that wanna profit off kids.
17:44 And certainly he can make money playing basketball.
17:47 I don't think that's a secret.
17:50 He's a very good basketball player.
17:52 So yes, I've had conversations with his mother and himself.
17:59 People that wanna profit off him.
18:01 Agents in particular that continue to hit him up,
18:05 that try to pull him away so he can play the game of basketball.
18:09 So from my standpoint, what makes zero sense is,
18:13 does a kid have to choose between education and basketball?
18:17 He wants basketball in his life.
18:18 He wants an education.
18:20 So here we are in a point to where he has to make that decision.
18:27 And right now, he's holding on to the hope that something will change here and
18:33 he can play basketball and still get his education.
18:35 >> Forgive me if I read between the lines, but it sounds like time is ticking here.
18:41 >> I wouldn't say that.
18:44 I wouldn't say that.
18:45 I mean, he's got a really good head on his shoulders and it's important.
18:48 He's in a really good space here.
18:50 But don't think for one second not having the game of basketball in his life
18:55 isn't dragging him down.
18:57 And he thrives on hope and optimism.
19:00 And right now he's holding on as much hope as possible that
19:03 the NCAA will make a decision on him and allow him to play.
19:06 And it doesn't just affect him, it affects everybody on the team.
19:11 I mean, we sit here and game prep each and every week,
19:16 thinking we're gonna get some news and it just seems to be drug out and drug out.
19:22 >> Coach, you mentioned doing right by the kid and
19:24 then kind of what you're saying now about Raekwon.
19:26 Is there at all any wrestling for you or
19:29 eventually you'd have to tell the kid it might just be best for you to give up WVU?
19:33 Cuz it's just not gonna happen?
19:36 >> No, I'm not, never would I do that.
19:38 I mean- >> Just means like if it's best for
19:40 him eventually, if you just think this waiver is not gonna get turned around.
19:44 >> I don't think I'd ever tell a kid that education is not important.
19:48 And there's time for basketball.
19:50 But don't think for a second there ain't people out there trying to pull him in
19:53 a different direction, pull him away from education.
19:55 >> Josh, when the team is, I guess, scuffling right now,
20:02 you said confidence a couple times, just consistency.
20:06 Where do you go to when you call timeouts and try to get things back on track?
20:10 Do you feel good enough about one, two, three things to say, all right,
20:13 we can get to the next timeout, we can get a run going?
20:17 And where do you begin?
20:18 >> Each scenario is different.
20:22 Wherever we're at and the point in the game and try to go to the hot hand and
20:27 try to go to the mismatch that we think that we might have defensively.
20:31 So I thought we'd have an advantage down low with Jesse.
20:36 And I think they realized as the game played out that they were gonna double them
20:41 and they're effective with it.
20:43 And if we can't capitalize off these double teams,
20:46 we're gonna continue to struggle.
20:48 And usually when you get that ball movement out of the double team,
20:54 you're gonna get open shots.
20:56 And we got to knock down shots when we can.
20:59 We got to knock down shots when that's the case.
21:03 And if I'm going against us, I'm gonna do the same thing.
21:05 I'm gonna continue to double team and double team and
21:08 be as physical as possible with Jesse Edwards.
21:11 And that's gonna be people's game plan.
21:13 It's just that's the way it is right now.
21:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]