Hogs' Coach Eric Musselman's Press Conference

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Eric Musselman previews matchup with Abilene Christian on Thursday night at Bud Walton Arena at 6 p.m.
Transcript
00:00 Rick, Abilene's got a player from Little Rock Parkview, Simmons,
00:03 who's having a nice season.
00:05 Just wonder what you're seeing from him and how fired up he might be to come in
00:08 here and play in his home state.
00:10 Yeah, I mean, you're talking, the audio wasn't on at first, Bob.
00:14 Can you, you're talking about 23 Simmons?
00:17 Yeah, I'm sorry.
00:18 Yeah, he's from Little Rock.
00:19 He's from Little Rock Parkview and having a nice scene.
00:22 Just wonder what you think of him as a player and how fired up he'll be to play,
00:25 you know, back in his home state.
00:26 No, he's an excellent player.
00:28 He's a guy that can make threes.
00:30 He's a three level scorer, can post up, a really good passer.
00:35 You know, he's a vital part of their team, plays the four spot for them.
00:41 They'll put him on elbows and run backdoor cuts with him as a passer.
00:47 And like I said, I mean, he's a guy that can make threes and stretches the defense out.
00:54 And then I understand you've been practicing two days, the last two days.
00:58 We do that again today and just kind of, how's that been going for you?
01:01 Yeah, I think practices have been really good.
01:04 We've been doing morning defense, come back in the afternoon and do offense.
01:08 Much like an NBA training camp many years ago.
01:12 We haven't got, you know, the timeframe hasn't been long.
01:14 It's been about an hour and 35 minutes, you know, each practice.
01:19 Yesterday we went only about 45 minutes for the offense.
01:24 Good practices.
01:26 We'll go this morning and we'll come back this evening and just do shooting,
01:30 which will be, you know, non-coach related.
01:33 It's just the guys in Budwalton get shots up for 20, 30 minutes.
01:36 Do you feel like it's working well and you guys, you have a good vibe going into this game?
01:41 I mean, this team always has a good vibe.
01:44 You know, we've had great practices.
01:47 I don't think I've talked to you guys much at all about this team not having good practices
01:53 or this team not having good shoot arounds.
01:54 They've actually been as good as team as any team that we've had.
01:58 They get along.
01:59 A group of them went to dinner again last night.
02:01 They got to figure out and we have to figure out the chemistry on the floor.
02:07 You know, most of the teams, it's, you know, off floor practice.
02:13 We don't have any of that.
02:14 We, where it really counts between the lines, we got to get better at.
02:19 The practices go smooth and the shoot arounds go great.
02:24 I mean, they know all the questions when we quiz them on personnel.
02:28 They've got to figure out once they hit the floor, you know,
02:34 how we can play better basketball as does our staff have to figure it out.
02:38 Thanks. Curtis?
02:40 Hey, Coach, I'm sure it helps that he's been with you since the summer,
02:44 but just curious how the acclimation is going with Keon so far.
02:48 And then what do you make of the dynamic he brings to the mix just as a
02:51 personality and a teammate?
02:52 Yeah, I mean, great personality, high energy, energy giver to coaches,
03:01 and he's an energy giver to his teammates.
03:03 But it's also, you know, you're adding a player 10 games in and you're adding
03:09 a player to a roster where you got a lot of guys that have had good roles
03:15 prior to cup. So it's another added layer to what we're trying to do.
03:21 And it's an added layer that comes in at a time when we haven't played our
03:26 best basketball. It's coming at a time where, you know, we're a couple games
03:32 away from conference play. So, you know, but this is the nature of,
03:37 you know, athletics.
03:39 And I know Keon's situation isn't related, but getting him cleared made
03:44 me think about everything going on with the two-time transfers and the NCAA
03:49 was cracking down and then they're delaying them. Now everybody's cleared,
03:52 the court orders, all that. Just curious, maybe, what your thoughts are,
03:55 where you stand on that, and then how did that impact the way you guys recruited
03:59 in the offseason, not knowing if that type of player would be available or not?
04:03 Yeah, I mean, we've always recruited with what the rules are at the time,
04:07 plain and simple. And it's very, there's no gray area. We recruited players
04:15 that were going to be available to play, that would have no sit-out year. Now
04:22 at Nevada, we elected to want to take guys that would sit out. We knew they
04:26 were going to sit out. We never asked for any waivers. We used those as
04:31 development years, just as, you know, JD Notte, like we wanted JD to
04:37 develop as a point guard during his sit-out year. The student-athlete knew
04:43 it, and, you know, the coaching staff. Having said that, you know, I'm all four
04:49 players having freedom, just, you know, just want to know what the rules are,
04:54 you know, when you're, during recruiting cycles. But I think it's great guys can
05:00 play. I mean, that's, you know, I mean, you come from a world of, you know, I've
05:06 not been in college basketball that long compared to many of my, you know,
05:12 other coaches. And, you know, I mean, coming from pro ball, you certainly want
05:18 guys to have freedom of movement. You want guys to be able to make their own
05:21 choices. But having said that, certainly, you know, as you can tell on our roster,
05:29 we did not have anybody that was a two-time transfer that would sit unless
05:34 they were graduate students, which those become immediately eligible. So that's
05:38 how we recruited. That's how we built the team. And, you know, that's it.
05:45 Scotty?
05:46 Yeah, Eric, I was looking at some numbers earlier. I saw Abilene's top 10
05:52 in the country in free throw attempts per game. Just where do you place the
05:56 importance of that in this game and maybe defending without fouling or doing
06:00 your best in that area?
06:01 Yeah, they do a great job of attacking the rim. They do a great job of high,
06:05 low. Their bigs do a great job of ducking in. Obviously, number 24 at the
06:11 small forward spot does a great job of turning the corner. They'll run a DHO
06:15 and he'll turn the corner. They'll put a dribble drive guy on the elbow and
06:20 let him dribble drive. Their backup point guard, number 10, does a good job
06:24 dribble driving. Madden, 21, is kind of a combo guard. He did a great job
06:32 against UTEP drawing FTAs. Simmons can draw fouls. They're starting four and
06:37 five. Steele and Simmons can make three. So that opens up the floor for dribble
06:41 drive guys, like 24. And then there are two backups at the four and the five.
06:47 Those guys are post-up guys. And obviously, when you hard duck in and you
06:51 go high, low, those will be able to create free throws attempt situations
06:55 for people as well.
06:56 Is there anything that you can think of in terms of why maybe there's been that
07:03 lag in off-court and practice chemistry and then on-court chemistry? Have you
07:08 run into that situation before, maybe at any level?
07:11 I've run into the exact opposite. I've never... This is a first. I'm learning
07:17 on the fly because our practices are good. Work ethic is good in practice.
07:23 We just got to carry over what we do behind closed doors onto the floor.
07:31 And it can also just be a problem. Look at the records of the teams that we
07:37 have lost to. It's no excuse whatsoever. But Oklahoma is a top 12 team in the
07:43 country. Memphis, look at the wins that Memphis has had. Look at North
07:51 Carolina, where they've been national player of the year type player in the
07:57 post. We have lost to three really good teams. And you add in UNCG, they played
08:06 well up until last night. And it happens every night. I mean, UCLA lost
08:13 last night to Cal State Northridge. And Cal State Northridge played phenomenal
08:18 basketball. I think you're seeing a changing of the way college basketball
08:23 is right now. We've talked about it since opening night about, you know, the
08:28 number of upsets, so to speak, or quote unquote, that happen in college
08:34 basketball. And it's, in my opinion, I've never seen more than I have this
08:40 year in the last nine, 10 years.
08:43 The last thing I had, just what are you seeing from Jeremiah Davenport? Good,
08:49 bad, indifferent, just kind of what what what are you saying? Yeah, I mean,
08:52 he's, you know, when he makes threes, he stretches the defense out for us.
08:57 He's a high energy player. He gives us an identity of energy out on the floor.
09:03 Still trying to trying to, um, understand our second and third options
09:08 on plays. I think that's one area that we would that we need him to pick
09:12 up all of our of our options as a new player. Um, you know, we need him to
09:19 rebound more at the small forward spot as we as we need all of our players to
09:22 do a better job on the glass.
09:24 That's a question.
09:25 Coach, you mentioned after the game that Jalen Graham needs to defensive
09:29 rebound better for you. And that's something you said even last year. Is
09:33 there anything technically or that he needs to do differently in that
09:36 regard? Or is it more of just a mindset mental thing for him? Well, I think
09:40 it's everybody. Hutch, you know, I was just asked the question about
09:44 Davenport and and said that J. D. Needs to rebound more. I've talked about
09:48 our point guards lack of rebounding, so I don't point the finger rebounding
09:52 wise on any one particular player. Um, you either got to go get the board or
09:56 you got to block out one or the other. And if you block out, you have to
10:00 physically block out. Um, and certainly, you know, rebounding numbers, um, up
10:06 front become really important for us, whether it's Kai, whether it's Jalen,
10:10 whether it's, um, you know, claw, all those guys got to rebound the
10:14 basketball.
10:14 Thanks, Coach. Appreciate your time.