WATCH: Mike Neighbors speaks with media after Hogs' back-to-back wins in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Thursday before Christmas break.
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00:00 I know it's always hard to play two days in a row.
00:02 Seemed like the team might have been a little slow to start off,
00:05 but kind of picked it up.
00:06 Kind of a gritty win.
00:07 Just what did you think about the way
00:09 to bounce back after an emotional win yesterday?
00:11 Yeah, you added it there at the end.
00:13 I think it was more emotional than it was physical.
00:16 Just the excitement, the energy we expended to win yesterday.
00:22 It's hard on that second day, but we challenged them.
00:25 You've got-- they're getting ready to leave from here
00:27 to go home for the holidays.
00:29 They're worried about holiday travel.
00:30 There's all kinds of excuses you could make,
00:33 but we just simply said, hey, you know what?
00:34 UIC's got those same challenges.
00:36 So let's try to make sure we handle it better.
00:39 We didn't get off to a great start.
00:40 We weren't lined up right on the tip play, and we got scored on.
00:43 And we did three or four things uncharacteristic.
00:45 I almost took a timeout.
00:48 I did that last-- a couple of games ago, and it didn't work.
00:51 So I tried to see if we could play through it,
00:52 and I thought we did.
00:53 Yeah, and then Stahler, I know that you've
00:57 said she's playing through pain, but had
00:58 a 17-11 game.
01:01 Just what do you think about her impact?
01:04 I know-- I think she had an 11-0 run.
01:06 Yeah, five assists, five steals, a block.
01:09 I mean, it-- and she's in even more pain.
01:11 She kind of tweaked her knee a little bit yesterday.
01:14 So she was in more pain than normal.
01:18 But yeah, just-- man, let's not get complacent.
01:22 Let's not get used to seeing the double-double out of her
01:25 and altered shots.
01:26 I don't know how the block shots and altered shots,
01:28 all that goes.
01:29 But she moved the ball on offense.
01:31 She bailed teammates out.
01:32 Six for seven, two for three.
01:34 I mean, that is a--
01:36 that's a line you want on your fantasy team tonight.
01:40 Yeah, last thing I'll ask is just,
01:42 I think you'll have nine days now between your next game.
01:45 Just how good is that for the team at this point
01:47 with kind of some lingering issues?
01:50 Much needed.
01:51 I told Simone to make sure they've
01:53 got good plans for rehab while they're gone, what to do,
01:57 and how to take care of their bodies
01:58 so that when we come back, we'll be
02:00 ready to kind of start stage four of our mission
02:02 here, which is finishing up with Incarnate Word
02:05 and then going to the SEC play.
02:07 So it'll be good as long as our kids go home, eat right,
02:10 sleep right, recover right, do a little bit of work on the side.
02:13 Don't take eight days completely off.
02:16 I think the things that we have gained in the last three
02:20 or four weeks, if those things continue to carry over,
02:23 I really like our trajectory.
02:25 I love how we're coming together.
02:27 Some of the things that happened on the bus and in the hotel
02:30 over the weekend are really good signs
02:34 as coaches you look for little indicators
02:37 that your team's kind of starting to come together.
02:40 Certainly not there by any means.
02:41 Got lots of things to clean up.
02:44 But I'm really, really pleased with where we're at at the end
02:46 of this stage.
02:54 Did you say me?
02:55 Yeah, I did.
02:56 Yeah.
02:57 OK.
02:58 You know how I like to do inside baseball, inside basketball.
03:00 I love it.
03:01 Mikaela just had a couple of points,
03:03 but there was a stretch there where they were charging
03:06 at you a little bit, and she made two big plays
03:09 and kind of settled everybody down.
03:10 Talk about that.
03:11 That's that leadership that you knew
03:14 you're going to get with Matt, you know you're going to get.
03:17 And for her to just maintain her poise and her calmness
03:20 over there, didn't let anybody panic
03:23 when she got in foul trouble and had to set out for a little bit.
03:26 If she missed a shot or something, she never got down.
03:29 She has become really a voice, and I'm really proud of her
03:34 because she's accepted that as how she's
03:36 going to cement her legacy here.
03:39 The stats, all those things, she has never, ever one time
03:43 cared about them.
03:44 She's cared about her teammates and her team.
03:46 And she said it in the preseason,
03:48 all she wants to do is win.
03:49 That's why she wears it on her sleeve so much,
03:52 I think, when she can't play because of fouls
03:54 and why she gets so frustrated.
03:56 But I thought she was crucial.
03:58 She was critical in the timeouts,
04:01 but then, like you said, came in and made two really big plays
04:04 when they could have closed the gap on us.
04:06 Also, you know, Saylor, as you said,
04:09 got her a normal amount of rebounds,
04:11 but you also got six out of Talia, eight out of Marion.
04:15 Talk about-- I think you mentioned that yesterday,
04:17 but talk about how they had to help her get some rebounds,
04:20 and they did today.
04:20 Coach Todd really pointed out that there
04:22 were going to be long rebounds.
04:24 We felt like Marion and Saylor were
04:26 going to get those ones that are around the cylinder,
04:28 but we needed those guards to get in there
04:30 and get those loose balls, the ones that get tipped,
04:33 and the ones that they turned into a lot of points.
04:35 Because every one that we didn't get, they scored on.
04:38 I mean, they were critical.
04:41 Sorry.
04:42 They were critical.
04:43 So Talia's-- all six of hers were tough ones, too.
04:47 She then turned into transition.
04:49 So those things have compounding effect.
04:51 Not only did we get the stop, but now we
04:53 get an attack in transition.
04:55 So Marion had an unbelievable tournament,
04:59 and it continues to grow, and it's not based on stats.
05:02 That little run Talia went on, it's
05:06 going to continue to happen more and more.
05:07 We kind of stood around a little bit
05:09 and watched her there for a few minutes,
05:11 and that's part of learning that.
05:12 And I thought we made a nice adjustment at halftime,
05:16 got back to what got us going.
05:19 And then pulled away.
05:19 I mean, this is a good UIC team.
05:22 They've been very competitive in all their games.
05:24 They've got a good thing going.
05:26 Coach Bracey does an unbelievable job.
05:28 That used to be one of the worst programs on the planet,
05:30 and she's got them competitive every night.
05:35 Better for Christmas, two wins than two losses, right?
05:39 I mentioned it three or four times.
05:42 We've all been there.
05:45 The way you finish is the way you go to the holidays,
05:47 and my family knows.
05:49 I'm sure that there was a collective sigh of relief
05:51 around everybody's Christmas parties
05:53 that we're going to be attending that looked and checked the box
05:55 score and see us coming down there
05:57 on a little bit of a winning streak.
05:58 And not necessarily the winning streak,
06:00 but just that we're playing, how we're playing,
06:02 and the things that are happening around our team.
06:04 But yes, you're exactly right.
06:06 I've had some Christmases ruined from whether a ball went
06:09 in a hoop or not.
06:10 And I know I shouldn't be like that, but I am.
06:14 Daniel?
06:16 Hi, coach.
06:17 I guess, first of all, on the nine days off,
06:21 how much, I guess, communication do you
06:23 have with the players over the stretch?
06:26 What's your philosophy when you have a long break like this
06:29 where players are everywhere and y'all are together?
06:32 I tend to get out of their way up until Christmas.
06:36 I just said my piece to them.
06:38 I do make it mandatory.
06:40 I'm still a dad.
06:41 I want to know when they make it back to wherever they're going.
06:44 We got Christina traveling all the way home.
06:46 We got people leaving from down here,
06:48 not going on the plane home with us.
06:50 So there is a mandatory rule that you must
06:53 text me when you hit home.
06:55 There are serious, serious repercussions for that one,
06:59 more so than other things that you
07:01 might be surprised about in our standards book.
07:03 But I will communicate with them, make sure they got home.
07:06 And then on Christmas Day, I'll shoot them something,
07:10 just in spirit of the holidays.
07:13 And then a day out, make sure they've got any questions they
07:16 need about coming home and anything
07:18 we can do to make their travel back home enjoyable.
07:21 We do always try to give them either Thanksgiving
07:23 or Christmas.
07:23 This is as long a Christmas break
07:25 as I can remember having.
07:26 So I really want our kids to enjoy their time off.
07:30 But we've had to give them some work too.
07:32 You can't just sit around and eat everybody's best meals
07:35 and come back and expect to feel the same way
07:37 as you did when you left.
07:38 So I would tell you some communication, but certainly
07:42 not constant, Daniel.
07:44 And then the first time you all came down to Florida,
07:47 the second game didn't go quite so well, and you all lost
07:50 to Marquette.
07:50 Is there anything you all took from playing back to back
07:53 and playing in these mini tournaments
07:55 that you all took into today?
07:57 I think so.
07:58 I mean, I think our approach at the hotel
08:01 was a little bit different.
08:02 I think we did mention that.
08:04 Obviously, Marquette's, as we all knew at the time,
08:07 but it's starting to prove, maybe
08:08 a top 10 team in the country before it's all said and done.
08:12 But I think what we learned is you got to flip the page really
08:16 quickly.
08:17 Marquette jumped on us really quick.
08:19 I thought we jumped--
08:20 had a good start to the game and not after the jump ball.
08:23 But maybe we learned that.
08:24 I don't know.
08:24 I'd have to ask the team.
08:25 But I think as coaches, we knew that we had to give them
08:28 a little bit more film.
08:30 We spent almost 45 minutes in my room last night,
08:33 which is almost three times longer than we watch film
08:36 normally.
08:37 But I thought it was necessary, and the way the day played out.
08:42 We have an early start again today.
08:45 Our group's got a little bit of maturity about them.
08:48 So they probably learned more things than I'm mentioning.
08:51 But I know as a staff, we figured out a few things
08:54 that I think helped us today.
08:55 A little extra film, a little more talking.