Simas Lukošius, John Newman III Evansville Postgame
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00:00 and probably a fun three weeks, a month for you
00:03 since the accident.
00:05 How good did it feel to kind of get back out there tonight
00:08 and really get back in the field?
00:11 It felt very good.
00:12 And, yeah, like you said, it's been frustrating.
00:14 You know, really the whole season,
00:15 I've been dealing with little kind of tweaks
00:17 and injuries that I never had,
00:19 not only in my college career, but in my life, I'd say.
00:21 So it's really been frustrating.
00:22 But, yeah, I'm happy.
00:23 I'm happy to be back, to be able to practice right now
00:26 and hopefully, you know, turn a corner right now.
00:29 How close do you feel like to being back to 100%?
00:33 Very close.
00:35 Very close.
00:36 Probably not this year, but I got you in three days.
00:39 [Chuckles]
00:41 John Downey used to have --
00:43 What was the message to Wes?
00:44 [Indistinct]
00:48 Yeah, he said, like, in the second half.
00:50 He was in the second half.
00:52 I think, you know, we all kind of knew.
00:54 Honestly, he didn't talk that much about defense.
00:58 Like, he said -- I mean, it was mainly about offense,
01:00 just getting the ball to both sides,
01:02 like, change sides of the floor.
01:03 But I think we kind of knew, as individuals and as a team,
01:06 like, we had to take on the challenge.
01:07 I think they were kind of going at us one-on-one.
01:10 So, like, you know, we all met here.
01:12 So, you know, you want to just accept your challenge.
01:14 You know what I'm saying?
01:15 Guard your guy, guard your yard.
01:16 I think it was more about that.
01:18 He touched on defense a little bit,
01:19 but I think it was kind of like he already knew that,
01:22 you know, the kind of guys that we have in our locker room,
01:24 high-character guys.
01:25 So I think he figured we would respond.
01:27 And, you know, that's what happened.
01:28 So I'm glad we did it.
01:31 John, you guys got a big run in that second half.
01:34 What's the key to playing like this?
01:36 I think our defense is our superpower.
01:42 You know, whenever we play with activity
01:44 and we're flying around, getting deflections,
01:47 getting loose balls, that kind of gets our offense rolling
01:50 because we get to get out in transition and run,
01:52 get easy baskets.
01:53 And then it was great to see Simas, like,
01:55 knock down a bunch of shots.
01:56 That's what he does.
01:57 So it was good to see him.
01:59 And then everybody just got going, I think.
02:01 But I think it starts on the defensive end for us.
02:03 And so, you know, we kind of need to continue
02:05 to try to work at it every day to make that our identity.
02:08 Simas, you hit a ton of career highs
02:10 with five and eight for you tonight.
02:12 How is the shooting stroke feeling?
02:14 Does it go along with your shoulder?
02:15 And overall, how has that time gone for you?
02:19 Shooting feels good.
02:20 It always has.
02:21 So that's not a problem, really.
02:23 It was just about, you know, being healthy enough
02:24 to practice and get my reps in.
02:26 So, yeah, I feel good in terms of my shot.
02:31 Yeah, I wish I kind of had--
02:33 I wish I affected the game in more ways
02:35 because, you know, five threes,
02:37 I'm not always going to shoot like that.
02:38 You know, I might have some bad shooting days.
02:40 So I got to be able to do other stuff
02:42 out there for my team, too.
02:44 [inaudible]
02:47 [inaudible]
02:50 Yeah, it was just--
02:58 I think the ball just found me in, like, opportune places.
03:02 My teammates found me.
03:04 And, you know, just playing with confidence.
03:05 I think that was one thing that we--
03:07 Yeah, Coach West said that in the locker room.
03:08 Like, we need to just step up and make shots.
03:11 Play with confidence.
03:12 You know, it's a program that we put the work in
03:14 every single day.
03:15 And guys at In-N-Out at the gym getting better.
03:18 So, you know, kind of for me and for everyone,
03:21 just about playing with confidence,
03:22 being aggressive, and, you know, just stepping up to the plate.
03:25 [inaudible]
03:28 You guys heard something about the team
03:31 [inaudible]
03:34 about the booze, [inaudible]
03:39 Your reaction, did you hear that?
03:42 My reaction, man?
03:43 They care a lot here. They care a lot here.
03:45 I'm thankful to be a part of a program
03:48 where fans care that much.
03:50 You know, I mean, no one likes to be booed,
03:51 but the fact that they even care
03:54 tells us that we need to step our game up, you know,
03:56 that we need to do something different.
03:58 So I don't take things like that to heart.
04:00 I just show them that they care.
04:03 But, you know, I just looked at it.
04:05 Like, I heard it. I was like--
04:06 Yeah, I think that might be the first time
04:08 that happened since this year.
04:09 But I heard it.
04:11 And it's just like, you know, for me,
04:13 it's just all about the response.
04:15 You know, how are we going to respond to it?
04:16 You know, obviously, they love us.
04:18 They want to see us play a good round of basketball,
04:20 and we weren't doing that in the first half.
04:21 So, you know, I'm glad we responded.
04:24 And, you know, it's not always ideal,
04:26 but, you know, it's good to know they care.
04:29 T-Mos, you made the three-year year.
04:31 [inaudible]
04:33 That was a lot. I saw you throw your hands up.
04:37 Can you describe that feeling?
04:38 Maybe you do that on all of them.
04:42 I mean, did you feel like tonight, you know,
04:43 people were getting the same odds
04:45 that everyone figured they could?
04:48 The three-point shooting part, yeah, I guess.
04:50 I didn't do much else except for the three-point shooting.
04:53 But, yeah, I mean, throwing my hands up,
04:55 I think that was my fourth one
04:57 where we, like, kind of went on a huge run in the fast break.
05:00 And, you know, then when everything's going well,
05:03 we're playing great defense, the crowd is loud.
05:06 You know, it's just kind of natural.
05:07 I don't even think about it. So, yeah.
05:09 Well, you had six rebounds and three assists.
05:11 That's a good little stat.
05:12 Thanks, man. Thanks, John.
05:14 Thank you, John.
05:16 They were one of the best defensive rebounding teams
05:18 in the country coming in.
05:21 They had 24 defensive rebounds.
05:23 You guys had 18 offensive rebounds.
05:25 How much of a focus was that and satisfied
05:28 with the way you were able to kind of attack?
05:31 Oh, yeah. I mean, we always --
05:33 Coach West always preaches to offensive rebound.
05:35 We got a lot of big wings, big guards that can go do that,
05:39 you know, advanced skillings.
05:41 He's like -- I don't know how he does it.
05:43 He has, like, a crazy talent to just go get the ball.
05:46 He got a nose for the ball, long arms, athletic.
05:49 Me, C. Moss, we got big guys down low.
05:53 Like, we have a bunch of rebounding weapons.
05:55 So that's kind of ours, I think.
05:57 Yeah, but we just wanted to focus on us.
06:00 We know that pretty much every game,
06:02 teams are going to crash hard.
06:03 You know, it's college basketball.
06:04 But we just want to focus on what we do, really.
06:07 That's the best of our abilities.
06:09 When you guys kind of know or find out right before the game
06:12 that they're not going to have the best offensive players,
06:14 the top scorers, that kind of pro range
06:17 in what you guys were trying to do in the first half
06:19 and adjust better in the second half,
06:20 was that just you should have put on your guys?
06:23 I don't think it changed anything for us
06:27 in the first half.
06:29 The first half was mainly just us coming out,
06:30 like, a day's ago,
06:32 and not playing like we were supposed to.
06:34 And in terms of their two best players being out,
06:38 yeah, like I said, it doesn't really change much.
06:40 We still came into the game with the same mentality
06:42 and, you know, just the fact that the matchups are different
06:46 and the scout is different.
06:47 But I'd say the main thing for us was just
06:49 we had to take it personal after the first half,
06:51 and they really kicked our butts.
06:53 Progress.
07:00 What did you want to talk about?
07:03 What is going on in practice?
07:06 How better is that?
07:08 Yeah, I think in practice we started to lock back in
07:14 on our defensive drills, you know, finishing the D,
07:18 you know, guarding our yard.
07:20 I think we still could have did that a little better tonight.
07:22 But I think he kind of makes it like a personal battle.
07:26 Like, you know, it's another man in front of you.
07:28 It's a challenge. You got to take on that challenge.
07:31 And just, you know, going into league play,
07:34 we know we can't have nights like that
07:36 where we're just fouling all over the place.
07:37 We'll get blown out, you know what I'm saying?
07:38 It's the Big 12.
07:40 Guys are going to make free throws.
07:41 We can't put guys on the line like that.
07:43 So I think it's kind of just the emphasis on practice
07:45 and then the common understanding that, you know,
07:47 we got to be better going forward.
07:55 Going back and forth with you guys,
07:57 what was that like as a challenge?
08:01 Well, I have no idea. I don't remember, really.
08:04 Like I said, you know, when the energy is flowing
08:06 and I make a shot, you know,
08:08 everything kind of comes natural.
08:10 I'm not even thinking about what I'm doing.
08:11 And I guess, yeah, getting hit in the face
08:14 three seconds before that also kind of helped.
08:16 But, yeah, I can't tell you really
08:18 what's going through my head at that point.
08:20 Get back on defense is probably, you know, the main thing.
08:23 Thank you.