Iowa basketball coach
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00:00 >> All right, questions for coach.
00:03 >> Randy, you knew this was probably a night where there wasn't gonna be a big
00:06 crowd, your team was gonna have to bring their own bit of energy to get going.
00:10 How would you assess their ability to do that tonight?
00:12 >> I thought they were amazing, but I will say this,
00:16 I was impressed with the crowd.
00:18 I mean, you drove here, I drove here.
00:21 I mean, it's bad, I mean, it's as bad as I've seen.
00:26 I thought it was gonna be like the COVID crowd.
00:30 I don't even know if they let you guys in back then, but it was only really small.
00:35 And you really had to create the atmosphere and
00:38 it was all created by the guys on the bench.
00:42 But we had the band and we had the people that came, they were fired up.
00:47 And they made an impact, so I was really pleased with that under the circumstances.
00:52 But you are right, I mean, the energy level right at the start was crucial.
00:58 We get a big lead, then we had a little scoring drought.
01:02 It's a really good team we beat, incredibly well coached.
01:06 And you knew they were gonna come back and they did.
01:09 But then we had another spurt and
01:11 then I thought our zone was really good to us, obviously coming down the stretch.
01:15 >> Tony with 15 assists, I mean, what is he doing?
01:17 >> Yeah, you look at him and obviously he's a terrific player.
01:23 And we have sort of, I don't know,
01:28 fought long and hard, okay?
01:31 Do we wanna give him the ball?
01:33 Or do we wanna let him rip and drive out of the two guard,
01:38 get out on the break, throw it ahead to him, let him attack.
01:42 And kinda let him go get buckets and go make plays from that position.
01:49 And I just felt like he's a guy that you can give him the ball and
01:53 you can trust him to run your offense and he understands the game.
01:58 And I think we've all seen him grow in that position.
02:03 When I put him in the starting lineup two years ago,
02:06 we put Mohannad back at the point, so he didn't have that pressure.
02:10 And then he always had Connor with him, and that was a factor.
02:15 But I said, look, man, we're giving you the ball and let's go.
02:18 And he is one competitive guy and I'm really proud of him.
02:22 15-2, that's pretty impressive, yeah.
02:25 >> What is, I guess, what is just working for you guys right now?
02:28 Why do you think things are clicking?
02:30 >> Well, we're a very unselfish group.
02:32 You say, okay, 30 assists on 35 field goals.
02:36 But what that means is we're moving the ball and finding open people.
02:39 Made 15 threes.
02:41 I've always said we have really good shooters.
02:43 Sometimes you don't shoot it well, and that happens.
02:47 But you're not gonna shoot it well if you don't get open shots.
02:51 And we moved the ball and shared the ball and got open shots.
02:54 >> What was the key to kind of getting them to play kind of your style of
02:57 game here?
02:58 >> Well, I think the start of the game and continuing to push the ball,
03:02 they're pretty tough when they stack their defense.
03:07 So if you walk it up and let them stack their defense,
03:12 they're hard to score on, they are.
03:15 And so we try to get as much free flowing action and transition as we could.
03:21 >> Talk about the night by Josh Jakes, hit some big shots, I think 5-3.
03:25 >> He was spectacular in every facet.
03:27 I mean, he plays the point, he plays the off guard position.
03:29 He can play small forward, he rebounds the ball.
03:31 He really is a good defender.
03:33 He is one tough guy.
03:35 I've been saying I gotta find more playing time for him, and I did.
03:40 Unfortunately, it was at the expense of some other people who I also wanna find
03:43 playing time for.
03:44 But he was absolutely spectacular tonight, no question.
03:51 >> Is there an update on Patrick?
03:53 >> It wasn't a good one.
03:54 He's in a training room right now.
03:56 We'll see how he feels tomorrow.
03:58 Try to get the ice on it right away, keep it elevated, and
04:01 try to keep the swelling down if we can.
04:03 >> Is it ankle?
04:04 >> Exactly, yeah.
04:05 >> He was good, I mean, he did a lot of good things.
04:07 >> He was really good.
04:08 His energy level at the start of the game at both ends was terrific.
04:11 He did get gassed, so that's when I went to Dix first and got him out of there.
04:16 But every time I put him in, he was effective.
04:18 12 points, five rebounds, two assists, he had some really nice passes.
04:23 But he also got out in the break and got some buckets for us when we needed it.
04:27 >> You guys started 0-3 in the big ten, now you almost have 500.
04:32 How do you feel like you guys have been able to kinda weather that?
04:34 >> We just stayed the course.
04:36 We lost to really good teams.
04:37 Obviously losing out Purdue at Wisconsin, two really good teams.
04:44 At Michigan, there were a handful.
04:46 We didn't play great against them, but we learned a lot.
04:50 And I think that's what you have to do, you go 0-3, what did you learn?
04:53 And what do you have to correct?
04:54 They're not gonna get better than we did.
04:57 >> How rare is three double doubles for your team?
04:59 >> It's very rare.
05:02 But again, six guys in doubles, three guys with double doubles,
05:07 that's typically gonna equate to a victory.
05:13 >> Owen misses the dunk, but pretty much everything else seems-
05:15 >> He didn't miss much else.
05:17 Yeah, I thought for a freshman, his feel for the game,
05:24 his feel for the flow, and every game is different, as you know.
05:28 And he impacts the game at both ends.
05:31 And for the most part, he's been able to stay out of foul trouble,
05:35 which is not often the case for young big guys.
05:38 They get over anxious, and especially guys that are shot blockers like he is.
05:43 But we need him on the floor.
05:44 >> All right, thanks guys.
05:46 >> Thanks, man.
05:46 >> Thanks, man.
05:47 >> Thanks, man.
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