Brad Underwood Interview
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:10 20 of these.
00:11 [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:15 Long regular season.
00:17 I think it's my hats off to our players.
00:21 We, and I'm gonna use a term that I, for lack of a better term,
00:26 we kind of practiced angry for a couple of days.
00:31 We had a couple of really, really hard practices after the Purdue game.
00:36 And I thought we guarded Purdue very well.
00:39 But to come in here against a team that's been very hot,
00:42 a team that is, in my opinion, one of the best offensive teams in the country,
00:47 a team that is extremely explosive, and to hold them to 61.
00:53 I thought we fought on the boards.
00:55 It was nice to see Quincy get back to his rebounding prowess
01:01 that he's capable of.
01:04 But it wasn't a pretty game offensively for us.
01:08 I thought they did a great job on Marcus.
01:12 But, you know, night we didn't get a lot of three-point opportunities.
01:16 We had to drive the ball and get the ball to the paint.
01:19 Dane Deja was electric on both ends of the court,
01:23 not just offensively, but his presence defensively.
01:28 And I thought our bench, again, was fantastic.
01:31 We went to them early.
01:33 They deserved the right to play.
01:34 They've been incredible, incredible two days of practice for them.
01:40 So, you know, you always feel good about 14 wins in this league.
01:47 It's not where we wanted to be at the top.
01:50 But it's 20 games, and there's always going to be some roller coaster rides
01:55 throughout that process.
01:56 But now it's postseason play, and we'll take it one game at a time
02:01 and one day at a time as we get there,
02:03 but feel really good about the way our guys defended today
02:06 and played against a very, very good Iowa team who, in my opinion,
02:10 I think is NCAA worthy and should be in the dance
02:16 and is as good a team offensively as there is out there.
02:21 I do want to mention it was great to see a lot of orange in the stands today.
02:24 I thought our fans, it's always good to hear I-L-L, you know,
02:29 at the end of a game on the road.
02:31 So postseason Minneapolis, here we come.
02:37 How much is this a defensive blueprint for success in March?
02:41 Well, you went off and, you know, we're one of the top offenses in the country.
02:44 That's been well documented.
02:45 I don't know what we are, third or fourth or whatever we are.
02:48 But, you know, when you have days where the ball doesn't go in,
02:52 you have to find a way to win,
02:53 and that's what we've tried to base our whole program on is being able to do that.
02:57 And today was maybe a little more like what we were early.
03:05 But, you know, I liked it.
03:09 I thought Terrence was tremendous on Perkins and did a great job there.
03:13 But, yeah, we've got to play that way if we want to make the run we talk about.
03:20 Brad, it feels like Dane and Quincy have impacted the game here a little bit more recently.
03:24 What's led to that, and what's that mean for you guys going into postseason?
03:30 One, we've seen a ton of size here in these last three or four games.
03:36 So getting them ready, getting them capable of handling that, you know,
03:42 I thought Dane was a good matchup.
03:45 Today, and Dane's been practicing well.
03:48 You know, Dane's probably as hard a working guy as we have.
03:52 He stayed committed.
03:53 And, you know, whether it's five minutes or whether it's 15, 18 minutes,
03:58 he's always answering the bell.
04:00 So, yeah, he's a very good player.
04:03 We know that.
04:04 And I thought today defensively he was terrific.
04:07 What about Quincy?
04:08 Yeah, I mean, you know, getting Quincy just to -- he's so athletic.
04:15 And just playing hard and playing in the moment
04:18 and not worrying about a missed shot or a missed assignment.
04:21 Just play in the moment.
04:22 Try to win that moment.
04:24 We've had those conversations about him.
04:26 His leadership today was at a new level, talking and communicating.
04:31 And that was so refreshing to see because he's a guy that has been through a lot of battles
04:37 and so very, very excited for him and the way he played today.
04:41 Brow, was it reassuring from an identity standpoint if you win when you don't score 80
04:46 or try to get stops and rebounds, things that help you win in a different way?
04:50 Yeah, I was a little upset at half because our turnovers,
04:53 and all of our turnovers came in transition.
04:56 They came running.
04:58 And, you know, again, I thought Peyton did a great job on Marcus.
05:02 And, you know, they kind of took Coleman away after a 30-point game in the last game.
05:10 But, you know, again, I thought it was the way you have to try to play and win.
05:17 Sometimes they're ugly.
05:19 And to do that against this team and their building, you know,
05:24 means something because they are a team that is explosive as heck.
05:28 And you never feel comfortable even if an 18-, 20-point lead, you don't feel comfortable.
05:33 So, yeah, it felt like we had a little bite to us today.
05:38 I guess on that front, I mean, they did cut it to four at one point.
05:41 How did you as your team respond to that?
05:43 Because then you pushed it back to double digits pretty quickly.
05:45 Yeah, you know, I think this group understands that teams make runs,
05:50 and especially good teams.
05:52 And, you know, we had a -- you know, we lost Peyton.
05:56 He had a hard one in transition on a pull-up that's a really hard shot.
06:01 But he makes those.
06:03 We lost him one other trip in transition.
06:06 He made one from the corner.
06:08 And, you know, those are the things we can't do.
06:11 But they just kind of maintained.
06:13 And, you know, we got in a huddle, and everybody was positive.
06:18 Everybody was upbeat.
06:19 Coleman was talking.
06:21 Quincy was talking.
06:23 You know, TJ is, you know, demanding everybody get a kill,
06:26 which for us is three stops in a row.
06:28 And they were saying all the right things.
06:30 So, I'm really encouraged by that.
06:32 Is this version of Quincy important for you guys to elevate to that run
06:36 that you guys talked about a minute ago?
06:38 Yeah, we have to have him.
06:40 He's as gifted an athlete as there is in our league.
06:42 And he's got a body.
06:44 He's got experience.
06:45 He can shoot it.
06:47 And when he's nasty like that and sits down and guards and rebounds,
06:53 he just takes us to a completely different level.
06:56 And it's his physicality that helps.
06:58 And I like that version a lot.
07:02 Brady, you have one five of six, and you're four of five heading into postseason.
07:05 How do you feel about your team heading into the winter?
07:08 Yeah, you know, I mean, I feel great.
07:11 It's one game at a time.
07:13 I think, you know, this group has handled this stretch, you know,
07:18 and we felt like we had a chance to win the Purdue game.
07:21 And, you know, it was a rebound, literally a rebound.
07:26 But we talked about that.
07:29 We've tried to emphasize the fire.
07:32 We knew we had one game here in 10 or 11 days
07:35 when we had the second place deal cleaned up.
07:37 And, you know, we've got to prepare and, you know, as I say,
07:44 understand what the abruptness of the end is if you don't play well, you go home.
07:50 So we've got to avoid that.
07:52 You managed not to lose consecutive games now in the whole regular season.
07:56 What was it about maybe this team where they didn't at one become two or more?
08:01 Yeah, maturity, leadership,
08:05 understanding what the, you know, I think they --
08:09 this group doesn't look ahead.
08:10 This group has handled losses very matter-of-factly.
08:15 You know, they haven't let them -- they understand they've learned from them.
08:21 And, you know, and then they've had the wherewithal to bounce back
08:25 and show some resistance and toughness.
08:29 And, you know, if you're ever going to lose one,
08:31 this is a building that's pretty easy to do after losing a home game.
08:36 But, again, I thought our grit and our fight was really good today,
08:41 and that's nice to see this team has that.
08:43 You've been elaborating on practicing angry.
08:45 What's that look like in the world?
08:47 Is there any group of guys that you're spearheading now for you?
08:50 You know, I think it was just going back to some basic early practices
08:54 and accountability and, you know, really challenging guys
08:59 in really competitive situations all the time.
09:02 I mean, we made every drill competitive with consequences.
09:06 And, you know, it's always about winning and losing.
09:09 It's getting guys to understand winning and losing is, you know,
09:13 not just on the court, it's life.
09:15 So everything was very dialed up.
09:21 You know, every mistake was -- there were consequences for it.
09:26 And, you know, getting guys to understand it's basically effort.
09:30 And what generates effort is talk and communication.
09:33 And then there was a lot of conversations as well.
09:37 I'm sorry.
09:39 Your defensive effort on Perkins, he was one for ten.
09:42 He seemed to be very frustrated.
09:44 Was that intentional, or is that just the way the game flowed, I mean,
09:49 to be able to kind of stymie him the way you did?
09:52 Well, he's at the top of the scouting report.
09:54 He's had -- I think he had 18 in the first game.
09:57 And I think the last time we stepped in here he had 30-something, 32.
10:03 So he's kind of had his way with us a little bit.
10:08 But, again, when Terrence Shannon guards, he's pretty special.
10:13 6'6", 220, 225, and quick and athletic.
10:17 And, you know, I thought we did a good job of contesting him.
10:22 He's going to make shots most nights.
10:24 I thought we did a good job of contesting, and that was our whole game plan.
10:27 And, you know, we didn't expect one for ten from a great player.
10:34 But he was at the top of the scouting report.
10:37 Okay.
10:38 Thank you.
10:39 Here are my locker rooms, point C, vein, and ties.
10:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]