Opening statement…
“We’ve got one game left before the Christmas break. The plan is to then let the guys go home for a few days, which typically wouldn’t be newsworthy, but in a COVID environment, obviously it’s a factor. Nobody has too terribly far to travel. Everybody will be traveling by car. They’ll hopefully be able to leave after the game on the 22nd and will return to campus on the 26th when we’ll get tested again. We’ll be practicing on the 27th before we start SEC play with Arkansas on the 30th.
“We’ve managed to take every opponent very seriously. We went to Troy last year and had a very competitive scrimmage. That made sure that had our guys’ attention. We’ve got to make sure we have that same attention to Appalachian State. They’re picked to finish ahead of Troy in the Sun Belt. They return nine letterwinners from last season and they’ve got some grad transfers. They’re another older, stronger mid-major team. Teams are only scoring 55 points against them. Teams are shooting 36 percent against them from the field. They do a great job of defending without fouling, which is important. They get to the line themselves. Some of these mid-major teams run really good stuff. Some of these high mid-major teams run more complicated things to guard than some of the teams in the SEC. It doesn’t make their offenses better. When you’re in the SEC or you’re in a Power 5 conference, and you’ve got bigger, stronger athletes at every position, sometimes you’re able to simplify it a little bit because you’ve got the overwhelming talent, size, length or depth. One of the things that helped me as I developed was being a Division II coach for a number of years and being a mid-major coach and having to try to find ways to score when it wasn’t just about the talent on your roster. As a result, the stuff that we’re going up against is hard to guard. If you don’t guard it the right way, it’ll make you look bad. Appalachian State has the ability to do that. Tennessee was the one team that was simply able to physically overwhelm them. Tennessee is one of the most athletic, powerful, strong, deepest teams in America. They just physically overwhelmed App State. (App State) is 6-2 and they had a close loss to Bowling Green. Bowling Green is picked to win the MAC. Tennessee is a team that a lot of people have picked to win the SEC. Those are their only two losses. We’re not picked to win the SEC or the MAC. So, we’ve got to take this opponent very seriously. If we play well, we can win, which you can’t always say when you go up against SEC competition. You still have to play well to win. Had it not been for a couple a big 3s from our guys coming off the bench, Troy outplays us in the second half, even though we played such a great half in the first half against Troy. We’re still a work in progress.”
On the team’s strong defense so far…
“I’ve been pleased. We’ll just see if we can continue that. A lot of times, it’s about matchups. We’ve got a couple of tough matchups and guys that are going to be hard to keep out of the lane and are defending well. We’re getting better. We’re learning a lot. Here’s a crazy advantage: in a quieter arena, you’re able to communicate better. One of the things for me with a young team is I’m able to and they’re able to communicate with themselves better. That has helped us being such a young, inexperienced team. When we do talk our actions, which helps us understand each other what we’re trying to do, because obviously you’ve got to make a physical and verbal read on the guy next to you and try to determine what he’s doing to determine what you need to do defensively. Experiencing it physically, which we do not have a lot of experience, if you can talk your actions, it helps.
On having energy guys (Dylan Cardwell, Chris Moore) off the bench…
“It’s great. And Babatunde (Akingbola). Those three guys there, coming off the bench, are vocal and passionate and play with a motor. You can see it. It does help. It helps defensively. It helps in the locker room. In these buildings or in these games, you’ve got to bring your own energy. When you’re watching it on television or when I’m watching tape, it’s like watching the NBA. You don’t notice a huge difference. There are some crowd noise differences and things like that, but we got used to watching the NBA for so long this summer and early fall that the games don’t look that much different on TV. But they’re much different when you’re there in person. You guys are there covering it, and you can tell the difference. They look more like those preseason intrasquad scrimmages.”
On Stretch being more aggressive offensively…
“Both Dylan (Cardwell) and Stretch (Akingbola) probably are better defensively than they are offensively. I think Dylan’s got a little better offensive feel. But Stretch is going to be open at the rim, and he’s got to be able to find the gaps, be able to catch the ball and finish or kick it out. A lot of that comes from repetition, a lot of it comes from confidence. If he’s open at the rim, that means we’re not open on the perimeter. And so if he’s open at the rim, he’s got to catch it and finish it otherwise they won’t guard him at the rim, which we need them to do. You’ve got to take what the defense gives you. I’m glad to see us get a little bit more of an inside presence from those guys.”
On the development of J.T. Thor…
“I think he’s a little bit more comfortable. I agree. I’m glad. That comes with some repetitions. He’s beginning to see his opportunities. A lot of times a young basketball player, they look at it and ‘Where are my opportunities?’ – either as a passer or a playmaker or a driver or a shooter. We put them in advantage-disadvantage situations, and then he obviously has the athletic ability and the skill level to take advantage of those moments. We’re going to see a different kind of ball-screen coverage against Appalachian State that we haven’t seen all year long. It’s just different. That doesn’t mean it will be really effective, but it will be different. Will we be able to react and respond to it? And then of course as competition continues to step up, how comfortable will we be? But I do think because J.T. is trying to learn and listen and has been really coachable, he wants to understand, and then once he does, you’re not worried about where you’re supposed to be and when. Instead, you get there and then you’re able to make plays.”