Opening statement…
“We got back Monday night and we’ve had two COVID tests, which gives us our third test this week. We’ll get some results back from this morning’s test tomorrow, so we anticipate playing South Alabama Friday. We’re excited about the home opener. We’re disappointed with the Central Florida game from a standpoint of offensive execution, finishing, turnovers and a lot of missed free throws, which led to a lot of questions after the game about confidence in shooting the ball and confidence in stepping up. There’s a lot of new guys in a lot of new roles. We didn’t handle the moment well at all. It’s going to be good to get another game in Friday and see if we can get a better taste in our mouths for how we’re playing the game and how we’re playing together. I thought out defensive effort was really good. We held Central Florida down. I thought if we had a normal offensive game, not even a good offensive game, we get a great road win, but we didn’t. The effort and energy was there on the defensive end.
“South Alabama, like us, are a brand new team. Last year, one of our better wins of the year was going down [to Mobile] and beating them. They were 20-11 last season and finished second in the Sun Belt. If you include last year where they won their last eight straight, and they started out this season 3-1, they’ve won 11 of their last 12 games. This is a team and program that does have confidence and is playing well. They’re shooting 47 percent from 3, which ninth in the country. They’ve got really good balance. They have seven guys averaging seven or more [points per game]. They’ve gone to the free throw line 93 times in four games. They do a pretty good job of driving downhill and getting to the rim. We’ve got to do a good job of guarding without fouling and not coming off a couple of really outstanding shooters. That’s obviously going to be a challenge for us. Michael Flowers is a terrific player. [John] Pettway is a great driver. [Kayo] Goncalves is a foreigner that has a great pick-and-pop game. We’ll have some challenges to guard him.
“We had a good preparation yesterday and we’ll have another go today. Then, we’ll get onto our home opener. Things will be different. The benches will be over on the other side of the floor. The three bleachers will be pushed in, so The Jungle will be unfortunately upstairs. I believe maybe 50 percent of our crowd is going to be the student body. I don’t want our students to get discouraged because, let’s say we’re going to have 700 students in the building, there was north of 2,000, maybe even 3,000 requests for tickets for students for this game. I appreciate the students, their energy, their support, their passion and their desire to get out. It’s going to be a great weekend on campus with Texas A&M coming in on Saturday and there will be a lot of people in town that want to come and see the games.”
On the response from the team in practice after the defeat at UCF…
“We had to take Tuesday off, so yesterday was our first practice. We had film, we had practice. We had a good practice. We watched a little of Central Florida in the morning then came back and just focused on South Alabama. We’ve got to put that away because we only have a couple of days to get ready. South Alabama will be play zone maybe 90 to 100 percent of the game. At least they have so far. They might change it up against us, but we’ve seen a lot of zone against them. We hardly have played against any zone yet in the first three games, so we’ve got to work on our zone offense. The attitude has always been good. Our guys are clearly searching for a rhythm offensively. We went through some things that we think will help them slow down with the ball, work a little harder off the ball and get us some better looks.
On getting Justin Powell more looks on offense…
“I think Justin was somebody that when he turns a shot down, I’m like, ‘dude, we may not get a better look than that shot you just passed on.’ There are some other guys that are not passing on a contested 3 and my thoughts are, ‘man, let’s reload that one and come again.’ That’s just part of the growth and part of the experience. I think because we will be seeing a lot of zone on Friday, there’s going to be some catch-and-stick opportunities for him, whether he’s playing point or not.”
On an update on Sharife Cooper…
“Sharife’s attitude has been incredible. He’s staying right and he’s staying ready. I think a person and player of lesser character, maturity or toughness wouldn’t be able to handle what he’s going through right now. There is no change in his status. We’re still working through the process and we’re still hopeful.”
On Devan Cambridge’s apology on social media after the UCF game…
“I think that speaks to our character and our culture. In our third game, Devan is going to issue an apology to our fans? That just tells you how bad he wants it, how much he cares and how accountable he’s trying to be. But, it’s not his fault. We need to count on him to do a couple things that he’s comfortable doing and do them better, but not trying to do more than he’s capable of doing and not put the weight of the world and a loss on his shoulders. While I admired what he did and was touched by it, I think, ‘how in the world can you step up and make a free throw or a shot when you’re putting that kind of pressure on yourself?’ I’ve always said that I’d rather try to teach them to care less than to care. I’d rather a kid cry after he strikes out and throw his bat than to look at the umpire and go, ‘was that three strikes or do I get another one?’ It is also a reminder for our fans that they are kids and they are going through some experiences for the first time. Last year, we lose our top six guys. Al [Allen Flanigan], Devan and Jaylin Williams were the three guys that returned, and they were our seventh, eighth and ninth or eighth, ninth and 10th guys a year ago. Now, they’re all starters. So, they’ve got to play their way into newer roles and embrace the opportunity.”
On what is causing turnovers on offense…
“I think that’s the way to put it. Valuing the basketball, valuing the possession. If you’re going to walk the ball up and not attack pressure and not try to play fast, just by nature of that style or system, you’re going to have to value possessions because there are going to be fewer of them. Because we don’t play that way, because we do like to attack and play fast and create more possessions in a game with our defense being more aggressive, they learn to play that way. At the same time, we’ve got to work harder off the ball and be much, much calmer and a little slower with it. Again, we worked on that. We were able to point it out. Guys were just flying around out of control. We were playing offensively like we like to make people play with our defense. I think part of it would be valuing the possession by turning down the first open shot, getting a better shot and not shoot as quickly on the fast break when we don’t have advantages and don’t have numbers. I hope we’re going to be able to do that some tomorrow night.”
On if playing more zone defensively will be a weapon moving forward…
“I think it will be. We’ve got good length. I think they’ve got a fairly good understanding of the zones. I could see us utilizing that a lot. We stole a couple possessions against St. Joe’s and Gonzaga and maybe one or two against Central Florida. So right now, we’ve used it coming out of a timeout or trying to be a little bit disruptive, but I do see us playing more zone as the season progresses.”
On what JT Thor needs to do to get going offensively…
“So much more is being required of him to play out there, specifically defensively or rebounding, and the complexities of how you have to have to guard. Man-to-man for a high school player was pretty much ball-you-man and ball-and-help, and that’s it. There are real on- and off-the-ball responsibilities that these guys as freshmen have never experienced. And so how quickly can you get them to learn it? You’re thinking the entire time you’re playing. Offensively, it’s the same way. It does take some time to understand our system. We’re just finishing off a period the last two years where we had guys in the system for three and four years, and we’re still running the same system. They obviously had an understanding of it. Right now, he’s having to think all the time, ‘Where am I supposed to be? When am I supposed to be there?’ As a result, he’s often times late or not in the right spots, and it’s hard to play basketball that way. It’s just hard. That will just come with more experience.”
On being more open to changes in starting lineup…
“Probably. My biggest thing about not being so quick to make adjustments in the starting lineup is it’s just the easiest way without intentionally blaming the kids. ‘Well it must be fault because I got pulled from the starting lineup.’ I know we’re talking about college guys, but I would imagine [it’s that way] even in the pros. I’ve got to have their back because they’ve got to have mine. Young people do get concerned about hearing their names starting. That is a factor. Parents do, too. That’s middle school, high school, even college. When you get to be a paid professional, mom being upset doesn’t matter anymore. But you guys asked a great question the other night about confidence. If I’m trying to give them confidence and I make a lot of changes in the starting lineup – what I’ll explain to you, I’ll try to explain to the guys. Right now, I’m trying to find good combinations to play together. Our starters are not very verbal. They’re all good players. But most of the guys coming off the bench – Jamal [Johnson], JP [Justin Powell], Stretch [Babatunde Akingbola] for sure – are all better communicators than three of the guys playing in front of them. I might need to get one of those guys on the floor with that starting group just for better communication. And so, if I do make that adjustment, that would be the reason.”
On Justin Powell’s development playing point guard being a natural shooting guard…
“I think it’s actually in the long run going to help him. No question in the long run it’s going to help him. At some point, they all talk about position-less basketball. I don’t. I believe there are still positions out there. But the fact that he’s been an off-guard so much, and now he’s got the ball in his hands a lot is really going to help him down the road. It will help us down the road, too. And it’s helping us now. My goodness, where in the world would we be? I recruited him to play off the ball. I recruited Tyrell Jones to play off the ball. J’Von McCormick saved us a year ago when Jared [Harper] left early. We were kind of counting on Sharife [Cooper]. When you recruit the best point guard and the best player that’s ever signed at Auburn, you kind of set him up to play the position and build some other pieces around him. JP will be fine.”