“I give a lot of credit to Steve and Rutgers, because they had a more emotional win than we did, the way they won, and I thought they came out with great energy. I was so proud of my guys because it’s tough to bounce back after those wins, but I thought the crowd was phenomenal again, and it was a huge factor in our defensive energy.”
On what the Rutgers rivalry means to him:
“I hate this game, I really do. I hate the time of year we play it. It’s different because when I first started, we played home-and-home until they left the league, so it was always two games. I like it much better now that it’s one game, but it’s a no-win situation. It doesn’t matter to me at all. Like I told the team, we’re 2-1 in the Big Ten. I know it’s important to the fans, it’s just never been that big — I’m not from New Jersey, I concentrate on my team. When you’re a coach, every game is a big game — seeding, making the tournament. I hate to ruin it for you, but now you know what my wife deals with.”
On Bryce Aiken:
“I think with Bryce, he gives us the ability to spread the floor at times, and I really liked when Kadary and Bryce were together. I thought that was a — we went on a 14-0 run with both of them out there in the first half — it gave Kadary a little bit more room to operate, it also gave him a chance to get off the ball a little bit and get his rest. But Bryce has that ability to, and the fans aren’t used to seeing him play, we’ve been with him now two years and this is what we see in practice. He’s going to take a 38-footer on the break, he’s got that ability, he’s got that confidence, and I’ve just come to realize you have to let Bryce be Bryce.”
On the dynamic between Aiken and Richmond:
“I haven’t played them enough together. Obviously we’re 9-1 and it’s worked great, and like I said, Kadary’s been great. I loved how aggressive he was in the first half, it was just phenomenal, and then Bryce — they play at two different tempos, our offense is two different ways. Kadary is a much more — he’ll probe you, he’ll probe you, he’ll look, he’ll attack you. I could post Kadary while Bryce is a little bit more of a scoring guard, takes a little bit of pressure off of Jared and Myles, or whoever’s in there with him, so we have two completely different offenses when those guys are in there. I’d like to get to the point where we can play them together, because I think it would help the other guys on the floor.”
On Jared Rhoden:
“Jared wanted to win this game. To the players, they were amped, and sometimes when Jared starts off a little too amped, he plays a little crazy. I always say, ‘you’re going a little crazy,’ and he says, ‘yeah, I know.’ Once he kind of calms down, he’s a tough guy to stop, and to just kind of get him in a rhythm, I called a couple of isos for him, we called a couple of pin-downs for him, and I just thought he got into a good rhythm.”
On Myles Cale:
“I’ve said this all along for the past four years: Myles Cale is one of the best players I’ve ever coached. It doesn’t show up in the stat sheets, but when he’s on the court, I’m a better coach, we’re a better basketball team. I love the fact that he’s been much more aggressive on the defensive end, he’s going for steals, he’s getting in passing lanes. He’s the best defender in college basketball.”
On what he learned about Seton Hall:
“I think we’re battle-tested, Adam, and I think we have a chance. I knew the league was going to be a bear, I did, if you looked at the rosters, who came back. I think (Tony) Stubbs (Stubblefield) at DePaul is doing as good a job as any coach in the country right now. I knew what St. John’s was going to be like, everybody knows ‘Nova, I knew Providence was going to be one of the better teams in the country because of Nate Watson, and they added a great guard in A.J. Durham. I really thought I needed to test this team to learn — this sounds crazy — we didn’t play in front of any fans last year, and it sucked. And this has been awesome. Our students, our fans, being at Michigan, even our two neutral-site games — Ohio State and Cal — they were packed, it was 4,000, we have a great fan base. So I think more than anything, we’re tested, we’ll be in situations where you go on the road now, we’ve been in tough situations and more than anything, the players have gained experience.”
On getting the team to buy in so quickly:
“This is going to sound corny, I don’t want to say that, but it’s our culture. Everybody kind of knows when they come play for me, what it’s all about. We’re going to work really hard on your individual game, and the only thing I ask is that you play really hard on the court. I try to keep it really, really simple, and I think I have a great staff that we work with our guys, we work really hard to get them better, which I think our kids really appreciate. All the transfers that we get, every transfer I’ve ever had, they always shake their head by this time of year. It’s like, I’ve never had a coach spend this much time in the gym with me, and that’s what our culture’s about. If I’m going to spend all this time with you, and we’re going to put all this time into your game — you can do whatever you want on offense, just play hard and that’s it. And I think I have a great group of guys that understand that if they go out and play hard, then the bald guy’s not gonna yell, and they can have fun.”
On a potential tournament feel in the last two games:
“A little bit, yeah, and especially next week is going to have that feel. We have a really good Iona team and then we play a really good St. John’s team one day later. Our schedule’s been like that…we play a really good Ohio State team and then you’ve got to grind it out against a Cal team that’s one of the better teams defensively, so I’ll agree with you. It has felt like that.”
On Aiken and Richmond in crunch time:
“The more we’re into it, I don’t have to make a play up, I don’t have to create offense. He (Aiken) can create offense off the dribble the same way I feel about Kadary. I don’t have to make, we don’t have to run something where sometimes if you run something, the defense can take you out of what you’ve run and then you’re kind of stuck in what you’re doing. With these two guys, I can just tell everybody to get out of the way and we can create offense. It’s a big difference. Kadary Richmond’s a pro. He’s going to make a lot of money in this game, and once he gets in really, really good shape, there’s another gear with him that people haven’t seen, but I see. He just has to be able to sustain it for 25-26 minutes. He’s not there yet, he’s there for the first half and everybody thinks it’s what it is. He just has to be able to sustain it a little bit more, and he’s working hard at it.”
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