“I thought it was good, I was happy for them. I wasn’t happy with the way we played in the first half, to tell you the truth, but that goes back to practice. The last couple days, we didn’t have two good days, too much stuff going on. We have a veteran team, the five guys who start, they’ve played four years of college basketball. No disrespect to Albany, they’re a great team with a great coach and they’re gonna be really good, but if we’re gonna be a good defensive team, then we can’t give up 39 points in the first half. I shouldn’t have to go in at halftime and get on my guys about stuff like that. I know I’m not answering the question, the question was what did I think of those two guys’ performance? I thought it was good. I need those guys to play those types of minutes to help us. I told you guys I think Isaiah’s gonna be really, really good once he gets used to everything. It’s a lot for him right now, his head is spinning…in the classroom, on the court, practice. It’s just a lot for him right now and he’s trying to get used to everything. You can start seeing some of his ability, and Stacks can shoot the basketball. Once he gets 100 percent healthy, he’s gonna be a guy that’s gonna be in the rotation.”
On Isaiah Coleman’s development:
“I’ve been on him to rebound the basketball. He got in and rebounded today. He’s a better shooter than what he’s showing, I don’t know if he made a three yet, he’s a better shooter and he’s a good athlete. I think he’s missed three dunks already this year, so that probably don’t hold no weight what I’m saying right now (laughs). But no, it’s building. He’s building, man. He’s young, he’s hungry, he gets it, he’s a gym rat. He’s gonna be in the gym, he’s always working, he wants to get better watching the film. So like I said, he’s gonna be good. As the year goes on, he’s gonna be good.”
On Seton Hall’s first-half offense:
“Yeah, right? It’s like a double-edged sword, you’re making shots but they’re making shots, too. And when you play better teams, that’s gonna come back and haunt you. So I was happy that we were making some shots, but I’m just not happy with the way we’re playing right now. I know you guys will say we scored 96 points, but when you’re a coach, you kind of look at the little things. I know the second half, we came out and we played a lot better, but we can’t come out like that in the first half. Can’t do it.”
On Seton Hall’s second half:
“JB cramped up. Jaden cramped up so we had to go small, just trying to experiment with different lineups, open the court up and space out. I thought it helped us, it actually helped us make some driving lanes, but I don’t know if I want to play like that moving forward. I said that before and I know we did it early on, but it’s good to know I could use it if we really need it.”
On Seton Hall scoring inside the paint:
“The goal for us is to try to drive the ball in and touch the paint. If you get paint touches, it opens up everything, right? That’s why as a defensive team, I don’t want teams driving the middle against us. We’re trying to get paint touches a lot. I think once you get paint touches, what happens is the court starts opening up and teams start to suck in. Now there’s threes, there’s layups, there’s backdoors. In the second half, Kooks got a couple of layups early just because we were moving. I’m trying to get paint touches. I think Jerry (Carino) asked a question earlier about the ball moving. I want the ball to move more. I’m trying to chart this…I know you guys are gonna laugh at me, I want to get like, 200-230 passes a game. And I think if we can get that, everybody’s happy because everybody’s touching the basketball. Is that possible? I don’t know, I’m trying. I don’t know how many we had today, I didn’t look at the stats yet, but that’s the goal. We’re trying to get anywhere from 200-230 passes a game. I think if we could do that, it helps, that way people can’t say, ‘I’m not touching the basketball.’”
On Arda Ozdogan and Sada NgaNga:
“I think Sada, man, he’s way better than what he’s showing. I just gotta get his confidence, just me and him get some gym time and some film time alone. I gotta get his confidence back. He’s going against Dre every day in practice and it’s helping him. He’s very skilled, he can shoot the basketball, he can dribble, he can make some plays. I’ve just gotta make sure we space the court out for him because he’s really not a back-to-the-basket type of big. As far as Arda, every day, he’s getting better. He’s picking up things, the language is getting better, the language barrier’s getting better for him. He’s playing against Elijah and Jaden every day, so he’s used to getting that physicality, so that’s gonna help him help us.”
On what he’s learned about his team as a whole:
“It’s tough, right? Because I looked at our first couple games, our scrimmage and then our exhibition game, and I was worried. I’m still worried, but the more these guys get a chance to play, the more they get confident. A guy like Malachi Brown, today I thought he played phenomenal in the time he was out there. He showed poise, he showed he could handle the basketball, he didn’t get sped up, he’s relaxed. For me, that’s a sign that I could give him some more minutes, and I need to give him more minutes because I can’t play Kooks and Al that many minutes. So for him to get those minutes and play the way he played, that was a plus for me. And like I told these guys, I don’t care what the score is, go out there and play because the more you play, the more confidence you give me to roll with you guys. The more we play the bench, it’s good for us.”
On newly signed recruits Godswill Erheriene and Jahseem Felton:
“I’m happy. I got two guys that we were targeting, two guys that could come in and play right away. As far as Godswill, we haven’t had an athletic big like that in a long time. He can run, he can jump, he can rebound, he can block shots and I think his best basketball is ahead of him. I’m super excited about him, and I’m excited about Jah as well. Jah’s a big point guard, he’s a big guard kind of like Kooks, could shoot it, could handle it, could get to the basket, got a great feel for the game. We’re really excited to have those two guys.”
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