Sha Sounds Off: Providence

By Jason Guerette (@JPGuerette)

On Isaiah Coleman’s back spasms:

“That’s a loaded question, Jerry. I don’t know, I mean, like I told the radio (announcers), yesterday was the first day he did something since the Marquette game. I think Marquette was last Tuesday? He had one practice, and I’ll be honest with you: He and Dylan weren’t supposed to play this much tonight, but they both wanted to play. I might get in trouble with our doctors and trainers, but we were trying to win a game and they both wanted to be out there, so to answer your question, I’m sure it had something to do with it, the rust after not doing anything for four days, five days. His back is feeling better, though. I’m sure he’s still a little banged up after today, he played a lot of minutes.”

On positives from Seton Hall’s comeback:

“That didn’t lose the game for us. What lost the game for us was the way we came out in the second half, every game. But give (Coleman) credit, he found a way to get fouled, to get to the free throw line, so that’s kind of what good players do. But that didn’t lose the game for us. What lost the game for us was the first five minutes of the second half. And I’ve been trying with this team, I’ve tried everything with this team, to come out with energy. I just told them in the locker room, this is the first time I’ve seen the whole team like, the locker room is a mess right now. They are super down, crying, and it’s supposed to hurt, right? It’s supposed to sting, but we can’t come out like we did. We can’t wait until we get 10 points down, 12 points down, then try to play hard. We gotta play hard from the door. If we play hard from the door, then we won’t be in that hole, but we’re keeping ourselves in holes.”

On Prince Aligbe:

“Yeah, it’s not consistent, and what I mean by that is, like, the first half. I gotta get on you at halftime, I gotta show you things in film, and then I thought what helped us—and what helped him—was when (Providence) went small. Then he could start playing the five and things start switching, and we start reading the mismatch how we should have read it, and now he’s got a guard with him going up. So that helped, but overall, like, he’s a good player and he’s gotta act like a good player. Like, sometimes, he gets lost in the sauce, but Prince, he overthinks everything. He overanalyzes everything. But to answer your question, yeah, it’s coming along, but I need him to be consistent. And for him, he’s gotta be consistent.”

On Garwey Dual and his progression:

“A lot. For one, he’s shooting the basketball, he’s shooting the ball early. Honestly for him, I think (today) was a little personal, right? Because he went there, but I thought for the most part, he played a good floor game, made some good reads down the stretch. I wanted the ball in his hands a couple times down the stretch and we didn’t get the ball in his hands. I’m a little upset about that, because he was making good reads. So I think the progression’s coming along, but he’s still got some ways to go.”

On Jahseem Felton:

“Jah, he’s a freshman, right? And with him, I’ve got confidence in him, but he gotta guard. I told him and Isaiah, they started picking up those two guys, those two guards started doing isos for him, and I’m not blaming Jah at all. But down the stretch, (Jabri) Abdur-Rahim, they went at Jah because he was on him, and he scored five quick points and that’s kind of why I made the sub. But overall, his confidence and his scoring ability is helping us, and I thought he had some good reads as well.”

On defensive adjustments from the first game against Providence:

“We slowed the game down. I don’t know what we were doing up there trying to get into a track meet with those guys, that’s how they want to play. Slow the game down, grind it out, last time, they had 14 threes or 12 threes, today was nine. You can’t win games when teams hit eight-plus threes, and they had a couple big ones down the stretch.”

On one-possession games:

“They’re killing me. We do a lot of special situations towards the end of practice, but this game was kind of tough, though, because it was a one-day prep, pretty much. We got back late Saturday night, and obviously you can’t do too much Sunday, so yesterday was kind of our only day to do something. But we do a lot of special situations to try to get ready, prepared for this one game. I thought tonight was better as far as how we executed and not trying to look for a three, but drive, get a quick two and then foul, extend the game and then when we need a three, try and get one. So I thought from that standpoint, I felt we’re getting better as a team, understanding late clock situations.”

On defensive adjustments moving forward:

“I have a matchup zone in my pocket, but we can’t figure it out. I’ve been trying to figure it out with this team from the summertime to now, and we can’t figure it out. I think it can help us just to change things up, we just can’t figure it out. And even when I press, it’s not as effective as it was because guys just can’t move. Some guys are just banged up, which everybody in the league is banged up, so I’m not gonna give that excuse. But you’ve gotta guard your guard. I use that all the time, guard your guard, meaning guard your man. Don’t look for help, don’t look for a turn. The thing with us is teams do a lot of ghost, meaning slips, and I’ve got them to switch. And I keep telling them, don’t look to switch. Stay in front of your man. And we’re having trouble with that.”

On Aligbe’s second half and Yacine Toumi:

“I just thought Prince was playing well. I thought DT, in the first half, got some offensive rebounds for us and like I said, with me, I coach with film, I look at matchups. Those guys are quick, Yacine is not a great defender, so I wanted to go with guys that are better defenders for games like this.”

On locker room morale:

“I mean, it should hurt. It took a loss like this for us—I’ve never seen that the whole year, even after a lot of the losses we’ve had, I’ve never seen them like this. They are super down right now, and I told them: It should sting, it should hurt, because when it hurts, that means you care. I’ll be honest with you, I want to cry every freaking game, but I gotta be strong for them. I gotta be strong, I’m the captain of this ship, so it should hurt. I’m not happy they’re crying—I don’t want you guys to print that because that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying it’s good to see that they’re feeling what I’m feeling, because this sucks right now. It does.”

On adjusting his style:

“I’m trying everything. Everything. Positive stuff, being around them more, doing more things with them. Everybody’s not built a certain way, you gotta adjust to your team, and I’ve been doing that. I’m trying everything, like, everything you could name, I’m trying. We just gotta get one. I think if we get one, I think this team could make a run, but you gotta get that one. I thought tonight, we’d get it, but Providence is a really good team. They’ve got really good guards, Kim (English) is a great coach, making a lot of adjustments, and I just thought those first five minutes of the second half killed us.”