On the Auburn loss:
We’re coming off a loss at Auburn where I believe there were 71 free throws shot between the two teams. We had four players sitting on the bench with two fouls apiece to end that first half, and that’s when Auburn increased their lead. In hindsight, I probably should have played one or two of those guys with two fouls. But in hindsight, too, you can look at if those guys would have fouled out, I would have been kicking myself for playing guys with two fouls in the first half. We’re fouling too much. In the first half they had 26 points off our turnovers. We had 16 turnovers, and I thought we would be able to fight ourselves back into it in the second half because we didn’t turn the basketball over as much. I think they had four points off turnovers in the second half, and we only had five turnovers. Obviously, with our lack of depth, that’s the problem.
On foul calls:
It wasn’t as frustrating because I thought it was both ways. If it was a situation where (calls) were made one way, then I think that becomes frustrating. It was just a lot of fouls called.
On Trivante Bloodman’s progress:
It’s really a credit to him because I think he’s made as much an improvement on our team than anybody. I thought last year he had the ability to get into the lane at times, but his decision-making left a lot to be desired. Right now, he’s getting into the lane and he’s jump stopping. He’s getting fouled and, he’s making good decisions. I thought he played a really good game against Auburn. And when he got to the free throw line, he made his free throws. I believe he was 14-of-15 from the line.
On what sticks out against LSU:
Just their size and length in general. They have a lot of guys with (Jordan) Mickey, Johnny O’Bryant and (Jarell) Martin that have a lot of length and size. They’re playing a lot of zone, which is surprising. I thought they would be more of a man-to-man team. I think they’re playing big with Martin and Shavon Coleman. We have to do a good job of keeping the ball out of the post because I think once they get the ball in the post it becomes a problem because they have some guys that can shoot the ball too with (Andre) Stringer and (Anthony) Hickey. I think the most important thing for us is not letting them get the ball in the post, because once they get in the post we’re either going to foul them or they’re going to fan it out. That’s going to be a problem with close outs or get killed on the offensive glass.
On DeRunnya Wilson and in-coming football recruit Elijah Staley playing basketball:
From a football standpoint, I’d imagine it’s a lot different between Wilson and Elijah (Staley) simply because Elijah is going to be playing the quarterback position. That’s a whole different beast. I think at the quarterback position you better be worried about how to read a blitz against Alabama and LSU, and it’s a little bit more involved than his actual development in what’s going on with the offense than what Wilson has to do.
On getting drafted out of high school:
I think it’s pretty simple. I think it should be very similar to baseball. I think you should have the ability to come out if you don’t want to go to college and go straight to the NBA. I think once you make that decision to go to college you should have to be there for two years. I think three years is a bit of a stretch because there is a difference between the maturity factor and what you have to do physically between football and basketball. I think it would solve a lot of problems if you just allow guys that want to go to the NBA simply to let them go to the NBA, and guys that really want to go to college, let them go to college. I think what you’re seeing is a lot of guys who were projected to be lottery picks going into college, and once they go to college, they’re not lottery picks all of a sudden. I was listening to an interview with Shawn Marian a few weeks ago, and he said it’s really sad what they have to teach at the NBA level because these high school kids and college kids coming in simply haven’t been coached before. Now you’re teaching NBA-level elementary things, but to the high school and college kid it isn’t elementary anymore. They’re wasting a lot of time in practice trying to teach these guys some simple things.
Categories:
Hear from Head Coach Rick Ray
John Galatas
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February 18, 2014
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