Bryan Mullins Press Conference
02/18/2020 | 2:22:00 | Men's Basketball
SIU men's basketball head coach Bryan Mullins met with the media on Tuesday to look back at last week's losses to Valpo and Bradley, and to look forward to this week's games against Evansville and Northern Iowa. SIU hosts Evansville at 7 p.m. on Thursday night at Banterra Center. Tickets are available at SIUSalukis.com/tickets. Below is a partial transcript of Coach Mullins' press conference. To view the entire press conference, click here to watch on YouTube.
OPENING STATEMENT
We're looking forward to a big game on Thursday night back at the Banterra Center. The atmosphere has been awesome there and our guys are excited to get back on the floor. Obviously, we had a tough game against Bradley. It was a game of two halves and a game that we gave ourselves an opportunity to win. We're just looking forward to getting back on the court. Evansville is playing extremely well. Coach Lickliter has done a great job since being there, and they've been in every single game and had an opportunity to win every single game at the end. We know we have a tough challenge ahead of us. For us, it's about playing the right way for 40 minutes, and that's what I'm stressing to our guys, that everyone has to play a little better; and as a team, we have to take one more step forward before we head into St. Louis.
How is the team reacting to their first home loss in a few months?
It was a disappointed locker room after the game. Yesterday, I got to see some of the guys, and I think everyone is excited to get back on the court. When you have a tough loss like that, it's tough to have this long of a break, because you just want to play again, especially with the Valpo game before that. I think our guys are ready to get back and have great practices. We're looking forward to playing Evansville.
How are you approaching these last four games?
The biggest game of the season is Thursday against Evansville because it's the next game. We have approached every single game that way in the Valley season. It's a huge game and a great opportunity for us. I think that the guys are going to respond like exactly who they are; they're winners; they love to compete; they love to play. I think they're going to come out with great energy and be determined to try to get a win.
What did you learn from watching the tape of the first game against Evansville?
We have to clean up some things. We have to be able to guard some of their actions better. Offensively, we have to execute better. They did a good job guarding us the first time, and we struggled to score. We definitely need to improve from the first time we played them.
Do you look at Marcus Domask and Lance Jones as freshmen anymore?
No. I haven't looked at them as freshmen in a while. I haven't talked about it with them, with all the experience and minutes they've played. They're huge pieces of our team, and they have to help us win every night.
How big has this year been for Lance, in terms of getting more experience due to Aaron Cook's injury?
It's been a great opportunity for Lance. He has improved so much since the beginning of the season. Moving forward for the rest of his career, the experience he's had, the amount of minutes he's played, the close-game situations he's been able to be in, and we've been able to rely on him in, have been great for him.
How do you balance telling Marcus Domask to be more aggressive but also be a team player?
With Marcus, I don't have to tell him to be a team player. That's who he is. Being aggressive, he needs to be aggressive to start the game. He has to be aggressive for us. Offensively, it helps us a lot when he's going downhill on his drives and looking to post up and being aggressive in transition. He's done that all year for us, so I'm not worried about it. I think we're just continuing to try to find ways for him to be successful on the court, and different actions to get him the ball in positions where he can score it.
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