Coach Mullins quotes from MVC teleconference
01/06/2021 | 11:01:00 | Men's Basketball
SIU men's basketball head coach Bryan Mullins joined the Missouri Valley Conference weekly teleconference via Zoom on Tuesday to look ahead to this weekend's series at Indiana State, review last weekend's games at Drake, and more. Below is a transcript.
SIU plays at Indiana State on both Saturday and Sunday (Jan. 9-10) at Hullman Center. Both games will tip at 12 p.m. CT and will air nationally on ESPN3.
Prevewing SIU-Indiana State … "They've had an extremely tough first four games, playing Drake and Missouri State. For both of us, we're looking to play well this upcoming weekend, looking to bounce back from last weekend. For Coach Lansing and Indiana State, it starts with Tyreke Key. They have (Jake) LaRavia and (Cooper) Neese and Tre Williams. They have a great core of guys that won a lot of games last year. They're looking to get some wins in Valley play. For us, we're looking to get back on track and play better than we did this past weekend."
On back-to-backs … "It's so interesting. The unique thing, mainly for the student-athletes, is playing that same team again. In your MTEs and Arch Madness, you play back-to-back, but it's against a different team. For us, we're so young this year, it's a fine line between making too many adjustments and, as a coach, feeling like you're not making enough adjustments in those 24 hours (between games). But you can't change too much. At least for us, I know our guys need practice reps. They need to be able to go through it. You can adjust some plays, do some wrinkles offensively, try to take advantage of some actions, and obviously try to clean up some things defensive mistakes. But it's hard to put a new post defense in or a new ball screen coverage in in 24 hours without any (practice) reps. I think, especially for our group being as young as we are, it's about emotionally and mentally getting up for that second game. You practice all week. They give everything they have in that first game, which they're used to giving, and now in 24 hours they have to get right back up to that point again. That's what makes it unique.
"That second game, it's about teams that play with the most energy right off the bat, the teams that are ready to go. You walk through the actions that hurt you in the first game. Each team has 4-5 days to prepare for you, so they can throw some things at you that aren't on film. You try to clean that up for the second game. Then, it just comes down to the basketball stuff — take care of the ball, rebound, execute offensively — more than the scouting report on the second day."
On the defense … "It starts with me; I have to make sure the defense is more organized defensively, that everyone is on the same page. We need to be more connected; we need to play with a greater sense of urgency. At times, we've shown it. We've played well. We have been able to win games because of our defense this year when our offense wasn't there. I think these last couple games, we've taken a step back defensively. We don't have a chance to compete at Indiana State if we don't play well defensively."
On Marcus Domask being at the top of opponent scouting reports … "He's played well and knows he's going to be at the top of the other team's scouting report. This past series, he got good shots. Drake didn't really double-team him; they played him straight-up. He was able to get some good looks. He missed some 3's the second game and missed some layups the first game. I think he got to his spots where he wanted to go. He has to continue to play with a ton of confidence."
On Drake … "The pace they play at. The experience, the maturity they have, having older guys. They're able to continue to play at a high pace, where maybe younger teams get worn down. They are creating energy from their defense. Maybe in years past, they created energy from their offense. Give credit to Darian (Drake head coach Darian DeVries) and the job he's done. I think they're a very, very good team. I think they're one of the best transition teams in the county, and they change ends as well as anyone. I think it's a combination of a lot of things. They have great guards with (Roman) Penn, and (Joseph) Yesufu is playing well. (DJ) Wilkins is shooting well, and teams that have done well in The Valley always have really good guard play."
To listen to the entire teleconference audio, including the league's other head coaches » Click Here
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SIU plays at Indiana State on both Saturday and Sunday (Jan. 9-10) at Hullman Center. Both games will tip at 12 p.m. CT and will air nationally on ESPN3.
Prevewing SIU-Indiana State … "They've had an extremely tough first four games, playing Drake and Missouri State. For both of us, we're looking to play well this upcoming weekend, looking to bounce back from last weekend. For Coach Lansing and Indiana State, it starts with Tyreke Key. They have (Jake) LaRavia and (Cooper) Neese and Tre Williams. They have a great core of guys that won a lot of games last year. They're looking to get some wins in Valley play. For us, we're looking to get back on track and play better than we did this past weekend."
On back-to-backs … "It's so interesting. The unique thing, mainly for the student-athletes, is playing that same team again. In your MTEs and Arch Madness, you play back-to-back, but it's against a different team. For us, we're so young this year, it's a fine line between making too many adjustments and, as a coach, feeling like you're not making enough adjustments in those 24 hours (between games). But you can't change too much. At least for us, I know our guys need practice reps. They need to be able to go through it. You can adjust some plays, do some wrinkles offensively, try to take advantage of some actions, and obviously try to clean up some things defensive mistakes. But it's hard to put a new post defense in or a new ball screen coverage in in 24 hours without any (practice) reps. I think, especially for our group being as young as we are, it's about emotionally and mentally getting up for that second game. You practice all week. They give everything they have in that first game, which they're used to giving, and now in 24 hours they have to get right back up to that point again. That's what makes it unique.
"That second game, it's about teams that play with the most energy right off the bat, the teams that are ready to go. You walk through the actions that hurt you in the first game. Each team has 4-5 days to prepare for you, so they can throw some things at you that aren't on film. You try to clean that up for the second game. Then, it just comes down to the basketball stuff — take care of the ball, rebound, execute offensively — more than the scouting report on the second day."
On the defense … "It starts with me; I have to make sure the defense is more organized defensively, that everyone is on the same page. We need to be more connected; we need to play with a greater sense of urgency. At times, we've shown it. We've played well. We have been able to win games because of our defense this year when our offense wasn't there. I think these last couple games, we've taken a step back defensively. We don't have a chance to compete at Indiana State if we don't play well defensively."
On Marcus Domask being at the top of opponent scouting reports … "He's played well and knows he's going to be at the top of the other team's scouting report. This past series, he got good shots. Drake didn't really double-team him; they played him straight-up. He was able to get some good looks. He missed some 3's the second game and missed some layups the first game. I think he got to his spots where he wanted to go. He has to continue to play with a ton of confidence."
On Drake … "The pace they play at. The experience, the maturity they have, having older guys. They're able to continue to play at a high pace, where maybe younger teams get worn down. They are creating energy from their defense. Maybe in years past, they created energy from their offense. Give credit to Darian (Drake head coach Darian DeVries) and the job he's done. I think they're a very, very good team. I think they're one of the best transition teams in the county, and they change ends as well as anyone. I think it's a combination of a lot of things. They have great guards with (Roman) Penn, and (Joseph) Yesufu is playing well. (DJ) Wilkins is shooting well, and teams that have done well in The Valley always have really good guard play."
To listen to the entire teleconference audio, including the league's other head coaches » Click Here
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Players Mentioned
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