Bryan Mullins weekly press conference
01/07/2021 | 11:51:00 | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. - SIU men's basketball head coach Bryan Mullins met with the media on Thursday to recap last weekend's games at Drake and preview this upcoming weekend's games at Indiana State. Below is a partial transcript. To view the entire press conference, click here.
SIU and Indiana State play on Saturday at Sunday, Jan. 9-10, at Hullman Center in Terre Haute, Ind. Both games are scheduled to tip at 12 p.m. CT and will air nationally on ESPN3.
OPENING STATEMENT
We're looking forward to the challenge this weekend. Indiana State is going to be a tough matchup for us. They have two of the better guards in the league in Tyreke Key and Cooper Neese, and they have two of the better bigs in the league in Jake LaRavia and Tre Williams. They present a lot of challenges. They're a great defensive team. They really pressure the ball. For us, we need to do a better job taking care of the ball. Defensively, we need to be more connected and be able to control the paint better and close out on 3-point shooters at a higher level.
How has the team responded to the Drake series?
I think our guys understand that we didn't play well. That wasn't our team out there. We have to play better on both sides of the ball. The guys are focused. We had a good practice yesterday, and hopefully we will have a couple more good practices before we play Indiana State.
On Indiana State...
They're a tough matchup because they have different guys who can beat you. Those four guys I mentioned (Key, Neese, LaRavia, Williams), just off the top. LaRavia is so versatile. He played 1 through 5 for them. He brings the ball up as the point and can play the 5 for them as well. Tyreke Key has been one of the best scorers in this league for the last 3-4 years. They have multiple weapons. I don't think if we shut down Key, that's the solution, or if we shut down LaRavia, that's the solution. We need to be able to contain a lot of those guys.
What made yesterday a good practice?
I saw energy. I saw a lot of leadership. I saw communication on the floor. I saw a high standard being set by the guys, not just by the coaches. Those are all things that the guys have been doing that we weren't able to do this past weekend. You continue to do that through practice. It's not going to magically show up in the games. For us, having a young group, it's not just one person's responsibility to be vocal; it has to be by committee with our group. We need all 14 guys. Our bench has to be great. The guys on the floor have to be communicating great. It's a day-in, day-out process with a young team to try to continually teach them that.
On process with a young team...
You just stay with it. We believe in the things we're doing. We talk about trusting the work every single day in this program. The things we're doing with the guys will pay off. It might not happen overnight, or this first week. But we have seen in games prior to Drake that we can guard at a high level when we're all locked in, when we're all doing the right thing. We have too much slippage right now, and we have to continue to get better. As the guys continue to put the work in, which they do -- it's a great team to practice with every single day -- it will pay off. We want to be playing our best at the end of February heading into Arch Madness.
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SIU and Indiana State play on Saturday at Sunday, Jan. 9-10, at Hullman Center in Terre Haute, Ind. Both games are scheduled to tip at 12 p.m. CT and will air nationally on ESPN3.
OPENING STATEMENT
We're looking forward to the challenge this weekend. Indiana State is going to be a tough matchup for us. They have two of the better guards in the league in Tyreke Key and Cooper Neese, and they have two of the better bigs in the league in Jake LaRavia and Tre Williams. They present a lot of challenges. They're a great defensive team. They really pressure the ball. For us, we need to do a better job taking care of the ball. Defensively, we need to be more connected and be able to control the paint better and close out on 3-point shooters at a higher level.
How has the team responded to the Drake series?
I think our guys understand that we didn't play well. That wasn't our team out there. We have to play better on both sides of the ball. The guys are focused. We had a good practice yesterday, and hopefully we will have a couple more good practices before we play Indiana State.
On Indiana State...
They're a tough matchup because they have different guys who can beat you. Those four guys I mentioned (Key, Neese, LaRavia, Williams), just off the top. LaRavia is so versatile. He played 1 through 5 for them. He brings the ball up as the point and can play the 5 for them as well. Tyreke Key has been one of the best scorers in this league for the last 3-4 years. They have multiple weapons. I don't think if we shut down Key, that's the solution, or if we shut down LaRavia, that's the solution. We need to be able to contain a lot of those guys.
What made yesterday a good practice?
I saw energy. I saw a lot of leadership. I saw communication on the floor. I saw a high standard being set by the guys, not just by the coaches. Those are all things that the guys have been doing that we weren't able to do this past weekend. You continue to do that through practice. It's not going to magically show up in the games. For us, having a young group, it's not just one person's responsibility to be vocal; it has to be by committee with our group. We need all 14 guys. Our bench has to be great. The guys on the floor have to be communicating great. It's a day-in, day-out process with a young team to try to continually teach them that.
On process with a young team...
You just stay with it. We believe in the things we're doing. We talk about trusting the work every single day in this program. The things we're doing with the guys will pay off. It might not happen overnight, or this first week. But we have seen in games prior to Drake that we can guard at a high level when we're all locked in, when we're all doing the right thing. We have too much slippage right now, and we have to continue to get better. As the guys continue to put the work in, which they do -- it's a great team to practice with every single day -- it will pay off. We want to be playing our best at the end of February heading into Arch Madness.
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