Nov. 18, 2011
OPENING STATEMENT:
"Although they didn't get as many threes once we switched to our man-to-man, I thought the bank shot at the end of the shot clock kind of typified what we were experiencing with their shooting - 8 for 11 from three. But just as significantly, we just never found any rhythm or sync offensively. I think we're limited to three baskets inside, even though that was clearly a point of emphasis for us going into the game. But most certainly, we give Pepperdine a great deal of credit. And obviously, as we look into the mirror, we know better than anybody, as we did even on Friday, that we have a great deal of work to do."
ON PRACTICING DEFENSIVE STRATEGIES:
"Obviously, we're a zone team. So, that's our defense. But based upon what was happening in the game, we made the switch. I thought it worked rather well for us. I thought our guys did a pretty good job at it. Probably more than anything else, we shot ourselves in the foot a number of times - the shot clock was under 10 seconds and we were fouling. We sent them to the line unnecessarily. That was our Achilles heel in the man-to-man as much as anything."
ON PEPPERDINE'S POWER AT THE LINE:
"I thought that our fouling was a significant factor out of our man-to-man and our pressure. But, at the same token, some of those fouls are a function of the fact that we were intentionally fouling there at the end."
ON Max Heller:
"Max has been doing a good job in practice. He moves the ball. He moves the ball and he hits the open man. He's a smart player and he talks. We just felt that we needed some ball movement. We needed somebody who was going to get there and get the ball moving for us. He does that well and he's consistently had a very positive assisted turnover ratio in practice. I thought he gave us some good minutes tonight. I really did."
ON PLAYING DIFFERENT PLAYERS:
"Right now, I'd rather focus on us rather than individuals. I don't think any of us feel real good about the outcome tonight. It's really hard to celebrate any one individual's performance because we're a team, and our team got beat tonight."
ON MAKING OFFENSIVE PLAYS:
"I think we have to make plays. We have to make plays. We have to make shots. We have to score when we get the ball inside. I thought we had some open looks from three that we passed up. Once again, I don't know that we're real comfortable on offense right now as a team."
ON PEPPERDINE'S ZONE:
"They play pretty much a basic two-three zone. It certainly helps if you can zing some shots in like they did against ours. We didn't do that with any degree of regularity and we weren't scoring inside. It just didn't seem like anything came easy for us on offense."
ON CHANSES' STRUGGLE WITH MAKING SHOTS:
"Obviously, he made two of our three's tonight - two of our seven. But he hasn't shot the ball yet like we all know he's capable of shooting. We need him to. We're a team that relies on his shooting. That's a big part of what he does for us."
ON TRENT'S OFFENSIVE PLAYS:
"I would like to see Trent get more shots than that."
ON MOVING THE BALL:
"I don't want to just hang it on, once again, the point guards, but I just thought as a team, the ball was sticking. It wasn't moving."