Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Basketball Postgame Quotes
11/14/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Head Coach Dan D'Antoni
Opening statement
"Long time in waiting and I enjoyed every second of it. I thought our players played hard. Defensively we were very good. When you guys write about rebounding, I thought we did that pretty good and offensively, I thought we played pretty good. I'm a great believer that you have to get a rebound to win. It was a good ball game. I was happy for the kids."
On half-court defense
"I thought we did a really nice job. We pushed down toward the baseline and I thought we did a pretty nice job with that. They did a great job too, when they got off their man, there was support there. They switched when they needed to. I thought Cheikh [Sane] was a bear inside. I thought all of them played well. Tamron [Manning] hawked the ball and got a few steals. I think we turned them over 17 times. It wasn't bad. I've always felt like it starts on the defensive end, which includes rebounding and getting down on the other end. I thought we did a pretty nice job."
On what he liked and didn't like
"I thought we got a lead up to 24, and I thought we relaxed a little bit. We can't do that. I think the style of the game you'll find is one that you can be up 24 and then down 4 in the next 5 minutes. We don't quit playing, we'll keep playing wide open basketball. We have to make sure that we maintain our intensity levels at all times. Offensively we were a little bit weak. That was to be expected, though, with a lot of guys out there playing for the first time. It showed a little bit but I thought they did a nice job and I think they'll do better as the year goes through."
On the new offense
"The way we play there's no one in the lane. I think that's why there was an article that said I give up rebounding. But that is why he's 7 for 7 because I remove the guy that just stays in there to rebound. It's not that I don't care about rebounding, because I do, but I don't want to give up that open area to the basket. I think [Austin] Loop hit two threes and from what we understood, they went to a deny defense in the corner. If you don't touch off that pick and roll, he's going to lay it up and that's what happened."
"When you work like he works, and play hard like he plays, he's going to develop. He's young. He didn't play at this level in Serbia. What we liked about Milan is he puts a hard hat on and comes to the game. In the 45 years I've been coaching, I've never seen anyone that worked like that, that didn't find his way on the floor and become pretty successful. I think he's got a good four years ahead of him. I think you're going to see him get better and better."
On Austin Loop
"He can shoot. I felt like if he didn't stumble getting down the floor, he'd probably get about 14 a game. All he has to do is stand in the corner and throw it to him and let him shoot it. That's why the middle is open. If they go down there and check on Cheihk, [Loop] will hit a three. You can't guard it if you do it right, it's impossible. I'm not going to give away trade secrets on how to teach it. But if you really do it right, you can't guard it."
On substitutions
"We had one line up that we were a little shy on the big men. We were using guys that play perimeter and big. Our defense wasn't as strong, because they weren't the guys that support pushing the ball to the baseline. They just don't do it as often. They aren't as strong as the bigger guys. I thought there were a couple of times that we gave up a couple of easy baskets, because the guys weren't in the position that they're normally in."
On finding combinations
"I think you will always see us trying to find combinations until we get it right. I looked at our scorebook. They brought me a '66-'67 scorebook. It was funny if you looked at it, five guys with points, and then nothing. We won't be like that. I think the game has changed. They probably play harder than we played back then. Kids these days are bigger and have more energy than we did. I will always be looking for lineups. I don't come in with anything set. I coach by the seat of my pants. I don't have anything set. That's the way I live life. I get that feeling and I'm going to run with it."
On playing everyone
"I think everyone played. That's good. It keeps them eager for tomorrow's practice. It keeps them as a unit. I want to do that as much as I can, even though it doesn't always work that way. They work hard every day and they should be rewarded. If I get a chance, I'm going to do it."
