Kent addresses first-half suspensions
Today Washington State men's basketball coach Ernie Kent answered questions from the media, including a few about his decision to suspend Aaron Cheatum, Ny Redding and Que Johnson for the first half of WSU's 71-43 loss to UC Santa Barbara in the opening round of the Great Alaskan Shootout.
The players were late to a team meeting and Kent took the opportunity for a teaching moment, while acknowledging that the episode probably put the Cougars "out of whack" in that game.
Cheatum is a junior, Redding is a freshman while Johnson is a sophomore.
"The fact that they held up 22 other people, when you talk about players, managers, sports information director people that are in our team meeting and not come on time: No. 1 it's disrespectful, No. 2 you've got to understand the importance of this and what we're trying to get done out here," Kent said. "The message was sent, it was received and probably cost us a game one way or another and if we learn something from it, that's OK."
Johnson only played four minutes in WSU's next game, a 76-74 victory over Rice but that does not appear to have been influenced by the previous game's suspension as Redding started and played 30 minutes.
The entire transcript of Kent's press conference is after the jump.
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(You've been working to instill confidence in your players, how much is that process helped along by winning your last two games?)
It's huge, just because, and not just did you get it but you got it on the road. We opened up five out of six games on the road and coming back 3-3 out of that, coming back to a two-game homestand, that's really good for us right now. We can now pay attention to detail and take care of the things we can take care of here and even get better because each little victory becomes a big victory for you in terms of success and confidence.
(What have you seen from DaVonte Lacy during these last two games?)
I saw a couple things: No. 1, I just feel like he's getting more assertive, more aggressive, that's where need for him to be. And then No. 2, I think he's getting comfortable with how we want to play. We feel like it's taken us some time – and we're still not quite there in terms of, what is the identity of this basketball team? You can talk about who Arizona is, their style of play; Oregon, they're a fast team, their style of play; Utah, they try to play fast. You can go Kansas, Duke, whatever. Who are we? I think in establishing that our defense has to be, first and foremost, what we're most proud of and where we gain our confidence and that triggers our transition game and I think we're starting to figure out who we are and when you can do that, players can settle into a routine play a little bit better.
(How does it help DaVonte Lacy's teammates to see him play well?)
I think it gives everybody a lot of confidence. I think when I look at his game and Josh Hawkinson's game, too, Josh had the 27 and DaVonte had the 31 (points). They were quiet numbers, you didn't see anybody forcing anything or pushing the issue. They got them in a number of ways, be it in transition, a layup, a 3-pointer here or there out of set offense. When you can start to score in so many different ways I think it gives their teammates confidence and I think it gives them confidence, too.
(Hawkinson has played a lot of minutes. Would you like to cut those down?)
I'll give him as many minutes as he can handle. I don't need to cut him down right now, it's just watch what you do with him in practice because, really, you can use the games to condition, because you can get up and down the floor. As long as you don't wear their legs out in practice -- and that's where the teams that I've coached in the past have been really good at in terms of being smart – work them in practice but you really condition them during the course of a ballgame with all that running.
(What did Dexter do in Friday's win that he hadn't been able to do in previous games?)
I look at Dex and his (issues are) strictly confidence and consistency. The fact that he is a senior, the fact that Jordan Railey is a fifth-year senior, there is more – I hate to even call it "pressure" – but there are more expectations on them to be on their games, be more consistent. Because they've been here enough, they've been through the fires, they understand the competition, the arenas, all of that. So when someone goes up and down like that, that tells me it's a confidence thing more so than not knowing what he's supposed to do. So, you just kind of stay with him and put him in a position to be successful. Is it starting, coming off the bench? Is it with a particular group? Is it calling more plays for him? What is it that will get him in his groove to get him on his game, because for us to be successful Dex has to be on his A-game and Jordan Railey has to give us something, for us to have the success we want to have this year. We're getting enough out of DaVonte, we're going to get enough out of Josh, Ike's game is just blossoming right now, Ny Redding: blossoming in front of your eyes. Those other two guys have to be more consistent. If I can get them consistent, then we have a chance this year to have a good season.
(Did not having Ny Redding and Que Johnson in the first half against UC Santa Barbara significantly impact the game?)
It was Aaron Cheatum, also, and I think anytime you walk into a preparation meeting, and the first announcement that comes out of your mouth on a preparation meeting is three guys are not going to play the first half because of being late, I think that's going to knock you out of whack and it certainly knocked us out of whack. But it's better to get that message sent now, early in the year. These guys need to understand they're held accountable to their academics, held accountable to being on time, this is an important lesson for them now and it's going to be an important lesson for them in life. And the fact that they held up 22 other people, when you talk about players, managers, sports information director people that are in our team meeting and not come on time: No. 1 it's disrespectful, No. 2 you've got to understand the importance of this and what we're trying to get done out here. The message was sent, it was received and probably cost us a game one way or another and if we learn something from it, that's OK. But to come from a meeting where you had to suspend three guys the first half of a ballgame because they were late, to where you were dancing in your locker room after winning an overtime game, it shows you the miniature growth that took place on this road trip.
(Do they still have to work to earn back your trust?)
It's not about earning trust back because I give young people, sometimes two, three, four, five, six chances, even, because I think when you make a mistake you get an opportunity to come back. It's passed us now, the lesson was taught, hopefully it taken to heart by them and others, too, and we can move on from it now. But I thought they did a good job accepting it, addressing the team and then responding in the next games as well, too. I thought they did a good job handling themselves.
(What was your message to the team after the UCSB loss?)
We took our two worst games and put them on TV for our fans to see. So, expectations cannot be great right now. But at the same time we need to understand that we're a basketball team than you've seen us be. We had a team ready that got knocked out of whack because of whatever reason. The suspensions, the lateness of the game, they started and then stopped the game three or four times from when they told us it was going to start and how much time we had to warm up. Whatever excuse or reason, whatever, we don't want to use those. But there was a lot of adversity going into that game that knocked us out of whack. The fact that they could get back going again -- and we played a really good game against Rice, we just didn’t close it out in the last minute and let them come back on us, but we played a very good game against Missouri St., against a team that was very well coached and could really shoot the basketball, and not only to keep our composure but to close out a game was huge.
(Did adding Ny Redding to the starting lineup help his teammates?)
I've stated to this group before that any success you have coaching this game, and really, I don't care what level it is. It can be from the YMCA level up to the NBA, you've got to have guard play. If you don't have good guard play I'll tell you one thing: The one constant in all your championship teams, be it college basketball, NBA, high school, they all have good guard play and it's just imperative that we have good guard play and it starts at that point guard position of understanding the responsibility that he is the engine that runs the machine. What Ny has brought to the table, he is a freshman who is starting to grow. I think he had 22 assists in the last three ball game – that's a lot of assists. And to Ike's credit, he is best, in my opinion, off the ball, because now he can use his skill set, his speed, his athleticism, his ability to get to the hole as opposed to running a team where you really don't get a chance to use that. And to his credit, he's bought into it and now here comes his game. He'll get moved over and play the one, he'll play the two, he'll play the three. There will be games we'll have him at the four even with that small lineup on the floor and his speed is so good, he's so good in the open court, particularly attacking, that he's just a weapon. So his willingness to move over and get his minutes elsewhere has given Ny the opportunity to grow up, which has made our basketball team better. That's a good thing.
(Do you plan to stick with Redding, Iroegbu, Longrus, Lacy and Hawkinson as starters?)
We will stick with it as long as we're having success with it. It's the group we're going with now as we try and find out who we are and our identity. But make no bones about it now, we're going to play teams that are big and they're going to have dominant post players and that's where a guy like Jordan Railey – there's just no way we can go play Gonzaga without Jordan on his A-game. And we'll continue to stress that and push that but we've got a couple games to not worry about the Zags yet, but my point being, we've got to get more players on what I call, "get on your game, get on your A-game." And that's Dex and that's Jordan. Where consistently, as a coach, you put together a game plan and I know what I'm going to get. Now there might be foul trouble here or there but I do know the production I'm going to get out of you. Well I know what I'm going to get out of DaVonte, Ny, Ike, Josh, now. I need a couple more. Even Brett is starting to play well and I'm starting get a feel for what I can get out of Brett. And the other guy is Que Johnson. More consistency in what I'm going to get out of him will really help us as well, too.
(When you recruit do you emphasize getting good guards?)
When you look at recruiting, the toughest position to fill is the point guard spot because that person has to be extremely skilled, has to be a coach on the lfoor. The next toughest position is the four-spot, because that position has to be extremely skilled. Josh Hawkinson fits that spot nicely. You can see where he does so well in the system because he's perfect for how we play. When we recruit we don't go in looking for this or that, we look for skill and that's the key thing for us. Skill and the ability to handle our environment up here, the focus academically where somebody wants to be successful, and all of those things play well into who we are and what we're trying to get done.
(Is Redding's recent improvement due to skills he already had being put to use and how much is left to be brought out of him?)
A guy like Ny, no different than our other freshmen or any transfers, it's about adapting to new environment, new students, new academics, new coaches, new system, new offense, new level of competition. Some players come quicker, some players take longer and my whole thing with players is I don't care when you come, as long as you come.
He has come quicker whereas Trevor and Jackie are struggling a little bit but they will come, they're getting better. Cheatum is getting better. Ny has just figured it out a little quicker and to his credit if you were to backtrack and see what has happened from day one when he's gotten into the program to now, I will guarantee you will see a young man that has spent a lot of solitary time in that gym working okn his shot, working on his game, gaining his confidence, in the film room and he's just starting to buy in and learn some things. He still has a lot more growth potential in him because he needs to get bigger, stronger and the season will bite him a little bit as the stamina becomes a factor for a freshman, and he still doesn't totally understand the system. He's playing at a high level right now but as you look at tape there's still so much more he can do offensively and defensively and, to his credit, he's willing to learn how to do that.
(Does you embrace the rivalry aspect of the upcoming game against Idaho?)
I think the fact that they battle each other in pickup games during the summer, you have a familiarity with each other that makes the games so competitive and I would expect this game to be just as competitive as well, too. So we are not a basketball team that can feel like we can walk into our arena or any arena and feel like we've got a game. We're going to have to work our tails off, home or on the road, and that's a good thing for us because those are the type of games that force you to grow and right now we need to be forced to grow. We need to get better at a lot of different things so I'd rather have a game where you'd have to go tooth and nail and fight like crazy, because that's what this game is going to be like, than a game where you're just sitting there running somebody up and down the floor. This si going to be a big, big challenge for us but it's a game we need coming off the road, some success, you're coming back home, back to your environment, you've got your students back, so how are we going to perform, how are we going to play, how are we going to handle some miniature – and I call it miniature – success out on the road this past trip.
(Do you think benching those players earned you respect from the team?)
The respect from my players has been great and it started for those veteran players when we walked in that locker room and embraced them as men, more so than players. It continued with our recruits as we walked into their living rooms. And it's continued to cultivate this team and probably, at it's highest peak was when we were on our retreat. When you spend the amount of time in their lives and dealing with personal stuff like we do, the level of respect is extremely high. So anytime you have to administer any type of discipline or decisions like that it becomes nothing more than a level of respect to understand what you did wrong, why we have to go this direction, what we need to do to make sure it doesn't happen again, accept your responsibility and let's move on. And this team is going to be really good at that, they've already been really good at that and those three guys are really good at it.
