Video: Ernie Kent after UTSA
A transcription of Kent's remarks is after the jump.
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(Opening statement)
The difference with this team, as I've said before, is confidence in its ability to shoot the ball. When we shoot it, obviously we're a pretty good basketball team. The same 3's we had against UTEP, TCU, Santa Barbara, Idaho. Same shots, same offense, same players. The results are we played with a little bit more confidence in this game and I thought we shot the ball well and we played well.
There's a lot we still need to clean up – I thought we had way too many turnovers but it was a better performance just because our confidence was better. Not so much the execution, but the confidence to knock down shots when they were given to us and obviously we're going to have to go to a whole nother level to get ready for next week's opponent in Gonzaga up in Spokane.
(How much of this team's offensive confidence is determined by how well DaVonte Lacy is scoring?)
I don't want to put that pressure on DaVonte because he cannot carry us by himself. It's dictated by the ability to see basketball plays and make basketball plays. I thought again, as I have in several games, even in scoring 91 points we left a lot of points out on the floor because we left a lot of basketball plays out on the floor.
DaVonte, he just needs to make sure he doesn't forces stuff and plays within himself, and when he does that he's pretty good. But he can't do this by himself. He needs other players to step up and be on their games. He's not going to score 31 every night, but other guys need to score 10, 12, here or there. I think that takes pressure off of him. But obviously when he scores, he's shooting the ball really well, it makes us all feel good.
(What did you see from Jordan Railey and Aaron Cheatum?)
I thought with Jordan, in his case, I just felt like he played with a tremendous amount more energy and confidence. And that word is again, for a fifth-year senior, you would think he would be extrememly confident and yet, all of these players with what they've been through the last couple of years, the returning players, they're fragile at times. You really have to be careful with how much you yell at them. At one point in time I turned around and told somebody in the crowd to quit yelling because I'm yelling at them enough. And my assistants need to put their arms around htem too, because you need to hold them accountable, but they have to have confidence as well.
In Aaron's case, you can see where he can be a difference maker in terms of his quickness in the speed of the game. He needs to understand, though, that there's a lot more that needs to be done at the most important position on the floor and that's comprehending exactly what we need to do offensively.
(Why did you take a timeout a minute into the second half?)
Sometimes you need a timeout to strategize; sometimes you need a timeout to get attention. That was a get-attention timeout, because it wasn't what I saw, it's what I didn't see. I didn't see what we talked about in the locker room coming out. I didn’t' see what we talked about in the huddle coming out. And a lot of that had to do with my point guard that was on the floor at the time and I had to have a little personal sidebar conversation with him.
(What do you need to see out of your press-breaker?)
Attacking. We need to attack a lot more. I thought we were too passive; we were trying to set up. If you break a press and set up, I'm going to continue to press you. If you break a press and go score, I'm going to take the press off of you. We need to go score against the press more.
We need to work on that. We worked on it in practice and did not execute well. But you need to attack. Any time a team presses you and has number in the backcourt, you need to attack them because you've got numbers on them going the opposite way. We did not do that nearly enough tonight.
(Do you have a maximum number of passes before crossing half court?)
The only thing you're going to hear me say is "go score." There's no rule, no nothing. Go score the ball because normally you should have one or two in the backcourt and you should be transitioning to go score the ball.
(Was Dexter Kernich-Drew flustered on the press-breaker?)
He was always on the right side, so I think he was a little right-brained. Kind of like the questions are coming from the right side of the room, I'm getting a little right-brained, how about some questions from the left side of the room? But I think he was a little frustrated. WE had to get him – and again, a guy like Dex has to be in attack mode. He's got to attack. You can't be passive and want to hold and everything. Just go, go play the game and everything. Make basketball plays. We didn’t' do that enough. That's something we can clean up and will clean up before we go play on Wednesday.
(What did you see out of Trevor Dunbar?)
I think the rhythm of the game, I think the score of the game, gave him an opportunity to come in calmer and play with more confidence and kind of have some fun getting after it. He's probably, along with Jackie Davis, the two players that have struggled the most in our program so it's nice to see both of them get on the floor and it's nice to see Trevor have some success and have some fun. Because this game is all about fun when it's all said and done, and maybe now more energy comes, more focus comes and we can play him more.
Because the way Ny's playing and the way Ike is playing off the ball, it would be nice to have another backup point guard.
(What did you think of Jordan Railey's dunk?)
The biggest thing about that dunk … I'll say it this way: We've always told our players, at some point in time you've got to come join the party and you've got to bring something with you when you come.
I thought in his case it was nice to see the response of the players, because he's another player that has not had a lot of success, in practice or in the games. He's not played a lot. He could have got his head down. He's worked extremely hard the last few days and hopefully this can get him going because we need him. We need him because next week that team is huge. We're going to play so many teams that are big, we can't play small-ball with that size on the floor so he's a player that needs to continue to develop. You'd think he would be there already, he's not there, but we need him to get there and help us this year.
(Was that dunk maybe him taking out some frustration?)
No, there was a situation in practice yesterday where he got tangled with another player and the frustration left. The dunk was an exclamation point. The steam was already blown off and he just needs to go play. He needs to not worry about anything and just play. Sometimes, you guys don't understand with young people, how many things are in their ear and in their head. They just need to free up their backpack, free up their head and go have fun.
And that's the significance of that play. That was a fun play. I came in the locker room an asked, 'Isn't that fun?' Well, just go have fun all the time. What's wrong with it? So, hopefully, he will.
(Aaron Cheatum has only played a few minutes but is one of the first subs off the bench. What is his role and how can he get a longer leash?)
I think, and I don't want to use the words "longer leash" but I'll use the words "getting more minutes." He just needs to bring more intensity and consistency also in practice. Basketball is about giving confidence, but it goes both ways. Players get the coaches confident and then the coaches turn around and get the players more confident, and it is a hand-in-hand working situation and the more confidence he gives me, the more I can give him. The more I give him, the more he should give me. And that's where he is right now. He's one of those guys that needs to … He was really, really good coming out of junior college, he's in the transition stage right now and it just hasn't clicked yet but I fully expect it o.
(What does the confidence gained from this win mean heading into the Gonzaga game?)
We need all the confidence in the world to go play that team. That's, in my opinion, Mark Few's best team that he's ever had up there. They are just loaded from top to bottom. They're big, they're skilled, they're fast, they can score, they can defend, they're well-coached, they have great continuity in their program. For us to go up there and play in that environment, we are going to have to come up a big level. So, hopefully, this win vs. a loss – because the Idaho game felt horrible – but it's some momentum to come back into practice, put in a gameplan that gives us just a chance. We just need a chance up there because that is a very tough thing to do to go up there. That is a very good basketball team.
