CUTrevor
2018-01-11 13:47:01
Click on the link below for audio. I'll have the transcript posted shortly. |
CUTrevor
2018-01-11 15:15:39
BROWNELL: We’ve certainly gotten off to a good start. Really like the
way my guys have been playing. Had a real gritty win, defensive struggle
against Louisville over the weekend. But our team has shown some different
things. We can win a couple different ways, which I think makes us a little bit
better than last year. We’ve got 5 guys scoring in double figures, so we have
some good depth that way, in terms of our scoring. I think this team has
improved defensively over last year’s team, and hopefully that’s part of the
reason why we’re playing a little bit better. On returning players improving in off-season: Well, I think you’re working every year to add good players
to your roster, for sure. But I think for us, a lot of times, when we’re gonna
be good is when we’re older. We have some older guys that have been in our
program for sure, so they have a pretty good understanding of how we’re gonna
do things. We certainly made the summer and the fall a little bit more demanding
from a defensive standpoint. We worked on it more, challenged our guys more
this off-season than some other seasons to try to get their attention that that
was the area that we thought we needed to take the biggest strides in if we
were gonna have a successful team this year. Last year’s team was better
offensively, and we felt like with the guys that we had coming back that
offensively we would be a reasonably good team, and that we had some guys that
could score. But to win more close games and give ourselves a better chance to
win, we needed to just improve our defense. Getting back to your question, the
older guys, having gone through last year, I think they understood that. And it
resonated with them. And we’ve had very good leadership, from Donte Grantham
especially, Gabe DeVoe and even Shelton Mitchell, guys like that, who played a
lot last year, and obviously the seniors, who want to end their careers in a
positive way, they’ve taken that to heatr, and I think they’ve helped echo that
message throughout our roster. On Reed: Yeah, he’s just continuing to improve. He’s always been a
guy that could score. And he’s kind of a shot maker. He’s a guy that can make
different kinds of shots. You know, he’s just wired that way. But what I think
he’s gotten better at, or continued to work at, number one is defending. You
know, he’s a guy that’s active with his hands and gets his hands on a lot of
balls in terms of steals, but his on-ball defense has gotten better. Just being
in our system another year, and kind of being thrown out there a full 30
minutes every game and going at it, and us holding him accountable to defending
better, I think has helped improve him. But he’s certainly a very talented player,
a guy that can do multiple things on the offensive end of the floor, and I
think he’s emerged into a better defender this year. On Louisville win: Yeah, we’re proud of the way we won that game because we
didn’t play as well offensively, and I thought Louisville had something to do
with that. I thought they played well. Certainly their length and athleticism
is a factor on the defensive end, and I thought both teams really competed. I
thought both teams were geared up and ready to play and played extremely hard.
Sometimes you can have games when your offense doesn’t go well, and you’ve
gotta find other ways to win if you’re gonna be good. And last year’s team for
us struggled a little bit with that, and this year’s team has done a better job
of hanging in there and hoping that our offense eventually clicks. It kind of
clicked in the overtime, but it really took a long time for it to get to that
point. And, again, I think our guys are really defensive-minded in nature in
this year’s team, in terms of what we’re trying to do. They understand that it’s
what we need to get better at. We’ve done a better job of coaching that. And I
think the other thing too is, I think when we substitute, I do think we bring
in some guys that defend well. Mark Donnal is a big, strong, physical post
player who has experience. David Skara is a very good defender and a big, long
wing athlete. Aamir Simms is a freshman that can come in with a big, strong
body and is physically ready to play, so I think when we substitute, while
those guys might not be as good offensive players as our starters, I do feel
like our defense stays strong, and sometimes even gets better. On NC State: Well, obviously they played great against Duke the other
night, had a phenomenal win. It felt like everybody played well. Torin Dorn
made huge shots. Braxton Beverly was terrific off ball screens. Yurtseven, Abu,
Leonard Freeman….they have big, strong, physical size. They’re excellent rebounders.
Kevin’s got em playing well, playing hard. I just feel like they’re a team that
when they’re playing well, they can play with anyone in our league, as evidenced
by the way they played the other night. We know that playing at their place, it’s
gonna be an electric atmosphere, and we’re gonna have to play extremely well. We’re
gonna have to play extremely hard, we’re gonna have to be physical, we’re gonna
have to do a good job on the glass to win. Has any part of this team been a surprise? Not really. I was optimistic that our guys would work to defend
and play defense the way I know that we can. I think they’ve shown very good
grit and perseverance to kind of stick with it in certain games for longer
periods of time. That’s been encouraging. I don’t think that’s easy to do. And
I think that’s the one thing that maybe if you asked me if it’s a point of
concern, I think it always is. But I don’t think really much else. I think our
other expectations for our players…we thought our guys would play well. Even
though Donte Grantham had a little bit of a sub-par junior year in some ways, nobody
in our office felt like he wasn’t gonna have a big senior season. He’s a talented
player. He cares about our team and our players and our program. He’s the ultimate
kid that way. Probably part of his not having as good of a junior year is that
he’s such a genuinely nice kid that he wants to help, he wants success for
other people, and sometimes takes a step back, I felt like, as a junior with
Jaron and the seniors. I think with those guys leaving, it’s opened up the door
for him to kind of step forward. His personality’s really shown through to our
team. I think that’s been a good thing. On #6 RPI ranking: It’s very early. It’s nice, obviously, I’m happy for my
players because I know a lot of guys have worked really hard to get some positive
publicity and get some nice PR for our program, and understand that all their
hard work is paying off, but we also know we have 15 ACC games ahead, and it’s
gonna be tough sledding. It always is. But it’s good. We played some
challenging non-conference games. We went to Ohio State, obviously, in the ACC/Big
Ten Challenge, played Florida down in Florida. Went to a neutral site
tournament to try to play some other good teams. Scheduled a couple teams in our
guaranteed home games that we thought would have good records, so some of those
things have happened. And obviously, we’ve played well and found some ways to
win some close games, and obviously got a couple wins away from home that have been
good. But we also know we have 15 league games ahead. But certainly we’re very
pleased with our start, and if we continue to work hard and prepare and good
things happen to us, we stay healthy, we’ll have a chance to have a good
season. |