Derek Thomas
Derek Thomas
decision eight eleven felt free kids line ours ourselves seven straight time won
That was the game. Seven or eight straight times the fouls were called on their end and one time on ours and we're going to the basket. It was very frustrating because I felt like the kids didn't get to make the decision of who won the game. Eleven free throws; we predicate ourselves about getting to the line and we get to the line 11 times.
change gave guys harder respected shot time
I think the guys respected him too much and gave him his shot and we didn't take it at him enough - we'll change that, he's going to have a harder time getting 35.
couple felt floor gave good guys heard helped legs longer practice saw time week
I think (the week off) has helped a lot. I saw it in practice yesterday, I saw a lot more bouncy and livelier legs and guys were able to go longer and harder. I heard a couple of guys say they felt good to be on the floor after we gave them some time off and I think it really helped.
ball court defense game holds legs night percent playing seconds seen shooting strange team time
I have never seen a shooting night like that and I don't think I'll ever see one again. It was just one of those strange things. I think part of it was that we had to play defense for so long. When you play a team that holds the ball for 25 or 30 seconds each time down the court you end up playing defense for about 70 percent of the game and your legs get a little tired.
asking call coaches few guys learn lose means playing problem reviewing talking tape three time weeks work
This has been some of the roughest two or three weeks as a coach. You call all your mentors, your dad, you're asking coaches what do you do when you're going through these type(s) of situations, you're reviewing tape and talking to guys and part of the problem was we're playing every other day. We haven't had much time to work on things and guys are having to learn on the job, which means you're going to lose a few games.
bad fire free good hit hurt learn saw stop throws tonight
We hit free throws tonight and got that one stop when the other night we didn't do that and that was the difference. Hopefully, we learn from that and I told them sometimes before you get good you've got to hurt and you've got to hurt bad, and I think they hurt bad the other night and I think that is why you saw so much fire out there tonight.
road
Right now, we're a zombie. Do we have a four?game road trip? Honestly, I couldn't tell you. We just play, play, play.
defense guys locking passing shots turning
Our shots weren't falling, but we were able to do it by locking up on defense and we just didn't let them score. On the other end, we had guys passing the ball, not turning it over and it got exciting.
aggressive ball definitely depending patient score
The thing was that (Jackson) was doing other things but I would like him to score more, but he got the ball to other people. I would definitely like for him to score more than that, but we have to be patient and try to be aggressive depending upon what is going on out there.
add court great knows needed qualities run winner
(Washington) is a winner who knows how to run a team. He has great qualities on and off the court and he's an outstanding shooter. Those are all things we needed to add to what we have going on now.
change finally fix focus free legs next percentage practice rest throw
We finally get some rest next week. We'll be able to practice for a change and put some new things in. We need to get our legs back, focus on getting our free throw percentage back up and fix our turnovers.
decision felt game kids win
That was the game, right there. I felt like the kids didn't get to make the decision to win this game on their own.
coach listening people proud reminds understand
Listening to Eliz reminds you of why you coach and why you're out here. It's because of people like that. You have to understand how important it is to those guys. I'm proud of those guys.
basketball dangerous extremely fought great guys hard hate last proud saw step team
We can be a dangerous team when we play like we did for the last 10 minutes. We fought extremely hard after we got down. I hate to be proud when we lose, but I am tonight. You saw some great basketball and a great team effort. A lot of guys had to step up to make it happen.