Obviously I could not ask him about Elijah Wood committing. For the first time since I started covering the team, I asked for zero players because there was nothing they could say about that miserable performance and I had a tight deadline anyway.
"UCF is a really good team, probably the best team in our conference. Obviously we had big size issues and were limited in terms of personnel, but I don't think any of that would have really mattered other than having the ability to potentially foul Tacko (Fall, a 27.8 percent foul shooter) if we wanted to on catches to try and get back in the game. Our turnovers were killers. Twelve steals, live-ball turnovers that turned into fast-break points. It was 17-4 on fast break points and those 4 points came at the very end of the game. We've got to value the ball. We talked about driving to the basket, especially against a 7-6 guy and coming to a two-foot jump stop to where you don't go in the air to commit yourself to now either shoot it or pass it."
On that note, there was a play where Jordan Cornish drove at Fall and went up soft and got stuffed which particularly seemed to draw your ire.
"Again, it doesn't take a genius to figure out the guy is a major shot-blocker. He's going to block shots and he's going to alter shots, so what you've got to try to do is draw him, collapse him, come to a two-foot stop, pivot and find an open guy and make a play. We didn't do it. Basically for the most part we went at him and took off in the air. He had three blocks, three changes and probably forced a couple of turnovers on plays. It was a big part of it.
"We came out the second half and our objective was to at least win the second half. Let's execute in the second half. We came out and got great looks and moved the ball. We made good shots. We had a lob over the top. We had a couple of 3s that were wide open that were well executed plays and shots, and then we got back into a mode of playing faster than we needed to play against these guys. We need to slow them down and make them have to defend and use Tacko's mobility against him, and we didn't."
Even given being short-handed, was the first half as bad as you've seen in conference play?
"Yeah. We started out the game fine. We were doing things we wanted to do in terms of defensive rotations, doubling where we wanted to and giving guys shots who we wanted to, but then when we started turning the ball over, it created a gap. Plus, when you let good players get out and get some lay-ups, all of a sudden they feel good about themselves. Obviously Aubrey Dawkins shot the ball well. They had 15 offensive boards, but look, I get it. They are a much bigger team and there are opportunities there, but it comes down to the fact is we didn't contain them off the dribble and we gave up too many live balls where they were going to penetration, which left opportunities for guys to get offensive boards."
With the roster you have right now, where do you go from here?
"We just have to keep playing hard and trying to improve. We had a couple of good performances. Blake Paul played another really good game for us. He missed a dunk opportunity or else he would have had another double-double (he finished with 8 points and 12 rebounds). That was great. Defensively he did a pretty good job, as best as anybody could, in trying to hold up Tacko. Moses Wood gave us really good minutes. It's the third game in a row he's led us in deflections. He had three steals and four boards in 19 minutes and (went) 1 for 2 from the field. A couple of other guys played OK, but we had some bad performances."
How frustrating is it when you can't foul Fall because you have only two scholarship post players available?
"That's the thing. If we had five guys we could rotate in there, ultimately we would have done Hack-a-Shaq to try to give us a chance. Defensively he has a big impact on the game, so you have to try to see if you can make him blink."
"UCF is a really good team, probably the best team in our conference. Obviously we had big size issues and were limited in terms of personnel, but I don't think any of that would have really mattered other than having the ability to potentially foul Tacko (Fall, a 27.8 percent foul shooter) if we wanted to on catches to try and get back in the game. Our turnovers were killers. Twelve steals, live-ball turnovers that turned into fast-break points. It was 17-4 on fast break points and those 4 points came at the very end of the game. We've got to value the ball. We talked about driving to the basket, especially against a 7-6 guy and coming to a two-foot jump stop to where you don't go in the air to commit yourself to now either shoot it or pass it."
On that note, there was a play where Jordan Cornish drove at Fall and went up soft and got stuffed which particularly seemed to draw your ire.
"Again, it doesn't take a genius to figure out the guy is a major shot-blocker. He's going to block shots and he's going to alter shots, so what you've got to try to do is draw him, collapse him, come to a two-foot stop, pivot and find an open guy and make a play. We didn't do it. Basically for the most part we went at him and took off in the air. He had three blocks, three changes and probably forced a couple of turnovers on plays. It was a big part of it.
"We came out the second half and our objective was to at least win the second half. Let's execute in the second half. We came out and got great looks and moved the ball. We made good shots. We had a lob over the top. We had a couple of 3s that were wide open that were well executed plays and shots, and then we got back into a mode of playing faster than we needed to play against these guys. We need to slow them down and make them have to defend and use Tacko's mobility against him, and we didn't."
Even given being short-handed, was the first half as bad as you've seen in conference play?
"Yeah. We started out the game fine. We were doing things we wanted to do in terms of defensive rotations, doubling where we wanted to and giving guys shots who we wanted to, but then when we started turning the ball over, it created a gap. Plus, when you let good players get out and get some lay-ups, all of a sudden they feel good about themselves. Obviously Aubrey Dawkins shot the ball well. They had 15 offensive boards, but look, I get it. They are a much bigger team and there are opportunities there, but it comes down to the fact is we didn't contain them off the dribble and we gave up too many live balls where they were going to penetration, which left opportunities for guys to get offensive boards."
With the roster you have right now, where do you go from here?
"We just have to keep playing hard and trying to improve. We had a couple of good performances. Blake Paul played another really good game for us. He missed a dunk opportunity or else he would have had another double-double (he finished with 8 points and 12 rebounds). That was great. Defensively he did a pretty good job, as best as anybody could, in trying to hold up Tacko. Moses Wood gave us really good minutes. It's the third game in a row he's led us in deflections. He had three steals and four boards in 19 minutes and (went) 1 for 2 from the field. A couple of other guys played OK, but we had some bad performances."
How frustrating is it when you can't foul Fall because you have only two scholarship post players available?
"That's the thing. If we had five guys we could rotate in there, ultimately we would have done Hack-a-Shaq to try to give us a chance. Defensively he has a big impact on the game, so you have to try to see if you can make him blink."