Coming off its worst performance of the season, Tulane has an extra day to get ready for Tulsa and prepare to play with the same intensity and focus it exhibited until its no-show on Tuesday night against UCF. I did find out Tulane has taken an AAC-high 40 charges through 17 games this year, with freshman Nobal Days responsible for 20 of them. I am pretty certain Tulane did not take 20 charges as a team last year.
RON HUNTER
So did you have them practice twice yesterday like you said you would after the game?
"No. You know what's funny. My wife talked me out of it. Because I was going to. We were going at 9:30 and my wife said, 'you're not doing that.' And I said yeah I am, and she no you're not. So guess what? We didn't do it. Our first one was pretty good, and once I thought about it I calmed down. After I watched the film, I did two things. Part of it is I've got to teach them how to win and how to handle prosperity. I thought it was the first time where we played tired. One thing you'll never hear me do is make excuses. I never make excuses because if you allow them to make an excuse, they'll take it every time. Everything we do, we're learning from."
It looked like guys were not finishing plays offensively, stopping before they got to the basket on drives and kicking the ball the out.
"We were mentally absolutely not there, but the other part of it, too, man, is if you look at this week in college basketball, everybody has gotten beat, and I say that every year at this time because this is the grind right now. This is the hardest part of the season. When we (the NCAA) started having practices in the summer, it make the season become so long, and so you kind of hit the wall, and then you kind of get refreshed when you start thinking about the (NCAA) tournament. A lot of these guys, it's the first time, even K.J. (Lawson) and Christion (Thompson), it's the first time they are playing heavy minutes, and it's not the physical part, it's the mental part. And it's funny. When we're on the road, the crowd gets us going even when they are yelling against us. We haven't kind of got that home-court advantage yet where the crowd lifts us up and carries us through a game."
How much is the extra day off (from Tuesday to Saturday) going to help?
"It's big for us, just for our pysche and getting a rest. The schedule hasn't been easy in regards to who we played and where we played them, but again, after I watched the film yesterday I was much better. They (UCF) made every shot on Tuesday. The worst shooting team in the league made every shot. They had lost five in a row. Today I thought we were great. We had our best practice we've probably had in three weeks, so we'll get back at it and see what happens."
Tulsa has been all over the board, too. What concerns you about them?
"You know what, it's to the point now anybody and everyone can beat each other in this league. I'm not being funny, there's no more Tulanes that you go play a team and you know you are going to win. Every night you have to come to play. I don't think the records matter. It's who has their team ready to play. Just like I saw today, they (Tulsa) are not practicing today. They had a good win yesterday (at ECU) and they took the day off. You have to be strategic in what you do. I'm more concerned about getting my guys ready to play Saturday at 1 o'clock and focusing back on ourself. We have to get back to our defensive principles."
I assume you expect the focus and intensity to be different on Saturday?
"Either that's going to happen or the stretcher is going to have to take me out because I will be in cardiac arrest on that day. The last 48 hours for me haven't been the greatest, let's just say that."
You were specifically tough on the starters. What do you want to see out of those guys Saturday?
"You know, when you are a starter, whether you're making shots or not, it's your energy and your focus because then that carries over to the guys coming off the bench. By the time we got energy and focus, we were down by 10, and you just can't do it that way. There are certain teams, and I said it before, when I was in the Sun Belt my teams could kind of get away with that because we were so much better than everyone. Not here. That's the learning experience that we have. The kids are much better. The last person that usually has to get over something like that is me, and I'm almost there now. Not quite yet, but my wife said don't come home unless you're over it."
What makes Nobal Days so good at taking charges?
"His timing. He's good at it. I actually have a couple of guys. Christion's good at it, also. If you're not a shot-blocking team, you better take charges. But again, it's knowing how to play, taking angles and having a high basketball I.Q. That's why he (Days)'s playing. That's what he does. I hate to say it, but that's how I played defense, taking charges and flying around. He reminds me a lot of myself in there."
What did you think of R.J. McGee's performance against UCF?
"He did well. He really did. He earned himself some minutes for Saturday. I'm really happy with him."
RON HUNTER
So did you have them practice twice yesterday like you said you would after the game?
"No. You know what's funny. My wife talked me out of it. Because I was going to. We were going at 9:30 and my wife said, 'you're not doing that.' And I said yeah I am, and she no you're not. So guess what? We didn't do it. Our first one was pretty good, and once I thought about it I calmed down. After I watched the film, I did two things. Part of it is I've got to teach them how to win and how to handle prosperity. I thought it was the first time where we played tired. One thing you'll never hear me do is make excuses. I never make excuses because if you allow them to make an excuse, they'll take it every time. Everything we do, we're learning from."
It looked like guys were not finishing plays offensively, stopping before they got to the basket on drives and kicking the ball the out.
"We were mentally absolutely not there, but the other part of it, too, man, is if you look at this week in college basketball, everybody has gotten beat, and I say that every year at this time because this is the grind right now. This is the hardest part of the season. When we (the NCAA) started having practices in the summer, it make the season become so long, and so you kind of hit the wall, and then you kind of get refreshed when you start thinking about the (NCAA) tournament. A lot of these guys, it's the first time, even K.J. (Lawson) and Christion (Thompson), it's the first time they are playing heavy minutes, and it's not the physical part, it's the mental part. And it's funny. When we're on the road, the crowd gets us going even when they are yelling against us. We haven't kind of got that home-court advantage yet where the crowd lifts us up and carries us through a game."
How much is the extra day off (from Tuesday to Saturday) going to help?
"It's big for us, just for our pysche and getting a rest. The schedule hasn't been easy in regards to who we played and where we played them, but again, after I watched the film yesterday I was much better. They (UCF) made every shot on Tuesday. The worst shooting team in the league made every shot. They had lost five in a row. Today I thought we were great. We had our best practice we've probably had in three weeks, so we'll get back at it and see what happens."
Tulsa has been all over the board, too. What concerns you about them?
"You know what, it's to the point now anybody and everyone can beat each other in this league. I'm not being funny, there's no more Tulanes that you go play a team and you know you are going to win. Every night you have to come to play. I don't think the records matter. It's who has their team ready to play. Just like I saw today, they (Tulsa) are not practicing today. They had a good win yesterday (at ECU) and they took the day off. You have to be strategic in what you do. I'm more concerned about getting my guys ready to play Saturday at 1 o'clock and focusing back on ourself. We have to get back to our defensive principles."
I assume you expect the focus and intensity to be different on Saturday?
"Either that's going to happen or the stretcher is going to have to take me out because I will be in cardiac arrest on that day. The last 48 hours for me haven't been the greatest, let's just say that."
You were specifically tough on the starters. What do you want to see out of those guys Saturday?
"You know, when you are a starter, whether you're making shots or not, it's your energy and your focus because then that carries over to the guys coming off the bench. By the time we got energy and focus, we were down by 10, and you just can't do it that way. There are certain teams, and I said it before, when I was in the Sun Belt my teams could kind of get away with that because we were so much better than everyone. Not here. That's the learning experience that we have. The kids are much better. The last person that usually has to get over something like that is me, and I'm almost there now. Not quite yet, but my wife said don't come home unless you're over it."
What makes Nobal Days so good at taking charges?
"His timing. He's good at it. I actually have a couple of guys. Christion's good at it, also. If you're not a shot-blocking team, you better take charges. But again, it's knowing how to play, taking angles and having a high basketball I.Q. That's why he (Days)'s playing. That's what he does. I hate to say it, but that's how I played defense, taking charges and flying around. He reminds me a lot of myself in there."
What did you think of R.J. McGee's performance against UCF?
"He did well. He really did. He earned himself some minutes for Saturday. I'm really happy with him."
