Tulane hosts Southern Sunday and should win easily. I talked to Ron Hunter this week after Tulane's 2-1 performance at the Myrtle Beach Invitational.
On the injury front, he said Nic Thomas practiced Wednesday after missing the last two games in Myrtle Beach to rest his injured hand, which was still giving him problems. He said Thomas experienced no pain in practice.
K.J. Lawson missed Wednesday's practice because he had wisdom teeth removed but he will play Sunday.
Here is what else Hunter said:
On what learned about team in S.C.:
"We needed to play away from here and travel together and play power five schools, not so much for ourselves but just for our team. To really completely buy in, you have to have success, and so that’s what was great about this weekend. I needed adversity and you can’t create, and we got that in one weekend, so all of that was good and that’s something we can build on. The next program for us as a program is how do you handle success. Most programs, that’s a hard thing to do. That’s why you see mid-majors have great years and fall off. One of the things that we’ve done at Georgia State and even at IUPUI, we sustained it, and so that’s the message. How do we sustain success at this program."
On Jordan Walker hitting big shots late after he benched him early against Utah:
"That’s been the fun part for me this year is I’ve gotten on guys and they’ve aall handled it extremely well. And it’s been a different guy, different nights. Jordan completed it, but we don’t have that if we don’t have Christion Thompson and the second half he had. So that’s what’s been great and how they responded, whether it’s K.J. We have a mature team and I keep saying that. That’s been the fun part about it. I love having four guys in double figures. I like having different scorers because how do you scout us. Who do you try to shut down. Are you going to shut Teshaun down or Christion or K.J. I’ve really enjoyed that part."
On whether he really threw Christion Thompson out of the locker room at halftime of second game:
"I came in and he was sitting here and I threw him out. That was the first thing I did. My assistants went out and talked to him. I told him he wasn’t going to play in the second half. That part I was kidding about, but I wanted to send a message to him. Then I went out and talked to him and two minutes before the half was going to start, I sat him on the bench with me and I said, OK, now we’ll see what you’re made of. I said we can talk about this afterwards but you’ve got to play harder. What was great about it was he was sick all weekend. He had the flu. I’ve been saying from the very first day we’re not making excuses, and I would not allow him to make an excuse. Whether you’ve got a cold or you’ve got the flu, there are no excuses. We’ve made too many excuses in this program over the last few years."
On guys not wanting to lose down stretch to Utah:
"What was great is I loved the timeouts because there are times when you get to the last two medias of the game, the players are talking in the timeout about what they are going to do. It shouldn’t be about me saying what they are going to do. In the Mississippi State game we didn’t quite have that. We talked about it. They were waiting for Coach to say something. This time they took over the timeout, and that’s when you have a good team, when the players can take over a timeout and say, hey, I’ve got this covered, I’m going to do this. I actually kind of smiles because of the growth of our team in a couple of days."
On what wants to see the most going forward:
"Just consistency offensively. We keep talking about being consistent. The really good teams stay consistent and you don’t play down to the level of the other team. You play up, and that’s what I’m trying to get us to. Be consistent and outside noise doesn’t matter."
On forcing so many turnovers in S.C.:
"When our defense is working, that’s what it’s supposed to do. It’s something all my teams have been able to do. We want to create points off our defense. This program is based on our defensive principles. I’ve always said the less plays I call a game, the better our play because we’ve got guys who can score in transition with great hands and quickness."
On Nobal Days:
"Nobal Days, his hands are unbelievable. He’s not the best athlete, but he’s got some of the best hands I’ve ever seen."
On Days' missed dunk
"He wanted to crawl into a hole but his teammates wouldn’t let him, and that’s what was great on the floor. You could hear Jelly yelling at him, Teshaun started getting on him, pick your head up, we’ve got another possession. What was great was we got a stop on the next possession and then we came down and scored. Again, that’s what I’m talking about with adversity. Those are the type plays you can’t create in practice. He had his head down, and if you look when he came off the floor I kind of grabbed him and said, let’s go, we’ve got to keep playing. But don’t think I didn’t tease him after the game. I usually don’t text parents, but I texted his family and said, ‘How about that dunk?” But we don’t have the success we’re having if it’s not for Nobal Days. Everybody is going to get the credit, but he’s doing all the dirty work that doesn’t show up in the stat sheet. There was a clip where they had in a four-minute stretch they put two seven-footers and just pounded him and pounded him and he was just coming back every time."
On willingness to play a freshman, which he rarely does:
"He’s a stud. Sometimes stud doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re getting 20 and 10. He’s one of the smartest players I’ve ever coached. I thought my son had the highest basketball I.Q. I’ve ever coached. This kid’s close to him. He understands angles. He understands things. I love how he thinks the game, and sometimes almost overthinks it. One thing I say to him that I don’t say to other guys is don’t overthink it, just play, but he’s been absolutely terrific."
On guarding against letdown against Southern:
"That’s why we got after them today. Look around the country. Look what happens to Duke. Look what happens to Kentucky. I explained why these things happen. There’s a fine line between the player who plays at Duke and the player who plays at Stephen F. Austin or Southern. There used to be these great gaps. Those aren’t there anymore, and so if you don’t come to play (you are in trouble). That’s what we talked about here. How do we handle success? The next big test for me is how do we play next week coming off a little success."
On the injury front, he said Nic Thomas practiced Wednesday after missing the last two games in Myrtle Beach to rest his injured hand, which was still giving him problems. He said Thomas experienced no pain in practice.
K.J. Lawson missed Wednesday's practice because he had wisdom teeth removed but he will play Sunday.
Here is what else Hunter said:
On what learned about team in S.C.:
"We needed to play away from here and travel together and play power five schools, not so much for ourselves but just for our team. To really completely buy in, you have to have success, and so that’s what was great about this weekend. I needed adversity and you can’t create, and we got that in one weekend, so all of that was good and that’s something we can build on. The next program for us as a program is how do you handle success. Most programs, that’s a hard thing to do. That’s why you see mid-majors have great years and fall off. One of the things that we’ve done at Georgia State and even at IUPUI, we sustained it, and so that’s the message. How do we sustain success at this program."
On Jordan Walker hitting big shots late after he benched him early against Utah:
"That’s been the fun part for me this year is I’ve gotten on guys and they’ve aall handled it extremely well. And it’s been a different guy, different nights. Jordan completed it, but we don’t have that if we don’t have Christion Thompson and the second half he had. So that’s what’s been great and how they responded, whether it’s K.J. We have a mature team and I keep saying that. That’s been the fun part about it. I love having four guys in double figures. I like having different scorers because how do you scout us. Who do you try to shut down. Are you going to shut Teshaun down or Christion or K.J. I’ve really enjoyed that part."
On whether he really threw Christion Thompson out of the locker room at halftime of second game:
"I came in and he was sitting here and I threw him out. That was the first thing I did. My assistants went out and talked to him. I told him he wasn’t going to play in the second half. That part I was kidding about, but I wanted to send a message to him. Then I went out and talked to him and two minutes before the half was going to start, I sat him on the bench with me and I said, OK, now we’ll see what you’re made of. I said we can talk about this afterwards but you’ve got to play harder. What was great about it was he was sick all weekend. He had the flu. I’ve been saying from the very first day we’re not making excuses, and I would not allow him to make an excuse. Whether you’ve got a cold or you’ve got the flu, there are no excuses. We’ve made too many excuses in this program over the last few years."
On guys not wanting to lose down stretch to Utah:
"What was great is I loved the timeouts because there are times when you get to the last two medias of the game, the players are talking in the timeout about what they are going to do. It shouldn’t be about me saying what they are going to do. In the Mississippi State game we didn’t quite have that. We talked about it. They were waiting for Coach to say something. This time they took over the timeout, and that’s when you have a good team, when the players can take over a timeout and say, hey, I’ve got this covered, I’m going to do this. I actually kind of smiles because of the growth of our team in a couple of days."
On what wants to see the most going forward:
"Just consistency offensively. We keep talking about being consistent. The really good teams stay consistent and you don’t play down to the level of the other team. You play up, and that’s what I’m trying to get us to. Be consistent and outside noise doesn’t matter."
On forcing so many turnovers in S.C.:
"When our defense is working, that’s what it’s supposed to do. It’s something all my teams have been able to do. We want to create points off our defense. This program is based on our defensive principles. I’ve always said the less plays I call a game, the better our play because we’ve got guys who can score in transition with great hands and quickness."
On Nobal Days:
"Nobal Days, his hands are unbelievable. He’s not the best athlete, but he’s got some of the best hands I’ve ever seen."
On Days' missed dunk
"He wanted to crawl into a hole but his teammates wouldn’t let him, and that’s what was great on the floor. You could hear Jelly yelling at him, Teshaun started getting on him, pick your head up, we’ve got another possession. What was great was we got a stop on the next possession and then we came down and scored. Again, that’s what I’m talking about with adversity. Those are the type plays you can’t create in practice. He had his head down, and if you look when he came off the floor I kind of grabbed him and said, let’s go, we’ve got to keep playing. But don’t think I didn’t tease him after the game. I usually don’t text parents, but I texted his family and said, ‘How about that dunk?” But we don’t have the success we’re having if it’s not for Nobal Days. Everybody is going to get the credit, but he’s doing all the dirty work that doesn’t show up in the stat sheet. There was a clip where they had in a four-minute stretch they put two seven-footers and just pounded him and pounded him and he was just coming back every time."
On willingness to play a freshman, which he rarely does:
"He’s a stud. Sometimes stud doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re getting 20 and 10. He’s one of the smartest players I’ve ever coached. I thought my son had the highest basketball I.Q. I’ve ever coached. This kid’s close to him. He understands angles. He understands things. I love how he thinks the game, and sometimes almost overthinks it. One thing I say to him that I don’t say to other guys is don’t overthink it, just play, but he’s been absolutely terrific."
On guarding against letdown against Southern:
"That’s why we got after them today. Look around the country. Look what happens to Duke. Look what happens to Kentucky. I explained why these things happen. There’s a fine line between the player who plays at Duke and the player who plays at Stephen F. Austin or Southern. There used to be these great gaps. Those aren’t there anymore, and so if you don’t come to play (you are in trouble). That’s what we talked about here. How do we handle success? The next big test for me is how do we play next week coming off a little success."