I went to basketball practice yesterday for interviews. Here's what they said:
DUNLEAVY
What is Melvin Frazier's status?
"He's improving. He was better yesterday than the day before and better today than yesterday. It's a matter of seeing how he responds by game time."
How much did he do in practice today?
"He didn't do much. We didn't want to take a chance on him getting him again. He did some conditioning."
What exactly is the injury?
"It's his chest and kind of the capsules in your chest. It makes it hard for him to lift his hands over his shoulders. He can do all that now."
He leads the AAC in field goal percentage and steals. Where would you miss him the most?
"It affects us both ways. He creates offense with his defense and having a scorer out there, the plus-minus effect both ways is big."
You still were in position to beat Temple going into the last five minutes. Does that make the loss more disappointing?
"A little bit, but when we watched the film today, we saw stuff in bunches. We had a bad start to the second half on coverages. Guys were not too much late, but their positioning was soft and they weren't in the right spots. We were just a step behind, and they got a couple of 3s on us. And then even down the stretch, we missed some free throws and some good looks. But for the most part, the guys gave great effort and did some good things. It was still a winnable game."
You pointed out after the game their abnormally high 3-point percentage (12 of 25) was partly a result of bad defense.
"Yeah, they got some great looks. The looks they got were better than they were supposed to get. I'm not saying they're not going to get looks, but they shouldn't be naked looks, which means somebody rotating around. We missed on communications, and the guys who were supposed to help on the initial part of the play were late and put them behind the play. We couldn't get out to the shooters.?
You got killed on the boards in the first loss to Tulsa. Is that the primary area of emphasis?
"It's a good place to start. I don't think you have a chance to win many games if you get beat by 22 on the boards. We have to do a better job of boxing out and defending the rebound. We had misses but didn't clean them up."
What else do you want to see?
"Just growth. I don't even think that our guys who got a chance to play played as good as we were capable of playing (against Temple). But more guys got more experience and more minutes. Hopefully we'll get some benefit."
Samir Sehic is fifth in the league in field goal percentage but his defense has been an issue, particularly earlier in the year. How was his defense against Temple?
"That's really the key to his playing time. He plays with good effort. Defensively, at times there are really good matchups on the floor for him, and when he has really good matchups, he usually plays pretty well. And when there's a bad matchup, that's where we have to have growth. He's got to get better at playing the tough matchups so that we can use what he brings to the table offensively."
How much of the defensive issues against Temple were on him?
"We had a lot of guys with different stuff. There was plenty to go around. We had nobody that was immune. Melvin was the only guy who didn't make any mistakes (because he played only a few minutes before getting hurt; Frazier was standing within ear shot)."
FRAZIER
How are you feeling, and have you ever had an injury like this before?
"No, I've never had an injury like this, but I feel better. I've just been working on it. It's a little bruise. I'll be good, though. I think I should be ready by Thursday. I'll be good. Just keep working on, get treatment and stuff."
Did they tell you how long this could linger?
"I should be good. I should be back the next game."
How much did it hurt right away?
"At the moment it hurt. I came out, tried to stretch it out and tried to go back in but I just couldn't. It was just hurting a little too bad."
Where was it hurting? Right in the chest?
"Yeah, right in my chest."
What was the pain like?
"I can't even describe the pain. I couldn't even pick my arm up."
Did it still hurt when you were being interviewed by the ESPN draft guy after the game (he did a one-on-one with the guy 20 minutes later in the media room)?
"It was hurting all the time."
How tough was it to watch from the bench?
"It was tough, but I just stayed in there to help my teammates out and help them through it. This was a tough one we lost, but we'll try to get the next one."
You are leading the league in field goal percentage. How much does that mean to you?
"It's very good. I've just been working and it's showing up on the court, so I look forward to just keeping it going and helping my teammates keep scoring and doing whatever I have to do for us to win."
You told the ESPN guy you would not think about the NBA until the season was over. Is that your stance?
"Just keep playing until that time comes and when that time comes, just go from there."
There's still a lot of time left in the season. What will it take to start winning again?
"We've just got to keep working, keep playing next play, play together as a team and just hope the outcome is in our favor."
CAM REYNOLDS
It's questionable whether Frazier will play Thursday. What is it like not knowing whether he will be able to go or not?
"He's a big piece, not so much offense but just his defensive talk. He's our defensive leader, so we really have to step up. He makes a lot of steals, gets a lot of deflections and stuff, so we have to try to be him on the defensive end."
He looked like he was in a ton of pain after the injury.
"Yeah. I had the same thing happen to me last year but not as bad as him. I could really tell he was in pain, especially when we went into halftime and he came to me like I'm really hurt. We had to try to play without him. We had to try to win for him."
You came close to beating Temple, but what will it take to beat Tulsa?
"We have to be consistent on defense at the end of the game. We had a couple of lapses and that's what cost us. We have to knock down free throws. I missed two. That didn't really decide the game, but we have to stay consistent on the defensive end and we have to make free throws because we missed a lot."
How important is it to to turn the rebounding disadvantage around you had in the first meeting with Tulsa?
"It's the No. 1. There's a theme. Most of our losses come from losing the rebounding battle, so we have to take it to heart and come to the fight because they are going to bring it. We've got to be ready for it."
You were really angry at yourself after the two missed foul shots with the one-point lead late. What happened on those shots?
"They just didn't go down the hatch. The first one I shot short. The second one felt good but didn't go in. I came back yesterday and shot a lot of free throws and will just keep on shooting."
Is it more frustrating to lose when you put yourself in position to win and then can't do it?
"Yeah, that one hurt bad because we could have gone into fourth place with that one and now we're down, so we have to climb our way back up and get back on this win streak. It really hurt, but we can't harp on it. We have to get back and try to get this one on Thursday."
DUNLEAVY
What is Melvin Frazier's status?
"He's improving. He was better yesterday than the day before and better today than yesterday. It's a matter of seeing how he responds by game time."
How much did he do in practice today?
"He didn't do much. We didn't want to take a chance on him getting him again. He did some conditioning."
What exactly is the injury?
"It's his chest and kind of the capsules in your chest. It makes it hard for him to lift his hands over his shoulders. He can do all that now."
He leads the AAC in field goal percentage and steals. Where would you miss him the most?
"It affects us both ways. He creates offense with his defense and having a scorer out there, the plus-minus effect both ways is big."
You still were in position to beat Temple going into the last five minutes. Does that make the loss more disappointing?
"A little bit, but when we watched the film today, we saw stuff in bunches. We had a bad start to the second half on coverages. Guys were not too much late, but their positioning was soft and they weren't in the right spots. We were just a step behind, and they got a couple of 3s on us. And then even down the stretch, we missed some free throws and some good looks. But for the most part, the guys gave great effort and did some good things. It was still a winnable game."
You pointed out after the game their abnormally high 3-point percentage (12 of 25) was partly a result of bad defense.
"Yeah, they got some great looks. The looks they got were better than they were supposed to get. I'm not saying they're not going to get looks, but they shouldn't be naked looks, which means somebody rotating around. We missed on communications, and the guys who were supposed to help on the initial part of the play were late and put them behind the play. We couldn't get out to the shooters.?
You got killed on the boards in the first loss to Tulsa. Is that the primary area of emphasis?
"It's a good place to start. I don't think you have a chance to win many games if you get beat by 22 on the boards. We have to do a better job of boxing out and defending the rebound. We had misses but didn't clean them up."
What else do you want to see?
"Just growth. I don't even think that our guys who got a chance to play played as good as we were capable of playing (against Temple). But more guys got more experience and more minutes. Hopefully we'll get some benefit."
Samir Sehic is fifth in the league in field goal percentage but his defense has been an issue, particularly earlier in the year. How was his defense against Temple?
"That's really the key to his playing time. He plays with good effort. Defensively, at times there are really good matchups on the floor for him, and when he has really good matchups, he usually plays pretty well. And when there's a bad matchup, that's where we have to have growth. He's got to get better at playing the tough matchups so that we can use what he brings to the table offensively."
How much of the defensive issues against Temple were on him?
"We had a lot of guys with different stuff. There was plenty to go around. We had nobody that was immune. Melvin was the only guy who didn't make any mistakes (because he played only a few minutes before getting hurt; Frazier was standing within ear shot)."
FRAZIER
How are you feeling, and have you ever had an injury like this before?
"No, I've never had an injury like this, but I feel better. I've just been working on it. It's a little bruise. I'll be good, though. I think I should be ready by Thursday. I'll be good. Just keep working on, get treatment and stuff."
Did they tell you how long this could linger?
"I should be good. I should be back the next game."
How much did it hurt right away?
"At the moment it hurt. I came out, tried to stretch it out and tried to go back in but I just couldn't. It was just hurting a little too bad."
Where was it hurting? Right in the chest?
"Yeah, right in my chest."
What was the pain like?
"I can't even describe the pain. I couldn't even pick my arm up."
Did it still hurt when you were being interviewed by the ESPN draft guy after the game (he did a one-on-one with the guy 20 minutes later in the media room)?
"It was hurting all the time."
How tough was it to watch from the bench?
"It was tough, but I just stayed in there to help my teammates out and help them through it. This was a tough one we lost, but we'll try to get the next one."
You are leading the league in field goal percentage. How much does that mean to you?
"It's very good. I've just been working and it's showing up on the court, so I look forward to just keeping it going and helping my teammates keep scoring and doing whatever I have to do for us to win."
You told the ESPN guy you would not think about the NBA until the season was over. Is that your stance?
"Just keep playing until that time comes and when that time comes, just go from there."
There's still a lot of time left in the season. What will it take to start winning again?
"We've just got to keep working, keep playing next play, play together as a team and just hope the outcome is in our favor."
CAM REYNOLDS
It's questionable whether Frazier will play Thursday. What is it like not knowing whether he will be able to go or not?
"He's a big piece, not so much offense but just his defensive talk. He's our defensive leader, so we really have to step up. He makes a lot of steals, gets a lot of deflections and stuff, so we have to try to be him on the defensive end."
He looked like he was in a ton of pain after the injury.
"Yeah. I had the same thing happen to me last year but not as bad as him. I could really tell he was in pain, especially when we went into halftime and he came to me like I'm really hurt. We had to try to play without him. We had to try to win for him."
You came close to beating Temple, but what will it take to beat Tulsa?
"We have to be consistent on defense at the end of the game. We had a couple of lapses and that's what cost us. We have to knock down free throws. I missed two. That didn't really decide the game, but we have to stay consistent on the defensive end and we have to make free throws because we missed a lot."
How important is it to to turn the rebounding disadvantage around you had in the first meeting with Tulsa?
"It's the No. 1. There's a theme. Most of our losses come from losing the rebounding battle, so we have to take it to heart and come to the fight because they are going to bring it. We've got to be ready for it."
You were really angry at yourself after the two missed foul shots with the one-point lead late. What happened on those shots?
"They just didn't go down the hatch. The first one I shot short. The second one felt good but didn't go in. I came back yesterday and shot a lot of free throws and will just keep on shooting."
Is it more frustrating to lose when you put yourself in position to win and then can't do it?
"Yeah, that one hurt bad because we could have gone into fourth place with that one and now we're down, so we have to climb our way back up and get back on this win streak. It really hurt, but we can't harp on it. We have to get back and try to get this one on Thursday."