It's really impossible for me to watch this while I'm working the main walk of life. Will try to provide updates. If somebody IS watching, then please fill in.
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Bears placed six in double figures, shot 51 percent, 41 percent from the arc.
After a slow start, Keyonte George finished 13. Langston Love playing his first game in two years had 13 off the bench. Adam Flagler led with 21. LJ Cryer was 3-8 from 3 and finished with 16. In his debut Jalen Bridges had 13.
This was an exhibition that counted.
Home to Norfolk State on Friday.
Scott Drew
Playing the first game of the year, we wanted to start out the right way. I thought the Scream Game was outstanding. Everybody that put that together I can’t thank them enough. Our players really wanted to play well for all the future Bears out there hopefully. You score 117 points, I know people like scoring. Defensively, second half we weren’t as consistent as we were in the first half. A lot of positives, a lot of things to build on, a great way to start the season.
(Sharing the ball) Every coach in the country would take 27 assists and nine turnovers every day of the week, twice on Sunday. This group has been unselfish in practice sharing the ball. We got guys who are all capable scorers. I like how they play for us. One area that hasn’t been as good in scrimmages was the rebounding, and that’s what I was most excited to see today, just how we got better there. This week we obviously improved that area with 22-9 on offense, and 53-29 overall.
(Flagler) 8 to 1 assists-to-turnovers, 6 to 1 for Dale, 7 to 1 by Keyonte, you’re going to take that every day of the week. Adam’s done that in our scrimmages and practices. Both he and Dale have been outstanding taking care of the ball. Keyonte’s somebody that sees the floor really well, and is becoming more and more consistent with it as well.
(Slow start before started clicking) One thing about our team, we shot 34 3s, we shoot a lot of 3s. So when you shoot a lot of 3s, you can rack up points in a hurry and then you can go through a dry spell too. It’s kind of like the long ball in football. So the good thing is when we’re making them and taking the right ones, that’s why rebounding is so important because you’re not going to always make them. So you’ve got to do a great job on the glass, and if we continue to do that, good things will definitely happen for us.
(New guys blending in) Well today everybody who played did a good job, so the rotations were working today. I think one thing that is a little different with the transfer portal is you get older guys, more experienced guys, that have been in college programs. Sometimes when you bring in four or five freshmen, you might have three of them that are two years away from helping you win. They can play, but they can’t help you win. We’re blessed to have a roster full of guys that can help you win. So as competition improves, we’ll have to look and adjust and find out what we need to do better. But obviously you can play a lot of different guys. Hopefully, we won’t have injuries, but that’s why you’ve got to have depth when you do.
(Defense) Until they scored that five in a row, we were really good. I think it was around the eight-minute mark, six-minute mark, whenever it was. But before that, I thought we did a great job limiting them to one, the defense got better the more we played. A lot of nerves with basically half the team that had never put on the jersey. Even when you do scrimmages, it’s not the game, it’s not the fans. When you have family watching, it’s a hole ‘nother level. I couldn’t be more pleased with the start. I’m excited for the guys to get a day off and us to break down film. This weekend obviously the competition will get a little bit tougher.
(Keyonte all-around game) That’s something we were surprised in Canada with Keyonte, I mean he had two 30-plus games, but he really passed the ball well. You’re not going to make shots every night. The key is to take the right ones, and his shot selection has improved and will continue to improve. But his ability to get his teammates shots is something that’s tremendous. Seven assists and one turnover, that’s outstanding, and then the six rebounds are also outstanding.
(Put up 117 in the game where you guys kind of struggled a little bit really offensively to get shots to fall, what’s ceiling for this offense)
“Well, I think we definitely can score a lot of points. The question is when we’re not making shots, can we defend well enough and rebound well enough to win on those nights. So that’ll be something that we’ll keep working on and growing toward, because you don’t always make shots, and that’s why the best shooters make 40%. That means you’re missing six out of 10.”
(Offensive rebounding was one of the concerns coming in, you had more offensive rebounds than they had on the defensive end)
“That’s what I’m most pleased about. We spent a week really trying to get better in that area and we made great strides. Now we’ve got to be consistent with it. But to me, that was, for the game if you had said one stat you really want to look at, that was the one I was curious to see how it translated.”
(Josh and Flo good, seemed to be more of a team thing.).
“Yeah, and that’s what it is, it’s not going to be one guy. I think we have good rebounders, but collectively I think we have to be a great rebounding team collectively. Because when you switch on defense, you have a lot of people that sometimes your point guards are on their four man and everyone’s got to be able to help out and rebound.”
(Dale 14 points, 6 assists, how complete has his game become)
“I really think Canada helped him gain confidence. Probably the one area that he hadn’t shown what he had shown in practice is the consistent 3-ball. Today he was 3 for 4, he sot it well in practices, and that’s really the last step for him. When we recruited him, he was a 40% 3-point shooter, so last year he really improved and grew. But the shooting didn’t translate, and it did in practice. That’s what was frustrating like, he was really a good shooter in practice. But in the games, you know, I think it can become a little mental too. And I think he’s relaxed, the game’s slowed down. He’s tremendous defensively, really moves it well and that 6 to 1 assist to turnover, I mean that’s what he does. I mean that’s been his ratio, he’s been really good at taking care of the basketball.”
(Langston playing and being aggressive)
“Yeah, really excited to see that. Really excited to see how aggressive he was. And I mean, he hadn’t been back long and it’s been a process. The doctors have done a great job, Charlie and Dave had done a great job. And Langston’s really worked hard in the last month, completely different player. And I think in the next couple months, same thing, he’ll continue that upward, upward, upward swing.”
(What can you tell one point of emphasis to make in practice?)
“Yeah, I think, you know, credit the scream game because there’s some defenses we didn’t get into that we called, offenses we didn’t get into. And that’s where in an empty practice gym, it’s easier to hear everything, so communication there, those probably seven or eight plays that’s something we got to work on and make sure that we get all on the same page.”
(Grimes redshirt, do you guys approached him about and where did he put you about and how easy it is to get guys to agree to something like that).
“Yeah, that’s a great question. You know, we’ve had so much success with players redshirting and developing, from Davion, to Motley, to Ekpe Udho, to Corey Jefferson. I mean, it’s not just guys redshirting and playing, it’s guys redshirting and then leaving early. So it’s not like they’re e bad players. But the benefit to redshirting is basically you can tap out every day and not worry about keeping yourself fresh and ready to go in games, and in practice, it’s so easy, to it’s much easier to have that positive attitude not knowing, hey, the last two games I didn’t play as much as I wanted. So we present options to guys. We don’t make anybody redshirt, but it helps when you’ve got a track record of former players that it can talk from Macio to Davion, to Davon, to everyone that’s done it. And then we have four or five guys on our team, Adam’s redshirted that can all explain the benefits. And so it’s not easy not playing, but we’ll have a good support unit to help Dantwan and Dantwan’s been tremendous. Dantwan’s a really good player. He’s going to be a really good player for us. He might be our best on- ball defender in practice at times for sure, but God gave him an elite ability and burst in speed that you can’t teach. And I think if he continues to get used to the college game offensively, defensive rotations, he’s going to be someone that you guys are really going to like watching in the future”
****
Bears placed six in double figures, shot 51 percent, 41 percent from the arc.
After a slow start, Keyonte George finished 13. Langston Love playing his first game in two years had 13 off the bench. Adam Flagler led with 21. LJ Cryer was 3-8 from 3 and finished with 16. In his debut Jalen Bridges had 13.
This was an exhibition that counted.
Home to Norfolk State on Friday.
Scott Drew
Playing the first game of the year, we wanted to start out the right way. I thought the Scream Game was outstanding. Everybody that put that together I can’t thank them enough. Our players really wanted to play well for all the future Bears out there hopefully. You score 117 points, I know people like scoring. Defensively, second half we weren’t as consistent as we were in the first half. A lot of positives, a lot of things to build on, a great way to start the season.
(Sharing the ball) Every coach in the country would take 27 assists and nine turnovers every day of the week, twice on Sunday. This group has been unselfish in practice sharing the ball. We got guys who are all capable scorers. I like how they play for us. One area that hasn’t been as good in scrimmages was the rebounding, and that’s what I was most excited to see today, just how we got better there. This week we obviously improved that area with 22-9 on offense, and 53-29 overall.
(Flagler) 8 to 1 assists-to-turnovers, 6 to 1 for Dale, 7 to 1 by Keyonte, you’re going to take that every day of the week. Adam’s done that in our scrimmages and practices. Both he and Dale have been outstanding taking care of the ball. Keyonte’s somebody that sees the floor really well, and is becoming more and more consistent with it as well.
(Slow start before started clicking) One thing about our team, we shot 34 3s, we shoot a lot of 3s. So when you shoot a lot of 3s, you can rack up points in a hurry and then you can go through a dry spell too. It’s kind of like the long ball in football. So the good thing is when we’re making them and taking the right ones, that’s why rebounding is so important because you’re not going to always make them. So you’ve got to do a great job on the glass, and if we continue to do that, good things will definitely happen for us.
(New guys blending in) Well today everybody who played did a good job, so the rotations were working today. I think one thing that is a little different with the transfer portal is you get older guys, more experienced guys, that have been in college programs. Sometimes when you bring in four or five freshmen, you might have three of them that are two years away from helping you win. They can play, but they can’t help you win. We’re blessed to have a roster full of guys that can help you win. So as competition improves, we’ll have to look and adjust and find out what we need to do better. But obviously you can play a lot of different guys. Hopefully, we won’t have injuries, but that’s why you’ve got to have depth when you do.
(Defense) Until they scored that five in a row, we were really good. I think it was around the eight-minute mark, six-minute mark, whenever it was. But before that, I thought we did a great job limiting them to one, the defense got better the more we played. A lot of nerves with basically half the team that had never put on the jersey. Even when you do scrimmages, it’s not the game, it’s not the fans. When you have family watching, it’s a hole ‘nother level. I couldn’t be more pleased with the start. I’m excited for the guys to get a day off and us to break down film. This weekend obviously the competition will get a little bit tougher.
(Keyonte all-around game) That’s something we were surprised in Canada with Keyonte, I mean he had two 30-plus games, but he really passed the ball well. You’re not going to make shots every night. The key is to take the right ones, and his shot selection has improved and will continue to improve. But his ability to get his teammates shots is something that’s tremendous. Seven assists and one turnover, that’s outstanding, and then the six rebounds are also outstanding.
(Put up 117 in the game where you guys kind of struggled a little bit really offensively to get shots to fall, what’s ceiling for this offense)
“Well, I think we definitely can score a lot of points. The question is when we’re not making shots, can we defend well enough and rebound well enough to win on those nights. So that’ll be something that we’ll keep working on and growing toward, because you don’t always make shots, and that’s why the best shooters make 40%. That means you’re missing six out of 10.”
(Offensive rebounding was one of the concerns coming in, you had more offensive rebounds than they had on the defensive end)
“That’s what I’m most pleased about. We spent a week really trying to get better in that area and we made great strides. Now we’ve got to be consistent with it. But to me, that was, for the game if you had said one stat you really want to look at, that was the one I was curious to see how it translated.”
(Josh and Flo good, seemed to be more of a team thing.).
“Yeah, and that’s what it is, it’s not going to be one guy. I think we have good rebounders, but collectively I think we have to be a great rebounding team collectively. Because when you switch on defense, you have a lot of people that sometimes your point guards are on their four man and everyone’s got to be able to help out and rebound.”
(Dale 14 points, 6 assists, how complete has his game become)
“I really think Canada helped him gain confidence. Probably the one area that he hadn’t shown what he had shown in practice is the consistent 3-ball. Today he was 3 for 4, he sot it well in practices, and that’s really the last step for him. When we recruited him, he was a 40% 3-point shooter, so last year he really improved and grew. But the shooting didn’t translate, and it did in practice. That’s what was frustrating like, he was really a good shooter in practice. But in the games, you know, I think it can become a little mental too. And I think he’s relaxed, the game’s slowed down. He’s tremendous defensively, really moves it well and that 6 to 1 assist to turnover, I mean that’s what he does. I mean that’s been his ratio, he’s been really good at taking care of the basketball.”
(Langston playing and being aggressive)
“Yeah, really excited to see that. Really excited to see how aggressive he was. And I mean, he hadn’t been back long and it’s been a process. The doctors have done a great job, Charlie and Dave had done a great job. And Langston’s really worked hard in the last month, completely different player. And I think in the next couple months, same thing, he’ll continue that upward, upward, upward swing.”
(What can you tell one point of emphasis to make in practice?)
“Yeah, I think, you know, credit the scream game because there’s some defenses we didn’t get into that we called, offenses we didn’t get into. And that’s where in an empty practice gym, it’s easier to hear everything, so communication there, those probably seven or eight plays that’s something we got to work on and make sure that we get all on the same page.”
(Grimes redshirt, do you guys approached him about and where did he put you about and how easy it is to get guys to agree to something like that).
“Yeah, that’s a great question. You know, we’ve had so much success with players redshirting and developing, from Davion, to Motley, to Ekpe Udho, to Corey Jefferson. I mean, it’s not just guys redshirting and playing, it’s guys redshirting and then leaving early. So it’s not like they’re e bad players. But the benefit to redshirting is basically you can tap out every day and not worry about keeping yourself fresh and ready to go in games, and in practice, it’s so easy, to it’s much easier to have that positive attitude not knowing, hey, the last two games I didn’t play as much as I wanted. So we present options to guys. We don’t make anybody redshirt, but it helps when you’ve got a track record of former players that it can talk from Macio to Davion, to Davon, to everyone that’s done it. And then we have four or five guys on our team, Adam’s redshirted that can all explain the benefits. And so it’s not easy not playing, but we’ll have a good support unit to help Dantwan and Dantwan’s been tremendous. Dantwan’s a really good player. He’s going to be a really good player for us. He might be our best on- ball defender in practice at times for sure, but God gave him an elite ability and burst in speed that you can’t teach. And I think if he continues to get used to the college game offensively, defensive rotations, he’s going to be someone that you guys are really going to like watching in the future”
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