On how practice is going after the loss:
Yesterday was rough. We put them through one of our tougher practices. A lot of body to body, physical stuff. And they responded fairly well. Came in this morning, shot free throws, worked through some stuff, and we'll practice here for an hour and a half and get on a plane and go down to 'Bama.
On why he thought a rough, tough practice was necessary:
Well, we just need to rebound better. We need to create space both on offense, we need to create space when we're trying to rebound, so we worked on al that. But it was good.
On if Mychal Mulder earned an increased role:
Yeah. Right now I would say that he's in that three-guard rotation.
On what Mulder did against LSU that stood out to him:
I thought he had great energy. He rebounded the ball, mixed it up. Did good stuff. Did good stuff.
On if there's something he can do with Skal Labissiere to get him closer to demonstrative performances:
Well, it's just day to day. Every day you're trying to get him better. You're using different things, you're doing different things and there are days he's better than other days. A lot of it is he's got to swim. We're here for you but you've got to swim. I mean, you got to get lower and understand what's happening to you and then you got to change. But he'll be fine. He wasn't the issue. We had some other guys who are veterans who gave us, you know, nothing. So now you're expecting him, who's just trying to get his feet underneath him, to do more than he's capable of doing. So.
On Tyler Ulis challenging their big guys:
Tyler was good. Tyler, even yesterday. I said, 'What do you think?' He said, 'I'm just trying to be positive.' Some of this stuff is, again, we're at home, we play – historically, my teams have played better on the road. I've had one or two teams not do that. We've played better because there's always such an expectation at home. We're on the road, it kind of is alleviated and you can just go play basketball. We haven’t felt that yet. We’re going into a game—and I’ll tell you, watching tape, they play really physical. They got great presence around the basket. They’re tough. They dive on the floor. Their guards are tough. They pressure. This is a really hard game for us.”
On if Isaiah Briscoe’s free throw shooting is mental:
“I would say so. When you’re playing in high school and whatever I do is fine, then you come here and you’re on this stage, kinda gets you thinking a little bit. He has to work his way through it. I talk about mental toughness, things don’t go right. You’ve gotta be mentally tough enough to bounce through that and change. ‘OK, what I’m doing isn’t right. I’ve gotta take this up a notch,’ that’s mental toughness.
You miss a shot, it can’t lead to three more misses because you’re still thinking about the first. There’s no mental toughness there. Another team makes a run on you, then you say ‘OK, now it’s our turn to make a run,’ if not, it starts seeping in your mind that you may lose. The mental toughness is all new to these guys. This is a brand new team.”
On the big men fouling a lot against LSU:
“I thought there were some bad fouls. Like, why would you do that? There were a couple that, when I looked bad on the tape, were questionable whether they should’ve been called. They outfought us. I’m not going to argue when you’re getting beat every which way. That’s kinda when the officials do the same to you. But there were some like, why’d you foul? Why weren’t you there early? And if you weren’t there early, give them a layup. It’s not football. It’s not a touchdown. So we had some of that.
On saying he was going back to the drawing board after last game:
“I don’t remember saying ‘going back to the drawing board,” I said ‘we’ll get back in the gym and let’s get back to work,’ There’s not a whole lot of changes we made.”
On how much more difficult it is not having a big man he can count on to rebound, block shots: “Makes it hard. And we have guys that are capable. They’re just not doing it. They’re doing it now and then, and when they really do it we look really good, and when they decide they’re not doing it or for whatever reason they’re not capable of doing it we’re not as good. The main reason is Skal, he’s not ready to step into that vacuum right now. So, now we maybe take a look at Isaac (Humphries), take a look at Tai (Wynyard), throw them in there, let them see how they do.”
On Wynyard being praised for many of the things it seems this team lacks: “Got to get in better shape. Again, he just joined us. He’s got a great temperament, he’s got a great mentality about it. If he ran up and down the court three or four times he’d probably be exhausted but that is OK. We have some other guys that look the same way and have been here awhile.”
On if conditioning is a bigger issue for Wynyard than learning schemes: “It’s not that hard. He’s a pretty bright kid. Doing some good stuff.”
On how far away Wynyard is: “I don’t know. I don’t know. I may stick him in tomorrow, I may not. It’s just how the game goes.”
On how much different Alabama looks with Avery Johnson: “Um…Yeah, they’re playing different. A lot of pick-and-rolls, a lot of spacing. They’re going at that big kid, who’s doing well. They’ll mess with pick-and-rolls. They’re playing hard. I’m telling you. They’re diving on floors. They were up nine on Mississippi at Mississippi at half and the game was in doubt until about two minutes to go. Then Mississippi made a basket, they made a couple errors. But it was anybody’s ball game. So, he’s doing a good job.”
On if Dominique Hawkins has practiced: “No.”
On if this team reminds him of the 2010-11 one that also struggled on the road: “No. No. We’re different. This is a different group. We’ve got to do this a little different way. And I keep coming back to most of this is on me to figure stuff out. When things are going good or when a team gets it and all of the sudden you guys will throw it at me, ‘He’s figured it out.’ Well then the same thing holds true when we’re not doing it or when Skal is not playing well. ‘Well, he got Karl.’ OK, well I’m not getting Skal. So, I think more or less you’ve got to look at me, not these kids. We’ve done it with all kind of different teams. Some of it is still trying to piece this together. Other parts of this are trying to figure out individual players. It takes time.”
On if he can sense when Alex Poythress is going to have a bad game: “No. No. You just hope that he had a great warmup and he goes in – He’s a kid; he wants to do well, but he’s still trying to figure out who he is. When things go wrong, what do I do? I mean, this is – it doesn’t matter that he’s been here awhile. He’s been hurt. He comes back and there are times you watch him and you’re like, ‘Wow.’ There are other times you’re like, ‘Is he in the game?’ That’s based on him just figuring this out and maybe us doing some different things to put him in different positions.”
On how big an adjustment it is for Poythress and Marcus Lee to go from role players to being counted on every game: “Hard. Hard. Hard. It’s a hard deal, because it’s not every now and then with the position they’re in now. They’ve always been in the now-and-then position: Every now and then give us a good game. Now it’s like every day. That’s hard. Everybody wants to be in that position, but the responsibility to be ready, to be prepared, to be ready for a dog fight every single (night), not fouling out of games, not walking, not hiding – No, every day. And it’s hard here, because this is even worse at this place when you are on this stage. But like I said, they’re doing fine. They’re making strides. This will be interesting to find out where were are, especially after what happened there.
“I mean, think about it: We had the ball down four and a guy grabbed it next to the rim and shot it completely over the rim. Just threw it completely over the rim. We had another play that was close and we had a layup and we missed – like, could not get it in the basket on a pass. Then all the sudden they come down: 3, 3. That’s when you find out, ‘OK guys, do you understand those plays matter? That play right there, this play right here.’ Then when they make a 3 you don’t panic and come down and shoot a quick one. We’re learning that. I expect that we’ll play better, but you don’t know if you’re going to win or lose until you win or lose. We’ll get them ready and see what happens.”
Yesterday was rough. We put them through one of our tougher practices. A lot of body to body, physical stuff. And they responded fairly well. Came in this morning, shot free throws, worked through some stuff, and we'll practice here for an hour and a half and get on a plane and go down to 'Bama.
On why he thought a rough, tough practice was necessary:
Well, we just need to rebound better. We need to create space both on offense, we need to create space when we're trying to rebound, so we worked on al that. But it was good.
On if Mychal Mulder earned an increased role:
Yeah. Right now I would say that he's in that three-guard rotation.
On what Mulder did against LSU that stood out to him:
I thought he had great energy. He rebounded the ball, mixed it up. Did good stuff. Did good stuff.
On if there's something he can do with Skal Labissiere to get him closer to demonstrative performances:
Well, it's just day to day. Every day you're trying to get him better. You're using different things, you're doing different things and there are days he's better than other days. A lot of it is he's got to swim. We're here for you but you've got to swim. I mean, you got to get lower and understand what's happening to you and then you got to change. But he'll be fine. He wasn't the issue. We had some other guys who are veterans who gave us, you know, nothing. So now you're expecting him, who's just trying to get his feet underneath him, to do more than he's capable of doing. So.
On Tyler Ulis challenging their big guys:
Tyler was good. Tyler, even yesterday. I said, 'What do you think?' He said, 'I'm just trying to be positive.' Some of this stuff is, again, we're at home, we play – historically, my teams have played better on the road. I've had one or two teams not do that. We've played better because there's always such an expectation at home. We're on the road, it kind of is alleviated and you can just go play basketball. We haven’t felt that yet. We’re going into a game—and I’ll tell you, watching tape, they play really physical. They got great presence around the basket. They’re tough. They dive on the floor. Their guards are tough. They pressure. This is a really hard game for us.”
On if Isaiah Briscoe’s free throw shooting is mental:
“I would say so. When you’re playing in high school and whatever I do is fine, then you come here and you’re on this stage, kinda gets you thinking a little bit. He has to work his way through it. I talk about mental toughness, things don’t go right. You’ve gotta be mentally tough enough to bounce through that and change. ‘OK, what I’m doing isn’t right. I’ve gotta take this up a notch,’ that’s mental toughness.
You miss a shot, it can’t lead to three more misses because you’re still thinking about the first. There’s no mental toughness there. Another team makes a run on you, then you say ‘OK, now it’s our turn to make a run,’ if not, it starts seeping in your mind that you may lose. The mental toughness is all new to these guys. This is a brand new team.”
On the big men fouling a lot against LSU:
“I thought there were some bad fouls. Like, why would you do that? There were a couple that, when I looked bad on the tape, were questionable whether they should’ve been called. They outfought us. I’m not going to argue when you’re getting beat every which way. That’s kinda when the officials do the same to you. But there were some like, why’d you foul? Why weren’t you there early? And if you weren’t there early, give them a layup. It’s not football. It’s not a touchdown. So we had some of that.
On saying he was going back to the drawing board after last game:
“I don’t remember saying ‘going back to the drawing board,” I said ‘we’ll get back in the gym and let’s get back to work,’ There’s not a whole lot of changes we made.”
On how much more difficult it is not having a big man he can count on to rebound, block shots: “Makes it hard. And we have guys that are capable. They’re just not doing it. They’re doing it now and then, and when they really do it we look really good, and when they decide they’re not doing it or for whatever reason they’re not capable of doing it we’re not as good. The main reason is Skal, he’s not ready to step into that vacuum right now. So, now we maybe take a look at Isaac (Humphries), take a look at Tai (Wynyard), throw them in there, let them see how they do.”
On Wynyard being praised for many of the things it seems this team lacks: “Got to get in better shape. Again, he just joined us. He’s got a great temperament, he’s got a great mentality about it. If he ran up and down the court three or four times he’d probably be exhausted but that is OK. We have some other guys that look the same way and have been here awhile.”
On if conditioning is a bigger issue for Wynyard than learning schemes: “It’s not that hard. He’s a pretty bright kid. Doing some good stuff.”
On how far away Wynyard is: “I don’t know. I don’t know. I may stick him in tomorrow, I may not. It’s just how the game goes.”
On how much different Alabama looks with Avery Johnson: “Um…Yeah, they’re playing different. A lot of pick-and-rolls, a lot of spacing. They’re going at that big kid, who’s doing well. They’ll mess with pick-and-rolls. They’re playing hard. I’m telling you. They’re diving on floors. They were up nine on Mississippi at Mississippi at half and the game was in doubt until about two minutes to go. Then Mississippi made a basket, they made a couple errors. But it was anybody’s ball game. So, he’s doing a good job.”
On if Dominique Hawkins has practiced: “No.”
On if this team reminds him of the 2010-11 one that also struggled on the road: “No. No. We’re different. This is a different group. We’ve got to do this a little different way. And I keep coming back to most of this is on me to figure stuff out. When things are going good or when a team gets it and all of the sudden you guys will throw it at me, ‘He’s figured it out.’ Well then the same thing holds true when we’re not doing it or when Skal is not playing well. ‘Well, he got Karl.’ OK, well I’m not getting Skal. So, I think more or less you’ve got to look at me, not these kids. We’ve done it with all kind of different teams. Some of it is still trying to piece this together. Other parts of this are trying to figure out individual players. It takes time.”
On if he can sense when Alex Poythress is going to have a bad game: “No. No. You just hope that he had a great warmup and he goes in – He’s a kid; he wants to do well, but he’s still trying to figure out who he is. When things go wrong, what do I do? I mean, this is – it doesn’t matter that he’s been here awhile. He’s been hurt. He comes back and there are times you watch him and you’re like, ‘Wow.’ There are other times you’re like, ‘Is he in the game?’ That’s based on him just figuring this out and maybe us doing some different things to put him in different positions.”
On how big an adjustment it is for Poythress and Marcus Lee to go from role players to being counted on every game: “Hard. Hard. Hard. It’s a hard deal, because it’s not every now and then with the position they’re in now. They’ve always been in the now-and-then position: Every now and then give us a good game. Now it’s like every day. That’s hard. Everybody wants to be in that position, but the responsibility to be ready, to be prepared, to be ready for a dog fight every single (night), not fouling out of games, not walking, not hiding – No, every day. And it’s hard here, because this is even worse at this place when you are on this stage. But like I said, they’re doing fine. They’re making strides. This will be interesting to find out where were are, especially after what happened there.
“I mean, think about it: We had the ball down four and a guy grabbed it next to the rim and shot it completely over the rim. Just threw it completely over the rim. We had another play that was close and we had a layup and we missed – like, could not get it in the basket on a pass. Then all the sudden they come down: 3, 3. That’s when you find out, ‘OK guys, do you understand those plays matter? That play right there, this play right here.’ Then when they make a 3 you don’t panic and come down and shoot a quick one. We’re learning that. I expect that we’ll play better, but you don’t know if you’re going to win or lose until you win or lose. We’ll get them ready and see what happens.”
