Damon Stoudamire media avail via zoom from College Station where the Jackets are holding up riding out the storm since yesterday. They will bus up to Dallas later today.
On the adjustment to being on the road for an extra 24+ hours
“We are preparing for the road and I like the road and we all had a bad taste in our mouthes after the last game. We wwant to prepare for the next game. We worked out at TAMU today and will head up to Dallas today. Practice has been hard with our bodies and we are limited to one hour and we will go up to SMU and have another workout up there today.
On the D
We implemented some things and collectively taking more pride and helping each other out more. that is what team defense is and we’ve given ourselves chances to win games. The Duke game got away from us a bit in the first half we did good and fought, the next four games after the break we’ve done a good job defensively and won three of those games. Defense travels and we will play a lot of road games and I’m proud of our guys.
On SMU’s FTs and rebounding
It is an emphasis, SMU is a good ball club, I think keeping them off the offensive glass is important and we have some challenges I’m looking forward to. I’m excited to play against these guys. It is crazy to look at it, last year at this time our record was a little bit better and we came out of the break and lost 3 of 4 and this time we’ve won 3 of 4 and I feel better abou where we are moving forward. We are going to be able to be in games, it is a matter of finishing games. SMU is a great challenge and they have a good record but caught two of the best in the league in Duke and UNC can be really good when their guards are on.
(Matt) Cross starts the game at the three instead of the four like he played at UMass and (Boopie) Miller is really good.
On the low assists number vs Syracuse
I was disappointed in general, the ball movement wasn’t there and the side to side movement since we came back. We didn’t have a slot drive corner three in the game and didn’t shoot one. A lot of things happened in that game that we haven’t been doing. We have to have the spacing and share the ball and we’ve talked about it the last couple of games. It is rare you watch film the offense didn’t play well enough, but defensively we played well enough. We can’t revert back to what we do.
On Duncan Powell returning home
Duncan is ready to go, he didn’t have the game he wanted against Syracuse, what I get disappointed about is I see more in them than they see in themselves, the disappointing thing wasn’t you didn’t score the ball the way you wanted, but was more about him helping rebounding the ball, four points and six or seven rebounds then his scoring broke out. He did a good job going small playing Eddie Lampkin going small, he has a lot to give. I want him to play well and not just score, but he brings toughness and swagger we need.
On injury updates and missing guys
No updates, the biggest thing is, it is never an inditement on guys who are out, you got what you got, Wacie has another doctor’s appointment in a week or week in a half and Luke I’m not sure on him.
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