Austin Hollins played 38 minutes against Nebraska-Omaha.
Here are my post game notes, as always, not verbatim, but the best I could get down.
Austin Hollins:
(On Andre Hollins hitting 1000 points) It felt good, he’s like a brother to us, proud of him.
It was just a matter of guarding the 3, that killed us earlier on. That was huge, they didn’t make any 3’s the second half.
It was just a miscommunication (on not guarding the 3), we did a better job in the 2nd half
We’ve been working extremely hard over the past 10 days, we knew they were a good team, they had the mindset they’d beat us, and we had to be prepared for that.
On Malik Smith- he was great tonight, he was a huge spark for us off the bench, he brought a lot of energy for us off the bench
Dre Mathieu:
Today, the tempo was in my favor….my high was 31 points in JUCO
I feel most comfortable driving to the rim a d attacking the hoop
On Malik Smith – he made some big shots, he does that though in practice.*
On Pitino at the half – He was extremely upset, we weren’t following the game plan. He told us there was nothing else to do but guard the 3.
Malik Smith:
(On how he gets better shooting) I would say just repetition, a lot of people come in and expect their shots to fall, but you need to put the work in.
As a young kid, not being the tallest guy, I had to step back and take shots.
I could step one step inside the half court line and shoot it comfortably.*
Andre Hollins:
Gotta give them credit, they shot unbelievable in the 1st half.
I settled in last game we play, and I need to attack more. I need to finish my free throws
I’m more excited about the double-double than 1000 points. Last time I had a double-double was in high school.*
Richard Pitino:
• I thought that was a really good win for us. I have a lot of respect for them, they were picked at the bottom of their league. If they’re the bottom of the Summit league, that’s a really really good league.
• Andre Hollins did an unbelievable job or rebounding, he got 10 boards, and got to the line more. It was a great win for us.
• That was pretty unique, I think they only had 4 2 point baskets in the 1st half. They are very tough to guard, they had Iowa beat, UNLV beat on the road, gotta give them a lot of credit.
• I was playing both man and zone in the 1st half, it was about 1/2 and 1/2. We played 23 possessions of man, and 13 as zone. They were hitting more 3’s against our man than against our zone.
|• We all talked, and said we need to stop giving up 3’s – but our guys got out there a little bit sooner. We stopped the 3 the 2nd half.
• On Malik Smith – That’s what he is, he takes big shots. I felt that he could come from FIU to this level, he’s got unbelievable confidence. One he settles down and gets comfortable. IT’s a really good story, he came to us at FIU with really no scholarship offers (he may said he did), and now he’s playing in the Big 10 and he’s a really good player.
• DeAndre with 27 points, certainly, you don’t expect that night in and night out. Those 2 guys (Smith and Mathieu), they play fearlessly. We need to get Andre and Austin to play that fearlessly. Malik and Mathieu believe they are unbelievable players.
• Malik at FIU wasn’t even picked all-league, he believed he was the best player in the league. As long as they defend and work hard, I’ll give them all the offensive freedom in the world.
• I yelled at Dre Hollins for traveling, and he said “what about my rebounds?” and I said that made up for it.
• The worst thing you can ever do is show a coach you can do it, then we’ll expect it from you (Dre rebounding). He’s a phenomenal kid, he showed great toughness and leadership today.
• (On Dre Hollins) Last game, he was shooting way too many jumpers, he needs to get to the foul line 8-10 times a game, he was much more confident offensively. He had a great sophomore season, and everyone is game planning for him, they weren’t doing that as much for Austin.
• The 4’s and 5’s need to get more steals. They need to come up and rotate better, Elliott did a good job of that. He’s a very consistent player, he’s one of the tops in block percentages, and rebound %, it doesn’t always look pretty with him.
• Certainly we can’t rely on scoring 92 points a game, but to have Malik coming off the bench with 19 points…what I’m proud of is 0 turnovers.