Andre Hollins was on fire early, hitting his first three 3-point attempts and he finished with 24 points.
As always, these are not verbatim, just as fast as I can type!
Oto
One of our main goals in practice is to stop the 3, we’ve done w good job of that 6-22, that’s a good.
On how his shot has improved since last year – Last year, every time I missed he’d (Tubby) tried to change something up, this year, coach just let’s us shoot. Positive reinforcement.
Dre Mathieu
I think we are shooting really well, once Mav and Malik get it going.
I think our intensity, we hit teams in the mouth early and don’t look back
We didn’t get as many fast break points as we normally do, it worked effectively.*
Maverick
On the dealing with the zone more effectively – Our team chemistry is a lot better and we have shooters in every position. That really spaces our the floor for us, and lets us get rebounds.*
Austin Hollins
On the dealing with the zone more effectively – We attack the zone like we attack the man now. A lot of teams try to slow us down, we don’t let them, we attack the basket and get some quick buckets.
Andre Hollins
I’m going to try to use the hand checking rule to my advantage
On being a Naismith finalist – I feel good about it, I have a lot if work to do, I haven’t done anything yet. I believe in these guys, they’re like family.
On the team – We can talk to each other, we can get on each other, compete, use constructive criticism.
I helped Dre out, I knew what it was like to be pg leading the team for the last 2 year
I’m always looking to score. It opens the rest of your game up. I’m definitive looking to score more than in the past. Now I’m a senior, looking to score.*
Richard Pitino:
• I was really happy with our guys performance tonight because I have a lot of respect for Montana, they have been to 3/4 NCAA tournaments, and 4 post seasons in a row.
• We didn’t shoot it great in the 1st half, but we came back at 52% in the 2nd half. We didn’t have a post presence in the 1st half because we were in foul trouble.
• Obviously, +16 on the glass would be great. I guess Austin had his 1st career double-double, and Oto did a good job, they all pulled together to make up for Mo Walker.
• When DeAndre is playing well, like he is, Andre is great on the perimeter. If we keep getting those guys to elevate their game, we’re going to get a lot better.
• DeAndre played JUCO, but not used to this level, he brings it every single day at practice. He keeps putting pressure on the defense, that’s the biggest thing, he does that more than any guy on the team.
• I don’t think there’s any guy on the team that can’t shoot the ball, we’re a very good shooting team.
• Overall we did a pretty good job of defending the 3.
• We emphasize it so much (defending the 3) – we had some issues in the exhibition games where we wouldn’t even challenge him.
• Austin is really good at getting fouled, if he can shoot a good % from the line, he can steal a few points from the line.
• Andre Hollins – I challenged him, and his mentality, if you want to be a pro, you’re a borderline pro, you need to have the mentality that every single day you come up and be a pro. His focus was great today. I think him and Austin Hollins. If we can get him to be as aggressive
• I had Austin at the 4, and he was playing an uncomfortable spot. I think that as we get into Richmond, but they’re only going to get bigger and stronger. We can’t rely on Austin playing the 4 all the time. Match-up wise, it is tough to guard him on the perimeter. I don’t think we can rely on it too much.
• DeAndre hasn’t done it on the road, in a hostile environment, that’s something we have not seen.