Men's Basketball
North Florida Coaches Press Conference
vs. Penn State - November 9, 2018
North Florida Head Coach Matthew Driscoll
Opening Statement:
Obviously being a Pittsburgh guy, it really is an honor to be here. Growing up for 32 years in the city, the love for this University and for what you guys stand for and the many friends that I've had that have come through this University, it's an honor to be here. We're grateful that you guys had us. Obviously you've got a lot going on. You've got hockey, you've got cross country today and I think you have football tomorrow at noon. We don't have football, so I don't have to worry about that. One thing is if McDonald comes back that's great; I think it really gives you a lot of depth and a lot of opportunities, but in my opinion the way they play and the way Coach [Chambers] has them playing, they are very unselfish, and because of that you always have to have that one guy. I think they respect that.
It says in a book that I read that some people are planters and some people are waterers. If you don't worry about who is planting and who is watering everything else will take care of itself as long as you are all going for the same purpose. I think your guys do a great job of understanding that Lamar Stevens is a stud, and he needs the ball, he needs to score and he needs to make plays. Now, he doesn't mean to be a pig, but he needs to do those things. I think your guys really have embraced that and understand that. I think because of that Myles Dread, Rasir Bolton, Josh Reaves, they get so many plays and can do so many things because they understand that Lamar Stevens is they guy. Because of that, you have well-balanced guys taking shots. A lot of guys take shots, and John Harrar and Trent Buttrick are good roll guys, but I told them in the game that Jamari Wheeler, he is one of the best roll guys that I have ever seen. After 10 years we've played a gazillion of you guys, and I've never seen a guy that accepts his role like him. He reminds me of the guard from Michigan State, he couldn't score, Tum Tum [Nairn Jr.]. He reminds me of TumTum. He defends; he does what he's supposed to do. If he's open he'll take the three, but he's not trying to do anything except give other guys shots, and I really respect him. He really is critical for you guys. The way you guys play, compared to the way you played - I thought your NIT run really lifted you guys, and really helped John Harrar get on the map since Mike Watkins was hurt, and Trent Buttrick as well.
I think you guys really understand that sharing the sugar is really critical. To our guys' credit we don't quit. What was really disappointing was with eight minutes to go it was an 11 point game, and you got a chance to cut it to six or cut it to eight and their sphincter gets a little tight. Next thing you know the ball doesn't go in, and you get some more rebounds and we're going downhill. To your guys' credit you flipped it and scored 16 points from one media to the other. That's a great sign for an experienced group of guys that understands what it takes when a team is hanging around.
Q: You had your defense double up a lot on whoever had the ball, is that your standard defensive approach?
A: I wouldn't use the word standard. We try to switch it up and do as many things as we can to keep people off balance. It was great for Dayton the other night. It worked really well, and at times tonight it worked well. We caught some turnovers from you guys, we caught some indecisions. The one thing that goes back to having the kind of team you have is now you get out of it, now you keep it hot, next thing you know, good-better-best, never let it rest, and then boom-boom-boom. You guys got a couple wide open threes or even layups at the rim. So it's not a standard, but it is something we thought was effective at times, it just wasn't all the time.
Q: You stayed committed to the three, was there something Penn State did defensively to make it ineffective, or was it just an off-night shooting?
A: I would never want to discredit anyone for whatever their scheme was or whatever they did, and out athletic director is here and he sits right there at the table in the games, but I've got to think that we missed a lot of wide-open threes, or threes that we normally make. We stay committed to it. We want to take 25 to 30 a game. Now, we did take some bad ones. That's why some guys came out. We looked like a revolving door for a little bit. Those are threes we make. We are really good at that, that's what we do. Those are daggers. That's when 11 becomes eight and now eight becomes five, here we go. It's part of our DNA.
Q: Lamar Stevens seemed to be seeking out contact in the first half and trying to seek out post-ups. Did you make that switch late in the first half and in the second half to go with Ezekiel to try to counteract that?
A: Yeah, obviously he's 235, athletic and strong. Noah did a good job, but if you really look at what our biggest problem was, the two guys that really can guard him both got into foul trouble. Now you've got freshmen on him at one time, so we really had no choice since those guys were in foul trouble, but to his credit he was a man and he didn't back down. The one thing we wanted him to do was to shoot over us. We were okay if he was going to shoot over us. I don't know if he meant to bank that one, but he banked one in. We wanted him to shoot over us, not spin and get the rim to get one in like he did in the first half. We did do some good things with him. He is a beast now. He's a beast.