Penn State Men's Basketball
Bucknell Head Coach Nathan Davis - Postgame Press Conference
Penn State vs Bucknell - November 19, 2019
Opening Statement: Congratulations to Coach Chambers' established team. I think they obviously played well tonight and I think they've got a good team. Fifth year back, obviously being so close I follow them pretty closely. I don't think there's any question this has the potential to be his best team he's had here. Very dynamic offensively, good size to compete defensively so it's always tough. I thought our guys fought, I thought we tried, I thought we gave everything we had and at the end of the day they were just able to make a few more plays. Stevens is tremendous and they kind of fed off him.
Q: How do you prepare for the opening, two or three minutes in the second half, you probably know that they're going to come out that way?
A: I mean, I think the end of the first half to the beginning of the second half kind of set the tone for the way the game was going to finish. They came out and were a lot more aggressive. Stevens had obviously made it a point that he was going to be really aggressive and got eight quick points to set the tone. We have to be more locked in ourselves. We have to do a better job of forcing off of spots and then conversely, not only scoring, you got to make sure you get good shots. I know we didn't have very good possessions to start that half, so they go from a three-point game to an 11-point game.
Q: My follow up to that, you guys used your timeouts pretty well in the first half. You were able to get some runs when you called the timeout is there any idea why you weren't able to build any momentum in the second half off the timeouts?
A: I could make something up if I had the answer but when it happened obviously, we could have done better. First off, you have to give them credit. I thought they came out with a laser like focus and purpose for what they were doing, and we didn't respond as well as we could have. That starts with me, I have to do a better job of coaching and preparing them to handle those situations. It's five games in, there's a long way to go. We're not nearly as good as we want to be and I'm sure they aren't either, so we'll get back and work on it.
Q: Do you have a specific plan for how do you want your guys to go about defending Mike Watkins and how do you feel like he adapted that as the game went on?
A: Well, I think that he's a good player. He's very quick, he's strong so when he's in it they play within themselves. I think that up until this year, he hadn't been shooting as well. He shot pretty well so far this year from three, but I think he fits nicely and it's a team game. What they've done is, you've got Stevens who can play inside out, really tough matchup for anyone, and then Watkins in there with the size that he has and the post. They spread you out, they've got four guys on a floor that can make shots. So, it's kind of like you had to pick your poison. With that you can double but, they've shown they're pretty unselfish. They're going to kick out and get open for threes. You try and play one-on-one but he's backing you in, so I mean I give them a lot of credit. The way they're playing and the pieces they have, they're tough to guard. You kind of have to pick your poison with what you're going to do. I think that the first thing you had to do was keeping him from getting the ball and he is so strong; we had a tough time getting around and at times and keeping it out of there.