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Mar 5 - Luke Murray Postgame · Coaches Corner

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joined now by Luke Murray, you kind assistant. Well, coach,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: we had three games in a row in this building
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: that came down to these final possessions, and the Huskies
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: get it done today. And I think the experience of
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: all these close games, somehow you can summarize it by saying,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: you're learning as you go to play in these close,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: tough games.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean hopefully. You know, I thought we took
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: a big step forward in terms of taking care of
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: the ball, you know, first and foremost. That was obviously
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: something that plagued us in this building against Saint John's
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: not as much in the in the Creton game that
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: we lost here, but you know, a big step forward
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: obviously in relation to how we played out in Milwaukee
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: as well.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: The Huskies in this one trailed at halftime. Let's talk
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: about that, because most teams go in the locker room
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: you're down. You look at the stats around the country,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: most teams don't bounce back from that. What do you
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: do at halftime to regroup even though you're down four,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: you're still down. When you try to regroup and set things.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Right, Well, I know, you know, I lost my mind
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: on him at halftime, and so did Coach Haarley, We
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: were really disappointed with the way that we ended the half.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: You know, we thought we played pretty good ball for
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: the first fifteen minutes or so of the first half,
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: you know, and built a little bit of a cushion,
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: and then just made some really timely mistakes down the stretch,
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: got beat to the ball two or three times, gave
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: up a series of offensive rebounds, and then we just
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: had a really breakdown. On the last possession. We had
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: two fouls to give and we had talked about in
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: the time out taking those fouls, and we didn't execute
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: that properly. We gave up a basket to end the half,
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: which was really disappointing.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that stuff could cost you, boy, down the stretch
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: of any season. Second half, you come out, you shot
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: forty percent as a team. It's hard to win a
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: game shooting forty percent. How did you do that?
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: I mean, we really battled on the glass, you know.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: I think to be plus fifteen on the glass to
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: get nineteen offensive rebounds, to put ourselves in a position
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: to shoot fourteen free throws in the second half, which
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: we didn't shoot any in the first half. I thought
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: that helped us overcome you know, some of our struggles
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: from the perimeter, but yeah, I mean I thought the
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: guys really scrapped. It wasn't necessarily the most beautiful game
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: that we've played all year, but our ability to take
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: care of the ball was huge, And then I think
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: we were fortunate to agreed that they didn't shoot as
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: well as they're capable of shooting. But I thought our
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: switching defense, particularly in the second half, was really really good.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: You know, we held them to five assists in the game. Obviously,
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: he was a tough three point shooting night from them,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: So for us to guard the way that we did
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: in the second half was huge, and I think that
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: helped us overcome some cold shooting from our end.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Luke Murray will us. You know, when you say switching,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: when big guys have to stand there and look at
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Cam Jones or people like that, that's a hell of
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: an assignment, isn't it.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: It really is. I mean Cam Jones is, you know,
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: in my estimation, the best guard in the country, if
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: not the best, one of the best, and we have
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: tremendous respect for him, so it's tough. I mean, he's
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: such a good player. But for us, we found some
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: success with that, and there were times where, you know,
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: we didn't do it as well. You know, Samson had
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: three or four times in the first half where he
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: got scored on against the switch. Even without the switch,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: our guards were getting driven at times by him. He's
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: an excellent player, I thought quietly, Terris Reed did a
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: really good job defensively and kind of the middle part
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: of the second half keeping the ball in front using
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: his size. I thought we were really disciplined around the basket.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Marquette does a great job of shot faking and creating
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: angles around the basket to draw fowls, and I thought
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: we showed a lot of discipline in and around the rim.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah, seven block shots for the Huskies and playing this
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: kind of team where you had a crazy game the
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: first time with him, you shot lights out. You don't
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: shoot lights out, but you find a way to win
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: at this point in the season and the kind of
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: season you've had, But all these close games, is it
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: really about just finding a way to win?
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: It really is. I mean, that's all it's about. You know,
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: we talked to these guys, I mean, the Hassans and
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: the Sampson's of the of the world that have been
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: here for four years or three years in Hassan's case,
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: and you know, you got two more games left in
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: your career in Gamble Pavilion. I mean, you got to
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: be willing to empty the tank and give it everything
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: that you possibly have. And I thought they did that,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: you know, particularly in the second half. Alex was huge.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Sampson I thought did a great job of battling Hassan,
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: you know, was hobbled a little bit out there today,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: but I thought he put up a great fight and
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: spent a lot of times guarding Jones. So really proud
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: of the guys. You know, again, I thought they really
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: showed late in the game how badly they wanted this one.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: And this team. And I've been saying this for a
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: couple of weeks. You may not agree with me on this.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: I feel like this team could be dangerous because you've
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: had all these close games, You've been kind of beaten
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: down early in the year, you've been knocked out of
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: the rankings, no one's paying attention to you, kN forget
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: about two you know, national championships in a row. It's
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: now and it just feels like that this team could
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: be dangerous here in the next couple of weeks.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: I mean, I hope, so, I mean, obviously we think so,
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: you know, I don't know why people wouldn't necessarily be
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: paying attention to us. I think they should be. But yeah,
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: I mean we've had some some struggles along the way. Obviously,
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: Maley was challenging. You know, you look at where we
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: are now at twenty one and nine, thirteen and six
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: in the conference. How easily, how easily could we be
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: you know, with fifteen wins in the league, you know,
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: going into Marquette at twenty three and seven, you know,
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: trying to go I mean, excuse me, going in a
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: Seaton Hall at twenty three and seven and trying to
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: get our sixteenth win at the conference season. So I
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: know that it works both ways a little bit. And
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: we've had some fortune as well. But you know, we
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: really believe in this team and hopefully we can start
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: playing our best basketball right now.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah. And when you wouldn't like this, Luke, you just
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: start to believe in each other, don't.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: You, absolutely absolutely? And you know, and I think individually,
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: you know, a guy like Alex who had you know,
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: has had some struggles throughout the course of the year,
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: ups and downs, you know, took some criticism, really lost
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: a little bit of confidence at times. I think moments
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: like this for him to step up and make that
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: shot one of the biggest shots of his career as
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: far as regular season games go, I think that that
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: will give him a great lift and you know, we're
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: gonna need the collective to be to be really strong here.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and finally McNeely four of eighteen tonight. I mean,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: a game like this, can that help him? It sounds
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: like a strange thing to ask, but you know what
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: I'm saying. You were always crunch time games. Yeah, he doesn't,
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: you know, score a bunch, but you win the ball
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: game anyway.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I don't know that his performance today had much
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: to do with, you know, the game being tight or
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: it being a really good opponent. I just thought he
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: played poorly. You know, I didn't really like the way
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: that he played. I mean, he got off to a
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: good start, made some threes early in the game, and
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: I thought kind of fell in love with that a
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: little bit, and took two or three sort of semi
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: tested ones where I thought he could have gotten a
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: better shot, and because of those misses than when he
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: did get an open one later he was not really
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: in the same kind of rhythm, and then he missed
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: some shots around the basket that I know he can make.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: But you know, defensively, they were breakdowns as well. So
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: you know, I have we as a coaching staff, have
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: tremendous belief in Liam. You know, we think he's one
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: of the best players in college basketball. And he had
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: a tough night, and I think, you know, it shows
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: the strength of the group. They were able to find
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: a way to get it done, and I know that
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: he'll be ready to bounce back against Seat Hall.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe something like dismotivates a guy.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, I think it's more that, you know, he
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: holds himself to a high standard. I know he's disappointed
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: in his play, and I expect to see a much
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: better performance next time out.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: All right, coach, can't wait to see you on the weekend.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Seat in Hall, We got a little business to do
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: with them.
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: We most certainly do.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: All right, Murray, appreciate him. Your gun wins at seventy
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: two to sixty six.