Q: Mitch, now that you've officially started and come off the bench, any difference in your mindset as you enter play?
A: Not really. Just trying, trying to go out there and give my team the best chance to win in. Bring some energy to the game. I think Coach was looking for a little bit of a spark, to start with. And it's what I'm going to try and do for our guys. And hopefully, we can continue to roll. And we played a couple good games. Obviously, last game we played, we played great in stretches. And then, towards the end of the game, we had a little bit of a hiccup there. But we're working on that stuff. So we're looking forward to this next game.
Q: Have you been told yet, what's going to happen tomorrow, starting-wise or [crosstalk 00:00:58]
A: I have no idea. Honestly, either way, I think me and David, Coach, we're all pretty comfortable doing whatever's best for the team.
Q: Sure. But you've seen Texas Tech a lot in your time, and defense has always been a thing they've been known for. It seems like that's still the case, but a new coach and a new system. Does that change the approach and how you prepare for these guys?
Q: New coach, new system, yes. But he was around. He was the assistant under Beard. So you got to think that some of the stuff there will be around and lingering from the past. I got a chance to watch the... What's going on over there?
A: We'll fix that. Yeah. I got a chance to watch the Iowa State versus Texas Tech game. A couple of the guys, we were watching that, and they certainly play very hard defensively. They play hard offensively. They're missing a couple guys. I think they're missing two guys.
Q: They only had seven.
A: They only had seven guys?
Q: Yeah.
A: So yeah, that impacts the game. I don't care what people say; you only have seven guys, as opposed to your full compliment, it's going to impact games. But I think they still played super hard, and teams like that can be dangerous.
Q: Yeah. What's that, when they guard, that there's no room? There's no room to breathe.
A: Yeah. They're very long on the perimeter, and that allows them to take away driving lanes and get in the gaps. I think, from a offensive perspective, that makes the court feel a whole hell of a lot smaller. You get guys that can start to take away your vision, when it comes to seeing the post, when it comes to seeing backdoor cuts, things that, against smaller opponents, you'd be able to see and hopefully score on. But we got to make sure we understand the length of this team we're playing against and how hard they play.
Q: How difficult is playing that building?
A: Oh yeah. We talked about that yesterday. That building, that's a great atmosphere. It's one of my favorite ones in the big 12, for sure. They play so hard, it almost feels like the fans, they cheer hard with it. It's pretty cool. But nah, in all seriousness, they have a great atmosphere. Their fans are very animated. I'm excited to go back down there and play again, for sure.
Q: How's Remy seem to be with his knee?
A: I think Remy's getting better. I think he's been working really hard on it. And every time I've walked in, he's been in there working, trying to get back as fast as possible. I think him and Cheddar have been doing a good job on that. So, we'll see how it goes through this next game. Obviously, he knows better than I do, so let him figure that out. Let him figure that out.
Q: Do you enjoy playing against ex-Jayhawks like Brice? And then Tuesday night, it'll be Tristan?
A: I think it's cool to see them again, for sure. Obviously, I'd like for us to play our best basketball against them. But no, it's good to see them playing. Certainly Brice and Tristan have been playing well, so it's good to see them.
Q: Going back to Remy, is he the best passer that you've played with while you're here?
A: Best passer. I've played with some pretty good passers. I would say he's definitely up there with him. Shoot, we have two really good passes on the team right now. We've got Dajuan and Remy. So there's two guys right there, that can really distribute the ball. Devonte; great passer, as well. It's pretty hard to disagree with that one. Who else? Frank was more of a go-score-on-his-own type thing, but who else? No, I'd say Frank distributed by demanding so much respect from the defense. He almost got open, without even trying. But Devonte, Remy, Dajuan are probably three of the best passers I've played with.
Q: When you give it to your passers like that, how much does it help when you're rolling to the rim, or [crosstalk 00:05:16]
A: Oh, it makes your life so much easier. It takes a really hard pass; it makes it doable. I think you could see 'juan. As he gets more comfortable in the flow of games, you'll see him start making some passes that are something the other guys just can't do. So, him and Remy are really great at distributing the ball.
Q: It's just been a thing all year, about you guys getting off to a good start. And obviously, it happened again the other night. Can you pinpoint why you guys are so good in that first 5, 6, 10 minutes, even?
A: I would say some of that has to do with maturity, I think. You look out there, you've got a bunch of guys that have played college basketball for a while, been around this system for a while, been around, like I said, college basketball, in general. With Remy being at Arizona State for as long as he was there. I think the ability to have guys that know what they're doing, and guys that have been in these moments before, certainly helps getting off to a better start. You've got guys come off the bench that have been in positions like that before with... Remy. Or not Remy. [J Cole 00:06:26], myself. There's a lot of age. And I think it certainly helps us understand what it takes to start college basketball games correctly, which is not something easy. I think you can have games where, if you don't come out there prepared, and we've had this in the past, where you let teams get up 12 to two on you, and then you had to dig yourself out of a hole. So there's certainly something to be said for starting good. It sets the tone for the entire game.
Q: Opposed to that, at the end of the half, you [inaudible 00:06:58] out. And at the end of the game, you had the turnovers. But in neither case, you lost the lead. Talk about both of those instances and the fact that you didn't lose the lead in either of those. Is your defense getting better?
A: I think the drought is a testament to how good we played in the beginning. A testament to how good we played in the beginning, but also how not great we played in the final nine minutes and 54 seconds. I think we got stagnant. We started to be comfortable being guarded, and we needed to change that and be more aggressive and get downhill on the defense. And also, it's a combination of you missing shots, as well. And when it comes to the second half, the turnovers we had late, we got to make sure we take everything as serious as we can in practice. We do that every day in practice. We do press offense, and we need to make sure that we take that and really take that to heart. And we worked on that super hard yesterday. Really focused on that. So, we got to make sure neither one of those things happen again.
Q: Is your defense getting better?
A: I think we're getting more in sync with each other, when it comes to defense. Guards, being able to trust the big guys to come over and help alter shots is something that I think that we've got better at, in the past couple of games. Being in driving lanes. And then also, if you look even back to the George Mason game, the guards diving on the post, it takes some pressure off the big guys. But we also got to be able to dive on the post and know when cutters are cutting. I think Oklahoma State scored a couple of times off of cutters when guards were diving on the post. So, we got to work on those couple of things. Obviously, intensity's got to be ratcheted up at all times. It's not a league where you can take possessions off, defensively. So there's a couple different things we can work on, but we're definitely getting better there.
Q: People tease you about your age, in your 20, 50 or whatever. Are you better than you were in your previous years? And if so, how so?
A: I would say, different ways you can be better. And I'd say different ways, I'm, I wouldn't say not as good. But I feel like, in the past, I've been more in tune with shot blocking and stuff like that. I kind of got back towards that a little bit in the Oklahoma State game. Need to still play with that spring and that quick second jump off the floor. I think that helps our guards a lot when they can depend on someone being there to alter shots at the rim. And that allows them to maybe get bailed out if they do happen to get blown by, by playing hard defense on the perimeter. So, there's a couple different things that I can do better to help our team as a whole.
A: Not really. Just trying, trying to go out there and give my team the best chance to win in. Bring some energy to the game. I think Coach was looking for a little bit of a spark, to start with. And it's what I'm going to try and do for our guys. And hopefully, we can continue to roll. And we played a couple good games. Obviously, last game we played, we played great in stretches. And then, towards the end of the game, we had a little bit of a hiccup there. But we're working on that stuff. So we're looking forward to this next game.
Q: Have you been told yet, what's going to happen tomorrow, starting-wise or [crosstalk 00:00:58]
A: I have no idea. Honestly, either way, I think me and David, Coach, we're all pretty comfortable doing whatever's best for the team.
Q: Sure. But you've seen Texas Tech a lot in your time, and defense has always been a thing they've been known for. It seems like that's still the case, but a new coach and a new system. Does that change the approach and how you prepare for these guys?
Q: New coach, new system, yes. But he was around. He was the assistant under Beard. So you got to think that some of the stuff there will be around and lingering from the past. I got a chance to watch the... What's going on over there?
A: We'll fix that. Yeah. I got a chance to watch the Iowa State versus Texas Tech game. A couple of the guys, we were watching that, and they certainly play very hard defensively. They play hard offensively. They're missing a couple guys. I think they're missing two guys.
Q: They only had seven.
A: They only had seven guys?
Q: Yeah.
A: So yeah, that impacts the game. I don't care what people say; you only have seven guys, as opposed to your full compliment, it's going to impact games. But I think they still played super hard, and teams like that can be dangerous.
Q: Yeah. What's that, when they guard, that there's no room? There's no room to breathe.
A: Yeah. They're very long on the perimeter, and that allows them to take away driving lanes and get in the gaps. I think, from a offensive perspective, that makes the court feel a whole hell of a lot smaller. You get guys that can start to take away your vision, when it comes to seeing the post, when it comes to seeing backdoor cuts, things that, against smaller opponents, you'd be able to see and hopefully score on. But we got to make sure we understand the length of this team we're playing against and how hard they play.
Q: How difficult is playing that building?
A: Oh yeah. We talked about that yesterday. That building, that's a great atmosphere. It's one of my favorite ones in the big 12, for sure. They play so hard, it almost feels like the fans, they cheer hard with it. It's pretty cool. But nah, in all seriousness, they have a great atmosphere. Their fans are very animated. I'm excited to go back down there and play again, for sure.
Q: How's Remy seem to be with his knee?
A: I think Remy's getting better. I think he's been working really hard on it. And every time I've walked in, he's been in there working, trying to get back as fast as possible. I think him and Cheddar have been doing a good job on that. So, we'll see how it goes through this next game. Obviously, he knows better than I do, so let him figure that out. Let him figure that out.
Q: Do you enjoy playing against ex-Jayhawks like Brice? And then Tuesday night, it'll be Tristan?
A: I think it's cool to see them again, for sure. Obviously, I'd like for us to play our best basketball against them. But no, it's good to see them playing. Certainly Brice and Tristan have been playing well, so it's good to see them.
Q: Going back to Remy, is he the best passer that you've played with while you're here?
A: Best passer. I've played with some pretty good passers. I would say he's definitely up there with him. Shoot, we have two really good passes on the team right now. We've got Dajuan and Remy. So there's two guys right there, that can really distribute the ball. Devonte; great passer, as well. It's pretty hard to disagree with that one. Who else? Frank was more of a go-score-on-his-own type thing, but who else? No, I'd say Frank distributed by demanding so much respect from the defense. He almost got open, without even trying. But Devonte, Remy, Dajuan are probably three of the best passers I've played with.
Q: When you give it to your passers like that, how much does it help when you're rolling to the rim, or [crosstalk 00:05:16]
A: Oh, it makes your life so much easier. It takes a really hard pass; it makes it doable. I think you could see 'juan. As he gets more comfortable in the flow of games, you'll see him start making some passes that are something the other guys just can't do. So, him and Remy are really great at distributing the ball.
Q: It's just been a thing all year, about you guys getting off to a good start. And obviously, it happened again the other night. Can you pinpoint why you guys are so good in that first 5, 6, 10 minutes, even?
A: I would say some of that has to do with maturity, I think. You look out there, you've got a bunch of guys that have played college basketball for a while, been around this system for a while, been around, like I said, college basketball, in general. With Remy being at Arizona State for as long as he was there. I think the ability to have guys that know what they're doing, and guys that have been in these moments before, certainly helps getting off to a better start. You've got guys come off the bench that have been in positions like that before with... Remy. Or not Remy. [J Cole 00:06:26], myself. There's a lot of age. And I think it certainly helps us understand what it takes to start college basketball games correctly, which is not something easy. I think you can have games where, if you don't come out there prepared, and we've had this in the past, where you let teams get up 12 to two on you, and then you had to dig yourself out of a hole. So there's certainly something to be said for starting good. It sets the tone for the entire game.
Q: Opposed to that, at the end of the half, you [inaudible 00:06:58] out. And at the end of the game, you had the turnovers. But in neither case, you lost the lead. Talk about both of those instances and the fact that you didn't lose the lead in either of those. Is your defense getting better?
A: I think the drought is a testament to how good we played in the beginning. A testament to how good we played in the beginning, but also how not great we played in the final nine minutes and 54 seconds. I think we got stagnant. We started to be comfortable being guarded, and we needed to change that and be more aggressive and get downhill on the defense. And also, it's a combination of you missing shots, as well. And when it comes to the second half, the turnovers we had late, we got to make sure we take everything as serious as we can in practice. We do that every day in practice. We do press offense, and we need to make sure that we take that and really take that to heart. And we worked on that super hard yesterday. Really focused on that. So, we got to make sure neither one of those things happen again.
Q: Is your defense getting better?
A: I think we're getting more in sync with each other, when it comes to defense. Guards, being able to trust the big guys to come over and help alter shots is something that I think that we've got better at, in the past couple of games. Being in driving lanes. And then also, if you look even back to the George Mason game, the guards diving on the post, it takes some pressure off the big guys. But we also got to be able to dive on the post and know when cutters are cutting. I think Oklahoma State scored a couple of times off of cutters when guards were diving on the post. So, we got to work on those couple of things. Obviously, intensity's got to be ratcheted up at all times. It's not a league where you can take possessions off, defensively. So there's a couple different things we can work on, but we're definitely getting better there.
Q: People tease you about your age, in your 20, 50 or whatever. Are you better than you were in your previous years? And if so, how so?
A: I would say, different ways you can be better. And I'd say different ways, I'm, I wouldn't say not as good. But I feel like, in the past, I've been more in tune with shot blocking and stuff like that. I kind of got back towards that a little bit in the Oklahoma State game. Need to still play with that spring and that quick second jump off the floor. I think that helps our guards a lot when they can depend on someone being there to alter shots at the rim. And that allows them to maybe get bailed out if they do happen to get blown by, by playing hard defense on the perimeter. So, there's a couple different things that I can do better to help our team as a whole.
