Jan. 31, 2011
– Opening Statement
Iman Shumpert continues to play some really outstanding basketball for our team. Certainly we didn’t get the result that we wanted but I felt like our guys competed pretty hard. We are just looking forward to playing Miami on Thursday.
On if other members of the team were sick
Iman was a little out of it yesterday morning but I think by game time he was fine. He actually did not complete the shoot-around yesterday, he just wasn’t feeling up to it but I think by game time he was fine.
On how he can try to create a spark for road games
We have tried some different things, getting to the arena the day before the game to do some shooting. Obviously, when you are traveling during the week the academic schedule kind of puts you in a pretty much same schedule the whole time. You’ve got to leave after classes, whether you practice in the morning before you leave or practice after like we are doing tomorrow, we are practicing after classes and then you get into your shoot-around. On the weekends we have tried some different things, but obviously we just have to go out and play better.
On the improvement of Glen Rice Jr. and comparing him to his father
It’s just like anybody else, he is getting older and getting more mature, getting games under his belt. I think he is a very talented player, he helped us last year tremendously down the end of the season to get to the tournament. This year he has become a much more consistent player just through again maturity and experience. Comparing him to his dad, I would say he is probably better off of the dribble, more of a creator, and he’s an excellent passer. Particularly in zones, you can put him in the middle of the zone and he can really make things happen for your ball club. I think he is capable of being a great shooter; his dad obviously was one of the best shooters that has ever played college basketball, one of the best shooters I have ever seen in my life. But I don’t know what the numbers were. I know when I have talked to his dad he has said that his freshmen year he played maybe 12 minutes a game and then his sophomore year he gradually started getting more playing time. I would be curious to compare the numbers, I don’t know off the top of my head what the numbers look like as freshmen and sophomores.
On Nate Hicks’ timeframe for a return and the development of Daniel Miller
Well Nate [Hicks] had an appendectomy last Wednesday and they think he will be out at least two weeks, maybe three. In regards to the development, I think a guy like Daniel Miller is starting to gain some confidence and starting to realize that he can compete with pretty much all of the guys he is going to go up against. Last night, I thought he got off to a slow start, I think he was trying to give too much respect to Jordan Williams. Obviously Jordan is having a great year, but I think after the game Daniel was genuinely disappointed in how he started the game and his approach to the game. What you hope is, you consider the fact that he is a freshmen and he is going to learn from this and get better. I walked out of the building with him last night after everybody was gone and I could just tell that he was pretty down on himself. He just didn’t think that he came into the game with a level of confidence and aggression that he should have but again, I think he will learn from it.
