1/12/09
Billy Kennedy's opening statement...
Obviously we're disappointed with the loss against Austin Peay. I thought we played really hard. I though it was a great defensive struggle.
I thought the beginning of the game was more of a problem for us than the end of the game. We didn't come out with the intensity at the point guard spot. We just... The physicalness, we didn't start the game out like we needed to.
Therefore we were in a situation at the end where it was a possession by possession game and we have to be up. We had opportunities tobe up 4,5,6,7 points and we have to do that against good teams.
Why do you think you had a rough start?
The ones I'm disappointed in is the older guys. We only start one senior and we're having to play five new guys more than I anticipated. Obviously n ot having Tony Easley, not having Jewuan Long, and Marvin Williams quitting before the season... We're just playing a lot of new guys.
Ivan Aska at times plays like a freshman and at times he shows that he's talented enough to be one of the better players in the league.
We got beat on the glass early and Caleb Brown really took it to Kevin Thomas and he didn't respond well. That's something that we have to address.
Did Drake Reed push Jeff out of the way or did he fall down?
He threw him out of the way. But that's part of it. We can't be in that situation. Just like at Martin and Morehead... All these games that come down to the end. When you have opportunities to be up and should be up you need to be up. Otherwise you're in a situation where a call here or a free throw here... A number of situations didn't go our way and against good teams you've got to be better than that.
What's the timetable for Tony Easley?
He's supposed to get an MRI today. He's not 100 percent. He hasn't been able to jump or run consistently off it. They said he can't hurt himself any worse. That's why he's dressing out in case we need him in an emergency. But he hasn't practiced at full strength in the last 2 1/2 weeks.
A lot of these games come down to just not shooting straight. Danero Thomas and Tyler Holloway aren't shooting nearly as well as they did last year. What do you think is going on there?
We obviously don't know what's wrong. Danero's percentages in conference are probably lower than anyone in the league who was a preseason all-conference selection. He's just struggling shooting the ball. people are doing a better job defending him and he's not getting very many easy baskets.
Tyler Holloway shot almost 50 percent from three last year and the first half against Austin Peay he had great looks. He's going to have to make more.
The disappointments are the older guys, They're not playing like they did last year. The younger guys we knew would have some struggles. But that's been a concern.
We keep being as positive as possible. We keep shooting as many shots as possible in practice. And we just hope that we'll break through.
You just want them to keep shooting?
We don't have a plan B. Plan B is two freshmen and they're getting minutes. Defensively Danero's done a good job. He's averaging four or five rebounds a game and he's playing hard. His attitude's good. I wish I could tell you we had somebody who could do those things and make shots. Right now, consistently we don't have that.
Has the new three-point line affected anything?
You know I think all across the country it's had an affect. I didn't think so before the year. But it's definitely had an affect. The really good shooters are still shooting it at a pretty good level. But I think it's had an affect on our team some.
Do you think this team feels a little pressure?
They're more in a hurry for whatever reason. Some of that has to with guys just stepping up. We haven't established a go to guy. We've tried different guys but we haven't gotten consistent play from everybody. And the schedule had a lot to do with it.
We played on the road and didn't develop any consistency. We had injuries. We're not mature enough or experienced enough or maybe talented enough to overcome that right now. But we have a lot of games left.
I tried to tell our guys last night... We're not in terrible shape. We have to win games but we've played three games on the road in conference play. Five of our first seven are on the road.
We've had the lead in the last four minutes of every game. We've got to get better the first 36 minutes so we're not in that position every game. When you go down to the last three minutes of every game and most of those games are on the road you're not going to get a lot of breaks. And we haven't gotten those breaks.
We still have 13 games left in conference play/ We're playing five new guys, five first year Division I players. Well four. Isacc Miles did play two years ago at Creighton.
We're having to count on those guys more than we want to and we just hope the older guys will step up.
What kind of challenge does Jacksonville State offer you?
Their athleticism and quickness is a challenge. And they shoot the ball extremely well from three. They're a better team than they've been the last couple of years.
Our biggest challenge is to continue to fight and stay together. They're playing hard and staying together and their attitude is good. Our focus is more on ourselves. Jacksonville State's athleticism and quickness is probably the biggest adjustment.
Are you surprised at how well they've done?
I said all along I thought they would be better. They had good young talent last year. They had one really good win at UMass but the rest of those games they were very capable of winning. So I'm not surprised. They're well coached, better than they were last year.
What will you focus on in your preparations?
We're going to keep shooting and just be as positive as we can with our guys. We've got to try to get the ball inside more. When you're struggling shooting the ball from the perimeter you've got to go inside-out. So we'll try to get the ball inside a little more.
We hope to have Tony Easley on Thursday. He feels better. He was averaging nine points and five rebounds before he got hurt. If you take that off of our team that's a big minus.