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00:00 like offensively, strength together.
00:02 You rebounding him, taking a break, catching passes,
00:06 what would y'all do well together?
00:08 - I feel like it's everything, like it's honestly like,
00:10 he, first of all, Scott, he's a great leader,
00:12 so we all just feed off of him.
00:14 He can do everything, he can rebound, he can push,
00:15 he's unselfish, and he can get a bucket at any time,
00:17 so we just try to feed off that.
00:19 He's always leading us on defense first,
00:20 I feel like that's how we win games, game stops.
00:23 And with him, when we need to slow the game down
00:24 and be more cerebral with that time in the game,
00:27 he definitely can take care of that for us.
00:28 - And what about you, what's your offensive skills?
00:30 What do you need?
00:31 People here haven't really seen you,
00:33 they've heard about you, but, you know,
00:35 they wanna know what you do.
00:36 - Yeah, I really just wanna win,
00:38 so I feel like if there's no really a role
00:40 or a specific how I play, it's just,
00:42 I feel like I'm a winning player,
00:43 so if they need me to go get 10 rebounds, no points,
00:46 I can do that, if they need me to go get 15 points
00:48 and 10 rebounds, you know, that's whatever I need,
00:50 so I feel like the team trusts me,
00:51 put me in a lot of positions to make that happen,
00:53 and we'll see this year.
00:54 - When you got really serious about basketball
00:56 heading into high school, was there someone
00:58 who kept pushing you to reach the level that you're at,
01:00 maybe a coach or maybe a family member?
01:02 - Definitely just my immediate family,
01:04 you know, my mom and my dad,
01:05 but I really just try to push myself, honestly,
01:08 'cause nobody in my family has really made it further,
01:10 you know, in college and playing sports,
01:12 so I just wanna just keep pushing that barrier for myself.
01:15 - Yeah, how hard has it been to, you know,
01:17 go from, to go from Texas to the West Coast
01:20 and then now across the country again back here to Wolf?
01:23 - It's definitely been an adjustment for sure,
01:24 going from Texas, my slow pace life,
01:26 and then moving right at the peak of my, you know, prime
01:29 when I'm a freshman in high school, I'm excited,
01:32 and I have to go all the way to the West Coast,
01:33 so it's definitely an adjustment,
01:35 a faster-paced life, but out here, it was good out there,
01:38 I made a lot of connections,
01:39 I learned how to work on my own sometimes,
01:41 'cause I didn't have a lot of family,
01:42 but out here it's more that family vibe,
01:44 slow down pace, and the team,
01:46 we're all brothers on and off the court,
01:47 so I'm back in that home feeling, it feels good.
01:49 - Were you just a pro-life, like,
01:51 right by yourself when you moved up there?
01:53 - It was me and my dad, but just like,
01:55 by myself, I mean, like, I can't go to my auntie's house,
01:58 I can't go to my cousin's, you know, stuff like that.
02:01 - What have you found different here?
02:03 - Than what?
02:04 - In the California? - In California?
02:06 - Yeah, yeah, like I said earlier,
02:08 it's more like, being from Dallas,
02:09 I have, like, that more, I grew up on family, that's me,
02:12 but in LA, it was more fast-paced,
02:14 what's next, what's poppin', you know what I'm sayin',
02:16 like, what's in the light, and being an SE,
02:18 it was like that too, you know,
02:20 the football team was super good,
02:22 so it's just always in the light,
02:23 and over here, it's more like, you're in the light,
02:25 but you have people supporting you too,
02:26 I know it sounds cliche, but that's really how I feel,
02:28 like, I feel like I got a family,
02:29 it's more of a slow-paced thing, yeah.
02:32 - What can we expect, I know I heard you saying earlier,
02:35 10 rebounds and no points, it's okay,
02:37 but the US, they have to get 15 points and 10 rebounds,
02:40 is that the kind of player that you prefer?
02:42 - Definitely, yeah, I definitely wanna be
02:44 an unselfish player, I wanna be able to show
02:45 that I can do everything, I feel like in this time
02:48 in Asian basketball, everybody has a score,
02:50 everybody can lead, I feel like I can do the small things,
02:52 like, I can get my teammates goin',
02:54 I know what ticks them, I know how to get them
02:56 in that mode when they're attacking,
02:58 I can get my teammates goin' on defense,
03:00 and on offense, of course, I can score when needed,
03:02 and rebound when needed, but I feel like
03:03 it's the smaller things that can make our team better
03:05 that most players don't do.
03:07 - This is a team that, obviously, last year,
03:09 you're familiar with it now, what went on,
03:10 and Kenny Payne, he said, he's put it out on the table,
03:14 for you guys, 'cause guys, I mean,
03:16 most of this team wasn't even here,
03:17 for those guys who weren't, what can you take
03:19 from last year, what do you guys learn from last year?
03:22 - Definitely, just, when we first got to campus as a team,
03:25 we would all talk after every workout,
03:27 after every practice, we would all talk,
03:29 just players only, just like, what happened last year,
03:31 what you think went wrong, and what do you think
03:33 could've went better, and then add it on to this year,
03:35 what are your expectations, so I feel like
03:36 it all starts with just, our relationship,
03:39 on and off the court, I feel like we put everything
03:42 on the table, there's no egos, there's no none of that,
03:44 so I feel like that's one of the biggest adjustments
03:46 for me, on the court-wise, it just all shows,
03:49 when there's no egos, you wanna play for each other.
03:51 When you come down, you have an open layup,
03:53 but you got somebody in the corner,
03:55 I feel like we should make that play,
03:56 you know, that's two is better than one,
03:57 you know what I'm saying?
03:58 - Yeah, Scott said the other, you know,
04:01 a couple days ago, or a week or so ago,
04:03 that this team has a new identity,
04:05 what would you say, how would you describe
04:06 the identity of this team?
04:07 - I feel like our identity is definitely
04:08 gonna be a defensive team, I feel like we're gonna be
04:10 one of the best defensive teams in all of college basketball,
04:13 I feel like we're gonna be one of the most
04:14 fast-paced teams this year, I feel like we're gonna be
04:16 one of the most unselfish teams this year,
04:18 I feel like those are our big identities,
04:19 like playing together, playing fast, playing unselfish,
04:22 and locking up, we're gonna stand on those all year.
04:25 - Kenny has talked a lot about how both you and Sky
04:28 heading into this season, despite being newcomers,
04:30 are among two of the big, more vocal leaders for this team,
04:34 where does that come from, and what was your overall
04:37 mindset coming here from USC?
04:39 - My mindset coming here was really just,
04:42 I wanna win, I wanna win, I wanna fresh start,
04:44 I wanna feel like everybody is dialed in,
04:46 and coming from day one here, that's been the case.
04:48 So, and what was the second part of that question again?
04:51 - Just how you've established yourself as a leader here,
04:54 despite being a newcomer.
04:55 - Yeah, definitely, and I feel like it's just all about
04:57 just wanting something new, wanting something better,
04:59 so you know what I'm saying, we didn't have
05:00 the best season last year, so we want something better,
05:02 we gotta make some changes.
05:04 So I feel like one of the things that,
05:05 as a team that we can work on, is talking more,
05:07 so like, just the little things,
05:09 our arena's gonna be super packed this year,
05:11 we gotta be on the same page, I feel like that helps,
05:13 and just wanting to win, for me personally,
05:15 I just wanna win, I wanna change this around,
05:17 so just doing all the little things as needed,
05:19 you know what I'm saying?
05:19 - Yeah, and last for me, Kenny has talked a lot about how
05:22 he doesn't want the players to forget last season,
05:25 he wants to use that season as motivation,
05:27 obviously you weren't here for that, so,
05:29 despite not having experience that season,
05:30 how do you use that as fuel and motivation?
05:33 - Definitely, just, for one, taking on the burden
05:35 of my teammates, you know, just having that same,
05:38 that chip on their shoulder from last year,
05:39 just feeling disrespected, everybody's still not taking this
05:42 as one of those guys, which is cool,
05:43 it just adds fire to, you know what I'm saying, our fire,
05:46 but just taking on my teammates' stuff,
05:48 and just wanting more for each other,
05:50 like, we gonna turn it around, we hear all the noise,
05:52 but we don't pay attention to it,
05:53 just keeping it on our shoulder,
05:55 and I feel like that keeps us not complacent,
05:57 you know, it keeps us wanting more.