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00:00 And I'm proud of the way the guys played today.
00:04 Played with energy, played together.
00:06 17, I think, 17 assists.
00:09 That goes to show that we're capable.
00:14 And I'm always preaching that you're not playing against the opponent.
00:19 You're playing against yourself.
00:21 And what that really means is it doesn't matter who the opponent is,
00:27 you have to conquer yourself.
00:29 You have to go out and challenge the doubt that you may have,
00:33 the fears that you may have, and go out and perform.
00:37 And if you can conquer yourself, the opponent becomes easy.
00:42 I thought we were aggressive.
00:44 I thought we were attacking.
00:47 We did have some balls where we talk about when we get a 15, 10, 15,
00:53 20 point lead building on it.
00:55 There were times when we let up, got casual,
00:59 and they got back in the game.
01:01 Some of that is also learning with a young team.
01:04 Questions?
01:06 Kenny, with all the speculation going around,
01:09 was there any sense that you were coaching for your job today?
01:12 Did you feel like that?
01:15 I did not feel like that.
01:18 But I wouldn't feel like that no matter what.
01:21 I go out and I focus on the team and the guys.
01:25 And I didn't come here for me.
01:29 I came here for them and for this community.
01:32 Coach, have you spoken to Josh about the status of your job?
01:35 I have not.
01:38 Kenny, it just seemed like the effort, the intensity,
01:41 it was night and day from the Arkansas game.
01:43 What flipped the past couple of days for you guys to come up there
01:45 and have a game like this?
01:47 I talked to the guys about have they quit on each other?
01:52 Have they quit on the team?
01:53 Have they quit on themselves?
01:57 They vehemently denied that they had.
02:00 They said they believe in each other.
02:02 And I said, then let's practice that way.
02:05 Like you believe in each other and that you want to share with each other.
02:08 And they went out and did it.
02:10 Kenny, Curtis looks like a shooter.
02:14 Maybe we saw him on the scrimmage, he's the only way he hit a couple shots.
02:16 We haven't seen that in real game action.
02:18 What did he do to prove to you that he deserved more minutes?
02:21 And then what did he show you today?
02:24 We met on Curtis about taking good shots and rhythm
02:27 within the floor of the offense.
02:29 I thought today he did.
02:32 There are times when you're a young player where it's hard to figure out
02:37 what is a good shot within the offense.
02:40 And when you see Curtis shoot the ball like that,
02:43 it's an example of what does that mean?
02:46 Somebody drives and kicks it to let it go, let it go,
02:48 with confidence, holding the follow through every shot as a game winner.
02:51 I thought today he was locked in on that.
02:55 The biggest play for me though wasn't the shots.
02:58 It was the drive and kicking out the brand
03:00 and that's the type of things that help him become a better player.
03:05 Not just a shooter.
03:09 This was a game where you played everybody seemingly,
03:13 but I noticed that Adenova didn't get in the game.
03:18 Is that because he's dealing with an injury or is there another reason why?
03:21 He's dealing with an injury.
03:22 He's battling since Wednesday.
03:24 We're trying to get him healthy.
03:27 Hopefully he continues to get healthy.
03:31 Have you noticed a change at all in Huntley Hadfield
03:33 the last two or three games?
03:34 He seems to be more aggressive, more assertive, calling for the ball.
03:39 And it seems like his body language says how much he cares.
03:45 Definitely.
03:47 I believe in Brandon.
03:48 I believe in Brandon when he plays bad.
03:50 I believe in Brandon when he plays great.
03:54 I challenge Brandon every day that he's in this program to give me more,
03:59 to give us more because I know what he's capable of.
04:03 I still don't believe – listen, he had 20 points and 12 rebounds.
04:10 That could easily have been 28 points and 16 rebounds.
04:15 That's what I want to see.
04:17 I want to see him max out.
04:20 I want to see him reach the most that he can reach in his potential.
04:25 Kenny, I guess after having a performance like this,
04:27 what is the message to the guys?
04:29 Just how do they kind of keep that consistency going,
04:32 especially now with the game coming up next week?
04:34 Just build.
04:36 Build on what we're doing.
04:37 Every single day get better.
04:39 Every single day spend time with each other, love each other.
04:44 You know, build a camaraderie that says nothing can infiltrate us.
04:50 That we're going to fight for each other because we love each other.
04:54 And if we do that, and we play with energy, we're going to be okay.
05:00 Yeah, Kenny, were there any specific players who after the game on Wednesday,
05:06 you know, took ownership and showed more leadership
05:08 than you've seen over the past few weeks
05:10 in trying to get the team back on track?
05:12 I thought Trey did.
05:14 I thought Sky did.
05:15 Mike James obviously always does.
05:18 I think everybody in the team was emotional after the game.
05:22 They all were hurt.
05:24 They were hurt.
05:26 They were hurt by their performance.
05:27 They were hurt that they felt like they let each other down.
05:32 But the sign of a good team is you respond to that with your actions.
05:37 Kenny, shooting the three-pointer, I mean, at this day and age,
05:40 obviously with what we've seen from you guys,
05:43 it hasn't been good until today.
05:45 You guys transitioned from going two for 15 last game.
05:48 You guys went nine for 16 today.
05:50 Have you guys worked on that more?
05:52 Is this just something that is different for you guys?
05:54 I mean, where does that change occur?
05:57 So, one of the things that we talk about is the shots that we've missed
06:03 have been open strike shots.
06:06 So about a week ago, whenever we ran offense and whenever we scrimmaged,
06:11 we would say, "This shot has to be a three or a post up."
06:16 And so what would happen, we'd run into plays against each other,
06:19 we'd run into plays against each other,
06:21 the other team doesn't know what we're doing,
06:23 and the one group has to get a three.
06:26 Now, in a 20-minute practice with scrimmage or against each other,
06:31 how many threes can we make?
06:33 Not how many can we take?
06:35 And so slowly and slowly you see it getting better and better.
06:38 I'll say this again, I believe we're a good shooting team
06:42 that just has missed open shots.
06:45 And some of that is confidence, some of that is,
06:47 I know we spend time in it, we're in the gym, we're working on our jumpers.
06:52 We just have to have confidence and shoot them within rhythm.
06:56 Is there any update on JJ Dennis,
06:59 any timetable for when you might get those guys back?
07:01 Not yet.
07:02 Hoping they can join us soon, but we'll see.
07:07 Orlando, you said that you had talked to Josh about a job status,
07:10 but in terms of a trajectory moving forward,
07:13 or how to move forward with this program,
07:16 have you had any conversations with him since Arkansas State?
07:18 Oh yeah, oh yeah, we've talked about that,
07:20 of how to – how do we take this to the next level,
07:25 how do we make sure that, you know, we are playing in a way that we build momentum,
07:33 not just within the program, but in the community,
07:37 and so that people are proud about this program.
07:41 You know, I believe Josh wants us to be good,
07:44 he wants us to make his fan base proud.
07:49 And I know he wants for the guys to enjoy being here.
07:52 So, and I have the same goals.
07:58 Considering all the other stuff that's been out there about,
08:01 you know, Josh met with a couple of players and all the others.
08:05 Did you sit and talk at all to the players about the noise
08:08 and how they should deal with it, how you're dealing with it?
08:12 A little bit, I've been doing that all along.
08:16 For me, I guess because I'm 57 years old,
08:21 and been around a lot of basketball and a lot of different scenarios,
08:26 I've learned at an earlier age that if you're motivated by the critics,
08:32 are you motivated, or if you're motivated by the praise,
08:36 you set yourself up to be heartbroken.
08:40 For me, I think it's important that people understand
08:45 that I am emotionally committed to this program.
08:51 And at the end of the day, young people need to know what that looks like,
08:56 what that feels like.
08:58 To have a program to be a part of something and have people criticize me,
09:04 they need to understand that.
09:05 It's easy in a social media age to want all the praise,
09:09 but what happens when you get the critics,
09:12 when you get the people jumping off the bandwagon?
09:16 You have to have your faith.
09:18 You have to believe in something bigger than you.
09:22 And I try to be an example for that, you know,
09:24 young people, it's hard to tell at times
09:26 if they are really paying attention to it.
09:29 I talk about it, you know, and I hope that they're learning a lesson
09:34 that, you know, in a day and age of NIL and all this other stuff
09:40 that's going on in social media,
09:42 that you have to be focused on why you're here.
09:45 You got to be focused on what your job is.
09:48 You have to be focused on character.
09:50 And you don't waver from that at any cost.
09:55 So that's my belief, and I hope that they are learning that.
09:59 -Kenny, with that being said, it's harder maybe for the guys to do
10:03 than you to block it out?
10:05 And, I mean, it kind of showed today that maybe they did.
10:09 Do you feel like they did a good job?
10:10 -I thought they did a great job.
10:12 I thought they, you know, for the last three or four days,
10:14 we've been talking about really have you let Goliath grow?
10:18 Have you?
10:19 I don't believe you have, but you have, sir.
10:22 And I'm okay if you say yes, I've let Goliath grow.
10:24 And to a man, everybody says,
10:26 "I have not given up on my teammates.
10:28 I have not given up on this program.
10:30 We're going to do what we said we were going to do.
10:32 We're going to play with energy."
10:33 That does not mean we win every game.
10:35 That means we go out and we make people proud with our effort,
10:38 and we can look ourselves in the mirror and say,
10:41 "We tried really hard."
10:44 -Coach, in this day and age of social media and NIL,
10:46 also the importance of winning,
10:49 have you stressed to them that the wins need to start coming,
10:51 especially as you get to ACC play?
10:54 -I stress to them that they need momentum,
10:56 and they need good stuff to happen.
10:59 I stress to them what would it look like,
11:02 the feeling would have been like if the ball goes an inch
11:05 to the right or left versus Texas.
11:08 What would it be like?
11:09 What would you have felt like?
11:11 So, yeah, we need to win.
11:13 We need to win, and this is a good win for us
11:18 at a time when there's a lot of doubt, a lot of fear.
11:22 Sometimes kids play not to lose
11:27 because they don't want to let people down.
11:29 The second you do that, it's hard to win.
11:33 It's just the reality of it.
11:35 So I want them to play free.
11:36 I want them to play together.
11:37 I want them to have fun.
11:38 This is a great game,
11:40 and there are so many lessons in this game
11:43 that I want them to walk away with
11:45 that will equip them for whatever they do in their life.
11:49 -Everybody good? -All right.