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00:00 [ Background noise ]
00:14 >> Alright.
00:14 Everybody's ready?
00:15 We'll go ahead and open it up for questions
00:17 for Zan and Branson.
00:18 >> Yeah.
00:19 >> Either one of you-- oh, I'm sorry.
00:21 >> No, go ahead.
00:22 >> Okay. Well, going back to Tuesday night,
00:26 what do you think the difference was in terms of, you know,
00:29 coming out of the, you know, on the break and just, you know,
00:33 I think it's kind of falling apart for you guys versus,
00:35 you know, you started the game super strong
00:37 and looked sharp offensively.
00:38 What was the biggest difference maker that led
00:41 to them just taking over the game in the second half?
00:46 >> I think in the-- in the first half, like, we hit them first.
00:51 I don't think they really knew how to recover
00:56 or make the correct adjustment.
00:58 But coming out of the second half,
00:59 they were the aggressors.
01:00 And we just didn't adhere to how they--
01:06 how aggressive they were being.
01:08 And it kind of hurt our-- what we were trying to do.
01:12 They dominated pretty much everything.
01:15 They were active and stuff.
01:16 So them being the aggressors is what really hurt us.
01:19 >> How can you turn around that Pittsburgh score from earlier
01:26 when they, you know, pretty much went double figures?
01:29 How do you attack them this time
01:32 and keep it from happening again?
01:33 >> I think this first-- first and foremost,
01:37 doing it as a team, as a unit.
01:38 That's the first thing.
01:40 First game, they didn't play--
01:42 Trey wasn't with us the first game.
01:46 And first game, I didn't have a really good game.
01:48 I was a no-show.
01:48 So I plan on changing that.
01:51 Come Saturday, I mean, Trey will be with us too.
01:55 So we'll have a different team.
01:57 But we feel like we have what it takes to win.
02:00 And I'm going to be better Saturday.
02:02 And we're all going to do what we need to do to win.
02:04 >> Brandon, how do you think you guys can improve defensively
02:09 at this point in the season?
02:11 >> Just picking up our communication.
02:15 Just helping each other.
02:18 I feel like the talk that we do, we talk loud.
02:21 It helps us-- it helps ourselves be in the right position.
02:23 It helps our teammates be in the right position.
02:25 It gives our guards confidence to guard the ball
02:30 when they hear their bigs loud and be communicating
02:33 to them what's going on and stuff.
02:36 So just doing it as a collective, not doing it--
02:39 leaving one man out to dry,
02:41 allowing him to guard one-on-one and stuff.
02:43 We all believe we're all good one-on-one defenders.
02:45 But it's a team game.
02:47 So just guarding as a unit, as a team, and communicating.
02:52 >> Zan, you've got a different perspective, obviously,
02:55 since he's your dad.
02:55 How is he holding up, do you think, under all this?
02:59 And then the second part of that is what
03:03 about you guys as players?
03:04 Is it difficult for you?
03:07 >> I think he's holding up fine.
03:09 He's just taking it day by day.
03:11 I think that, like, he just keeps the main thing
03:13 the main thing.
03:14 We've got another game the next day.
03:16 So we just got to keep focusing as a team and trying
03:19 to keep better-- trying to keep getting better
03:21 for the end of the year.
03:22 >> For both of you guys--
03:24 >> No, go ahead.
03:25 >> For both of you guys, I mean, just coming off that point,
03:27 what does that mean that you had to kind of deal
03:30 with the adversity over the course of the year?
03:32 And in Wacheton, you have to also deal with it as well.
03:35 How have you guys handled that?
03:36 >> Really just leaning on each other.
03:39 We started the season with 15, 16 guys,
03:43 and got seven to eight right now.
03:45 So I don't see how you would expect to do something
03:51 or change the season around or do things
03:52 that you don't have the things that you really need.
03:55 But we also feel like that it doesn't matter if--
03:57 it doesn't matter that we have--
04:00 we lost guys or guys are out or guys left.
04:02 We feel really, really confident in who we have
04:06 in our facility right now, in our locker room right now.
04:08 And it's about going out there and fighting
04:11 and doing it as a team.
04:13 So sometimes circumstances aren't ideal,
04:16 but it's about how we adapt to it.
04:18 I feel like we're adapting pretty well.
04:21 >> I'll also say that, like, piggyback off what Brandon said.
04:25 Like, he-- like, since the beginning of the year,
04:28 like, it doesn't matter, like,
04:29 who has a jersey on their back in practice.
04:31 Like, he trains you as hard as you can from 1 to 14.
04:35 So I feel like everybody feels confident coming
04:37 into each game in that, like, everybody knows their role
04:40 and they know what they're expected from them.
04:42 So, like, I feel like even if we're down players,
04:45 we can still, like, go out there and still be confident
04:48 and, like, everybody knows what they have to do.
04:50 >> And with this final stretch here, you mentioned confidence.
04:54 How do you guys stay confident considering the tough games
04:57 that you guys have played?
04:58 And what is that vibe in the locker room right now?
05:00 >> Um, it's about when we-- the first win we had in Miami,
05:05 just about feeling that energy,
05:07 recognizing, like, what we did to win,
05:10 recognizing that we all feel like the season hasn't gone
05:14 how we expected it to,
05:15 but there is another opportunity every single day
05:19 for us to go out there and win
05:20 and take steps in the right direction for our development,
05:24 for us to win.
05:27 We have another opportunity Saturday in a couple days,
05:29 couple weeks, and then once that's done,
05:31 then we have our tournament and it'll be 0-0.
05:35 So that's another opportunity to go out
05:37 and fix what we need to fix
05:38 and do what we need to do to keep our season alive.
05:43 >> This may be a better question for younger players,
05:46 but Kenny mentioned about how the young guys
05:51 are more and more focused on offense
05:54 and now they have to play defense, too.
05:56 Thinking back to when you were coming in to college,
06:00 is it difficult to kind of start focusing on defense
06:05 after you've been an offensive guy for so long?
06:08 >> Yeah, I would say it's difficult
06:10 just because, like, in high school,
06:12 it's just one-on-one, just hold your own.
06:14 I feel like it didn't really matter in high school,
06:17 but coming into college, you have to be connected with five
06:20 and you have to also be connected
06:21 with what the coach wants you to do.
06:23 So it's not always going to be easy
06:25 just coming into college and having to guard,
06:28 like, star guard, star forward, star center.
06:31 So I feel like, yeah, it's a big focus.
06:34 And in practice, we work on that every day.
06:36 We have different drills that we do
06:40 so that we can prepare ourselves
06:41 for going up against good teams like Pitt
06:45 and like Duke and teams like that coming into college.
06:50 >> You spoke about your first performance against Pitt.
06:54 Just wondering, what clicked for you this season
06:57 to where you've been able to find that consistency?
06:59 You know, you spoke about
07:02 you've always believed in your talent,
07:04 but I'm wondering, at what point
07:05 did you kind of have that moment
07:07 where things started to come together
07:09 to where you're now turning in these, you know,
07:11 just, you know, there haven't been as many,
07:14 as you put it, you know, games where you don't show up.
07:16 Just how has that clicked for you this season?
07:21 >> I just think it's more so
07:24 just the mental aspect of the game.
07:27 I think for so long, I was fighting
07:30 how I was going to play in college.
07:34 I thought I was going to be on the perimeter most of the time,
07:36 basically just playing how I want to play.
07:38 But that wasn't the case, and I think once I accepted the fact
07:40 that I can dominate in other areas
07:44 just off the skills that I have when I was using --
07:47 that I had in high school, I can use it on different guys,
07:52 slower bigs, business not as strong as me
07:55 or as strong as me or as big as me,
08:00 and just playing to my strengths,
08:01 trusting my work, not shooting shots
08:04 that I'm not comfortable with,
08:07 and really just making my mindset
08:09 that you're not going to take anything from me.
08:14 And that's just been my mindset.
08:19 I'm not out there for funsies.
08:23 Like, I'm out there to take everything you work for,
08:25 and my teammates feel that with my aggression,
08:29 how excited I get and how I want to do to win.
08:33 They keep trusting me, and my coaching staff trust me a lot.
08:36 It's just kudos to them to keep trusting me,
08:39 even when I may not have a big game or a good game.
08:41 They keep trusting me, letting me know,
08:43 "Go kill him. Go kill him."
08:45 Just keep talking about that and keep telling me
08:48 what they see and stuff and me trusting them
08:50 and not thinking I know it all and stuff.
08:54 Anything else for these two?
08:56 All right, thank you.
08:58 Thank you.