Interim head coach Josh Eilert and forward Quinn Slazinski are on the stand for postgame press conferences.
-- Eilert said they brought the fight and they didn’t have enough to compete every possession. He says they didn’t have cohesiveness on the offensive side and it was hard to overcome 16 made three pointers. He says Pitt forward Blake Hinson was the story of the game.
-- Slazinski says you can always do better on defense and they needed to stop Hinson and make him put the ball on the floor. He's not sure if it was a difference of him coming ready to play or something they could have done something differently. He said it's "credit to the kid" [Hinson] and that he's "never seen that before." He said they were there on a lot of those three point shot and the game meant a lot to him. He says they made it tough on him and he hit some tough shots according to Slazinski. He says they had a great defensive scheme ready to go, and but for this guy, shooting was based off confidence.
-- Slazinski was glad that forward Akok Akok was back and is looking forward to have Kerr Kriisa back as well soon. He's so happy for Akok and he says he's such a great kid. He says that Akok hasb been through so much and that he loves him. He says this game will hurt, but looking back he's so happy that Akok is back and wear a jersey and compete with him.
-- Slazinski says he needs to defend better. He says they hit some tough shots where they were locking down the paint and securing rebounds, which he thought they did well today. He said they could clean up the stagnant offense in the second half. He says that more players could obviously mean less exhaustion but they can't have that in their head. It's not going to help thinking about, so they need to be resilient and come through and fight with it.
-- Eilert says there are always things they can do better on defense. It was something he went into the game and he was concerned about. He says they probably should have changed into a zone earlier and that they were there on his shots in the first half, but the offense was just too stagnant. He says they need to flush this win quickly and get ready for a good Drexel team on Saturday and not disappoint again.
-- Eilert said the game is all about momentum and confidence and it was shown in last year's matchup versus Pitt. They built confidence and that momentum snowballed in the second half for them. He wants Seth Wilson and Josiah Harris to take more open shots when they're available and shoot with confidence when the other team is hitting shots consistently. He needs his guy to flush misses and shoot more.
-- He says that Akok Akok gave them a defensive spark since he can guard ball screens, guard the perimeter and protect the rim while also being valuable in transition. He's obviously limited according to Eilert and they certainly weren't going to play him more than the 7 or 8 minutes he got. He says they don't want to force the issue with him. He didn't know for sure that Akok could go play today since it was a day by day process. Eilert says they're so happy for the kid [Akok] since so much of the players' lives are built around the game of basketball.
-- Eilert says each scenario in a game is different and it's up to him to go to hot hand or see mismatches. He says if they can't capitalize off double teams they'll continue to struggle. They need to knock down shots in these situations and it'll be every team's gameplan.
-- Eilert said they brought the fight and they didn’t have enough to compete every possession. He says they didn’t have cohesiveness on the offensive side and it was hard to overcome 16 made three pointers. He says Pitt forward Blake Hinson was the story of the game.
-- Slazinski says you can always do better on defense and they needed to stop Hinson and make him put the ball on the floor. He's not sure if it was a difference of him coming ready to play or something they could have done something differently. He said it's "credit to the kid" [Hinson] and that he's "never seen that before." He said they were there on a lot of those three point shot and the game meant a lot to him. He says they made it tough on him and he hit some tough shots according to Slazinski. He says they had a great defensive scheme ready to go, and but for this guy, shooting was based off confidence.
-- Slazinski was glad that forward Akok Akok was back and is looking forward to have Kerr Kriisa back as well soon. He's so happy for Akok and he says he's such a great kid. He says that Akok hasb been through so much and that he loves him. He says this game will hurt, but looking back he's so happy that Akok is back and wear a jersey and compete with him.
-- Slazinski says he needs to defend better. He says they hit some tough shots where they were locking down the paint and securing rebounds, which he thought they did well today. He said they could clean up the stagnant offense in the second half. He says that more players could obviously mean less exhaustion but they can't have that in their head. It's not going to help thinking about, so they need to be resilient and come through and fight with it.
-- Eilert says there are always things they can do better on defense. It was something he went into the game and he was concerned about. He says they probably should have changed into a zone earlier and that they were there on his shots in the first half, but the offense was just too stagnant. He says they need to flush this win quickly and get ready for a good Drexel team on Saturday and not disappoint again.
-- Eilert said the game is all about momentum and confidence and it was shown in last year's matchup versus Pitt. They built confidence and that momentum snowballed in the second half for them. He wants Seth Wilson and Josiah Harris to take more open shots when they're available and shoot with confidence when the other team is hitting shots consistently. He needs his guy to flush misses and shoot more.
-- He says that Akok Akok gave them a defensive spark since he can guard ball screens, guard the perimeter and protect the rim while also being valuable in transition. He's obviously limited according to Eilert and they certainly weren't going to play him more than the 7 or 8 minutes he got. He says they don't want to force the issue with him. He didn't know for sure that Akok could go play today since it was a day by day process. Eilert says they're so happy for the kid [Akok] since so much of the players' lives are built around the game of basketball.
-- Eilert says each scenario in a game is different and it's up to him to go to hot hand or see mismatches. He says if they can't capitalize off double teams they'll continue to struggle. They need to knock down shots in these situations and it'll be every team's gameplan.
