Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Men's Hoops Season Tip-Off Press Conference
10/24/2016 4:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Head Coach Kermit Davis
Opening Statement…
"I appreciate all of you being here today. That was a good day for the Raiders on Saturday. Those kind of games are great for all of our brands, the athletic department and the university. We had our first Blue-White scrimmage on Saturday. It's usually one of the worst days in any head coach's life — the first inter-squad scrimmage. We have a lot of room to work. We got through it healthy, and right now we have a couple weeks before we open up. We have kind of what you call the private scrimmage on Saturday, and then we will have an exhibition game on Nov. 3. We have work to do. Right now we are healthy as a team, and that's a good sign. We have some new guys making progress. We have a big week this week. It's a big week for our players. Obviously we have our tip-off celebration on Thursday at the Embassy Suites. Auto Art has helped sponsor our luncheon along with TDK. Right now, we are two or three seats away from selling out around with 700 people. We will have Dick Vitale with us for the luncheon and he will be around with us the whole day. We have Murphy Madness that night with Coach Insell's team and the men's team, and I think that will be another great evening. Our athletic department has done such a good job in promoting that. We hope we have our biggest crowd. Dick Vitale will be there for that and fly out that evening. We're all excited about college football, but it's getting closer and closer to our season."
On position battles within the team…
"I think we'll have another deep team. We'll play guys based on if they deserve to play. It could be eight guys, sometimes it has been 11. Right now we would play nine or 10 guys if our first game was tomorrow. I think one guy that you'll visit with in a second, JaCorey Williams, has made a big jump. He had a productive redshirt year. I love the way his game has improved. I think he will tell you he has matured on and off the court in a great way. He has really established himself as a good leader on our team. JaCorey has been maybe the most consistent practice player we've had to date in fall camp. We have a lot of basketball ahead of us. Our point guard is still a work in progress with battles every day. We have a lot of time before that. We have Tyrik Dixon, a freshman, Qua Copeland who played last year, and even played Giddy (Potts) there some with Ed Simpson. There is a lot of great competition going on in our practices every day, and I think that bodes well for our team to play well early in the year."
On how life has changed since the win against Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament…
"I think nationally, our basketball team has been recognized in some great ways. That has been good for us. I think it has been great, just the stories you hear about our alumni. You see them in airports or wherever you may, and hear how much joy they got out of that day and how much recognition just as a regular fan that they got from other people. That's good. We got five commitments in the recruiting process so far. That was a big part of it along with great work by our staff. We have to remind our guys about the process you have to go through every single season. That team went through some really adverse times with some injuries, tough losses and great wins. Right now, we have to get back focused on the process it's going to take to hopefully have some more success in March."
On replacing Darnell Harris and Perrin Buford…
"Those two guys had a great year. JaQawn Raymond had a great year. I tell you what we've probably missed the most. They are talented guys. Darnell is playing great in Germany and Perrin is playing great in Italy. JaQawn Raymond is back finishing his computer engineering degree. He would have opportunities to play. What we've missed with those three guys is their basketball IQ. They are really smart guys who grew into understanding how we play. We have some different guys. Reggie and Giddy obviously have to improve, and then those guys who have played good roles on our team, that's what good programs do. From Xavier Habersham, Qua Copeland, Karl Gamble — those guys have got to grow into different roles, and we hope that will happen."
On having versatile players…
"It's a big part of our recruiting process. Reggie and JaCorey — those guys will play the five, four and three during the season. Our spots are interchangeable, and I think that's what makes us a good offensive and good defensive team. In the recruiting process this year, we went back to versatility and big guys who can shoot and play with the skill level. I think that is made for us, and maybe even against Michigan State with the matchups we caused, because our fours and fives and threes could all shoot and drive it. Hopefully that will be the case for our team."
On staying close to home during non-conference schedule…
"It's great for our fans. We play our opener against Milligan, and it's a county school day at 11 o'clock. It's going to be a business man's special. We may be the first team to play a game at 11 o'clock right here. I think that will be a great day to start it. Then you have Murray State, Tennessee State and Toledo and go right to the Music City Challenge. The first seven games are within 30 minutes from Murfreesboro. That's a great opportunity for our fans. Then we go to Ole Miss to start a four-game series with them in Oxford. I like the makeup and I think there are some good opportunities for us."
On having more non-conference wins…
"We went to the Alaskan Shootout and won the Great Alaskan Shootout, which was good, and I thought the Auburn win at Bridgestone was a good win. They were 5-1. But as a league, we can talk about promotion of the league, but November and December games, it's right on us as coaches and it's right on our players in the league to have better non-conference wins and better RPI. The bottom of our league has got to come up and those at the top have got to play better. It's something I think all the coaches are aware of. If you talk to anybody in the country, they know the best teams in our league can play with anybody in college basketball. We have done it the last two NCAA tournaments with UAB beating Iowa State and us beating Michigan State. November and December are two huge months for us."
On being overlooked for No. 1 in the conference preseason…
"I understand UAB's position. UAB has seven of the top eight and four starters back. They can be a top-20, top-25 team. Their talent level fits that. That's good for our league. Obviously we know what our expectations are. We had two guys sitting out in JaCorey Williams, who I think will be a really good player for us, and we have a 6-foot-10 kid in Brandon Walters who in our scrimmage had 18 (points) and 11 (rebounds). He led us in rebounding. He's a true-five man who is making some progress. We've got Ed Simpson who got hurt and some other guys who have played a lot of minutes on our team. We like our depth and we like our talent. If I'm the casual observer, UAB is the guy on paper that you would pick first."
On Brandon Walters…
"Brandon came in weighing about 296 and maybe was one of the worst conditioned guys. He worked really hard on his own. He lost about 40-something pounds. He lost about 14 or 15 percent body fat. Now he's about eight-and-a-half percent body fat. He's doing really well. You can ask Reggie, who this is his fourth year, his talent level is really high. Now he's maturing as a player and understanding all the things that go with it day-to-day at our level. He has a chance to be a really good player."
On Karl Gamble…
"Karl now is a little under 6-foot-10, 230 pounds. He's a great young guy who has done well in school. Over the last couple of weeks, I just think Karl's maturity level in every day practice and the sense of urgency is something that we have. He's a huge part of our team. He has a chance to start on our team this year. He'll definitely be in the everyday rotation. A lot of those things will be settled over the next two to four weeks of practice."
F Reggie Upshaw
On embracing the possibility of playing the three and how he's expanded his game…
"As far as just embracing that role, it's not new for me. I played that position my freshman year, came in and played mostly the three. Just dropping down and playing the three it wouldn't be too hard for me. Even if I have trouble playing that I can always go back to playing the four and put JaCorey (Williams) at the three or we can all run the three, four, or five. As far as what I did this offseason, after coming off of my surgery, I really just worked on ball handling the most, because that would be the part of my game that had kind of taken the hit, since I wasn't able to touch the ball for three or four months."
On how this team is different from previous teams he has been on at MT…
"We're extremely athletic. This is the one of the bigger team that I've been on. When you have JaCorey (Williams) who is 6-foot-8, myself at 6-foot-7, Brandon (Walters) and Karl (Gamble) that are close to 6-foot-10, when you have that kind of size and athleticism that we have it shows that we should be able to dominate in rebounding the ball, which is a huge part of the game."
On his free throw shooting being an emphasis in the offseason…
"It was. I know not just for myself but for the whole team and Coach Davis made it a point of emphasis going into the summer to get up at least 500 free throws up a week. We still keep track of it, just for myself I took a different mindset in trying to get more than 500 free throws up and really try to take advantage of all the free throws. I know in our scrimmage this past weekend, I went 3-for-5, which is not great, but it's a step in the right direction."
On his favorite experience over the offseason after beating Michigan State…
"The ESPYS. It was just neat to be out there with Charles Barkley and all the NBA players and seeing how they interacted with each other and then how they interacted with us, because obviously everyone kind of knew about our game against Michigan State. So they all wanted to come up to us and tell us that they were mad at us for breaking their brackets."
On how challenging the non-conference schedule will be…
"We have a great non-conference (schedule). I know we go to VCU and play at Ole Miss, we have Vandy coming here and then we play Toledo and we play in the Nashville tournament, so any time you have a good non-conference schedule with a chance to win all of those games it puts you in a great position heading into conference play and hopefully getting national recognition."
On who has made the biggest jump from last season…
"I would have to say JaCorey (Williams). I know he didn't play last year, but just seeing how he practiced last year and how he's practiced this year he brings a lot more intensity to practices. He's always one of the loudest guys and you can always count on him to uplift the team."
On what Charles Barkley said that stuck out to him at the ESPYS…
"When we were talking to him, he was just talking about how our game was and being from Auburn he talked about us beating Auburn. He showed favoritism towards Auburn, but he also gave us our props, we did what we had to do."
On who's going to win the dunk contest at Murphy Madness…
"Well I'm the veteran now, so I don't think I'm in it this year, but we've got a young guy, Davion (Thomas). We call him Tree. He might give JaCorey (Williams) a run for his money. I've never seen anybody jump quite like Tree."
On whether there will be less room to get to the hole with bigger guys down low this year…
"Not really. My freshman year we had Shawn Jones, but he was more of a back to the basket type of guy, so anytime you have somebody that can dominate the paint, it makes it easier for you to be able to get in the paint, because once you get in the paint you know you are going to have a guy on the offensive boards or you can just dish it off to him for a dunk."
On whether he has set any personal goals for this season…
"For one, become a better free throw shooter. As far as our season goes, I just want to be the best teammate I can be. With the football team, their quarterback, he's a great teammate, great guy. So when you have a great teammate to help lead, you have no choice but to have a good team."
F JaCorey Williams
On how he has grown since coming to Middle Tennessee from Arkansas…
"First of all, I want to give credit to Coach Davis and our Athletic Director (Chris Massaro), because they gave me a second chance. I think getting away from the game was good for me, because I got to see another side of myself. I'm used to playing under the lights, my whole life I've never been away from the game, but sitting on the sidelines gave me time to look at myself in the mirror and grow up. I also got to work on my game. I had a lot of flaws in my game and working with a guy like Coach Davis, he pays attention to a lot of details, so as far as working on my game and paying attention to details, sitting out was the best thing that could've happened to me."
On whether the year off has helped him expand his game…
"Absolutely. I don't think I shot the ball as well as I could have at Arkansas. Obviously, like I said, sitting out helped me a lot. It helped me really expand my game because now I can hit the open three. Before, I was just a face up mid-range player, which I still am, that's the strength of my game, but as far as working on myself, I can hit the outside three now which helped me."
On the differences and similarities from MT and Arkansas and what he took from his time at Arkansas that he can use here…
"The intensity that I play with. We played with intensity for the whole game at Arkansas. When I got here I felt like the guys played with a lot of intensity, but I felt like I could help them open up a little bit and play loose. At Arkansas, that's what we were known for. We were really known for playing loose up there. Playing with a mixture of intensity and paying attention to detail under Coach Davis, you can't go wrong with that combination."
On whether there is a payoff for sitting out and finally getting to play this year…
"Absolutely. Like I said, the hardest thing in the world was not being able to help Reggie (Upshaw) and those guys and playing in some of those games. I felt like some of those tough games, if I was there to bring some intensity to those games it maybe would have been a little different, but it turned out well as everyone knows. I felt like that year off hurt me a little bit on the court, but as a person I grew a whole lot."
On what Tyrik Dixon brings at the point guard position…
"I was most surprised by Tyrik's toughness. I used to watch him in high school, he played with Malik Monk, so I was always watching him in high school when I went to Arkansas. So I've actually known Tyrik for a long time and when I watched him in high school I felt like he lacked toughness and was a little lackadaisical. But when he got here, I was in his ear, because I play hard myself, so being around me a little bit, we kind of knew each other and there was a connection. So I talked to him about playing with intensity and then once he started playing with intensity it was all about him adapting to Coach Davis and being detailed at the point guard position."
On how to be creative after winning the dunk contest last year and his thoughts on Reggie saying that Davion might give him a run for his money…
"Reggie (Upshaw) is absolutely wrong. I'm kidding. Davion is very athletic. I was kind of scared when I first saw him dunk it, because I was like 'man this young guy can jump a little bit higher than me.' But I think as far as creativity, I don't know if anybody on the team has more creativity than me when it comes to dunking that basketball."
On whether people overlook his ability to run the floor like a point guard at his size…
"I have to give all the credit to my coaches at Arkansas, because we ran, we ran, we ran, we ran, that's all we did. I played the top of the press, so I had to play baseline to baseline, so as far as having a motor I think that's a skill that people don't realize it as a skill."
On how important it was that the team made him feel like he was a part of the success even though he sat out last year…
"I felt like once I got here, I could trust everyone, because they made me feel like family. That's pretty much it, once I feel like I can trust someone, then I give my all."
Opening Statement…
"I appreciate all of you being here today. That was a good day for the Raiders on Saturday. Those kind of games are great for all of our brands, the athletic department and the university. We had our first Blue-White scrimmage on Saturday. It's usually one of the worst days in any head coach's life — the first inter-squad scrimmage. We have a lot of room to work. We got through it healthy, and right now we have a couple weeks before we open up. We have kind of what you call the private scrimmage on Saturday, and then we will have an exhibition game on Nov. 3. We have work to do. Right now we are healthy as a team, and that's a good sign. We have some new guys making progress. We have a big week this week. It's a big week for our players. Obviously we have our tip-off celebration on Thursday at the Embassy Suites. Auto Art has helped sponsor our luncheon along with TDK. Right now, we are two or three seats away from selling out around with 700 people. We will have Dick Vitale with us for the luncheon and he will be around with us the whole day. We have Murphy Madness that night with Coach Insell's team and the men's team, and I think that will be another great evening. Our athletic department has done such a good job in promoting that. We hope we have our biggest crowd. Dick Vitale will be there for that and fly out that evening. We're all excited about college football, but it's getting closer and closer to our season."
On position battles within the team…
"I think we'll have another deep team. We'll play guys based on if they deserve to play. It could be eight guys, sometimes it has been 11. Right now we would play nine or 10 guys if our first game was tomorrow. I think one guy that you'll visit with in a second, JaCorey Williams, has made a big jump. He had a productive redshirt year. I love the way his game has improved. I think he will tell you he has matured on and off the court in a great way. He has really established himself as a good leader on our team. JaCorey has been maybe the most consistent practice player we've had to date in fall camp. We have a lot of basketball ahead of us. Our point guard is still a work in progress with battles every day. We have a lot of time before that. We have Tyrik Dixon, a freshman, Qua Copeland who played last year, and even played Giddy (Potts) there some with Ed Simpson. There is a lot of great competition going on in our practices every day, and I think that bodes well for our team to play well early in the year."
On how life has changed since the win against Michigan State in the NCAA Tournament…
"I think nationally, our basketball team has been recognized in some great ways. That has been good for us. I think it has been great, just the stories you hear about our alumni. You see them in airports or wherever you may, and hear how much joy they got out of that day and how much recognition just as a regular fan that they got from other people. That's good. We got five commitments in the recruiting process so far. That was a big part of it along with great work by our staff. We have to remind our guys about the process you have to go through every single season. That team went through some really adverse times with some injuries, tough losses and great wins. Right now, we have to get back focused on the process it's going to take to hopefully have some more success in March."
On replacing Darnell Harris and Perrin Buford…
"Those two guys had a great year. JaQawn Raymond had a great year. I tell you what we've probably missed the most. They are talented guys. Darnell is playing great in Germany and Perrin is playing great in Italy. JaQawn Raymond is back finishing his computer engineering degree. He would have opportunities to play. What we've missed with those three guys is their basketball IQ. They are really smart guys who grew into understanding how we play. We have some different guys. Reggie and Giddy obviously have to improve, and then those guys who have played good roles on our team, that's what good programs do. From Xavier Habersham, Qua Copeland, Karl Gamble — those guys have got to grow into different roles, and we hope that will happen."
On having versatile players…
"It's a big part of our recruiting process. Reggie and JaCorey — those guys will play the five, four and three during the season. Our spots are interchangeable, and I think that's what makes us a good offensive and good defensive team. In the recruiting process this year, we went back to versatility and big guys who can shoot and play with the skill level. I think that is made for us, and maybe even against Michigan State with the matchups we caused, because our fours and fives and threes could all shoot and drive it. Hopefully that will be the case for our team."
On staying close to home during non-conference schedule…
"It's great for our fans. We play our opener against Milligan, and it's a county school day at 11 o'clock. It's going to be a business man's special. We may be the first team to play a game at 11 o'clock right here. I think that will be a great day to start it. Then you have Murray State, Tennessee State and Toledo and go right to the Music City Challenge. The first seven games are within 30 minutes from Murfreesboro. That's a great opportunity for our fans. Then we go to Ole Miss to start a four-game series with them in Oxford. I like the makeup and I think there are some good opportunities for us."
On having more non-conference wins…
"We went to the Alaskan Shootout and won the Great Alaskan Shootout, which was good, and I thought the Auburn win at Bridgestone was a good win. They were 5-1. But as a league, we can talk about promotion of the league, but November and December games, it's right on us as coaches and it's right on our players in the league to have better non-conference wins and better RPI. The bottom of our league has got to come up and those at the top have got to play better. It's something I think all the coaches are aware of. If you talk to anybody in the country, they know the best teams in our league can play with anybody in college basketball. We have done it the last two NCAA tournaments with UAB beating Iowa State and us beating Michigan State. November and December are two huge months for us."
On being overlooked for No. 1 in the conference preseason…
"I understand UAB's position. UAB has seven of the top eight and four starters back. They can be a top-20, top-25 team. Their talent level fits that. That's good for our league. Obviously we know what our expectations are. We had two guys sitting out in JaCorey Williams, who I think will be a really good player for us, and we have a 6-foot-10 kid in Brandon Walters who in our scrimmage had 18 (points) and 11 (rebounds). He led us in rebounding. He's a true-five man who is making some progress. We've got Ed Simpson who got hurt and some other guys who have played a lot of minutes on our team. We like our depth and we like our talent. If I'm the casual observer, UAB is the guy on paper that you would pick first."
On Brandon Walters…
"Brandon came in weighing about 296 and maybe was one of the worst conditioned guys. He worked really hard on his own. He lost about 40-something pounds. He lost about 14 or 15 percent body fat. Now he's about eight-and-a-half percent body fat. He's doing really well. You can ask Reggie, who this is his fourth year, his talent level is really high. Now he's maturing as a player and understanding all the things that go with it day-to-day at our level. He has a chance to be a really good player."
On Karl Gamble…
"Karl now is a little under 6-foot-10, 230 pounds. He's a great young guy who has done well in school. Over the last couple of weeks, I just think Karl's maturity level in every day practice and the sense of urgency is something that we have. He's a huge part of our team. He has a chance to start on our team this year. He'll definitely be in the everyday rotation. A lot of those things will be settled over the next two to four weeks of practice."
F Reggie Upshaw
On embracing the possibility of playing the three and how he's expanded his game…
"As far as just embracing that role, it's not new for me. I played that position my freshman year, came in and played mostly the three. Just dropping down and playing the three it wouldn't be too hard for me. Even if I have trouble playing that I can always go back to playing the four and put JaCorey (Williams) at the three or we can all run the three, four, or five. As far as what I did this offseason, after coming off of my surgery, I really just worked on ball handling the most, because that would be the part of my game that had kind of taken the hit, since I wasn't able to touch the ball for three or four months."
On how this team is different from previous teams he has been on at MT…
"We're extremely athletic. This is the one of the bigger team that I've been on. When you have JaCorey (Williams) who is 6-foot-8, myself at 6-foot-7, Brandon (Walters) and Karl (Gamble) that are close to 6-foot-10, when you have that kind of size and athleticism that we have it shows that we should be able to dominate in rebounding the ball, which is a huge part of the game."
On his free throw shooting being an emphasis in the offseason…
"It was. I know not just for myself but for the whole team and Coach Davis made it a point of emphasis going into the summer to get up at least 500 free throws up a week. We still keep track of it, just for myself I took a different mindset in trying to get more than 500 free throws up and really try to take advantage of all the free throws. I know in our scrimmage this past weekend, I went 3-for-5, which is not great, but it's a step in the right direction."
On his favorite experience over the offseason after beating Michigan State…
"The ESPYS. It was just neat to be out there with Charles Barkley and all the NBA players and seeing how they interacted with each other and then how they interacted with us, because obviously everyone kind of knew about our game against Michigan State. So they all wanted to come up to us and tell us that they were mad at us for breaking their brackets."
On how challenging the non-conference schedule will be…
"We have a great non-conference (schedule). I know we go to VCU and play at Ole Miss, we have Vandy coming here and then we play Toledo and we play in the Nashville tournament, so any time you have a good non-conference schedule with a chance to win all of those games it puts you in a great position heading into conference play and hopefully getting national recognition."
On who has made the biggest jump from last season…
"I would have to say JaCorey (Williams). I know he didn't play last year, but just seeing how he practiced last year and how he's practiced this year he brings a lot more intensity to practices. He's always one of the loudest guys and you can always count on him to uplift the team."
On what Charles Barkley said that stuck out to him at the ESPYS…
"When we were talking to him, he was just talking about how our game was and being from Auburn he talked about us beating Auburn. He showed favoritism towards Auburn, but he also gave us our props, we did what we had to do."
On who's going to win the dunk contest at Murphy Madness…
"Well I'm the veteran now, so I don't think I'm in it this year, but we've got a young guy, Davion (Thomas). We call him Tree. He might give JaCorey (Williams) a run for his money. I've never seen anybody jump quite like Tree."
On whether there will be less room to get to the hole with bigger guys down low this year…
"Not really. My freshman year we had Shawn Jones, but he was more of a back to the basket type of guy, so anytime you have somebody that can dominate the paint, it makes it easier for you to be able to get in the paint, because once you get in the paint you know you are going to have a guy on the offensive boards or you can just dish it off to him for a dunk."
On whether he has set any personal goals for this season…
"For one, become a better free throw shooter. As far as our season goes, I just want to be the best teammate I can be. With the football team, their quarterback, he's a great teammate, great guy. So when you have a great teammate to help lead, you have no choice but to have a good team."
F JaCorey Williams
On how he has grown since coming to Middle Tennessee from Arkansas…
"First of all, I want to give credit to Coach Davis and our Athletic Director (Chris Massaro), because they gave me a second chance. I think getting away from the game was good for me, because I got to see another side of myself. I'm used to playing under the lights, my whole life I've never been away from the game, but sitting on the sidelines gave me time to look at myself in the mirror and grow up. I also got to work on my game. I had a lot of flaws in my game and working with a guy like Coach Davis, he pays attention to a lot of details, so as far as working on my game and paying attention to details, sitting out was the best thing that could've happened to me."
On whether the year off has helped him expand his game…
"Absolutely. I don't think I shot the ball as well as I could have at Arkansas. Obviously, like I said, sitting out helped me a lot. It helped me really expand my game because now I can hit the open three. Before, I was just a face up mid-range player, which I still am, that's the strength of my game, but as far as working on myself, I can hit the outside three now which helped me."
On the differences and similarities from MT and Arkansas and what he took from his time at Arkansas that he can use here…
"The intensity that I play with. We played with intensity for the whole game at Arkansas. When I got here I felt like the guys played with a lot of intensity, but I felt like I could help them open up a little bit and play loose. At Arkansas, that's what we were known for. We were really known for playing loose up there. Playing with a mixture of intensity and paying attention to detail under Coach Davis, you can't go wrong with that combination."
On whether there is a payoff for sitting out and finally getting to play this year…
"Absolutely. Like I said, the hardest thing in the world was not being able to help Reggie (Upshaw) and those guys and playing in some of those games. I felt like some of those tough games, if I was there to bring some intensity to those games it maybe would have been a little different, but it turned out well as everyone knows. I felt like that year off hurt me a little bit on the court, but as a person I grew a whole lot."
On what Tyrik Dixon brings at the point guard position…
"I was most surprised by Tyrik's toughness. I used to watch him in high school, he played with Malik Monk, so I was always watching him in high school when I went to Arkansas. So I've actually known Tyrik for a long time and when I watched him in high school I felt like he lacked toughness and was a little lackadaisical. But when he got here, I was in his ear, because I play hard myself, so being around me a little bit, we kind of knew each other and there was a connection. So I talked to him about playing with intensity and then once he started playing with intensity it was all about him adapting to Coach Davis and being detailed at the point guard position."
On how to be creative after winning the dunk contest last year and his thoughts on Reggie saying that Davion might give him a run for his money…
"Reggie (Upshaw) is absolutely wrong. I'm kidding. Davion is very athletic. I was kind of scared when I first saw him dunk it, because I was like 'man this young guy can jump a little bit higher than me.' But I think as far as creativity, I don't know if anybody on the team has more creativity than me when it comes to dunking that basketball."
On whether people overlook his ability to run the floor like a point guard at his size…
"I have to give all the credit to my coaches at Arkansas, because we ran, we ran, we ran, we ran, that's all we did. I played the top of the press, so I had to play baseline to baseline, so as far as having a motor I think that's a skill that people don't realize it as a skill."
On how important it was that the team made him feel like he was a part of the success even though he sat out last year…
"I felt like once I got here, I could trust everyone, because they made me feel like family. That's pretty much it, once I feel like I can trust someone, then I give my all."
Players Mentioned
G/F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
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