All Episodes

December 16, 2025 12 mins
UND Men’s Head Basketball Coach Paul Sather reflected on the loss to Western Illinois, discussing missed opportunities and areas where the team could have performed better, particularly on defense.
Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
We welcome you back here to Hawk Talk from the
five oh six Bob Downtown Grand Forks. Merry Christmas, Happy
holidays to everyone out there as we count down to
the Christmas holiday, here's come celebrate with us. Mel's got
her festive sweater on and come on down and enjoyed.
By the way, you can listen, of course anywhere, uh
anywhere in the world. In fact, just to go to

(00:23):
iHeartRadio dot com or the iHeart Radio app and search
kkxl AM and you can stream this program live. So
if we're out of the radio signal, you can.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Where do you think that for the places are streaming?

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Do you do?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
You know?

Speaker 1 (00:35):
I got a call from Finland one time that they
they called and said they Ricky. Well, they just left
a message that they said they were listening in Finland,
and so I never got to talk to them, but
the front office did and and so they Finland. I
have no, that's a great question. I'm I'm still having
a hard time with the times as it is. Since

(00:56):
we got back from from the Pacific Ocean.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
We've been them all. We have them all all, that's exactly,
even the Hawaiian time zone, which I don't even know
what that time zone is.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
I think it's just the Hawaiian times, is what it is.
I think. So yeah, yeah, but that's interesting. Head coach
Paul say Thro everybody und men's basketball, we appreciate him
coming by because his squad obviously has probably adjusted practice
times through finals week, trying to figure out when to
to squeeze in a practice here and there and navigating

(01:26):
another team having a game, so you try to figure
it out. Lots to talk about on the men's basketball side.
The first thing through this portion of the season, and
we're kind of on the back end of the non
conference season coming into this week and into the Christmas holiday,
is you know, the one thing I've described to people
as I said, you know, I don't love the feeling,

(01:47):
but it's kind of been a little bit of the
almost game. I mean, you've been in a lot of
late games, possession here or there. That goes back to
UC Riverside at home when everybody was sick, the col
State north Ridge games, Montana Western Illinois. These are games
that a play here or there, but at the same

(02:07):
time you often say, well what about this that happened
in the first half, Well what about that in the
first half. But we forget that fans.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, I mean, just a lot of times there's things
and that's you know, it's funny because we're talking about
that with our team today. Is there's there's always a
couple of things that maybe we you know as free
throws early, yep, there's just a few things that we
really maybe don't always you know, you know in certain games.
I thought Montana overall was a pretty complete game. I
thought we did a lot of good things. One thing

(02:34):
Montana did really well against us is they got the
ball out of the traps. They never really got the
ball in the lane a lot, but they made a
lot of shots that never touched the lane, which you
don't see that much. Yeah, you know, I felt like
this this Western Illinois game. It was it was clear
it was a game that we had missed opportunities scoring.

(02:55):
But but there's gonna be games where you miss a
free throw. There's gonna be games where you miss some
open threes. But we were still doing what we needed
to do defensively. What we we just weren't doing is
we weren't blocking out five, we weren't keeping five off
the glass. He had he had eleven offensive rebounds and
and so that's the film we watched today. We watched
a lot of that. It's like, it's it's, it's it's

(03:15):
right now. During practice in the last few weeks, it's
every time we don't make a hit in rebounding, we'll
send a guy up the steps and he'll have to
touch the side of the betty and and it's it's
it's trying to build habits of every time the shots up,
like you got to make hits. She can't stand and watch.
And if three guys make hits and two guys don't,
it can still get you. No, sometimes that ball bounces

(03:37):
your way and it doesn't get you. Sure a game
like Western Illinois, that kid was just making winning plays.
And and even with that being said, we're shooting free
throws to win a game where we shot poorly from three,
where we didn't rebound well, but we were doing enough
things defensively and getting the stops we needed to give
ourselves a chance. But but I'm sure it's it's frustrating

(03:59):
for our guys, it's frustrating for us, and it's just
it's tough. As coaches. We need to keep doing a
better job emphasizing and and getting out of them. And
we're we're just with with with a little bit of
our lineup this year. We're we're you know, someone like Micah,
we were probably counting on to be a little bit
more of that power forward rebounding and and we just
haven't really been able to establish that. So we you know,

(04:22):
the lineups we play, Uh, we have to be a
team that takes a a bit is a little more
intentional with how we rebound the ball on the defensive
side of the floor. And and I think that'll really
help us. And and you know, when we do that, well,
then it's it's it's taking care of the ball better
and and and I thought the last few games that's
gotten away from us. You know, I thought we were
doing a really good job with that against really good

(04:44):
teams and really good competition, and and and and I
just feel like lately that that part of the game
has kind of had We've had some slip of gins.
So you know, it's it's it's continuing going back and
working and grinding and and and and and and and
continuing to fight for for these things that we got
improved at. And and uh, I mean you can hear

(05:05):
my voice like this is like where we're going, Like
we're we're going hard. These guys are putting time in,
they're they're locked in on it. And and we got
two really good opponents here before Christmas to play like winthrops.
Their average age is like twenty three. Oh yeah, they
start two or a six years senior and two fifty

(05:26):
years seniors to go along with the other two seniors
that might just be like regular twenty two to twenty
three year olds, but regular like their average age and
and and what you see when you watch them, like
they played Nebraska tough. They lost to Arkansas, Arkansas by one.
That's kind of what you see. Man. They crash the
glass really hard. They always have three guys crashing and

(05:48):
they're one of the top offensive rebounding teams in the league.
Which coming off Western Illinois, what a great opportunity to
play against a really good team that offensive rebounds again
and to see what we learned coming off that game.
They make about eleven threes a game, okay, and a
lot of it is those second shot opportunities. And you
know they've got they've got a few guys that can

(06:09):
really knock them down. You know, we call high level threes.
Redicks guys that shoot more threes than they do two's,
and I think they're I think they're running at about
five redicks that they put on the floor during the game,
not five at a time, but throughout the game. They're
going to have two to three redicks on the floor
at the time that can really shoot it. But you know,
like what we're doing defensively were the number seven team

(06:31):
and force and turnovers and and one of the one
of the biggest things that teams don't do against us
is scoring the post, right, And as we can clean
up this rebounding some like, there's some things we're really
doing well defensively, but the offensive rebound things got to
be fixed. And we got to keep cleaning up some
of our rotations where we're giving up some easy baskets

(06:53):
at times, Paul row when when we shouldn't be.

Speaker 1 (06:55):
So somebody had this question for me, and I didn't
know how to respond because they they obviously are a
person who knows the game of basketball. They said to me, Paul,
you know what, when I watch teams run zone defenses,
I usually see teams that at times will struggle to rebound.
And I said that he said, when you watch North
Dakota this year with their new defense, with all the trapping,

(07:17):
is that why they may struggle to rebound a little
bit with that rotations of getting to trash you're setting
your five out of yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
At times, what like that team, like the West Illinois game,
they stopped setting ball screens like they were not setting
many anymore. So it was a lot of cross screen.
It was a lot of Hey, let's get my shot
up and then let's go rebound it. So like I
do think there's definitely there's validity in the fact that
we are bringing our fives out and trapping in the five.

(07:46):
Man's job after that trap and that ball comes out
is to be spreading back into the post and be
sprinting back to his man. But what we do need,
and when we do have in any kind of defense,
when you have rotations as you need guys on that
backside really making hits. And what the video, what the
video shows for us is that we're not making the
hits we need to, and we're not making the hits

(08:07):
with some violence, like we need to hit him with
ye like like when you yeah, like you got to
come at guys with some physicality, and that's it's a
little bit of a learned behavior with the group we
have right now, Like it's it's not just a natural.
It just doesn't happen as much with with some guys
it does. You know, a guy like Josh is pretty
it's pretty simple for him to be physical, right But

(08:29):
but for guys like Aaron Anderson, who is a six
to six kid. You know, he had six defensive rebounds
the other night. We need a huge one late in
the game that allowed us to to to come down
and win the game. But you know, Zach Kraft needs
to keep making hits. Grayson Olman, he needs to keep
making hits. We need we need these guys. You know,
a guy like Marley Marley is a phenomenal rebounder when

(08:52):
he makes hits. Marley's a phenomenal rebounder when he goes
to the glass. But that consistency to do it and
make every possession important is an area that we're not.
We're not We're not We're not doing a good enough
job with that. So we're just gonna keep keep grinding
on that.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
Somebody had this question for me as well, and I
don't I don't always know the intricacies that happens so fast,
because I will say, sometimes it's actually the ball handler
that puts the screener into a foul situation because they
don't wait for it to get set. And so Josh
Jones he gets wrung up on some of those where
he's trying to set a screen. Is it something Josh

(09:30):
is learning or is it sometimes a little bit while
I'm the guy that's handling the ball trying to use
the screen. Is a little bit of both, Is it is?

Speaker 2 (09:38):
It's probably a mixture of a few things. And I
think one thing, I mean, I could I could go
back to just our last few games, because it happened
like I think it happened at Hawaii Dipping in Idaho, Yep.
A couple of those were really good screens where guys
ran and new him and really fell down hard. And
when you go back and watch, he's set, and guys
are he's a grown man. Yeah, And he's like made

(09:58):
a lead and and like he is set and and
and then there's times where he's moving or he's not
given that guy a step. I think sometimes maybe it's
because the ball is moving too fast, so now he's
coming as the guy's moving or sometimes that ball is
waiting and then as that screen's taking place, he moves

(10:18):
into it a little bit and maybe gives a little
extra pop to it.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
Because Josh is the nicest guy. If you meet him,
I really encourage you if you if have a chance
to meet Josh Jones. He is a really good human,
awesome and a good guy to have in the team room,
really if from my perspective, because he's he truly.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
Has been and like and like I look at Josh
and Garrett are two transfers that we're putting a lot
on and I just I feel like their best basketball
is still coming. Like I just think sometimes you're you're
trying so hard or you're really trying to get this
to go go go, like like Garrett. You can feel
that a little bit with Garrett on offense. You know,
Garrett's really trying to be that guy that scores yea

(11:03):
and sometimes you just kind of got to let the
score and finds you.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
And Trayson was that like that.

Speaker 2 (11:08):
You know, Trayson was that way at times where you know,
not always like Trayson, you got to give it up
and the ball will find you again. And he didn't
always trust that and you know, I think with Garrett
right now, because he knows we need him to score,
we need him to kind of look to be, and
he's shooting the most shots, but his percentages aren't where
we want them to be right now, where he shots
them to be. So a little bit of that is, hey,

(11:28):
giving it up and the ball will find you, and
let's instead of taking more, let's find better. Let's get
some good to great shots. So no, I think with Josh,
you know, the answer is probably a little bit mixed
and everything. But he's physical and he plays physical, and
he's willing to set really good screens, wide hard screens.
He doesn't bail out of them. And sometimes he sets

(11:48):
really good ones when guys they don't call it, and
sometimes they do. And then sometimes he deserves that moving screen.
So it's a little bit of both. Sometimes a guy
with the balls at fault, sometimes he is, but sometimes
it's just a free maybe reacting to a guy that
just got smoked by illegal screen. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
Well, and sometimes when I say the guy that gets
smoked in that situation by a screen, he should turn
around and yell at his own teammates because they didn't
tell him what was coming. Yeah, you know, that's really
what I could tell you.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
I thought to why Wan in the Idaho one, we're
both like that really good. I just thought they were
great set screens. Yeah, those guys were their guarding the
ball really hard and they ran right into them and
nobody was there to help him, and he got called
for two of them on that trip.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
So stay with us. We're going to get to a
second segment. Since we rarely get you here or even
on me here for that matter, I mean, but as
we'll keep you here for one more segment, We're going
to take a quick break. We'll come back and continue
with more hok Talk. We're at the five o six
Pub downtown Grand Forks, inside Hugo's Peer Market, and we
are heading towards another segment. When we come around, we'll

(12:49):
talk some more of you indie men's basketball after this.
As you're listening to Hawk Talk all across the Fighting
Hawks Radio Network.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

Stuff You Should Know

Stuff You Should Know

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc.