Seg 1 - MBB Show Nov 6 w Dan Hurley

Mike & Coach Hurley on the season opener v New Haven

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome Aboard and see Yukon Men's Basketball Coaches Show, and
we get Dan Hurley on almost a weekly basis. As
the season starts to open up, Husky's got off the
ground at gamble with their opener against the University of
New Haven. The Chargers came in, provided some good competition,
and coach, we're going to go there first because opening

(00:21):
night is opening night. I mean, even though you played
those exhibitions with Boston College and Michigan State, it's still
meaningful when you get in the gym and you know,
this one really counts, is it not.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
I mean, I guess maybe a little bit, but to
a very small degree. I think the exhibitions, you know,
you're dealing with the you know that that kind of
nervousness or or excitement that you you know that the
butterflies that you would get on a typical game day.
Maybe it was a little bit more, but no, I

(00:58):
mean it was a it's yeah that the exhibitions I
think have made the opening night just feel like you've
been here, you've done that. So yeah, we can't really
I can't use that as an excuse for you know,
the way that we played, you know, in the game.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
I know after the game you talked to Wayne Norman,
my partner. You were very abrupt. You didn't have a
lot to say. You you really didn't want to get
into some of the details of what you were thinking.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
I guess.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
But now here we are doing the coaches show, so
I'm gonna pin you down. Okay, what was good about
Opening night that you saw the team do?

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, I mean, I'm usually much better with Wayne, but
I mean I I was reeling a little bit from
you know, from what I you know, had witnessed, you know,
from a defensive standpoint, you know, in particular, and things
you used to seeing, you know, from the team, even
you know last year not being and you know, our

(02:00):
finest year. Uh. You know, I'm not sure that versus uh,
you know, an equivalent opponent. You know, where we were
that bad at at guarding the ball and and in
preparation for the game. It's you got so much respect
for their kind of the offensive system and the way
that they play. And you know, Luke and Camani and

(02:22):
now Mike Nardi, they do an amazing job at you know,
with the scout of of uh, you know, us getting
together and looking at the things that they're going to
run and and repping out how to guard the actions.
So I think we were, like, you know, we we
we guarded a very a very sophisticated offensive system and

(02:46):
literally didn't give up a quality shot guarding all these
different sets that they ran, you know, but you know,
we were scored on in one on one situations at
an alarming rate. And then and there were a lot
of those situations where your teammates offered each other just

(03:07):
zero help. So in situations that we've worked really hard
in the summer, you know, becoming better one on one
defenders and providing more help for each other, we just completely, uh,
we were We were as bad as you could be
on the ball and one on ones, and we offered

(03:29):
each other no help.

Speaker 1 (03:31):
Yeah, when you had five block shots. I mean, stats
in these games sometimes I'm not going to say they're meaningless,
but they're deceptive a little bit. So to your point,
helping on defense is that on the bigs to get
back there on the back line and reject some stuff.
When a guy gets beat off the dribble, is that
what you're getting at.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
I mean, it was the center, sometimes it was the
opposite corner. It was literally you know it literally players
that have been in the program for years, you know,
like you know players Jalen Stewart solo ball, you know,
Alex Caraban. I'm not I'm not talking about you know,
Eric Rabo, who's gonna make mistakes because he's a you know,

(04:13):
he's a freshman center and their centers playing out on
the perimeter and kind of dragging him away from the basket,
and you know, he didn't see the opportunities for him
to leave him and go and protect a rim. I mean,
he's a young player, but they have veteran players that
now listen. You could also say to yourself, you know,
based on you know, the resources invested base, based on

(04:36):
the fact that we're a top five program in a country,
that we should be able to win more one on
one battles, you know versus you know, New Haven who's
in their first year of Division one basketball. Uh. You know,
our our wings and our guards should be able to
guard their yard effectively and not get driven in a
straight line. But there are also times where a teammate

(04:59):
could to help the teammate and play team defense. So
we didn't do either. And they were veteran players involved
in getting scored on and involved in not getting helped.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
Dan Hurley with US the Ukon Men's Basketball Coaches Show
talking about New Haven and the Chargers individually. Listen, I
don't care about preseason predictions for other schools, to be honest,
it doesn't matter. But they were picked last in their
conference obviously Division one for the first time. You don't
know what they've got. But I was pretty impressive that
they had two or three individual players who were quality guys.

(05:35):
Made Andre Pasha, That dude played thirty five minutes, he
scored seventeen points. He did some things on the court
that were pretty impressive.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah, you know, we're always going to get, you know,
the best version of anyone that we play. You know,
it's when you played basketball at Yukon, that's what you're
going to be dealing with. And yeah, I mean what
happened was, you know, we again like you you know,
you're you're you're well prepared, you guard the sets. But
then I think what they started to discover was that

(06:08):
you know that we individually, right at this particular juncture,
we don't have uh, you know, the level of individual defender.
You know, we don't have the guys right now the
the Andre Jackson's, uh, the Steph Castle's, the Tristan Newton's.
You know, the guys on the perimeter, Nahim Alin, even

(06:29):
guys like Jordan Hawkins. I mean Jordan Hawkins would be
our best perimeter defender on this team. That's how far
we have to go. Yeah, with our perimeter defense right now.
It's pride, It's it's smarts, Uh, it's technique in fundamentals,
it's will, but it's also it's alarming.

Speaker 1 (06:48):
Yeah, Dan Hurley, willis youkon men's basketball coaches, You'll back
in a moment here on Liirfield