Seg 1 - MBB Show Nov 13 w Dan Hurley

Three games in, Mike & Dan Hurley on the progress heading into back to back top 10 games

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome board. It's the ucon Men's Coaches Basketball Coaches Show
here on lear Field Mike chris Pino joined by Dan
Hurley as the Huskies get through three non conference games. Dan,
and you know, with varying degrees of success, obviously won
by a lot of points, but I know you're perfectionists
at heart. What did you come up with in terms

(00:23):
of your summation of what you saw in those first
three games?

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, I think we probably covered New Haven and I'm
not sure if I want to bring myself back there
again anyway, but I would say that you're feeling really
good about Lowell. I mean, it was a quick or
it was a shorter video session, because you tend to
go way longer with film breakdown after losses than after wins.
So I would say just Field felt great about Lowell,

(00:50):
just making more of a defensive effort, flying around the court,
looking like a team, not at every position, but you saw,
you know, guys playing the level of defense that's going
to help us win something. And then I thought, against Columbia,
you know, we played, you know, with the sharpness of
you know, fifteen assists, two turnovers at halftime, you're shooting

(01:11):
sixty plus percent from the field. You know, you're really
guarding I think a really good veteran team that again,
you know, returned four starters and beat villing Over the
year before in a bye game. So yeah, we knew
it was going to be a challenge. I was thrilled
with the first half, but then the second half was
pretty torturous, especially just the last fifteen minutes. And you know,

(01:33):
I credit Columbia because I really think the coach is great.
But yeah, it's just some of the bad defensive things.
You know, human nature kicks in and where you let
down your guard and then you start to have the
defensive breakdowns, start missing free throws, missing layups, turning the
ball over, et cetera.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah, human nature. You brought it up the other night.
You can't really expect anything less than that. I mean,
you're leading big numbers. What happens with players. I mean,
you've been in games like that yourself. I'm sure we're
you look up the scoreboard. You can't help it. You say,
wholl eight minutes left, we're up thirty. You know, how
do you fix that? If you're a player, I guess

(02:13):
is the question?

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Well, I mean, you don't on most I mean on
teams that concern you. I think that you know, I
didn't have to worry about that on the twenty three
team or the twenty four team, because you know those
teams were you know, those are killer teams. You know
those are ruthless, relentless. You know they would you know,
their competitive desire to win the next possession and to

(02:38):
give the opponent nothing, and to step on their neck
and destroy the opponent, to moralize the opponent, break the
opponent's will, you know, show superiority that way. You know
that you know this this team didn't you know, showed
it in the Lowell game and then did not show
that in the Columbia game.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Dan Hurley with US you Comemen's Basketball Coaches Show, Mike Chris,
you know here after the game against Columbia, you mentioned
Silas Demri had a pretty good game nine assists, but
you wanted to look at the tape to see, you know,
what he was doing in review defensively and how he
ran the offense. After reviewing it, what did you come

(03:16):
up with as far as his development?

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Now, I mean just the on ball defense for US.
I think to start the game, you know, I thought
he took major steps forward, you know, not not not perfect,
but gives us a lot of hope that he could
be the tone center for us at the defensive end
on ball. So and then I think he gives us
an edge, an element that we really you know, haven't had,

(03:41):
which has got real speed and ability to get to
the rim and an ability to get paint and create.
So I'm you know, I feel good about you know,
where he is and where he could be as the
year goes on, because I think he's a guy who's
who's going to be committed.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah to twenty six minutes too, for didn't shoot a lot,
but again the nine assists, one turnover. I remember when
I covered Jason Kidd when he came to the nets,
I'd be amazed at what he could do without scoring.
Sometimes he'd make one field goal in a game, but
he'd have ten to eleven assists, you know, with two turnovers,
and the nets would be running people out of the

(04:18):
building without the point guard really contributing offensively in terms
of points. That's an amazing thing. I think when a
guy can do that.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, I mean, a job is to make everyone around
them better. You know, a lot of that has to
do it, you know, just making plays for others. You know,
he plays in some positions where he played some really
good health defense and he was able to make the
game easier for the guys he plays with.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
Terris Reid another twenty four minute good effort. Six of
nine In that Columbia game. You talked about free throws,
he has seven of ten. The team missed ten. That's
not a great number, but he's in these first couple
of games he'd been on the floor, he's been very
in a very short period of time. That has to
be a real positive feeling for the team going forward

(05:06):
with all these big games coming up.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah, I mean he's a he's a obviously a big
time talent. Yeah, just you're you're now putting everyone in
a more comfortable position, a chance to be more successful,
you know. And for him, I think it's as we
start to play, you know, it all comes down to
the details and the fundamentals and the techniques and you know,
and victory it's won by inches, not by these like

(05:29):
wide margins. So it's like just as we go to
play against these these bigger teams, these more talented teams,
you know, just making sure he sticks to his identity.
I know it was nice. I think Harris had a
sequence the other night where, you know, he dribbled the
ball down the court in transition, then he drove the
ball from the top of the key and and and

(05:50):
missed a jump hook, and then he took a three
to the next possession. So, you know, I think getting to,
you know, playing towards that identity that that we need
him to play at as critical as you get to
these bigger opponents where the you know, the margin for
error is very slim.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
Yeah, he's obviously he could shoot the basketball from inside
and the paint, but do you have any qualms about
him firing it up from three? I mean, he was
wide open and it was a big margin in the game.
What's your thought on that.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
I'm glad it was a big margin for you, Mike.
It wasn't a big enough margin for me, but we
were in two different positions. It sometimes it's the timing
of it. I remember Donovan took one at a bad
time a couple of years ago, and I think it
might have been against Butler at the what was then
the XL Center, And it wasn't even so much that

(06:41):
he took it it was when he took it. You know,
like if your team is in a funk and not
playing to your identity and you're playing soft and you're
in just a bad stretch of defense and offense. That
sometimes happens within a two minute period of a game
or a three minute period of a game. If he
sandwiches in there, they were like a launched a launched three.

(07:03):
Then yeah, I mean that's when you don't want them
to shoot it, all right.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
Timing is everything, all right, coach, we'll be back just
a moment time out. We're back with more of the
Yukon Men's Basketball Coaches Show on lear Field