South Florida head coach Brian Gregory held a media availability Monday before his team began preparation for the Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship in Fort Worth, Texas.
Gregory started off by saying that starters Alexis Yetna and Caleb Murphy are "questionable" for Thursday's game against Temple in the AAC Tournament opener.
More on Yetna and Murphy... Both are recovering well. The next you know 72 hours is going to be critical if they if they do (play) we're hoping to get them in at least, you know, one practice prior to, if not two, but they're going to be still limited right now.
On what made Temple's zone so effective in the game in the Yuengling Center... I think there was five possessions of zone in the first half and we scored six points out of two threes, but what they did in the the entire game, be it man or zone they did a great job of you know, eliminating us from getting our normal points in the paint. Post ups, offensive rebounds, drives to the basket, they did a really good job of that and then in the zone, again, you got to be able to knock down some some shots. We just have not shot the ball well. I'll give our guys credit on moving the ball better than we've had, you know, maybe ever in terms of you know, ball reversal and making the extra pass, getting it inside, kicking it out, different things like that. We have just not shot the ball very well. After the pause we went from 36 percent from the three to under 30 now 29 percent from the three. Offensive field goal percentage right at 40 to 41 percent to now at 36. So it's, you know, not only has our defensive numbers not been as good, but our our shooting percentage, the only thing we're doing better now is we're making more free throws and shooting better from the free throw line. During a lot of that time (the Covid pause), the only thing we could do was shoot free throws. You want to beat the zone down the court. So, that means you got to get defensive stops in order to do that.
On are there any concepts he picked up during his time with Coach Izzo that he might apply to his team in March...
We always talked about playing your best basketball in March. If you look, even over the last three seasons, prior to this one, we've played pretty good in March. That didn't mean we won every game but we played pretty well, even the first year I think we won, you know, two or three games, you know, towards the end of the season and lost a tough game in the first round of the tournament to Memphis. in the second year played well. Were banged up a little bit at the end of that year and got healthy and then played well. And even last year, won, two out of the last three games heading into the tournament. You go back and you try to emphasize the things that you've done well and try to really highlight those, you know, and there's there's a mentality to that, you know, not only would collectively playing your best basketball but get the guys to realize that it's their time to play their best individual basketball. You've got to count on your seniors, at this time, to play their best basketball.
On players having optimism that they have a fresh slate...
I think that the first 17 minutes or so the other day was the best basketball that we that we've played collectively both on the offense and defensive end, and we were far from perfect. Our ability to sustain that is going to be our key heading into Dallas. Playing a team that we are familiar with because we've played them recently and then if you can get that first one same thing in game number two. So, I think our guys are are fired up about going to Dallas and and you know as well as I do seasons can turn around quickly with really good performances in conference tournaments.
How do you get your competitive edge back after being off 32 days and now heading into the tournament...
I think it's kind of a two fold question and a two fold answer to that. I think one of the biggest challenges that we faced was not just a 32-day layoff. When we play on Thursday, it will have been 57 days since we hit the pause. In that time, we've only had 18 practices. And then those 18 practice only 14 of them we've had 10 scholarship players available to practice. So when you talk about getting back, and like you said, you look at the defensive numbers and offensive numbers a dramatic difference in the first six games compared to last eight. And a lot of that has to do with, you know, we're a program that values, you know, what you do daily in our daily practices and our preparation and our development during within the season. And some of that stuff has really been put into conflict with with our ability to even be on the court. Obviously it makes a big difference when when Mike Durr is out there but we still started that game (Wichita State) with two starters not being able to play All those are legitimate rational explanations. But you still got to go out there now and dig down. Whatever pieces are left and whatever pieces are available, those have to be good enough. And that's the challenge that we face collectively right now as a coaching staff and as a team This team and these guys have shown, throughout their careers, a pretty good resiliency which is needed when you're trying to build a program.
On how challenging it is to convince your team that everyone is 0-0 with the same opportunity in front of them...
I think one of the biggest keys in that is not only our ability to convince them, but their ability to accept it, and to buy into it and understand it. You would hope that when you when you take a look at the (bracket) the first round matchup is against a team that, you split with during the season. And, you can't worry about game two unless you get to game one. Obviously a well coached tough team that hasn't played since we played them. So, again, I always say you have to do a really good job of getting those upperclassmen to buy in because they've been through it. They know it. And if you look at the teams that are surging and playing well right now, a lot of them are riding their upperclassmen.
On if there anything he draw on from his first season at USF when they almost beat Memphis in the AAC Tournament...
I think you draw from all the experiences. We were a little bit banged up, you know, that second year. Laquincy didn't play in those last two regular season games and came back ,and we didn't play well in the first half against UConn in the in the in the tournament, and then came out in the CBI and played you know, a terrible first half against Stony Brook. Even last year, had a really bitter defeat at home against Cincinnati, and then turn around and had the miracle win against SMU. So these guys have been through this before. That's why I said we all got a dig down into some of the past experiences that we've had in terms of just going out there and really competing at a at a high level. So, we've got to play with a poise on offense, but then we got to play with a greater intensity level on defense.
