Everything Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said after Iowa State’s win over Prairie View A&M
Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger met with reporters following Iowa State’s blowout win over Prairie View A&M on Sunday. Below is a full transcript of his press conference.
On turning a slow start into a big win
Yeah, I was pleased in the second half with the effort and the intent we had defensively. The way that they defend, there was a lot of breaks, disruptions in the action. There’s a lot of fouls and a lot of collapsing on drives. So there is a lot more contact than in a normal game. It was choppy. We didn’t do the best at the start adapting to that. But was really pleased with the effort in the second half. Felt like out defensive intent was a lot better. We kept the ball in the paint, we did a good job being in position and rotation. Then, that allowed us to get out and go in transition. So happy with the second half effort for sure.
On Curtis Jones’ shooting performance
He’s been working really hard. I think when things aren’t going your way, for all of us, you look at what are your habits. Continue to do extra conditioning. Get extra shooting in. Be committed to his workout. You can just see a poise and a confidence when he was letting that thing go tonight. He wasn’t thinking about it. He wasn’t aiming it. He was just being him. He’s a weapon for us. We know what he can do. We’ve stayed the course with him even when it hasn’t gone as well. I know his confidence will take a big step forward after today – and it should based on how he works every day as well.
On getting to and making free throws
Yeah, we take a lot of pride in scoring the basketball in the paint. So if you’re going to try to keep us out of there, that’s our hope is that we do get to the foul line a lot. You have 48 free throws and 44 paint points. For our team, we want to be that downhill attacking team, transitional. After it breaks down, we want to get right back in there. Was happy with our guys that they had a continued stubbornness to want to keep getting in the paint, keep getting to the foul line and that paid dividends for us.
On getting Curtis Jones clean looks
Yeah, the great thing is that with Tamin and Keshon they have been such high assist guys. So, if you are some of those other guys out there and you are doing a good job of moving without the basketball, you’re cutting and doing things along those lines, they are going to find you. They take more pride in getting the assist than scoring the point. They both scored the ball well today. It’s great. It’s great for Curt. It’s great for our guys. Our guys believe in him. We are going to keep finding him. He’s going to keep making plays and making shots.
On injury status of Tre King, Kayden Fish
Yeah, I would say, with Tre, I give him a lot of credit. He knows his back was bothering him in warmups. And as a leader he wanted to give it a go. So now we are fortunate to have some time to get him some rest, some recovery. I do give him credit. Because as a leader, you’re going to have some things and some those games, some of those days. And when guys show that they want to get out there when they are not at their best it sets a tone for others to make sure we are all doing that sort of thing. In terms of Fish, he has a doctor’s appointment this week. On Wednesday, if I’m not mistaken. Let’s say he will be out through Wednesday and then we’ll known form their if he will be able to return or what will be determined at that point. His shoulder, whether it popped out or one of those things, probably over my head. I know it’s a shoulder deal that is bothering him.
On Omaha Biliew
I’d say the thing we need from him the most is focus. Bringing his toughness, his motor to everything he does. He wants to do so well for everybody. For himself, his family, our fans. Sometimes he’s hard on himself. He’s critical. And he worries about what happened the last play instead of keeping his focus on the next play. Today, there was some stretches he did a better job of getting onto that next play. Defensively, he gives us length, athleticism. He can do a great job there. We need to do it without fouling. And then offensively it gives us another weapon to attack the rim, attack the paint like he did today. We’ll continue to challenge him and he’ll continue to elevate by the work that he does.
What I can say, first of all, Tamin has eight steals and breaking the record that may or may not – one of the guys with seven – went to the same high school and be a personal friend of mine. But I think Tamin is going to be very stubborn with all the records. That he is going to keep breaking. It’s great to see him set the tone for us defensively that way. He’s just got great instincts. He’s somebody that has a great nose for the basketball. He’s ahead of plays offensively and defensively. And he just reads things. He’s so smart. He has such great instincts. We’ll continue to see over his career, him doing things that are very uncommon. We are not far away from the triple-double he had. And with Tamin it’s never about the numbers. It’s about the character, the hard work and it may or may not be shattering records held by a guy called the Mayor who went to his high school.
On how understand, develop instincts
I think Tamin is somebody that he stays focused and locked into the moment. He has great…he’s very intelligent. But a step beyond that, it’s combining intelligence, focus and effort all at the same time to do what he does. It’s hard to do. Then it’s doing those things regardless of what’s going on around you – the score of the game or a shot went in or something else. So, he’s very unique with that skillset. He’s competitive as anybody could be. He continues to develop those instincts by how focused and how locked in he is every moment. I wish we could take credit for it. We definitely hold him to a high standard and continue doing it. But that’s Tamin being Tamin and we’re going to keep holding him to doing that.
