Opening statement:
“King does an unbelievable job getting his guys going. They’ve got a good team, man…like a really, really, really good team. I’m very impressed with their guard play, their guards — just driving the basketball — put a lot of pressure on us. We didn’t play well at all, I didn’t coach well. I’m still trying to figure this team out, still trying to see who’s gonna play, who’s not gonna play in lineups. Today, I put a lineup out there that I thought could get the game started early for us, and I thought we did, but then once we went to the bench, it kind of…we’ve got some work to do. But I appreciate everybody coming out today, it was a good event for both schools, and I’ll open up to you guys.”
On what jumped out most about Seton Hall:
“We suck right now. We suck right now, but it’s okay. It’s good to suck right now…I’d rather suck right now than later on, and that’s a credit to (Monmouth). They did a good job of…I told these guys, Monmouth’s gonna come ready to play, King always gets his guys ready to go. But the atmosphere was cool, it was good. We just got…we turned the ball over 21 times, and I think it’s because there’s a bunch of guys that don’t get a chance to play, so now when they get in the game, they just want to show me that they can play instead of just sticking to what we do, and it’s okay. That’s why you play these games early, right? You play these games to see who could do what, and obviously, I’ve just gotta get a lineup that I trust. We’ve got a week to get it right and we’re gonna get it right. I’m not worried about it.”
On the go-ahead possession and trusting Roddie Anderson:
“I wanted to call a high ball screen for Rodney. I knew that they read it, aggressive hedge, so I told Dev to kind of ghost it, and as Dev ghosted, as he came downhill, Elijah was setting a flare for Rodney in the corner for a shot. It was a good pass, good shot, probably the first thing we did all night (that was) good.”
“To be honest, nobody played well for us. It was like, (Anderson) was out there for us at the time, you know what I mean? And he’s a guy that’s been around the league, he can make plays. I’m super disappointed in our effort on defense and not getting to the foul line at all. They got to the foul line 21 times. If they make some free throws, they probably win the game by ten points, and it’s good, right? It gives you a chance to learn, obviously I get a chance to see who I want to play. I wanted to make sure I played everybody…I had a freshman in there in a critical time, I wanted to see what he could do. We’ll go from there.”
On Elijah Fisher and Terry Copeland:
“Elijah and Terry, they’re both scoring in the first half at will, and then we don’t throw the ball to them in the second half. Then our guards just started, and I don’t know, they thought it was their chance to go. We looked awful. We embarrassed ourselves today, we looked awful from the top. It starts with me and it goes all the way down to the players. I’m gonna put myself in that right along (with them).”
On getting a system in place amid roster turnover:
“I don’t want to have a new lineup every year. That’s the worst thing in the world, to bring in 13 new guys every year. You guys have no idea how hard that is. I’ve got 13 new guys and I got four guys that came when school started. School just started September 1, August 31. I’ve got four guys that started then. You guys don’t know how hard that is, to try to gel in that short period of time. And I’m not making no excuses, I’m answering your question. But one thing about me, I’m gonna get it right. I ain’t worried about it. This was a good exhibition game. I coached in spurts, I wanted to see what guys could do. Let me be very clear: I don’t want to take nothing away from Monmouth tonight, they played their you know what off. They did an unbelievable job of competing. I just wanted to see how we were gonna react when things went south, and I didn’t like what I saw, so I’m gonna fix it.”
On Abdulai Fanta Kabba and Trey Parker:
“Well, Kabba’s still hurt. He’s working his way back, and Trey, he’s got some work to do.”
On the crowd environment and atmosphere:
“I thought it was cool, man. I thought that Monmouth did a great job of hosting. Like you guys know, I’m a big fan of King’s, that’s like a big brother to me. When we had the idea to do it — and let’s give everybody in this credit — let’s give the administration at Monmouth credit…the AD, the president, for allowing us to come down here, and then our administration credit for kind of putting it together, so it was a team effort.”
On encouragement after playing 13 players:
“It don’t. I’m just being honest right now, it don’t. I’ve gotta figure out what’s what and who’s who quick. As of this morning, I didn’t know who was gonna start, right? Because I’ve been trying to figure it out. Like I said, as far as guard play, no one’s playing better than the other one. It’s different when you’ve got somebody playing way better than somebody else, but right now everybody’s kind of like…I should have played Kareem more, but he hurt his groin. I thought he made a good play going to the basket, but yeah, we’ve got some work to do. I just didn’t like what I’ve seen, period. I look at the stat sheet and we’ve got 21 turnovers, and they got 17 steals. I’m like, we’re supposed to have 17 steals, that’s how we play. But they did an unbelievable job of being in the passing lanes, and this is good. This is why you play these games, right? We don’t have film on his team this year. They’re gonna be really good, they just got those two guys (Jack Collins and Madison Durr), they’re gonna be extremely well. That’s why I didn’t want to play them this year. You laugh, but I’m serious.”
On Donald Copeland as an assistant coach:
“He’s still trying to figure it out. I put him with the guards. His job right now is to make sure my guards are reading reads and stuff like that, getting better. He’s doing a good job with those guys. We’ve got a lot of work to do. I’m just happy that we got this so we can see it, then we can watch film. In practice, you’re playing against each other all the time, it’s hard to say. Now you get a chance to see it. I’m not really worried about the outcome, to tell you the truth. This was an exhibition game that I wanted to just get a lot of guys some reps, and obviously wanted to win, but I don’t really care about that. Rodney scored the big shot, it’s good for his confidence because he’s a really good shooter. He’s been struggling lately, so hopefully this helps him out.”
On turnovers caused by unfamiliarity and mental mistakes:
“I think a little of both. Like I said, now that I think that might be my starting lineup, now we could put it together and get some continuity with that lineup. I’ve just been mixing and matching, so now we have a week, I think…nine days? Even better. We’ve got nine days to get it right again, I’ve got nine days to do what I do well, and that’s coach basketball. Forget everything else, I’ve got nine days to really show our guys why you’ve gotta bring it every single day in practice, and we’ve gotta get better.”
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