Neb-Omaha Post Game Notes: Pitino Wants Hollins' to be Fearless Like Mathieu & Smith

GopherLady

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 5, 2008
Messages
9,270
Reaction score
736
Points
113
Neb-Omaha Post Game Notes: Pitino Wants Hollins' to be Fearless Like Mathieu & Smith

http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/321904?referrer_id=388419

Here are my post game notes, as always, not verbatim, but the best I could get down. You get the jist :).

Austin Hollins:
(On Andre Hollins hitting 1000 points) It felt good, he's like a brother to us, proud of him.
It was just a matter of guarding the 3, that killed us earlier on. That was huge, they didn't make any 3's the second half.
It was just a miscommunication (on not guarding the 3), we did a better job in the 2nd half
We've been working extremely hard over the past 10 days, we knew they were a good team, they had the mindset they'd beat us, and we had to be prepared for that.
On Malik Smith- he was great tonight, he was a huge spark for us off the bench, he brought a lot of energy for us off the bench

Dre Mathieu:
Today, the tempo was in my favor….my high was 31 points in JUCO
I feel most comfortable driving to the rim a d attacking the hoop
On Malik Smith - he made some big shots, he does that though in practice.*
On Pitino at the half - He was extremely upset, we weren't following the game plan. He told us there was nothing else to do but guard the 3.

Malik Smith:
(On how he gets better shooting) I would say just repetition, a lot of people come in and expect their shots to fall, but you need to put the work in.
As a young kid, not being the tallest guy, I had to step back and take shots.
I could step one step inside the half court line and shoot it comfortably.*

Andre Hollins:
Gotta give them credit, they shot unbelievable in the 1st half.
I settled in last game we play, and I need to attack more. I need to finish my free throws
I'm more excited about the double-double than 1000 points. Last time I had a double-double was in high school.*

Richard Pitino:
• I thought that was a really good win for us. I have a lot of respect for them, they were picked at the bottom of their league. If they're the bottom of the Summit league, that's a really really good league.
• Andre Hollins did an unbelievable job or rebounding, he got 10 boards, and got to the line more. It was a great win for us.
• That was pretty unique, I think they only had 4 2 point baskets in the 1st half. They are very tough to guard, they had Iowa beat, UNLV beat on the road, gotta give them a lot of credit.
• I was playing both man and zone in the 1st half, it was about 1/2 and 1/2. We played 23 possessions of man, and 13 as zone. They were hitting more 3's against our man than against our zone.
• We all talked, and said we need to stop giving up 3's - but our guys got out there a little bit sooner. We stopped the 3 the 2nd half.
• On Malik Smith - That's what he is, he takes big shots. I felt that he could come from FIU to this level, he's got unbelievable confidence. One he settles down and gets comfortable. IT's a really good story, he came to us at FIU with really no scholarship offers (he may said he did), and now he's playing in the Big 10 and he's a really good player.
• DeAndre with 27 points, certainly, you don't expect that night in and night out. Those 2 guys (Smith and Mathieu), they play fearlessly. We need to get Andre and Austin to play that fearlessly. Malik and Mathieu believe they are unbelievable players.
• Malik at FIU wasn't even picked all-league, he believed he was the best player in the league. As long as they defend and work hard, I'll give them all the offensive freedom in the world.
• I yelled at Dre Hollins for traveling, and he said "what about my rebounds?" and I said that made up for it.
• The worst thing you can ever do is show a coach you can do it, then we'll expect it from you (Dre rebounding). He's a phenomenal kid, he showed great toughness and leadership today.
• (On Dre Hollins) Last game, he was shooting way too many jumpers, he needs to get to the foul line 8-10 times a game, he was much more confident offensively. He had a great sophomore season, and everyone is game planning for him, they weren't doing that as much for Austin.
• The 4's and 5's need to get more steals. They need to come up and rotate better, Elliott did a good job of that. He's a very consistent player, he's one of the tops in block percentages, and rebound %, it doesn't always look pretty with him.
• Certainly we can't rely on scoring 92 points a game, but to have Malik coming off the bench with 19 points...what I’m proud of is 0 turnovers.
 

GL, did anyone mention Austin's insane dunk? I was seated behind the Gopher's bench and wow, that dunk was simply incredible. He essentially tore the ball from the two hands of the NE-O rebounder and pounded it home - with one hand and without fouling him. It made ESPN's plays of the day (#9).

My wife and I were discussing it at the game and I said that was one of the best dunks I had ever seen and we saw a lot of them, because we had Rodney Williams for 4 years. The cute little 3 year old girl in front of us turned around right then and looked right at me. It was Rodney's daughter (!), there with Rodney's parents. Nice folks. The dad is huge!
 

As long as they defend and work hard, I'll give them all the offensive freedom in the world.

Those are very encouraging words for many a recruit.
 

GL, did anyone mention Austin's insane dunk? I was seated behind the Gopher's bench and wow, that dunk was simply incredible. He essentially tore the ball from the two hands of the NE-O rebounder and pounded it home - with one hand and without fouling him. It made ESPN's plays of the day (#9).

My wife and I were discussing it at the game and I said that was one of the best dunks I had ever seen and we saw a lot of them, because we had Rodney Williams for 4 years. The cute little 3 year old girl in front of us turned around right then and looked right at me. It was Rodney's daughter (!), there with Rodney's parents. Nice folks. The dad is huge!
I often wonder how Rodney would have faired in this system.... Would have been phenomenal in defense I think, as well as transition. Would he have shot too much or played within the system setting screens and rolling for alley oops ?

Personally I think he would have been an absolute stud and amazing to watch.
 

I often wonder how Rodney would have faired in this system.... Would have been phenomenal in defense I think, as well as transition. Would he have shot too much or played within the system setting screens and rolling for alley oops ?

Personally I think he would have been an absolute stud and amazing to watch.

I agree.

On the game, my heart beat was beating fast most of the game. It was fun to watch our offense. I wish Elliot would take it to the rim more and be more aggressive offensively. Maybe Andre isn't the "take me 1 on 1" kind of player but he needs to try it more often. The only guy who consistently drives to the rim is Mathieu.

I think we needed a game like this to prepare us for B1G play, when most of the games won't be us blowing out a lesser opponent. That said, what is going on with our defense? We can't guard anyone. Besides Elliott, who is dominating defensively?
 


I often wonder how Rodney would have faired in this system.... Would have been phenomenal in defense I think, as well as transition. Would he have shot too much or played within the system setting screens and rolling for alley oops ?

Personally I think he would have been an absolute stud and amazing to watch.

It's not hard to imagine Rodney allowed more freedom to drive and *shoot* - to be more freely aggressive, a la Oto, and that resulting in more scoring for him.
<br/><br/>
Here are his stats in the D-League:
<br/><br/>
http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfile/rodney_williams/index.html
<br/><br/>
Check out his Dec 15 line:
<br/><br/>
DATEOPPONENTRESULT<abbr title="Miutes" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; z-index: 0;">MIN</abbr><abbr title="Field Goals Made - Field Goals Attempted" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; z-index: 0;">FGM-A</abbr><abbr title="Three Pointers Made - Three Pointers Attempted" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; z-index: 0;">3PM-A</abbr><abbr title="Free Throws Made - Free Throws Attempted" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; z-index: 0;">FTM-A</abbr><abbr title="Offensive Rebounds" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; z-index: 0;">OFF</abbr><abbr title="Defensive rebounds" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; z-index: 0;">DEF</abbr><abbr title="Total Rebounds" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; z-index: 0;">REB</abbr><abbr title="Assists" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; z-index: 0;">AST</abbr><abbr title="Steals" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; z-index: 0;">STL</abbr><abbr title="Blocks" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; z-index: 0;">BLK</abbr><abbr title="Turnovers" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; z-index: 0;">TO</abbr><abbr title="Personal Fouls" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; z-index: 0;">PF</abbr><abbr title="Points" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: transparent; z-index: 0;">PTS</abbr>
Dec 15vs. FWNL 100 - 1083210-163-61-11230001324

<tbody>
</tbody>
 

This was a quality win. By all measures so far, Nebraska-Omaha is a better team than Nebraska-Lincoln. Crazy that they're just starting this thing up and are still in transition to D1. What a startup! I telll you, with the quality of NDSU, the past accomplishments of SDSU and now this emerging program, the Summit league is looking like a stout mid-major league than can knock anybody off on a given night.

Pitino's right about Andre. There was one sequence after which I commented to my neighbors in 217 that if Andre shies away from contact on a drive, he's going to avoid contact as well as avoid making the shot - which is what happened in that sequence. A minute later, Deandre drives, accepts the contact and goes to the line.

Mathieu is a player. Wow. His ability to go into the trees and make baskets is something else. In contrast, Elliott stands alone under the basket and head-fakes non-existent defenders to make an uncontested layup. I love EE on defense, but he's got a long way to go to realize his offensive potential.

Overall, this game continues the trend of this team running great offensive sets and getting quality shots on just about every possession. A lot of attention was given to Omaha's hot shooting in the first half, but the Gophs matched their point total and didn't look too stressed doing it - just running their offense.
 

I agree.

On the game, my heart beat was beating fast most of the game. It was fun to watch our offense. I wish Elliot would take it to the rim more and be more aggressive offensively. Maybe Andre isn't the "take me 1 on 1" kind of player but he needs to try it more often. The only guy who consistently drives to the rim is Mathieu.

I think we needed a game like this to prepare us for B1G play, when most of the games won't be us blowing out a lesser opponent. That said, what is going on with our defense? We can't guard anyone. Besides Elliott, who is dominating defensively?

Im not too concerned defensively as it does what it was designed to do, hurry the opponent up and have them take shots they normally wouldn't and force turnovers. If we can score at the efficiency we have (big if) then we will be in most games. What will be concerning is when we play tOSU and UW, who we will likely struggle more on O against, can we turn them over enough to stay in the game.... Likely not this year, maybe down the road.
 

GL, did anyone mention Austin's insane dunk? I was seated behind the Gopher's bench and wow, that dunk was simply incredible. He essentially tore the ball from the two hands of the NE-O rebounder and pounded it home - with one hand and without fouling him. It made ESPN's plays of the day (#9).

My wife and I were discussing it at the game and I said that was one of the best dunks I had ever seen and we saw a lot of them, because we had Rodney Williams for 4 years. The cute little 3 year old girl in front of us turned around right then and looked right at me. It was Rodney's daughter (!), there with Rodney's parents. Nice folks. The dad is huge!

He did not - but Coaches typically don't mention flashy, yet amazing, plays like that in pressers. It was awesome - and I didn't know it made the top 10. It deserved to!
 






Top Bottom