Up next in 10
St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt, guard Buddy Simmons II and forward Frank Mitchell #UNC
Nov 26, 2025
St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt, guard Buddy Simmons II and forward Frank Mitchell #UNC
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
get off to a great start. I think they
0:01
had us by 10, maybe even a little bit
0:03
more than that. And I thought we really,
0:06
you know, dealt with adversity, came
0:07
back, had a chance to last, you know,
0:10
play in the first half, had a chance to,
0:12
um, you know, take the lead. Um, you
0:15
know, and then beginning of the second
0:17
half, just like we came out a little bit
0:19
tentative, I give Carolina credit. Uh,
0:22
in the second half, the same thing. You
0:24
know, we we had a hard time rebounding
0:25
the ball. Um, I just thought the two big
0:28
guys, you know, whatever they had, you
0:29
know, 44 and 25, you know, and they're
0:33
really good and it's, you know, it's
0:35
it's hard to guard those guys, but I
0:37
thought our guys, we hung in there and,
0:40
you know, we had 36 points. They had 36
0:42
points in the paint. Um, and we didn't
0:44
turn the ball over. Um, you know, I I
0:47
thought we did a decent job against a
0:49
really talented, well coached team. So,
0:52
proud of our effort. um how we going to
0:54
be we'll go back and get ready for the
0:56
game on on Thanksgiving.
0:59
We've got Buddy Simmons the second and
1:00
Frank Mitchell with us. Um we'll start
1:02
taking questions. Spencer.
1:04
Yeah, Buddy, you had 22 points tonight.
1:06
Nine of 16 from the floor. What were you
1:09
seeing on the court tonight?
1:11
To be honest with you, I seen
1:14
7 foot 611 guys up in front of me. But
1:18
majority of the time though, they were
1:19
really icing up all screens. So
1:22
sometimes I'll use the ball screens, I
1:24
snake it cuz we've been working on the
1:25
snakes and I've been seen passing to my
1:27
guy Frank and uh it seemed like the ball
1:31
went in and uh I got some assist from
1:33
Frank. So that's pretty much it.
1:36
Frank, you were, you know, had the match
1:38
up with Henry Basar tonight and a number
1:40
of times on the offensive side, you were
1:42
able to pull your weight down into the
1:44
paint there. You know, what were you
1:45
seeing from that match up?
1:46
I see just two bigs playing basketball,
1:48
you know what I mean? I don't think
1:49
anyone bullied anyone. Um, we just came
1:51
out here and played basketball, played
1:52
the right way. Credit goes to him and he
1:54
helped the player and you know, like I
1:55
said, coach and the team said, "Yo, you
1:58
can work." And that's what you did. Two
2:00
BMS working and that's it. The end of
2:01
the game, it's results is results and
2:04
that's it.
2:05
Both of you guys came from different
2:07
schools. What's it been like adjusting
2:10
to this new school and working together?
2:12
Um, it's good, bro. The culture here is
2:14
winning, bro. The culture here is
2:15
tremendous and I enjoy being around
2:17
these guys. Coach Schmid is the head of
2:18
a coach. um you know he uh he talks
2:21
about a culture here and that's what we
2:22
have to do. You know what I mean? Even
2:23
when we win or lose, he wants excellence
2:25
for us and he uh he wants perfection. So
2:28
being in in a program where that's like
2:30
the the bare minimum, it just allows you
2:33
to sky high, right? So I'm blessed to be
2:35
here and it's it's honor to wear bodies
2:38
on my chest.
2:40
Coach the free throws uh free virtue
2:44
tonight. Is that something?
2:47
Yeah. Um yeah, they're just big and
2:49
strong, you know, and it was just hard
2:51
to guard them. And um you know, some of
2:53
them,
2:55
you know, it was our mistake, you know,
2:56
sometimes we're in the wrong position,
2:57
but you know, they they're just they're,
3:00
you know, as I said, you know, 7 foot
3:02
610. It's it's it was hard. Um but at
3:05
the same time, you looked at, you know,
3:06
like I said, 36 36 points in the paint.
3:09
We fought, you know, and and they're
3:11
just they're they're a hell of a team
3:12
and um those two guys are pros. So, um,
3:16
we got nothing to hang our head on.
3:19
Hang our head down. It was just it it
3:22
was it was a fun game, you know, and and
3:24
I was, like I said, I was proud of of
3:26
how we we responded um, you know, down
3:30
2515. They got us, you know, we were
3:32
playing on our heels, but I thought our
3:34
guys, you know, got their feet
3:35
underneath them and and really
3:36
responded. Um, you know, so it's
3:39
something that we can take away from you
3:41
never want to lose. Um, but I I thought
3:43
this was the first time, you know, first
3:44
time we lost. Um, but I I thought we
3:46
handled the the crowd. We handled the um
3:50
the adversity the way I wanted to, you
3:52
know, and hopefully we can grow from
3:54
here.
3:54
Coach, you talk about that response. A
3:56
lot of those points you got coming back
3:58
in was on the back of defense. A lot of
4:00
points off turnovers that first half.
4:02
How happy were you with the defense in
4:04
that first half?
4:05
Yeah, it it's just hard. You know, we
4:06
followed too much. Um, you know, we
4:09
didn't rebound. We had so many
4:10
opportunities where we could have got
4:12
the ball and it fell out of our hands
4:13
and you know and like I said give give
4:15
Carolina credit. Um but I I thought we
4:19
you know from a defensive standpoint you
4:21
know sometimes that big and we had had a
4:22
hard time getting over the screens and
4:24
that seam pass was hurting us a little
4:25
bit. Um but I overall you know you watch
4:29
the tape but I I I thought we we hung in
4:32
there. Um but you know as I told our
4:35
team we weren't here to for moral
4:37
victory. we're here to win and it's
4:38
disappointing to come up short. Um, now
4:41
it's our first loss and now we'll see
4:43
how we can we can bounce back.
4:46
That second unit there, coach, uh,
4:48
Daniel, Ilia and, uh, Amari coming off
4:51
the bench, they they helped spark that
4:53
kind of resurgence back in the first
4:54
half. What did you make of their
4:56
Yeah, we're going to need those. You
4:57
know, the bench is really important. Um,
4:59
you know, we we got to have we have good
5:00
numbers coming off the bench and they
5:02
got to continue to do that and um, and
5:05
they were a spark. That's one of the
5:06
reasons why we came back in the first
5:07
half and um you know hopefully they g
5:09
gain some experience especially Ilia um
5:12
you know so it's it's a positive and now
5:15
we just got to go forward and and
5:16
prepare for for East Carolina
5:19
you turned your 11-point deficit into a
5:21
three-point lead. Was it the pressure
5:23
that came? What were the keys to that?
5:24
Yeah, we had you know they missed some
5:26
shots. I I I thought you know we we got
5:28
some we executed better on on offense.
5:31
We got some offense off of our defense.
5:33
Um, you know, we made some shots. That
5:36
always helps. But I thought we got some
5:38
stops and um and as I said earlier, I
5:41
just thought we we dealt with adversity.
5:43
You know, we we didn't we didn't
5:45
splinter. We you know, the the timeouts,
5:46
the huddles were really positive. Um, so
5:49
it's something that we we can grow from.
5:50
And um, you know, get, like I said, give
5:52
credit to Carolina. You know, it's not
5:55
like we lost to some Hasbin. Um, and we
5:58
lost to a really good team and and we
5:59
hung in there and we we gave them a
6:02
fight. Coach, can you talk about these
6:03
two players? You went out and found
6:05
these players.
6:06
Yeah, I didn't find them, but
6:08
Okay.
6:09
Um I just Yeah, they're terrific. Yeah,
6:11
they're Yeah, they're they're guys that
6:13
that, you know, I knew Frank from when
6:15
he played at Kenishious. Um I knew Buddy
6:17
from Putinham Science. It's a big prep
6:19
school that we recruit. Um and they've
6:21
been everything that we've needed them
6:22
to be, you know, in terms of of, you
6:25
know, guys, you know, doing the right
6:26
thing off the court, you know, going to
6:28
class and and being leaders. Uh you saw
6:31
it today, you know, guys, you know, they
6:33
they stuck together. They played the
6:35
right way. Um and I'm glad that they're
6:38
on our on our team.
6:41
Uh coach, I know you touched on it a
6:43
little bit, but I think your defense
6:44
forced 11 turnovers in the first half
6:46
and only two in the second half. What
6:48
kind of differences you're seeing
6:49
between
6:50
Well, they took care of the ball better.
6:51
Um I thought that's one of the reasons
6:53
why we got back into the game. You know,
6:54
we turned the turned them over and got
6:56
some points off of turnovers. you know,
6:57
it's as everybody knows, you know,
7:00
basketball if you can get numbers, you
7:02
have a better chance of scoring,
7:03
especially against their size. Um, so I
7:06
thought we did a better job and they did
7:08
a good job in the second half, you know,
7:09
and you can say it's partly our defense.
7:11
Uh, and it probably was, but it was
7:13
partly their their really good execution
7:16
on their end.
7:18
Just going off that earlier question,
7:20
um, kind of from a roster standpoint, I
7:22
know that you guys have brought in
7:23
players from, you know, Russia, Italy,
7:25
and Ireland. Obviously, these aren't
7:26
like typical freshman just with their
7:28
overseas experience, but how have you
7:29
been able to just merge everybody so
7:31
far?
7:32
You know, this is the the the age of
7:34
college basketball. We're not uh any
7:36
different than than a lot of schools at
7:38
at our level. You know, we lose a lot of
7:40
guys. I think we lost 11 guys last year.
7:42
Um brought in 11 new guys. Uh the summer
7:45
time's important, you know, to build
7:46
chemistry and, you know, the foreign
7:48
guys weren't allowed, you know, they
7:50
they couldn't get uh passports to get
7:52
into the country. So, uh that put us a
7:54
little bit behind. Um, but we have good
7:56
players, you know, guys that understand
7:57
how to play. They work hard. They're in
7:59
the gym all the time. Um, and we don't
8:01
have selfishness. I, you know, you
8:03
watched it today, I thought we shared
8:04
the ball. Um, you know, guys, they're
8:06
competitive. Um, you know, they push
8:09
each other, but it's a team and, um, you
8:11
know, win or lose, uh, I think they they
8:13
handle the the situation the right way.
8:16
Frank, you talked a little bit about
8:17
matching matching up with Henry Var. Was
8:20
he he doing anything differently in the
8:21
second half to maybe throw you guys off
8:23
a little bit whether on the defensive
8:24
end or offensively?
8:26
Uh I don't know. I don't I don't see
8:28
anything. I think I think overall they
8:30
just out executed us. You know what I'm
8:32
saying? Like they just came out better
8:33
than us. It's the first five minutes
8:34
they did for us. You know what I mean?
8:35
So I don't think it comes down to any
8:38
specific player. Um like I said, it's
8:40
two big men. We both competed. We both
8:42
went at each other and it's good
8:43
basketball, right? So yeah, credit goes
8:46
to him. Like I said, he's a hell of a
8:47
player. So he's a pro. You know what I'm
8:48
saying? So, and he's going to have a
8:50
great season. You know, it's on to the
8:52
next.
8:54
Anything else?
8:56
All right. Thanks, guys.
8:56
Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving.
#College Sports
#Team Sports
#Basketball