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#UNC coach Hubert Davis press conference ahead of Wednesday's game with Alabama
Dec 2, 2024
#UNC coach Hubert Davis press conference ahead of Wednesday's game with Alabama
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couple times recently uh well you've
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said it more than recently that you know
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you use stats to kind of validate what
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you see and and what you think about
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what you've seen how much do you use
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analytics how how much do you go back
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and look at some of the stats and has it
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ever kind of tweaked a little bit about
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what you saw and maybe change your your
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take on on how your team
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performed yeah I mean I think there's a
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place for analytics um you know
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obviously I I use numbers and you know
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determining
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you know where we want to be in regards
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to you know rebounding defense taking
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care of the basketball different stuff
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like that how we um how we're compared
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or our rank in regards nationally I
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think those are things that I that I
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look at in those categories from a
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defensive standpoint rebounding and
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taking care of the
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basketball um also look a little bit at
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at at the pace in which we play at um
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but those three things I love look at
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regularly in terms of defensive
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rebounding and taking care of basketball
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and there there are marks that I want
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our team to consistently hit and coming
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out of the trip that you guys were just
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on what are some of those numbers that
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are concerning to you that validate
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maybe what you saw or maybe enhancement
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you saw well the um you know from a
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defensive standpoint
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um uh the six halves in Maui three of
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the six we've allowed teams to shoot
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over % from the field um that's not
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where we want to
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be
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um you know in in the three games in
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Maui teams were
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averaging 90 points per game that's not
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where that's not good for us that's not
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where we want to be uh rebounding the
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basketball in the three games in MA were
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a minus four that's definitely not where
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we need to be um we've got to do a
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better job of getting to the offensive
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class and prior to Maui I think we were
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number one country in terms of fewest
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turnovers and in the three games of M we
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average more turnovers than
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assists
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and a lot of points off turnovers a lot
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of points off turnovers and so you see
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the you know I've been clear and direct
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with the guys those are the three
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categories that I look at every day for
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this team and those are the three
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categories that have to be good for us
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to be good
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and those are three reasons why we
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weren't as successful as we wanted to be
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Maui what go ahead CH I'll get the next
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they say good strong competition early
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in the season can make you a better team
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do you feel like playing these teams
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that even though may not show up in the
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record or making you a better team but
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you mentioned the concerns but
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also well I mean I mean playing these
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type of games whether and I just don't
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specifically Point towards the three
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games in Maui playing on the road at
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Hawaii playing on the road against
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Kansas playing at home against Elon all
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of them um give us a picture on things
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that we're doing well that we want to
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continue to do well and things that we
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need to address and get better at and
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when you're allowed 50 points in a paint
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against Kansas and also against Michigan
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State you know it gives you a clear
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picture of from a defensive standpoint
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things that may need to tweak or change
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or alter or pivot from in order to uh do
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a better job at protecting the pain and
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so yeah I would say those three games
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that the competition the level of
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competition but every game I've I've
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gotten a clear picture of what this team
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can do really well and what what kind of
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things we got to continue to work on
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Heber sort of along those lines one of
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the things that seemed to keep happening
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in Hawaii was Elliot getting in foul
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trouble early um it was in Maui it was
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even the Hawaii game too what are the
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things that you think he needs to learn
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about when to turn on the aggressiveness
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when to dial it back you know some of
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those were the chicken wing type fouls
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like what you know with that specific
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thing that issue with him getting ding
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with the early fouls what does he need
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to do better or improve on in that that
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aspect well I think a lot of you know
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those early fouls you talked about were
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you know self-induced in terms of
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offensive fouls yeah and um
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um putting himself in position to have
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early fouls and and for our rotation to
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be a little bit differently because of
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that um I think in a number of those
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instances especially Hawaii and I can't
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remember the other game you know I put
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him back in with two fouls and I thought
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he did a really good job defensively of
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Defending without fouling and so that's
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something that um not just him but for
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all of us have got to do a better job at
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um I didn't look one thing I didn't look
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at that I do pay attention to is you
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know free throw rate and I felt like you
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know from a defensive standpoint we did
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a we
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did a worse job defending without f with
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fouling out in Maui and that's something
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that's always been a strength for us
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offensively our ability to create fouls
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and be able to get to the free throw
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line I felt like teams did a better job
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of that we got that's something that we
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need to improve on excuse me moving
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forward is it adjustment for ellot how
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physical the opponents have been on him
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during that
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trip well I think the physicality in
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Maui
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was um there was it was more physical it
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just was you know um there were bigger
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guards um physical
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athletic and you know playing at North
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Carolina playing at this level this is
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what you expect and so there's an
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adjustment period in regards to that and
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that's something that
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um something else that we learned from
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is you know just en typ of
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physicality um not only taking it but
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giving it
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back he just not just taking it giving
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it back just to follow up on that real
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quick you know you hear coaches say I'd
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rather have to tell you to to slow down
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than to speed up like I know it's a fine
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line in terms of of Elliott but like do
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you have to have any sort of dialogue
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with him about maybe pulling it back
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every now and then maybe some of those
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loose balls that
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that he's gone for you know he got a
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couple fouls that way yeah like is that
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any sort of conversation you have to
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have need to have no I you know in
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regards to like loose balls like I'm not
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you know effort is effort you know I
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want you diving on loose balls I I I
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want our guys and I say this to them all
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the time I want them to play fast and
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free you know and so
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um the conversations that I have with
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with players in regards to Dad back is
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when it gets out of control but
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um and one of the things that has been
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good for us is playing at Great Pace
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sure and so you know our transition game
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our you know our Pace in which we
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transition from defense offense has been
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really good this year and so I don't
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want to doubt that back but just being
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aware of getting those extra fouls that
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that that could be eliminated that's
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really important to us and I think
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that's something that we learned over
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the last week you touch on a little bit
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defending without fouling what are some
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of the other things you've noticed on
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film defensively and stuff you have to
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teach retach uh hone in on with these
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guys moving forward yeah you know it's
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it's interesting you know when you play
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four games in six days or three games in
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three days you don't really it's not
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really you don't you don't get a chance
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to practice you're you're preparing you
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know and maybe some of the uh discipline
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and details and things that you work on
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in practice
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you don't have time to to talk about
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them reinforce because you prepareing
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for the next game and so defensively we
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got to do a better job guard the ball
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10one whether it's in the post on the
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perimeter we have to do a better job at
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protecting the paint we just we just do
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we have to do a better job at uh
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communicating and talking um I've never
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seen a good defensive team not talk not
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be good
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communicators and this is probably the
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biggest area defensively or one of the
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biggest is uh being able to rebound the
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basketball our defensive rebounding
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percentage is not where it needs to be
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and when the ball is up in the air
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that's where um at times we we we've
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struggled and I've said before it
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doesn't have anything to do with the
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size physically it has and not to say we
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don't have big hearts but we've we got a
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rebound a basketball we just do and we
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got to finish those possessions with the
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rebound and when we do that that allows
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us to get out in transition where we've
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consistently been really good all season
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you mentioned the uh the assisted
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turnover ratio and you know the I guess
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increase in turnovers when you looked at
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those three games specifically in Maui
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what kind of theme maybe Did You observe
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of the turnovers and I guess why they
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were happening at a at a higher rate
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than
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previously I really believe
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that you know our guys are so
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competitive and they want to win that
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you know one thing that we haven't done
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really well is is is play well we've
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been behind a lot in the first halfes
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and so in order to come back you know
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guys want to make a play to get us back
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you know we're down by 14 let's make a
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basket that ties it you know and which
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can't happen and so um maybe doing a
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little bit too much for the for the
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right reasons have resulted in um some
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tour overs and I think we've always been
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a team that's been good to Great very
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unselfish and
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um we've got to get back to that doing
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that and is that kind of the just quick
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followup uh kind of the message you've
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had for them since you guys have gotten
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back of you know let's not try to do too
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much let's just kind of you know move it
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around things like that like is that
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kind of what you've been communicating
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to him last last week I have you know I
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just you know we we we've talked about a
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number of things you know as I said you
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know from from an offense standpoint uh
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limiting our turnovers making the easy
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play and getting back to taking care of
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the basketball we've talked about
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offensive rebounding like we've got to
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get to three four five um to the
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offensive glass our re offensive
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rebounding numbers are nowhere near
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where I want it to be in terms of our
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execution um better screening better
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execution of our sets and being in the
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right spots and being able um to execute
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properly and then I've talked
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defensively we got a rebound the
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basketball we got uh we've got to do a
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better job at uh shutting down the paint
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and um uh we've got to do a better job
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at communicating and talking so those
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are things that since we've gotten back
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uh that we've talked about pretty much
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every day and it's something that I'll
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talk about today in practice as well
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what lessons can you guys take from last
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year's Alabama game that can apply to
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this one obviously the teams are
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different some of the characters are the
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same but is there anything you can take
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from that one apply to this one no I
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don't think there's anything from you
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know last year's game against Alabama
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obviously they're very talented and they
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have a a system and a way that they play
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um you know the way that they transition
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from defense to offense is real um you
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know tremendous length and athleticism
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and so um we'll have our hands full on
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Wednesday we're just really excited
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about the opportunity one being back at
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home now playing on our home floor but
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also having an opportunity to compete
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against a really good Alabama team how
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about how about your style like this
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year's team does seem faster even more
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so than your previous ones a transition
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game does that make you better equipped
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to play against that
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style um I wouldn't say it's a better
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equipped to play at that style I mean we
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were up three with a minute 30 to go in
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the sweet 16 so I thought you know
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that's a pretty good spot to be in we
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just you know didn't make the plays down
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stretch to be able to to pull out the
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game but um you know we've got to do a
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great job rebounding against them they
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you know they go to the offensive class
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and I talked about their length and
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athleticism so that's just going to have
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to be um that's an area that we're going
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to have to be really good at and then
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also taking care of the basketball
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because you mentioned they're just as
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fast as well and they can they can
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convert turnovers into points um better
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than most people in the country so it'll
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be it'll be fun game to play two more
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youber you mentioned the first half
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deficits you guys have faced early on
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this year have you thought about poti
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making a change in in the lineup to
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start the game I've thought about
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everything you know I've I've you know
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it's a great question you know I I I
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have I've thought about everything in
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regards to what is leading us to being
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in those deficits in the in the first
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half is it rotations is it different
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start lineup is it combinations is it
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cuz we were in Maui or you know I I
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don't know um those are definite things
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that I'm I'm looking looking at and if
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there's something that needs to be
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changed or adjusted I will to put us in
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a better position to get off the better
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starts uh in regards to not having a
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come back in the second half and um just
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got to do better at that the Au
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regarding the slow starts and also a
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stretch late in the Auburn game when
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think it was a 10 to four minute Mark
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you guys didn't attempt to three but you
13:55
were down between like 11 and 15 and
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then when you fall behind early do you
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think you're getting enough looks are
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the guys maybe operating in a manner
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where they're getting the open looks or
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they're looking for the open looks
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because you say they're trying to maybe
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do too much are they losing sight of
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some of the other options that are out
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there I don't know it's losing sight I
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think you know you know we got 15 guys
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on the team and 10 of them are
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new and I
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think this team is trying to find their
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Rhythm you know we're that's why we
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spend so much time together off the
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court that's why we practice every day
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in order to blend each and everyone's
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games together to fit together out there
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on the floor and so you know early in
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the season it's always an adjustment
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period in terms of regards to you know
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play style roles and as I said before
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there are no roles I'm not a role type
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of Coach I whatever is in your bag
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that's what I want you to bring every
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day to the game and um I think every day
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we're getting better better and more
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familiar with each other out there on
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the floor and sometimes it takes a
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little bit of time as a quick followup
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to that when you're behind does it
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challenge that lack of familiarity a
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little bit
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more um I don't know if it challenges it
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um but it's a position that I don't
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think is sustainable and I don't want to
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be in you know coming
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back 18 14 having a come back against
15:24
Dayton having a come back against
15:26
Michigan State uh Kansas is that's
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that's just not sustainable um it's nice
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to see that we have it in us to be able
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to come back um but it's a position that
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I don't think is sustainable I think the
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position that we want to be at is is to
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be consistent on both halves and and it
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really starts defensively when you talk
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about being behind and I said that three
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of the six quarters that we played in
15:52
Maui we allowed over 50% from the field
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and i' I've said this to you guys and I
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say it to the team it all starts with
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defense
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um the success of this team is going to
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be tied to how good a defensive team we
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become and how good um a rebounding team
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we become it just it's plain and simple
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it's right
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there thanks