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Jan. 21, 2010

Head Coach Rick Barnes
How will Coach Calhoun’s absence affect Saturday’s game? I’ve known Coach Calhoun for a long time and you never want to see that happen to a guy. His coaching staff has been together for a long time. George Blaney won a lot of basketball games (when he was a head coach) at Holy Cross, and he has been with Jim for a long time. But I hate it for Jim. He’s a great guy and you just hate it when this kind of thing happens to anybody.

What has Gary Johnson done to make such a big improvement? I think the biggest thing is his effort and consistency during practice. You don’t just flip a switch. Gary has always put in a lot of time in the gym. Even on the days that we have off, he will come in and do the things that he enjoys doing. I think the biggest turn was when he started really competing more and becoming more consistent. It’s really been in the last three weeks or so that we have been able to see that he has learned to put skills together more consistently.

What are your feelings about going back East? I do enjoy going back East. First, I have a great appreciation for sports in that part of the country after living there for six years.  Obviously I made a number of trips to Connecticut. So there will be a number of people that I know from Providence and that area of the country, in general.  I have great respect for Eastern basketball.  I’ve been in that building and I know there is going to be a lot of energy, which is great. It’s exactly what you want at this time of year. 

What has been the difference in Dexter Pittman’s play recently? In the last two games, he really has been much better defensively. He has done everything that we have asked him to do defensively.  No one is to blame more than me for how bad we were offensively the other night. I think we have got to work on him in terms of getting him to know where he wants to catch the ball.  But he’s trying and he really has made a conscious effort to do things on the defensive end.

What lessons did the team learn from the loss against Kansas State? This group has tried. It’s hard when you are so poor on the offensive end. What we have to do is learn that when we concentrate on one thing, we can’t forget the other things. It’s obvious that we are going to have to concentrate on the offense, but my hope is that we won’t forget how to guard pick-and-rolls and transition defense. That’s been my biggest concern this season.  We just have to try and bring it all together.

Do you believe it is easier to coach a team after a loss? I really don’t and I never have.  Maybe with some teams it helps, but I don’t think this team has been hard to coach.  I think they would tell you that I treat some wins like losses. These guys have not been a team that hasn’t wanted to be coached.  I just think the level of concentration has to get better.

Senior guard Justin Mason
What lessons should the team take from last Monday’s loss to Kansas State? We haven’t really broken down the film yet, but we realize that Kansas State is a great team. Sometimes you have to give credit to your opponent. We’re just going to have to take that game and learn from it.

Will the loss help the younger guys? I wouldn’t say that losing is a benefit.  I think the guys are going to start to realize that you can’t get away with certain things.  Against Big 12 teams, every team knows your every move.

How important is it to play more physical? It’s very important. Kansas State is a very good team and they’re also a very physical team, as is every other team in the Big 12.  So to compete, you have to be very tough, both physically and mentally in every game. 

Are you excited to play Connecticut? Yes.  We get excited for every game. Being the team that we are, everyone is going to be excited for us. So if we’re not exited as well, we can run into a trap.

Do you believe a loss is necessary for a team’s development? I don’t believe in that theory.  A lot of people say that you can’t win them all. My response is that you can lose them all, so if you can lose them all, then you can certainly win them all. We lost that game, but we’re just going to get better from now on.

Senior center Dexter Pittman
What did the team learn from the loss against Kansas State? We learned you have got to go out there and bring it every night.  We knew before we went there that Kansas State would come at us like that, so no one on the team should have been surprised.

Will Coach Calhoun’s absence affect the way Connecticut plays on Saturday? They are going to come out with more emotion.  Any team comes out with more emotion when they play Texas. I’m looking forward to the game because they have some talented seven-footers, so I have to go out there and play against seven-footers.  If I want to make a career out of this game, I have to go out there and show people that I can play against guys that tall. 

Did last Monday’s game remind you how important it is to be tough inside? Yes. I need to stop worrying about the officials and go back to my old ways. I just need to take the ball to the net.  I need to be quicker with my moves and pivot when I get the ball. 

What did you tell the younger guys after the loss to Kansas State? I told them that now we just need to get better.