Q: You gave every player on the bench some playing time, how nice was it to be able to see them all in game situation and get a few minutes?
COACH McCAFFERY: Well, you know, especially for your walk‑on guys that work so hard to get out there, it’s great to see Chris get a bucket. Kyle Denning, he’s been tremendous for us this year. Last year he was a young freshman walk‑on who had gotten hurt and sort of stumbled into his freshman year trying to figure everything out.
Now he’s been through it. He’s in great physical condition and been a very valuable asset in practice. Came in. They’re in a 1‑3‑1. He’s gotta figure that out and navigate it and make sure we get a decent shot without turning it over. And I felt very comfortable with him in the game.
Q: Exhibition game, you didn’t make a decision on redshirting?
COACH McCAFFERY: Yeah, probably. But I haven’t talked to anybody yet. So we’ll probably redshirt somebody.
Q: Would it be more than one, maybe?
COACH McCAFFERY: Probably not. Probably not.
Q: Patience with the first game, offense, defense, decent start?
COACH McCAFFERY: I think that can always be better. But I thought pretty good. Defensively I thought we were really talking to each other. I felt better defensively than offensively.
But we’ve stayed pretty much with the motion offense for this game and we’ve been really trying to work on that. Got a little stagnant towards the end of the first half. I thought there wasn’t enough screening and cutting, and better in the second half.
Q: How about defensively, seems like when you went out to the start of the second half, the perimeter shot was left open again, weren’t getting shooters?
COACH McCAFFERY: We got screened once in the out of bounds in the zone. Doesn’t usually happen to Eric. He got screened in one time.
The other, I think the one kid got hot and we separated a little bit. They were running a lot of screen roll and they were placing, and that takes a lot of communication and efficiency; and to his credit he recognized a little space, when he had the shot, but we’ve got to get that buttoned up.
Q: The second unit, 23‑0 run, middle of the second half?
COACH McCAFFERY: It’s funny, but I kind of don’t look at them as the second unit. Because we’ve got Basabe in there. And Olaseni is a sophomore. Eric May is a senior. Been starting off and on for three years.
Very experienced group. Oglesby plays like a veteran. I thought for Clemmons, in particular, I thought he struggled in the first half, was terrific in the second half. And I just said to him at halftime, I said: You’re better than that. Go out and play the way you’re capable of playing. And he did. I think that was important for him.
Q: What can you say about the way that Eric played tonight, really big night coming off ‑‑
COACH McCAFFERY: Not surprised. He’s been arguably one of our best players in practice. I started him last weekend against Creighton and didn’t start him today. But he’s just really a tremendous captain. He’s going to give us what we need on defense.
He’s also in the right place. He knows where to go. It’s great to see him jump shooting the ball the way he’s been. He’s been like that since the start of practice. That will be big for us, when he’s scoring like he is.
But steals and the run‑outs and the transition opportunities and the energy and experience that he brings in off the bench, very few teams have that when they can go to a senior like that. And I kind of like him in that role.
Q: Do you see the starting lineup changing for the opener or transition with progress?
COACH McCAFFERY: You know, probably stay the way it is. But to say it would be like that every game is ‑‑ that remains to be seen, see who is playing well.
And I really wish I could have gotten Woodbury a few more minutes. I thought he was perking up in the second half. In the first he got off to a good start. Then he got a second foul.
And by the time I was ready to put him back in, it was time to keep my guys on the bench at that point.
Q: Did a good job of not trying to force it for Adam, didn’t seem to get frustrated?
COACH McCAFFERY: I thought he ran well. I thought he got on the glass. I thought he passed it well. I thought he played a really good game for a freshman in his first game.
There were a couple times where he was trying to gather himself and got stuck in traffic. He’s got to feel that double team or feel the pressure and kick it out.
Go right up or just kick it out. Too much fiddling is going to get him in trouble. So he’ll learn and he’ll get better at that.
Q: Talk about reaching the 100‑point mark.
COACH McCAFFERY: Obviously, we want to put points on the board. We want to go, and we will shoot 3’s. What did we shoot, 25 3’s today? We’ll press and run and shoot 3s and we’re going to score points.
The more important thing is we held them to a pretty decent number, 33 percent. We didn’t foul them a ton. We had a couple of crazy fouls late. We put them on the free throw, fouling guys 90 feet from the basket; we can’t be doing that.
But, again, when you’re pressing that’s going to happen some.
Q: Gabe missed some scoring opportunities. Were you pretty happy with what you saw of him?
COACH McCAFFERY: I thought he was spectacular. Four offensive rebounds in the first half. I know he is frustrated he missed the tip‑in.
And second half he made two phenomenal passes that could have been charges and of course he had a couple of good buckets. That was good to see. But 6 and 6 is pretty good. With four offensive rebounds, two blocks, two steals. Should be two assists. Only says ones, but I can remember two specifically that he dumped off for layup. Pretty good day for him.
