December 08, 2003
Coach Melvin Watkins met with members of the media on Monday at Cain Hall. The Aggies return to action on Saturday when they host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 7 p.m. at Reed Arena.
Here is a partial transcript of comments made by Coach Watkins during the news conference.
Your team got off to a good start this season, but had a rough week last week, going 0-2 on the road...
"It really was a rough week. I think we can go back even to the Prairie View A&M game a little bit. I know our practices have dropped off, mainly because we haven't have a full complement of players. But you look at the Tennessee game and I think we were ready to play. We got off to a good start in that game, but then in the first few minutes Jesse King goes down with an injury. Yet we still played that first half the way I know we can play. Then, we came back the second half and missed some early shots and let the game get away from us. Our defense started to break down after we missed those shots. But again, our practices have not been very sharp and as good as we would have liked because of those injuries so we go to Oakland not the same team at all. Mentally and physically we were not where I know we should be and can be. We're one of those teams where things have to go right for us. We're not so good that we can take practices off and have guys sitting out. We need everybody there. We didn't have that. I attribute that to Jesse (King) not practicing, Andy Slocum has been under the weather so he's not practicing. Then you have Acie Law and Kevin Turner limping around in practice on sprained ankles. You find yourself trying to push and get on guys, but you don't have all of your players there so your practices are just not the same. There's not the same continuity and it's not as sharp. We have some new kids that don't know how to handle that yet."
What are the major problems right now?
"There are still some things that we're finding out about this team as we go along. I'm glad to find out some of this stuff at this point rather than later on. We can now make some adjustments. I also see the way I have distributed minutes. I will probably increase some guys' minutes. We've used the bench but maybe the competition was such that we could use our bench a little deeper than we can against the better teams. But that's okay, too. So we have to make some coaching adjustments with this team and try to develop that go-to guy and get the ball in his hands a little bit more. Defensively, we've got to be a better team. We have to be a little smarter. I talked with Leandro (Garcia-Morales). He's doing a good job with his hustle but he's getting into foul trouble so I have to sit him out. I need him on the floor more. When you have a breakdown on the perimeter, we haven't shown the smarts on our back line to cover up for that. Those are areas that I know we have to get better at as we move forward. We will continue to work on those things to get better."
Do you see last week as a setback for your team?
"I really don't think it was a setback. We addressed some concerns about some things in the locker room after those two games. I think this team will respond to those areas where we had concerns. We got into a situation where, because we've played our bench and played a lot of different guys, that we have more guys looking for offense than there should have been. We've addressed that. I like the response this group gave. I like the way they looked at it as opposed to 'I want to score,' and 'I want to do this.' This is a team that is going to accept those roles which will allow us to get better. If not, then we won't get better. We have to go back and identify roles a little bit better and make sure our players understand that and then get on with the business of practicing and becoming a better team."
Do you like having a week before your next game?
"The thing that I like about this week is that before we play again we've got some practice time. It seems that in the past when we've kind of hit a bump in the road, we've stayed on the road or hadn't had the chance to get back and really address it. The good thing is that we have this week to get mended a little bit and probably more important, get back on the practice floor with some tape in hand and certain situations in hand that we really can focus in on to make us a better team. That is a difference in itself in that we will now see if we can make those adjustments."
Do you feel maybe you've been a little too balanced offensively?
"I think that's what we got caught up in. I go back to the first three games and how really moved the ball and how we talked about making the extra pass. That was really good for our team in those games, but the danger in that was we probably weren't developing that go-to guy, which is going to be Antoine Wright, as much because we didn't necessarily run stuff for him and we didn't necessarily say we have to get the ball to him. We had everybody making pretty positive contributions. Now, as we play better competition, we get to where the scouting report is such that they try to take away this and that. That's when you have to rely on getting the ball in a certain player's hand at certain times. We probably haven't done as good as we must do as we move forward. You look at the last game, Antoine (Wright) gets seven shots. We have to get him more than seven shots. Now he didn't play his best game at Oakland -- he turned the ball over four or five times. But he has to have the ball in his hands more than seven times to be a go-to player. That's what has to happen to this team. We have to go back and redefine roles a little bit and make sure we develop those one or two go-to type players. I think it's a little bit of a slow start and Antoine (Wright) also has to understand that he doesn't have a Bernard King, so probably the best defensive player from the opponent is going to be on him. Some of those things he has to play his way through. I'm confident he will be able to get there. He's got to experience that. He's just a sophomore and we know his potential is there, but those are some of the things that he's going to have to see this year because now he is the marked man. That's why it's going to be good to have a Jesse King or one or two of the other guys to step up and take a little bit of that pressure off of him until he kind of grows into that role. But the expectations for him are high. Some probably are not fair, but that's what's been created and now he has to be able to deal with that. We have to be able to deal with that and still become the type of team that we can become."
Are you confident Antoine will come out of this?
"We assume and really feel confident that he's going to play better. To his credit, he's bought into the fact we're going to make the extra pass. And any team with a go-to player sometimes has a little double standard for that player having a green light more than the next player. We've been able, the first few games, to not let Antoine focus in on himself, obviously. That's probably set him back a little bit. Now we will go back, not wanting him to take bad shots, but he's got to knock shots down when he's got to. He probably has to be a little more selfish on the offensive end. I don't really like to use that word, but he's got to look for offense a little bit more than he has in these few games."
What is Jesse King's status?
"Jesse King got a knee or something in his back against Tennessee in the first few minutes. He was in a lot of pain. He didn't practice last week. He really wasn't going to play in the Oakland game, but his family was there and he made the trip for that reason. He came in and said 'Coach, I want to play.' He tried to warm up and I let him play, but obviously he had missed practice and he wasn't himself. I hope he'll be able to play Saturday. I got a note today (from the trainer) that we're not looking for him to practice today. We've got to get him back in the practice gym because he's a player who, like most players, when he practices he performs at a much better level than when he doesn't practice. They took Andy Slocum to the emergency room last week because they thought he had a spider bite, but it turns out it was probably a staph infection. He was throwing up and had not been up to full strength. They put him on this heavy medication and it didn't sit well with him. I'm not sure if they have determined it was a staph infection or not. I think we'll get him back. He only played seven minutes against Oakland but I think we'll get him back for Saturday. I'd say that Acie Law is further along than Kevin Turner. Kevin is still hobbling along and complaining a little bit about his ankle. They ought to be okay by Saturday."
Talk about the A&M-Corpus Christi game on Saturday...
"Corpus Christi is a team that is perimeter orientated. They will probably guard you pretty tough. They've got two or three players who can hit the three. They've got a player that I don't think has played yet because of eligibility issues who is supposedly a pretty good guard. We're going to have to play. What we have to do is make sure our players recognize it. Fans may not recognize it, but we know they are a team that is capable of beating us, particularly since we've hit a bump in the road and haven't played well in the last two games. I'm excited to get back to the practice floor to clear up a few things and make a few adjustments and then see how we respond to that. Corpus will probably give us all we want. It's good to be back home, get back in Reed Arena and get back to playing sharp."