1- You started off the season very strongly, but the past few games you have struggled, what adjustments are you making for the second half of the season, and was this winter break needed?
-We definitely needed this winter break—we played a lot of tough non-conference games to start the year and we have been going pretty much non-stop since the middle of September. It’s a good opportunity for us to slow down, reflect, heal, and get ready for the second half the season in conference play. We have had some unfortunate timing with injuries over the last month, and that has lead to a lot of the struggles that you have seen. That being said, it’s also been good because we have a lot of freshmen who have had to step-up and take on larger roles with those injuries. It’s been a whirl wind for most of them because of the amount of time on the court they have had to take on, but I think long term that will be good for us as a team.
2- How was the overall experience for you guys in Puerto Rico?
-Puerto Rico was great! I would recommend to any coach thinking about taking their team on a bigger trip to go there. It is exceptionally well-run, facilities are well-kept and make you feel like you are playing at a Division I arena, and the hotels/hospitality are fantastic. It’s a great experience too to play teams from outside our region; it just makes us better because we have to play against different styles of basketball. Redlands came all the way over from Southern California—when else are we realistically getting that opportunity to play a team like them? Obviously, a win would have been great—and I thought we could have gotten one—but at the end of the day, with a team of 8 new faces on this roster, the trip and experiences in Puerto Rico together as a team off the court are far more important. The team bonding and relationship building you form over a trip like that is what helps you down the road, whether it’s this year or over the course of the next several.
3- Coming off last season was there any complacency to start off the year if no how did you overcome it?
-Honestly, I don’t think we had any complacency. I think with so many new faces (8 new faces on a roster of 13 total), we just went into the year knowing we had to earn everything again. We spent most of our 8 non-traditional days focusing on how, yes we have a target on our back, but that is a by-product of competing in this program. Our team slogan this season is “Raise the floor. Chase the ceiling.” We have really focused on sticking to standards and processes, and I think that slogan has really helped stabilize that mindset of earning each day.
4- What has been your team's main flaw this season that you hope to correct?
-I think our main flaw so far this season is just honestly our lack of experience. We just need more time together and have to compete at a higher level day in and day out in practice. We spoke after our Farmingdale game and a little bit after the Manhattanville game that the things that are costing us right now are habits and skills that we can control that have very little to do with basketball—panic, frustration, tiredness, focus, etc. It’s the emotional side for us (which leads to the mental mistakes), which was to be expected when you have such a young line-up playing, and when you have some of your more experienced players fighting through injury. I’m very optimistic about it though because it’s a fixable, controllable thing and if we focus the second half of the season on what our season slogan states, I think we will find ourselves in a good place come the end of the season.
5- Lastly and most importantly, what would be the single best Christmas gift you could receive this year? (Not basketball related)
-The best Christmas gift I could receive—that’s a tough one! For me, it’s a feeling that I wish I could encapsulate every single day in some small capacity. You remember when you were kid and you woke up on Christmas morning and the day just felt like magic? That feeling of Christmas morning magic and bliss—if there was a way I could capture that feeling into a moment of each day—whether it’s for 5 seconds, 30 seconds, an hour—that would be the greatest Christmas gift I could receive.