Bench, Boards Key As Hawks Settle In

All right. Good to be back in Trask. Our first time back in a while. That was an unbelievable atmosphere. The students showed up early, and they were extremely loud. That atmosphere is second to none, so I want to shout them out and thank them. And people in the community showed up—another good crowd. We continue to show people why we have the best home-court environment in the country, and I do believe that.

For the game, I thought it kind of played against us in the first half. I thought we were a little too frantic and too anxious. When you get like that, you can’t really think. The adrenaline’s flowing, and you’re tricking-off layups and missing open shots from guys who can really shoot the basketball. So I thought it played against us in the first half.

I thought we settled in in the second half and did some really good things. That was the message coming out of halftime: just settle in, take a deep breath, and just be who we are. And I thought we did a good job.

Q. Coach, some of those early emotions that the players just talked about as well—being a little frantic—did that catch you off guard at all? And what were you saying to really let the guys settle in?

SIDDLE: No. Coming out of talking to the guys at half, Donovan was saying, “Do you wish you would have said something to them about that?” Because we were debating whether we wanted to talk about it or not.

I thought we had already gotten that out of our system, playing in front of our home crowd and playing at High Point. But it’s to be expected. All of our teams go through that, where the external factors are really bothering them out there on the court and they can’t really lock in. So hopefully that was a lesson along the journey, and we’ll be better next time when we play in front of our home crowd.

Q. CJ Luster was so good tonight. You watched him last year, obviously not able to play, after the season he had before that at Stony Brook. What is it like to see him perform, and just this journey that he’s been on?

SIDDLE: Yeah, it’s good. It shows a lot of resolve, right? Him, Gavin, even Jahn—those guys had injuries last year. For CJ, he didn’t play all year because of an injury, and he just kept coming to work, kept being about the right things, and he’s put together some really good practices leading up to this game. It was fun to see him go out there and make some shots.

Q. Can you talk about what you want the team to work on moving forward, coming off this game?

SIDDLE: Everything. I don’t think that we necessarily played great. We didn’t communicate well. Our upperclassmen have to communicate way better—that’s just in huddles, getting us organized, and on the defensive end, our coverages. Just communication overall.

And then I didn’t think we shared it well tonight. I thought we were playing uncharacteristic. We had 17 assists; I thought there was a lot more out there to get. And then I didn’t think we got the 50/50 balls that we’ve been harping on for the last couple of weeks. So we have to get back in the film room and get on the court and clean that stuff up.

Q. Obviously, a lot of guys were able to get out on the court. I feel like there were some fun moments — you had a freshman out there, and Tyler Nelson had a couple of moments. What was it like to watch those moments for them?

SIDDLE: Yeah, it’s fun for them. It’s all about trying to build their confidence up, and this whole thing is about their experience. Obviously, we want to win, but it was good to see all of the guys have their moments where they were able to celebrate with each other. So, like I said, it’s a long season. We’ve got to get back to the drawing board and get better.

Q. Pat was a little banged up. He made the joke that he thought it was still Halloween. What were you thinking when you saw him go out there and still really perform tonight?

SIDDLE: Well, it was good. That injury he suffered could have been a lot worse, so I was holding my breath when it happened in practice, but it was good to have him out there.

He brings more than what you guys really see. He’s really stepped up as a leader for us, and he’s really, really turned it up over the last month. It was good to see him go out there. I told him before the game, I wouldn’t want to be doing this with anybody other than him.

I always say this about our upperclassmen and our seniors: man, let’s enjoy him while he’s here, because he’s a unique and rare talent and a very special player and person.

Transcript lightly edited for clarity.

Q. What happened with your injury (earlier this week)?

WESSLER: I was diving for a loose ball, and people got knocked over on top of me. Somebody landed on me and kind of smashed my head on the floor. So I’ve got the stitches on my nose, two black eyes. The mask is more just a precaution than anything else, but it doesn’t really affect me that much. It’s just kind of cool, honestly.

Q. It didn’t seem to affect your performance tonight. How did you feel out there?

WESSLER: I felt great. I’m not really in any pain. It just looks like I lost a fight, that’s all.

Q. How did you feel about the night overall?

WESSLER: I thought it was a really good step in the right direction. We did a lot of good things. We rebounded the ball really well. We came together as a team. I thought it was a really good step in the right direction.

Q. Both of you have been mentioned as leaders for this team after the departures from last season. What does that responsibility mean to you?

WESSLER: Being returners, it’s really important, because we have the standard we play to and our principles that we have. So it’s easier to relay it to the new guys. We just have to take that responsibility on ourselves to make sure the whole team’s on board with what we do and how we play.

Q. After a slow first half, what helped you break away in the second half?

WESSLER: I think it was just our message to each other at halftime. We came in and talked about the things we needed to get better at: sharing the ball on offense, defensive intensity.

And then the message from our coaches was just, we’re not going to get it all at once. Just keep making one play, and then the next, and the next, and the next. And I think we made a lot of those little plays to start the second half, and that’s what helped us blow it open.

Transcript lightly edited for clarity.

Q. What was it like to be back in a regular-season game after being out for a while?

WALSH: It was unbelievable. I’m really grateful to God and my mom. I called her this morning, and she was just like, nothing needs to be said. Been through a lot. So just super grateful and blessed to be back out here, especially in Trask.

Q. Both of you have been mentioned as leaders for this team after the departures from last season. What does that responsibility mean to you?

WALSH: Personally, it means a lot to me. This is a historic program, a historically great basketball team. So being in a role where we can lead is an honor, and it’s a responsibility that we take and we ride with.

I think we’re doing a pretty good job. We’ve got to prepare everybody a little bit better for the external factors, with the fans and everything and how great this place gets. But overall, I think we’re doing a pretty good job of that.

Q. After a slow first half, what helped you break away in the second half?

WALSH: Overall, like I said earlier, we kind of let the external factors get to us. Coach just told us to take a deep breath, stop playing so frantic, stop looking up at the scoreboard, and do what we have to do on every play. And then we’ll look up and we’ll be happy with the result.

Transcript lightly edited for clarity.