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Gregg Marshall

Quotables: Pre-Jacksonville State

12/10/2018 3:55:00 PM

Looking to bounce back from a rough weekend in Oklahoma City, the Shockers have a challenge ahead of them Wednesday against an underrated Jacksonville State team that comes in riding a five-game winning streak. Read on for quotes from Gregg Marshall's weekly press conference.
 

HEAD COACH GREGG MARSHALL ON...

....the loss to Oklahoma:
"We've got to execute offensively. We've got to try to get easier shots than we were taking. We are settling for quick and -- often times -- long, three-point shots. We calculated that we took 14 three-pointers with our toes on the NBA three-point line or behind the NBA three-point line. Many of these are by some guys who aren't shooting great percentages, or even decent percentages. Some of them, from guys who haven't hit a three-pointer all year long. My errors - -  and I have many errors - - but the biggest error that I didn't do going into the game was to tell the players 'Do not even think about that line. If you are going to take a three-pointer, take a normal three-pointer.' We elected to show the world that we could hoist one from behind the three-point NBA line with no chance of going in. All that does is confirm that you can't make those type of shots. I needed to talk to them and warn them, and I failed to do that.'

....the guards' performance:
"We need to execute what we are trying to run. We were horrendous in our execution. Horrendous. Whether it be our transition, which we call 'quicks,' our set plays where we walk it up, or our breakdown offense which comes right after those first two -- very, very poor execution. Then, the inability of our guards to get into the lane and go by their defender to create a scoring opportunity for themselves or to draw the defensive help and create a scoring opportunity for others. We're just not very good at that right now."

....working the ball around in the offense:
"We could get better in so many areas, as we mentioned Saturday. We only had five assists, probably our worst assist-to-turnover ratio in some time. We need to share the ball, but we've got to try and break the defense down and get to the paint, either by the pass or the drive, to get the defense to contract and find the open player. Didn't do it very well. In the second half our inability to make a basket started to affect us on the defensive end. We basically stopped competing on the boards, stopped competing on the defensive end, and that's your result."

...Jacksonville State:
"They've won five in-a-row. We haven't won five in-a-row. I think our longest streak is two and that just ended. Very talented team. On the other end of the experience scale (compared to WSU). They've got fourth and fifth-year seniors. I think, four or five of them in their starting lineup. We're going to be going against a well-coached team. Ray Harper is a tremendous coach. He's done a great job wherever he's been. He came in here one time for a midnight game when he was at Western Kentucky. Before that, he was at Kentucky Wesleyan - - won at least one or two National Championships in Division II. The guy can coach basketball. He's got a veteran club, he's got transfers from Tennessee -- a fifth-year guy. He's got a transfer from Clemson -- starting guard. They are going to be very talented and very scary. They could easily come in here and beat us."

....Jacksonville State's defense, which ranks 13th nationally in steals-per-game:
"They play hard. They get right up in you. They're men, grown men... They've got some good players. We're going to have to take care of the ball. We're going to have to pound it inside. We're going to have to try to compete on the glass. Who knows what can happen on Wednesday."

....how he hopes the team will respond this week during practice:
"I would like for them to respond in a very positive way. I would like for them to be upbeat, trying to get better, listening to the critiques, watching the film and trying to learn from seeing it. Seeing is believing and sometimes when you are the performer you are not watching your performance. Later on, when you see it, you see how bad it is. Maybe it will jolt you back to reality."
 
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