Wichita State men's basketball interim head coach Isaac Brown spoke to media ahead of the Shockers' matchup with Tulsa set for Wednesday night. He spoke about the best ways to beat Tulsa, if his team can still play a better game and Ricky Council IV's development.
 
Fans can catch Wednesday's game at 6 p.m. on ESPN+. Fans can learn more about ESPN+ at plus.espn.com.
 
INTERIM HEAD COACH ISAAC BROWN on … 
 
Opening Statement:
"We had a good game against Cincinnati. We had a slow start, but in the second half we picked it up. We were able to get to the rim a lot on our dribble drive. We got out in transition and were able to get a lot of easy baskets. Ricky Council IV had a great game, 23 points off the bench. I thought Clarence Jackson brought a lot of energy. Tyson Etienne  was just OK in the first half, but we got him a lot of shots in the second half, I think he scored 16 points overall. It was a good team effort. Tulsa is a good basketball team, the hottest team in the league right now. They're on a six-game win streak. They've got Brandon Rachal who I think, right now, outside of guys on our team, he's the player of the year in the league, really talented. They've got a good basketball player in (Elijah) Joiner, the guard. They've got one of the best defenses in the country with that matchup zone. So we've got to do a good job of trying to get out and transition to try to get some easy baskets so we don't have to go against that set defense. If we have to go against that, we need to execute and make some wide-open threes."
 
… if this is the biggest week of the season with matchups against Tulsa and SMU:
"I hadn't looked further than the Tulsa game. I hadn't thought much about SMU. I think Tulsa is the biggest game because if we can win this game, we've got the tie breaker rule over those guys, so that's what's makes it really huge. They are in first place right now. They're 4-1, we're 3-1. We have the opportunity to be in first with Houston with a win. They are a good basketball team, so we've just got to do a good job of just handling that matchup zone, being able to make shots, trying to get out in transition, to get some easy ones and defending and rebounding at a high level."
 
… his comments about his team being good enough to win the conference:
"I think that was taken out of context. It was just something in the locker room. I was just trying to give those kids confidence. When I first started that statement, I said, 'If you guys play like this every night at a high level, like you did in the second, you have a chance to go a long way.' But I do think we've got a good basketball team. This is a huge basketball game against Tulsa. They're 4-1, the hottest team in the league, the defending champions. This will help us if it's a tie breaker rule in the end, if we could win two games over those guys."
 
... Ricky Council IV's development:
"I definitely think (last game was) a glimpse of what he can bring night in and night out. He's a super talented kid. He's getting better defensively. I think now he's starting to understand our system. I just told him early on it, wasn't about scoring to stay on the court. You've got to defend, you've got to execute. When you can do those things, you're allowed more minutes. Now you're scoring. We can see what you can do on offensively. We always knew that he could score the basketball. I mean, he's had signs in practice where he's dominated some days because he's really good off the bounce. He has a lot of confidence. I think he feels like he's the best player on the floor at times. In order to be a great player, you got to have confidence in yourself. And he does have a lot of confidence in himself."
 
… the attitude of this team to never get too down on themselves:
"I think these guys just stay together. Nobody ever points fingers when we're down. They're all acting like leaders in the locker room. We can go in at halftime down or we balance in the second half and all those guys are picking each other up. I think the bench has given us a lot of energy, just the way that they're clapping and yelling for their teammates. Those guys just stay together and we've got good leadership. It's helping us win games."
 
… Tyson Etienne's prospects as an NBA talent:
"Without a doubt. I always tell kids, you've got to No. 1, you've got to get a break. You've got to get lucky. I coached a lot of guys that played in the NBA. Some of them probably weren't as talented as him, but it's all about getting the right opportunity. You went in at a high level in college, you're carrying yourself right on the court, off the court and just working hard. I've seen guys that average two points a game as a freshman, but they wind up playing in the NBA. So a lot of it is on you about your work, what you're willing to put in and he's getting better and better every game. Last year he was a catch and shoot guy for us. This year, he's a guy that we can give him the ball late in the shot clock. He can beat you with a jump shot. He can beat you driving the lane, picking up a foul. He can create and get somebody else a wide-open shot. He's really improved this summer and I just give it up to the kid for how much work he's put in and it's really paying off."
 
... the keys to beating Tulsa:
"I think No. 1, we've got to try to get out in transition where they can't set the zone up. If we can beat them down in transition on makes and misses and try to attack the rim at that point, that helps us in our scoring. I went back and watched the last game. We scored a lot in transition. If we can't get out in transition and we've got to go against their set defenses, we've got to make sure we do a good job of attacking it. Then we've got to get organized and run our man sets at a full speed. We've got to run our zone sets. We can't just stand. We've got to have a lot of movement. We've got to be able to penetrate the gaps. Then at some point you've got to be able to make a wide-open shot. We got off to a good start versus them the last game because we made four threes early in the game, but the last two games I watched them play, they got out to a hot start. I watched them play South Florida. They got off to a hot start. We've just got to do a good job of getting off to a good start and being able to make wide-open shots."
 
… having Billy Kennedy as a part of the coaching staff:
"We've got great assistant coaches on the staff. I've worked with those guys for a lot of years, just having coach Kennedy here, having head coach experience has really helped because he's been in those situations. He's played teams that play these type of amoeba defenses. He's good at organizing our practices. He's really good at giving me thoughts on talking with the media. He's really good at X and O stuff. Just having somebody there that's been through it that's been coaching for a long time (is great). Somebody that I feel comfortable with that we can argue about sometimes, but I know he's got my best interest at heart. He's got the team's best interests in mind. It's good having a seasoned guy there."
 
… the production from the bigs:
"I always think there's more to take, but they're getting better every game. Morris had a good game last game. He took the game over late. He was able to score inside. He had good patience, but I got confidence in our bigs. I feel like at any point in the game, I can put Isaiah (Poor Bear-Chandler) in the basketball game. He's a good player. He can score it on the block. He's got good hands. He can step out and rebound. He's a good defender. When Josaphat (Bilau) comes into the game, he gives us something different. He's longer. He's more athletic. He's really good in ball screens. He can block shots. He's a great passer. He's another guy that can make wide-open threes. So I've got a lot of confidence in our bigs. I still think we can do a better job on the glass, but I think we're good enough inside. They've just got to keep getting better and better."
 
… if it's this team has room to level up:
"Yeah. I still think we can play better. I don't think we've played a complete 40 minutes yet. Dating back to the Oklahoma State game, the Mizzou game, I thought we played good in halves. In the Ole Miss game, we didn't have a good first half. We played really well the second half. The Houston game, we started out good. We didn't play a great second half. Even the Cincinnati game we played well in the second half, we scored 45 points in the second half. The first half, we were just, OK. I still don't think we've put together a solid 40 minutes. I think we still can play a lot better. I still think we've got a game coming where we're going to get five or six guys who are going to play their best. So, we're still looking for that perfect game where we can play 40 minutes where we can defend at a high level. Hopefully we can put that game together tomorrow."