Wichita State head coach Isaac Brown met with local media ahead of Tuesday night's matchup with Tarleton State at Charles Koch Arena. Read on for the transcript.
 

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HEAD COACH ISAAC BROWN ON…
 
… Opening statement:
"Tarleton State is a good basketball team that's well-coached. Billy Gillispie was the head coach at Kentucky and head coach at Texas A&M. He's one of the bright minds in college basketball. He'll definitely have those guys prepared. They're a small basketball team; they're not big, but they've got a good basketball team. I watched them play against Stanford, and they were winning up until halftime. I watched their game against KU. It was 39-31 (at half), so we've got our hands full."
 
… What Tarleton State did to put Stanford in trouble:
"It's the dribble-drive and their quickness. They space the floor. They've got five guards on the floor, so that makes a big guy like Udeze, Pohto or Pleasant guard at the three-point line. You've got to keep the ball in front. Everybody on their team can shoot a three. They get after you defensively with their ball pressure. They'll pick you up 100. They're going to make you cut back door, and they do a tremendous job of getting out in transition. We've got to make sure we take care of the basketball number one. Don't turn it over, play inside out, step up and make some wide-open shots, and we've got to get back in transition. We can't give up any transition baskets. Then, we have to keep the ball in front when we're in our half court, we've got to keep it out of the paint, we've got to contest all the threes, and we've got to limit them to one shot at the basket."
 
… What needs to improve to prevent the dribble-drives:
"We didn't (stick to) our normal principles on defense (against South Alabama). We normally are in the gaps. We make you pass the ball out, we try to get deflections, and it's not like us to give up layup after layup after layup. They spread us out, we weren't able to keep those guys in front.. Yesterday at practice, we worked on being in the gap to help your man out. Even though you have to guard your area, we want to make sure everybody is providing help and being in the right spots to make the (other) team kick it out and then contest their three-point shots."
 
… Countering Tarleton's small lineups:
"I don't want to change just because the other team changes. I hope the fact that they're small means we can use our big guys to score. We've got to try to take advantage.... We're the bigger team. I've watched other teams play them that were able to take advantage of that. We just have to do a better job of not letting them get easy catches at the free throw line. When they do throw the ball to the free throw line and Morris Udeze or Kenny Pohto is guarding a guy that's 6-5, we've got to do a better job of helping those guys out and forcing them to kick the ball back outside."
 
… The potential silver-lining of being able to win Saturday without Etienne at his best:
"We've got other guys that can score. Every day, I see it in practice, whether it's Ricky Council IV, Dexter Dennis, or Morris Udeze. Neither one of those guys scored much the last two games. Clarence Jackson does a great job off the bench. Kenny Pohto is one of those guys that can score in double figures. Joe Pleasant hasn't showed it yet, but he's another guy that can score the basketball. We've got more than just one guy that can score, and that's comforting to know that you can still win a basketball game when your big three don't get double figures."
 
… What Udeze needs to do to get himself on track after a slow offensive start:
"He needs to get on the block, start scoring the basketball and take advantage of his strengths. I know he wants to play out on the perimeter, and he can step out there and drive the basketball. He can shoot a stationary three. I think he's 1-for-3 on the year, but his bread-and-butter has to be with his back to the basket. We need him to start getting some double-doubles. He'll get going. He got in early foul trouble (Saturday) after they took a charge on him, and we couldn't utilize him much, but this game he'll be ready to go."
 
… Morris Udeze's career-high 12 rebounds:
"He was just going to the glass. We talked about that. In order for us to be an elite basketball team, we need to get two or three guys that average five-or-more rebounds, and Morris Udeze is one those guys that can get a double-double on any given night. The focus this year for him is to be a better rebounder and be more skilled. We've got to get him to that offensive glass. We play Tarleton State, a smaller team, and if we can't take advantage of our size on the other end, they may take advantage of some of our big guys with their drives, so we have to do a tremendous job of getting to the offensive glass. We're going to send our three, four, five every time, and we have to win that battle of the boards."
 
… Ricky Council IV's development as s play-maker:
"Every day in practice, we see it. Ricky Council IV is one of those guys, out of everybody on the team, that makes tough shots in practice. He'll drive the ball to the paint, go up against two guys and bump into them, draw a foul and get an and-one. I think he made one of those big plays in the game (Saturday). Last year, he shot 42% from the three-point line. This year, he's shooting it well. He's definitely a guy that can create off the bounce, and when he draws help, I'm glad he's throwing it to the open guys. He's done a great job of getting his teammates involved. I think he dribbled the baseline, drew two people and threw the ball to Dexter Dennis for an open three, and Dexter made that shot. That was a big play in the game."
 
… An impressive all-around showing from Dennis:
"He's so impressive on defense. You can put him on a guy, and he normally shuts that guy down. I don't care who it is. He's one of the better defenders in the country. He's always in the right position. His length with his long arms helps him always block shots. He's just been a tremendous guy on defense. On offense, those shots are starting to fall. We continue to tell him to take those wide-open shots, and eventually he'll start making those shots at a high clip. He's a really good three-point shootwe, he's an excellent defender, and he's a good all-around player. That's why Dexter plays. I always tell the young guys that even though he's not making shots, he's still doing things to affect winning, and that's why he's on the floor. Eventually, he'll start to make those wide-open shots just like he did with that three he made to put us up four points."
 
… Plans for the trio of Isaac Abbide, Chaunce Jenkins and Jalen Ricks, all of whom are still eligible for a redshirt:
"Those guys will get their opportunity. They've just got to be ready when that time comes. I tell them all the time to just keep positive energy on the bench, and when they get their opportunity to step up and be ready to go. If we have any changes as far as redshirts, I'll update you guys as soon as possible. Isaac Abidde has been dealing with an ankle injury, but he's probably 80% now. There's a good chance I may redshirt Jalen Ricks. We've talked about it. Right now, Chaunce Jenkins will definitely play. He's had some great practices. We're just looking forward to those guys continuing to get better. Our vision for those three guys is the same. I think all three will help us in the future, and that's why we recruited them. All three have bright futures at Wichita State. They're doing a great job in practice, being on the scouting team and basically making it tough and giving us an example of what it's going to be like in the game."