Head coach Isaac Brown met with local media Thursday afternoon for a look back at the season-opening win over Central Arkansas and a preview of Saturday's matchup with defending SWAC champion Alcorn State. Read on for the transcript.
 

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HEAD COACH ISAAC BROWN ON…
 
… Saturday's opponent, Alcorn State:
"Experienced group of guys. They have a three-man that was a top-75 player in the country coming out of high school, (Keondre) Montgomery. Their team is really good defensively. They pick you up full court. They're well-coached, and they're a team that is used to winning, so we've got our hands full."
 
… Shoring up the team's defensive rebounding:
"We gave up 16 offensive rebounds (to Central Arkansas). We've got to do a better job of checking out. That's something we worked on in practice yesterday, something we'll work on in practice again today and something we'll go over in film. In order to be a good team, you've got to rebound, and Alcorn State is a really good offensive rebounding team."
 
… Other takeaways after reviewing Monday's film:
"We defended well in the half court, for the most part, though we gave up a couple of baskets in transition. We didn't sprint out of our press. After you trap, you've got to sprint and protect the basket. We gave up two layups on that but, overall defensively, we were really good. Anytime you can hold a team under 30 percent on field goals and under 20 percent from three-point, that's a great defensive effort."
 
… How he expects the scoring roles to take shape behind Craig Porter:
"I think it will be balanced, outside of Craig… Every day in practice, it's a different guy stepping up. That helps your team a lot when you've got balanced scoring. If you know who the top-two scorers are, you just try to deny and trap those guys, but we have multiple guys who can score the basketball."
 
… Quincy Ballard's impressive debut:
"He does a tremendous job every day coming to practice and trying to get better. He has a great attitude. He's coming off the bench right now… and he's taking advantage of the minutes that he's getting. He's the one guy on the team that I can say has earned more minutes already. He's got to continue to get better, continue to defend at a high level in the ball screen coverage, continue to rebound and continue to finish at the rim like he's doing."
 
… Jump-starting Kenny Pohto:
"This summer, he was really scoring the basketball around the basket. That first game, he missed a couple chippies that he made all summer long. He's just got to gather himself, take his time and try to get the ball off the glass. He had a tremendous summer, he's been working his butt off and he'll be fine. He's got to continue to play with confidence. We've got a lot of confidence in him, and he'll definitely get some touches in this game."
 
… WSU's center rotation of Ballard, Pohto and James Rojas:
"Right now, any given night, I can see one of those guys stepping up. Kenny is the one that has the most experience at Wichita State, a guy that can stretch the defense. He's a great defender. James Rojas, who can play multiple positions. He is another guy that can stretch the defense, and he can drive the basketball. Quincy Ballard is running to the rim constantly, and he's forcing the defense to tag. He's a great offensive rebounder, great finisher at the rim. Those guys are playing really well."
 
… His own off-season improvements heading into year No. 3 as a head coach:
"It's a new group of guys, so I want to try to give them some different sets offensively. They've done a great job of picking that stuff up, and we were able to run some of those actions in the game. My biggest thing now, I just want to concentrate on making sure I'm prepared for every game. If that's going out to watch six to eight different games on the team we're about to play, I want to try to know them like the back of my hand. I want to make sure we're good in the film room. I want to come to practice with a lot of energy because in order for a team to be good, the head coach has to be good in practice, and I try to bring that every day, and the assistant coaches are doing a good job of that as well."
 
… Goals for Saturday:
"The biggest key in this game is we've got to take care of the basketball. They're going to pick up 94 feet. They've got a smaller team and a point guard that's like a Patrick Beverly, just going to pick you up 94 feet, and if you get loose with the basketball, he will take it. So passing, meeting the basketball, catching and those different things are going to be really valuable this game. We have to take care of the basketball, we have to be able to handle their pressure, we've got to do a good job on the point guard, who last year had 15 points here. We've got to do a good job on Montgomery, who's capable of getting 30 points in a game, and we've got to make sure we rebound. We've got to win the battle on the boards. We've got to value the basketball and take care of it."
 
… Waiting for word on transfer waivers for Colby Rogers and Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler:
"No updates on those guys right now. They are still practicing well and doing everything they need to in order to keep themselves in tip-top shape, because I'm telling them that when we get that call from the NCAA, they've got to be ready to go. Right now, we'll focus on the guys that are eligible. We've got enough guys in the room to help us win."