Prohm's Presser: ISU hosts Tech
Iowa State head coach Steve Prohm met with the media Monday in advance of Iowa State's Wednesday night home game with Texas Tech. Here is a complete transcript of all that Prohm had to say in his weekly presser in Ames.
Opening comments:
“This is a big week ahead and no bigger than Wednesday night. We’ll practice (Monday and Tuesday) and then be ready to go. Tech is playing really well, is off to a great start at 11-1 and Tubby (Smith) is doing a great job down there. We’ll have to have the same kind of focus and resolve that we’ve had in our last two road games at Cincinnati and Oklahoma. I’m disappointed with the loss Saturday, but in an 18-game league season you’ve got to put things behind you win or lose and get ready for the next day.”
On if Deonte Burton has played himself into a starting role:
“More minutes for sure. I’ve been a guy that likes to stick (with a lineup). I don’t think anything’s broken. Deonte is playing very well. I’ve been very pleased with how he’s come in and tried to fit in. His focus in the last month has been very good in practice. He played very well at Cincinnati and Oklahoma and has done some very good things. Obviously you could see his minutes going up. He’s very versatile and can play a lot of different positions for us. We need to keep getting him better. I’m not looking to make any lineup changes or anything like that.”
On what he thinks Burton can sustain in his game over the long haul:
“He’s come out of the gates great shooting the basketball. I think the things he can sustain are what you saw up there. We’re really versatile with Deonte and Georges. I think they did a great job of changing guys to who played up top and drove guys. I think that’s going to stay the same. I think he’s going to get better defensively. He’s not game-ready defensively, because he’s only played three or four games. He’s going to grow in that area. Offensively, him putting pressure on the basket and getting to the free throw line is going to sustain. If he stays 70 percent from three, that’s a blessing but it’s probably not going to happen. He’s been great and is a tough cover that’s going to do good things for us.”
On what he thinks the formula is for winning a regular season conference title:
“I’ve looked back and every league you’re in your goal is to win your home games and win on the road, maybe 5-4 on the road, you’re going to have a chance at 14-4. Kansas won it last year at 13-5. Because of how good this league is, 13 or 14 wins is going to put you right there. Taking care of home is huge. Look at our record last year, we were 12-6. It’s about Tech on Wednesday, and if we do that we’ve won our first home game. You’ve got to win at home and then put yourself in a position to win as many as you can on the road.”
On if there’s more pressure on the team at Hilton Coliseum than on the road:
“There’s pressure everywhere. There was pressure to win at Oklahoma, because we expected to win. This team expects to win every night from here on out. You’ve got to take care of home. If you’re not 9-0, you’ve got to be at least 8-1 if you want a chance to win a conference championship. You can’t play all nine at once and have Texas Tech on Wednesday, so we need to try and beat them. There is a little bit more pressure at home because you know how important those games are. Then you’ve just got to try and go on the road and take care of business at certain places.”
On how familiar he is with the staff at Texas Tech that’s led by Tubby Smith:
“I know them well enough to say hello. The guy I worked for in college, Dave Hobbs, worked for him at Kentucky for several years. They worked together at VCU years ago for J.D. Barnett. I know his son Saul and he was Tennessee Tech for a long time while I was at Murray (State). (Tubby) is a great coach and is doing a great job at Texas Tech. Offensively, they really want to drive you and are a tempo team that wants to put pressure on you. The biggest thing is keeping them out of the paint and away from the free throw line. Our first-shot defense at Oklahoma was 35 percent and that’s really good on the road against that level of team. We gave up points off turnovers and second-chance points that hurt us.
“Obviously he’s got Tech going in a great direction. He’s got a good young nucleus and a couple good seniors as well as some young guys in the program that are going to get better. Their defensive stats are very good. They’re a good team and have played nine home games, so this is their first true road test. Hopefully that will help us to some degree.”
On the research he did about the Big 12 and Iowa State while he was vying for job:
“The Big 12 is a great league. We’re number one in the RPI and Kansas and Oklahoma are one and two. Three out of the last five years, the RPI has been the number one RPI. (Lon) Krueger and (Bill) Self are guys you’ve followed for a long time. The Big 12 has tremendous basketball. There are a certain couple leagues you want to be in when you take the next step to the high-major spot.
“But as much as the league drew me, Iowa State drew me because of Iowa State. I was at Murray State for a long time and there are a lot of similarities in basketball and life here with the community, environment and kind of people that are here. They love basketball. It’s another level of excellence and the way they do things.”
On Georges Niang’s increased production since the Naz Long injury:
“He’s good. Man he’s good. But he works. I told him I’m going to do everything I can to help him, and with all my seniors. He puts so much time into this game. Everything matters. He does things the right way. He helps me as a coach. He helps me grow because he challenges you to continue to think of things and analyze things. We’re both guys that are really hard on ourselves if things don’t go right or the way we want.
“He was special the other day and made big play after big play. After the game he wants to know what he did wrong or could do better. A couple box-outs. Ball-screen defense. He’s special and unfortunately I only get to coach him for one year. He has a bright future once he leaves here. He’s what’s right about the game, embraces being a student-athlete here and loves Iowa State. That’s what’s cool in the two places that I’ve coached at – they’ve got a lot of pride in what they’re about and where they came from.”
On how much he knew about Niang in previous years:
“The first time I got to really watch him was when ESPN was here for GameDay and he was holding court. He’s got a personality and will tell you how he feels. That’s a good thing. You’ve got to have some personality and has a huge deal of confidence in himself and deservedly so. I watched him from afar and always heard about him. I didn’t know enough about him the year he broke his foot, but knew that everybody was talking about not being able to bring Connecticut’s big guy away from the basket because Niang’s hurt. I knew I’d never coached a player like him before because guys that I’ve played have been 6-7 tough athlete that runs, jumps and are duck-in post guys.”
On what would need to happen for Burton to take over a starting role:
“Something would really have to go. I really like Deonte and he brings something to our team. You really could sub him two through five if you wanted to. He brings a lot of versatility coming off the bench. We’re looking at a three or four game window right now. Our team is in a good place. We’re averaging in the 80s and are 11-2. I think things are going well. People are looking at it as Dooley (Nader) didn’t play great the other night and he knows that. Deonte played exceptional. You’ve got to stay the course. I was thinking the other night, do we go back with Deonte at Cincinnati and I was like, ‘I’m riding with the seniors’ and Dooley makes the shot. Deonte is going to increase in his minutes, but I’m not looking at changing anything.”
On how Burton has handled the mindset of coming off the bench during recent games:
“Because this is probably more attention than I thought I may talk to him a little bit. Hopefully he has the understanding that he wants to be a finisher. Starting is great and everything, but you want to be out there when it’s winning time. I think he’ll handle it good, because I think he understands he’s coming into a situation where he’s playing with seniors that have had a lot of success. He’s really done a great job of fitting in and not trying to take somebody’s moment.”
On any surprises he’s had so far during his first year as the Cyclone head coach:
“I was really proud of our effort at Cincinnati and didn’t know what kind of environment it would be out there two days before Christmas. I knew it would be good, but you never know. That’s what’s so crazy how we had a sell-out for Coppin State a couple days after Christmas. That’s amazing. You knew you were going to go into Oklahoma and it was going to be a great atmosphere. Our guys have handled the road very well. We have put ourselves in position to win on the road. The league is unforgiving if you’re not focused and it doesn’t matter where you play. We have to have the same attention to detail, focus and start as we did at Cincinnati and Oklahoma.”
On if he’d seen Burton’s quick shooting from 3-point range prior to him doing it in games:
“I watched that in practice, especially when he was on Gold. Now he’s on Red so it’s not as quick. He’s a confident offensive player and has made those trail threes and some big threes. Hopefully he will continue to do that.”