Post-Game Quotes: Florida Atlantic
12/21/2024 5:12:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Opening statement...
Nothing's easy. I really like that team. We said it on film. We actually did a pretty good job on a couple guys, (Baba) Miller won. Got into some foul trouble, did a decent job on him. I thought Jeremy (Fears Jr.) did a hell of a job on (Leland) Walker. I really like Walker, too, but Miller is a good player. We did not do a good job on (Tre) Carroll. He was really good, and I think he is really good. I think that team has a chance to win a lot of games. It was probably a good test for us. 
It wasn't good when you go right home for Christmas because there was a couple of sleepless nights on these guys. I told some of you, I thought they were good, and yet we started out the second half four of 17, missed a gazillion layups on put backs for Szymon (Zapala) and Jaxon (Kohler) of all people. Four of 17, I'm trying to figure out how we scored 86 points. We shot pretty well from the free throw line. 
We offensive rebounded. We didn't turn it over too much. It was a good win for us. 
I didn't like the way it was played all the time. I thought we got stagnant with the ball, but I was really impressed with Jeremy and Coen (Carr) will probably never shoot another three. You talk about what you're doing coaching and a couple weeks ago we were working on his free throws and he's six or eight for eight right now from the line and he's really worked hard on his shot and it looks so good and I appreciate our fans, appreciating him. And you saw our players, last time I saw an eruption like that is when Steven hit a shot, I that was pretty cool. I think that tells you a lot about how they feel about each other and that was really important to me and I think to our coaching staff. Coen no doubt was the star of the game. Jaden (Akins) came around the second half and did some good things, but we just weren't as sharp, and we'll have to get better if we're gonna compete in our league for what we want to compete for.Â
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On sophomore forward Coen Carr's dunks...
You saw it, you lived it today. You saw our bench, you saw our fans, you saw their coach, you saw the players that were on the floor. It's like getting a big hit in football or getting an interception. There's things that are worth two points and then there's things that are worth way more than two points. 
Those dunks at the time were worth way more than two points. And then the block was pretty impressive too, and to keep it in I'm just so happy for him because he's another guy that we talked about process all the time. I don't know what he played last year, but it wasn't that much. And it's just sad how everybody thinks that everybody should just be playing, but it takes some time. His confidence is better, he's learning to play harder, his body's in great shape, runs like a deer, shot is improving every day. He's gotten better with the basketball. He's gotten better defensively. Believe it or not, his strongest attribute of course is his jumping ability and I don't know what he ended up with today, but eight rebounds is good cause he hasn't been rebounding as good as I think his jumping ability, and so we've been on him about that. The beauty of him is he's agreeing before you get it out of your mouth and that's a pleasure this day in age.Â
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On being 10-2 going into Christmas...
If you remember the first big press conference in here, I said you probably are not gonna know where you're at until after Christmas. I still feel that way because I don't know what comparative scores does anymore. I'm still too confused on what's going on out there as far as, who's good and who's not good, and comparative scores have been very difficult and the scores have been so up and down. 
I keep saying to my team, I keep saying to you guys, I keep saying to my staff, we just gotta stay consistent, and we've stayed pretty consistent and bench scoring again, 43 points off the bench. It's not really a bench, it's just another bunch of starters. But I'm liking where the team is heading. I think we really got to clean up some things. We have not been as good defensively since our offense has gotten better. Make more shots, check less. Somebody's gotta get after them about that. We still got to be able to guard and I'm surprised too. We got beat some with our guards and that we rotated more guards in there. Couple of ball screen coverages, our bigs weren't as good as they have been. (Carson) Cooper struggled. 
He's been my most solid guy, not the best, but the solid and we just gotta get better. Maybe everybody needs a break. It's been a grind and I'm just happy we didn't go home before the game. My pregame meal today, that's what I said. The most important part of the day will not be tip off. It'll be between 10 and two, because 10 and two is you determine whether you want to be here, whether you want to be home. One good thing about experience as a coach, there's bad things, but the good thing is you've seen things happen, you've been there, you've done that. 
I talked to poor Dwayne Stephens last night, they had a big lead and all he talked about was, it's what I told our guys that some of you wanna be home already. Some of you are already in the airplane. I don't blame you. I like to go home too, but we got a job to finish and then we go home. I thought we were so-so on that, but the focus of the week was pretty good and um I think we will get better. So where are we? We're 10 and two. Good enough to beat a lot of teams, not great enough to not lose to a lot of teams. I think we got to short up our defense a little bit. The other area I was disappointed in, and we did a little better job of was the turnovers. We are shooting the ball a little better. I'm not as concerned with that. We get to defend and rebound. And if we do that we'll get our run game going and we'll be a better team.Â
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On the performance of redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. ..
I pulled him out one time and towards the end of the game, I had him come back up and stand by me and I told him exactly what you said. I thought he took a major step today because in those huddles, not how he played, in those huddles, he was demonstrative. He was begging, he was prodding, he was after guys to play harder and check better. I thought if I looked at overall, how he played, assists eight to one, all those things, he was really good. 
If I took everything overall, that was his best game as a Spartan, because he was really good in the huddles. He really showed some leadership and I'm telling you, he's gonna get better. I keep saying the legs really good, but I still think he has a ceiling to get to yet. 
So we got some work to do.Â
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On Jaden Akins health……
"You Know what, I thought he got his shoulder, so I was worried about that, but he got poked in the eye too, so that was the reason. It doesn't seem to be anything. He was good, eye a little red but nothing that's going to hold him out in college. I think he'll still play in the next month."
On if Izzo has ever had a player comparable to Coen Carr…..
"Yeah, I had one comparable and its 'sun' place for me. JR (Jason Richardson) was comparable the difference with JR at that age, is he was about 175-180 pounds. Coen's 215-22. But JR had these long arms, and he was pretty good too. So I've been blessed, you know, Shannon Brown, I've had a few guys, but Coen is getting so much better with the basketball too. He's in his second year and he's just improving, he's got such a great body as he learns to rebound even better in the offensive end, I think his game is going to get better and better."
On if Jason Richardson has mentioned anything to him about Coen….
"Oh yeah, he comes up here. I think when Jason comes up here, you know his son took off today too, and tried to dunk over a 6'11 guy too. Jace is a different player then Jason, but Jace got some hops too, but Coen and JR, I'm sure knowing JR, he's his biggest fan because he knows. The funny part is that JR wasn't a very good shooter, and he made himself one of the better shooters in the NBA. JR worked unbelievably hard between his freshman and sophomore year, and he got better, not great. Then when he left, he got better and better and better, because that's all he was doing is playing basketball. If Coen can keep working on that, and next time I see Jason I might have him tell Coen the story. Jason went from, I mean you saw him in high school he was not a very good shooter, to I mean, I think he led the league a couple of years in three-point field goal percentage. Think about how much work that takes. So Coen is not there yet but he is more powerful because he's probably 30 pounds heavier, maybe more."
On if this team's bench depth reminds him of the 2000s team when Morris Peterson came off the bench…..
"Yeah, I mean Mo Pete (Morris Peterson) came off the bench for a long time. It does remind me of that unique good players coming off, you need someone to bring something to the game. I don't know where that's going to go either, like I told my guys, there were a couple of guys I was disappointed in, and didn't play as well. Everybody says, 'well give me another chance'. Well, last year I gave guys another chance and we lost five games down the stretch. Now, how about 'give me a chance to keep you in the game'. Give me a chance, if its effort related, there's no excuse. Sadi said it at halftime, a couple of guys took some tough shots. He said this is an unbelievable place; he hasn't taken one guys out because of their shooting. Why are you not taking them out because of their effort? So you know, are the minutes going to change at all? I could see some going up, some going a little down, but we need a couple of guys to play better. Listen, we need Coop (Carson Cooper). First time he had his mask off, and we talked about it, and he was struggling a little bit, and we need him to get back so he can guard a lot of different people. We need Coop, he's one of the better leaders on my team, we need him. Jax (Jaxon Koehler), that was the first game where he couldn't, I mean he even missed his classic jump hook today, but yet, 12 rebounds, he was a man child down there. And we need Book (Xavier Booker), and then those guards, today Jeremy was good, Jace was good, and Jaden came on. We need Jaden (Jaden Akins( to be more consistent, he's not running the way he needs to run, and we're really going to work on that because we need him. If we let him and the other guys on the other wing, we could be a lot better."
On the guard's performance rebounding…….
"I think Jace is just getting better every single day. Like you say, six rebounds for him, he's not the most physical guy yet, he's getting there. He has such a feel for things, and boy it was too bad he didn't complete that lob to Coen, because that was a great play by him. He just threw it a hair too high, and I don't know how in the hell you throw it too high to Coen, but I think he did. But yeah, I've been pleased with that. I think right now I need to Tre (Tre Holloman) to, everybody thinks that's, well, you're coming out, you're going in. Let me tell you something, there were guys tired today. Now we lost some things today cause were tired, so guys got to get better shape, and it was a weird thing with finals and all the things we went through. This will be a good break for him, come back day after Christmas, and we got to grind it for a few days, a couple 'two-a-days', and get going and get ready for unfortunately the real season."
On how the team and staff has handled playing non mid major schools….
"I said, my staff has done an incredible job, I think, because we had those quick turnarounds, different kinds of teams over in Maui, I mean, preparing for Samford was a lot. You know what I was most mad at my team for today? Â We have a scout team right now, the two twins from Oakland, Jesse, who's been unbelievable, and we put Kerr, Gehrig and of course Nick. Nick, Gehrig, and Kerr deserve to play more, and I was mad at my team for that because they know how much those guts help them, and the only thing they get is some crumbs, and they deserve to get maybe a half a meal tonight instead of some crumbs. I think my team agreed. It takes the assistant coach that is running that, the video guys that are doing it, Colin did a great job, this was Saudis scout. But then the scout team, they got to do a lot, the GA's got to do a lot, breaking down film and that. So, its an effort by everybody, but at the end of the day getting a good scout team has been really important, and we haven't had that, and right now we have a really good scout team that's getting better themselves. It's really helped, Kerr Tang, he needs, deserves, and should get more minutes, and will. Because somebody that's playing well and maybe not shooting as well sooner or later, you know, its going To change a little"Â Â
Florida Atlantic Head Coach John Jakus
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Opening Statement…
Heckuva Fall. We like to say there are four portions to the season, conference play will be next, the conference tournament and the NCAA Tournament last. We will take what we learned from that, and we are going to have a good Christmas. I just want to say a personal shoutout to all the families who sacrifice for our kids. They give them to us, so we can take a care of them. Winning and losing is incredibly important, but it is also important to say we are family. We love our kids and Merry Christmas.
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On the foul trouble today…
I think some of the fouls were true and some of them our guys have to learn to play without their hands, and some are in another category. We are going to process through that. I thought in the second half it was much better, much cleaner. The guys made adjustments. Clearly, the free throw line matters. They made 16, and we made 11. Minus five at Michigan State isn't as bad as it could be. I wouldn't say that was where the game fell, but certainly in the first half it made a difference.
Michigan State redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr.
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On how the game has slowed down for him…
This kind of reminds me of a year ago. I remember playing Stony Brook and finally starting to understand, it started to click a little bit more. And I had 10 assists that game, starting to see the floor and things started to feel simple for me. So just, understanding this game, it felt simple, making the simple plays, the right reads and just having energy. Today I really just made a statement. I have to be grateful because a year ago, I was in the same game and had to miss the rest of the season.
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On reaching the one-year mark since his injury and if he's been thinking about it…
Definitely thinking about this upcoming moment, hitting the one-year mark. It's special to still be able to do what I'm able to do. Going out there and playing as hard as I can, not taking anything for granted.
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On if he felt in control on the court…
A little bit. Obviously, I keep getting better game by game, day by day, but I don't really think I fully got it yet. But I'm slowly getting better and my teammates have helped me get to this position and the coaches trust me.
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Michigan State sophomore wing Coen Carr
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On hitting his first career three-pointer…
It felt good when I shot it. I had to have it. My teammates have been telling me to shoot it.
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On how much he's been working on that part of his game…
A lot, every day pretty much. I've been working on that since I got here.
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On developing his ability driving to the basket, stepping through defenders…
I've just been putting in the work. I've always kind of had that ability, but just being able to have the confidence in game to use it and have the reps in practice to use it.
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