USC head coach Andy Enfield | USC 93, Stanford 79

afternoon was good great win for our team I play really well offensively and forced 13 steals 18 turnovers so guys gave tremendous effort Stanford's a very good basketball team they've been playing exceptionally well they just beat Arizona scored 100 points on Arizona and I beat UCLA on the road so we knew that they were going to play very well and they did uh so I'm very proud of our team for stepping up and and taking care of this win coach do you feel like Isaiah coler's taken a big step forward these last two games uh yes last game he had seven assists no turnover he didn't turnover at all in the second half and he was able to get to the rim and he scored the ball and made the right plays he ran the team tonight he was uh suggesting what plays to run suggesting different actions so was Boogie so was Co so was J even Josh he had four assists tonight so uh I think when you have your your players understanding what's working what's not that's a huge benefit to a coach because um they're feeling it and they're seeing it coach you've really cut down on the fouls with 10 in each of the last two games what would you attribute the relative lack of fouling to well we just foul at an alarming rate uh before and put teams on the foul line and part of that is position defense part of that is uh uh just keeping your hands off people and playing with your chest and keeping your hands up or out as a head coach what what is one of the things you're looking for as far as effort I mean thing that pops out to me here is 13 offensive rebounds what's what's the stat you look at first when you're looking at the sheet well I I think uh you look at the turnovers and you look those are extra possessions the offensive rebounding those are extra possessions and it can go either way for or against you and so tonight we won we won both of those uh battles and uh they still shot a very high percentage as I said Stanford is very good everybody can make shots in their entire team and you know and then when Jones is making five for five and Angel goes three for three those guys were pretty tough to guard and uh I thought we challenged a lot of those shots and they were just they just made them so uh I think uh the turnovers and offensive rebounding are big parts of our success Andy a lot of things were better tonight defensively as you mentioned but are you still concerned about the shooting percentage of Stanford and some of the other recent well I I think if you look at the shooting percentage they did shoot very well as I said I just gave them credit because they're good Shooters and they they made some tough shots uh I think Jones first two threes one hit the side Rim rolled around the other one hit the back R side rim and roll you know so sometimes it doesn't go away on on the rolls but uh I I think U uh when you force 18 18 turnovers have 13 steals even though they did shoot a high percentage we were still able to control control the game as best we could um defense wasn't perfect uh we started switching more in the second half and I thought that helped us because Josh was so good at switching on the guards Andy a guy you know Kobe was trying to kind of make a you know draft statement this year and take that you know steady progression what did you see just in terms of an allaround you perform we're not concerned about draft status sure you know when Kobe Isaiah and Boogie play well were undefeated so if people are worried about where they're going in the draft we're just not going to be very good um Kobe had a great game tonight allaround game with his his aggressiveness he had five assists five steals five rebounds and 21 points and I thought he played probably his best game of the year and so uh you know all these mock drafts and projections don't mean anything a lot of that's based on what you did in your past uh doesn't help you win games right now so we don't talk about it and I really don't care I'm just concerned about putting guys on the floor that want to win that play hard play the right way on offense and give effort on defense and if they do that we're a pretty good team were you concerned at half when the big had 37 of the 39 concerned about getting more from others when they're shooting a ball like this I'll take it as I said when they you know the Oregon game are big three we're two for 14 with six turnovers in the first half that's not a formula for Success uh Oregon State they turned the ball over at an alarming rate you know and and so I think the last two games they played very good team basketball played played within themselves didn't do try too try to do too much and but we're still very aggressive and I think it shows in our assist of ter ratio it shows in our shooting percentage you talk about bronnie James basketball IQ I think was about 3 minutes left before the end of the first half he anticipated Stanford calling a timeout coming across Court that charge did you see that happening to him that was a great play great play and uh the guy was coming full speed so he just stepped in and put his chest in there and I thought that was it was very smart Andy how do you think Bron's handled the challenge of playing in burst in the way he has had to play because of the M restriction well the first half he played probably nine or 10 straight minutes put him at the First Media after the first media timeout and um and then put him back in at the end of the first so he's uh he's played about 19 20 21 minutes a game last few games and uh as he keep keeps uh improving you I thought he gave us he missed a couple easy Shots tonight missed some free throws which is okay everybody does that but he took the right shots he played outstanding defense and and uh he's a big part of our team is it more challenging in the second half where you maybe have to watch where his minutes are no we just try to we try to have a rotation to feel for who's playing well and what we need offense defense some guys get Boogie and Kobe got tired at the same time to take them out at the same time uh but uh it's nice uh you know we're very comfortable with with everybody coming off our bench especially bronny and he's done a great job looked like Isaiah was kind of getting into a rhythm with Defenders going under screens and finding a little bit of that rhythm in his jumpers that you know what have you seen about kind of the progression the development I thought he did a very good job of driving when you go under a screen sometimes you can still get an angle if you if you if you get off that handoff or ball screen if they try to go under that means they have to meet you on the other side and Isaiah's fast and quick enough to get downhill even if they do go under and I thought he did a good job of mixing the jump shot with his driving ability and uh really played a smart game Andy do you feel like you guys are back on track after the road trip do you feel like the team in general overall well I I think we've had much better practices we' played much better since that those long road trips having one home game in five weeks was not ideal for our schedule I think we had the lowest amount of home games in the entire Power Six conferences it were five in November December so it was really hard on us especially when you're not playing well we had all those injuries in November Ronnie hadn't come back Vince was out for nine months you know we had a lot of things a lot of headwinds when with then with Kobe and Boogie getting hurt at the same time and then when they came back and we we you then we had some challenging road trips a lot of road trips and and so uh I I I'm very hopeful that this team can keep improving and U I think that they they bought in to what we're trying to accomplish we have a chance to win some games but uh every game in this league is tough and um our next one's Wednesday night B do it impress you br's ability to kind of stay into the game defensively even when the shots not falling early offensively yeah Brony is a he's a very smart basketball player he's he's a plays hard every possession and uh defensively he helps us he's gets deflections he can guard the ball on smaller guys and he's strong enough to guard bigger guys so uh so far so good so despite his minute limitations right now is that why you're saving him for the end of the game saving some of those minutes well sometimes uh sometimes when Boogie just makes three straight shots and Kobe has the stat line Isaiah carer sometimes it's hard to find minutes for anybody right uh but he he played 20 BR played 19 20 minutes tonight it was a big part of our our win and uh uh you know I I think each game is a little different from the rotation standpoint and and U we'll we'll just adjust as we go what what what needs to happen to play excuse me better defense in the second half of some of these games I'm sorry what needs to happen to play better defense in the second half of some of these games well I thought hey we only gave up 44 points last game we up 45 so prettyy good right we held we held him to 59% from the three-point line and uh 80 from the foul line right no we we uh we played hard we we we St the ball 13 times had 18 turn CA 18 turns had 20 to2 in transition 20 we 20 points so a lot of those from from our loose ball turnovers that we caused and and so we're a work in progress we uh as I as you know and I've stated we're not as good defensively this this year yet as we have in the last for we're going to keep going to keep trying and improve as a as a shooting coach and someone who knows how to shoot free throws really well what what's going through your head when you see the team shooting lights out from behind the arc but then they step for the step up for the free ones and they're just not doing I usually think about if I can get in a jersey real quick and substitute myself in uh but that usually doesn't work I think my hair is a little too silver and gray for that by the way uh you like my my Just For Men I got the right mix of salt and pepper I'm getting I look a lot younger now uh but uh you know free free throw shooting is is confidence it's technique and and um uh we started out the game I think one for five and you know ended up making making them down the stretch but some guys are great free throw shooters in practice some are great in games and some uh go in waves and a little streaky so we'll keep working on it are you concerned at all do you look at all the body language of your team because it look like at least one body language wasn't so good from I don't know if consider you can tell me later text me what player you think it was I'm like can I'll do it say it publicly but hey we played 11 guys every game and uh if uh everybody's had their chances so we play guys a lot of minutes uh most coaches don't play 11 players at this level and we played 11 the only player that hasn't played is Brandon Garner because he's been hurt three times so uh at some point you have to be productive and you have to and then realize that if uh someone that's playing instead of you is is uh being productive then you have to prove it in practice and then when you do get in the game you got to do something and and and know all the defensive Concepts if anybody was a lock down defender on the bench they' play a lot of minutes because that's our biggest uh you know our biggest deficiency right now so um we uh we feel like we're in a great mental state I think our guys are excited they they this past week we've had great practices and uh unfortunately with with 13 scholarship players and then your your Walk-Ons you can't make everybody happy I just hope that uh players can buy into the team concept even though things aren't going well for them all right thank thank you thanks