Murray State University Athletics
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Cronin addresses weekly conference
2/7/2006 6:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
ON ROAD TRIP TO EASTERN KENTUCKY AND MOREHEAD STATE: All road games are tough, that's the way I look at it. Probably the toughest thing we face this week is convincing our guys that the Eastern Kentucky game is going to be an extremely tough game. We may have to show them about the last two years. Last year, we got beat pretty decent there, and the year before that, we had to come from I think nine down with seven or eight minutes to go to win.
That's the only one that matters right now. You've just got to find a way to win Thursday, and we've been trying to find a way to win here. Since we lost to Southern Illinois, that's kind of been our rally cry. Defense is going to be the answer (in the Eastern Kentucky game). We played tremendous defense -- I think they only made two three's on us when we played them here. I believe they were 2-for-17 or something very similar to that. That's going to be important to defend the three-point line. They like to space you out, spread you out, and shoot the basketball. We have to get (Matt) Witt and (Jason) McLeish under control. You can't let those guys kill you. We're going to have to go in there and play a great game to win. But I think one thing our guys have gotten used to is having to play well here lately.
ON LEADERSHIP OF SHAWN WITHERSPOON: He as well as the seniors are playing with a sense of urgency this year. I've tried to convince them that you can't expect Samford to lose. You have a chance to have a special season right there in front of you. If we just don't get out-hustled and play with some toughness and commitment to defense, we're tough to beat.
We have enough talent, we have enough depth and enough athleticism to be good on the defensive end. And we give ourselves a chance to win by being able to hold teams down through stretches. And here lately, against Austin Peay and Jacksonville State, we were able to defend late in regulation. In both of those games, our last five to six minutes, they didn't come up with a lot of baskets, if any at all. That's going to be important.
Eastern Kentucky is a team that scares you because they can shoot the ball and they've had games where they've put up a lot of points. You can't expect to go on the road and shoot the ball well. We're not going to shoot it anywhere near the way we shot it against Eastern Kentucky earlier in the year here. That was probably our best and most complete game of the season.
I think that the leadership and sense of urgency has been the key. I think it makes all the difference in the world. I talk all the time with the guys about there's a fine line between winning and losing. You win a lot of close ones, then you look up at where we're at at 13-2 (in the OVC) and you have to continue to win them. That's going to be the difference between us finishing first or finishing second. Samford's been able to win some close ones as well. We've kind of separated ourselves into a two-horse race. We're going to have some close ones here down the stretch, and we have to stay together and execute at the end of games.
ON WITT AND McLEISH: I think they average 18 and 17 points a game. Witt and McLeish have been Eastern's mainstays all year. They have a lot of young guys. Whether it's (Harrison) Brown or (Mike) Rose, they have some different guys who have had different nights where they've played well. But McLeish and Witt are the two guys that are going to beat you. You have to keep Witt under control. He's a guy who has stepped up his play since the last time we played them. He's starting to play like the Matt Witt of old. And McLeish has had a tremendous year. In my mind, he's a first-team all-league player because he plays both ends of the floor extremely hard.
You have to understand, too, this is going to be a big game for Eastern Kentucky, and I would expect McLeish and Witt are going to have their teammates fired up and ready to play us coming in there. You have a team that's battling for a home game (in the first round of the OVC tournament). They're right there in the thick of it for fourth-place. I'm sure they're going to approach Thursday like a must-win situation. It will be a playoff-type atmosphere. Nothing new for us, I guess, so we just have to get ready to roll again.
I think the guys have been convinced here lately that if we don't come to play, we're getting beat. We've been able to toughen up enough at the right times to get wins, and that's going to carry us through here down the stretch. Defending the three-point line is going to be huge. It's something I think we did a good job of against them last time, especially against Matt Witt, not giving him open shots. He's going to make them. He makes guarded shots. If you give him some open ones and get his confidence going, he's like an oven. Sometimes he gets turned on and he just keeps getting hotter and hotter the longer he's on. So, you don't want to turn him on.
ON KEITH JENIFER: I think Keith's season has flown under the radar. I spent Sunday evaluating a lot of our games here recently, and his defense was tremendous. He had two big-time steals in the Austin Peay game. When I was able to get him in late in that game, I had a timeout, and his defense at the end of regulation and at the end of overtime was tremendous. He forced us some turnovers. His defense at the end of Jacksonville State and a subsequent rebound that ended to the fast-break dunk that ended the game. That just says a lot about a guy who wants to win. And I think that mentality is permeated throughout our roster, and that's the mentality in our locker room, and that's the reason we're winning. Keith is obviously not having the career here that he thought he would have, but his defense has been tremendous. He's going to be a guy who's going to be a big factor for us down the stretch, especially when you're talking about guarding Matt Witt.
ON EASTERN'S DIRECTION UNDER A FIRST-YEAR COACH: The fact that they totally changed their style of play and have a very complicated offense, and their schedule was brutal early in the year: Wisconsin, Georgia and the Virgin Islands, and then at Tennessee. And then, to start the conference at Murray and at Austin Peay. Even (Eastern Kentucky former head coach) Travis Ford would have struggled with that schedule. Who you're playing has a lot to do with it. For us, we have been playing well, but now we're playing in McBrayer Arena in a must-win situation, similar to the Austin Peay game. We're playing a totally different ballclub than the one we faced in our home gym. They're a lot more comfortable in their system now than they were two months ago, and the change in their win-loss record shows that.
ON MOREHEAD STATE: They've had some interesting close calls, with Samford -- nationally, if that game would have been on television \- it could be the greatest comeback of the year. I know Eastern Kentucky had to come back in the last two minutes. Tennessee Tech won by three there. Eastern Illinois wins by one there. They've been extremely competitive at home. For our guys, the mental barrier of realizing this is a different ball team. Two months ago was the last time we played them. They're a bunch of freshmen who have taken some lumps and found a way to be competitive, which is a credit to their kids, the way they've hung in there. They're going to force you to make some shots from the perimeter. No matter what happens Thursday, and I think this is what happened with Tennessee Tech, is that you can't let one loss turn into two. Saturday will be a very important game for us, no matter what. But the mental barrier of getting through to our kids that we have to come to play Saturday is the biggest thing. We're going to have to show them some tape Friday of Morehead at home and how they're a different ballclub, especially since conference play started, at home. (Shaun) Williams apparently is putting up great numbers; he's playing well. I think from what I've seen from Cordaryl Ballard, they've set a rotation. They were a very young and searching for themselves team when they played here. Ballard, Williams, Quentin Pryor -- he's a guy who sat out last year -- those three guys seem to be giving them an athletic lineup and nucleus and has them playing a little bit better on the defensive end. They're going to keep them in some ballgames.
ON MARQISE WRIGHT: He's had some crucial minutes for us. Marqise is a little better passer than Mike McCoy, and we try to run some high-low stuff, and he does a great job of attacking from the high post and passing the ball high-low. He's also excellent in the zone. He understands how to play in the passing lanes. It's a credit to Marqise. He struggled when he got minutes early, and he went back into practice and didn't pout. He's really played hard, extremely hard on the practice court all year. And I think you saw the payout in the player you saw the other night. Although he didn't score against Samford, he gave us significant minutes against Samford as well. Then, he got hurt and didn't get the chance to play against Austin Peay. His practice habits and his competitiveness have been excellent. That's a testament to his character, when in today's age, most kids want instant gratification and tend to maybe fold up the tent and look for the year to end if it's not going their way.
He's really competed and worked hard all year, and that's been the key to his development. I think it's helped our team, too, because he's really been competitive in practice. It's not a situation where Shawn Witherspoon gets to do whatever he wants; he's really played him tough and hard all year, and that's allowed both of them to improve, I think. We've tried to smooth him out (with his shot) since he got here. His release point is higher than it was. His arc is still a little exaggerated, but it's something that he's worked on. What happens sometimes is kids, in game situations and pressure situations, revert back to old ways, and it takes time.
We've worked on his shooting since Day 1, trying to raise his release point and not let him shoot it from his waist. The higher we get his release point up, where he's releasing the ball above his head instead of below his eyes, the better it's going to look. It will look a lot smoother. His free throws are something we've worked hard at too because you saw the other night, when he's in there, he does a good job of going strong and creating contact. His development is key, because obviously we've needed to get some bench minutes with us playing a lot of games here lately. Going down the stretch when 'Spoon gets tired, or he gets hurt -- knock on wood that won't happen -- or just foul trouble, for Marqise and Mike to contribute is going to be key, and also developing them for next year.
