Washington State head coach Ernie Kent was semi available to the media today and took about three questions before getting on a plane for Alaska. The Cougars' head coach talked about Josh Hawkinson and previewed what to expect from Thursday night's opponent, UC Santa Barbara.
-Kent said that academics will be a little lighter during this week's road trip as opposed to the first road trip of the season to UTEP and TCU. Dead week and finals aren't for another two weeks, but it's still going to be a demanding trip in regard to playing three games in three days, he says.
"At the same time, three games in three days is going to be hard on anybody's body," Kent said. "Particularly with the travel for all of us teams coming up there. This is where your depth, your bench is going to be huge and obviously with our style of play will be huge, because we have to make sure we have the energy to get through the three days."
-On Josh Hawkinson, Ernie Kent says that now that Josh Hawkinson has kind of made a name for himself and team's now have film on him, he's going to have to make some adjustments to his game. However, he did note that it's going to be a good thing for the rest of the team that he's going to demand attention from opposing defenses.
"I hope they do have to pay more attention [to him] because that's going to open up the perimeter game more .... a lot of teams will play behind [him] instead of your guards," Kent said. "Now they can't play behind him because he can score; he can score inside, you can move him to the outside and now imagine a 6-8 or 6-9 guy having to chase him off of a screen the way he shoots the ball.
That's going to be difficult to do. It's going to be tough adjustments that teams are going to have to make because he's not just a low-post player. He can shoot threes, he can control the break, we can bring him off double-teams and he frees your up over the floor because now you have buckets everywhere with that smaller lineup you put on the floor. Now, we have give guys on the floor that can shoot the three and that's kind of what we've been moving towards.
"I'm not saying we're moving away from Junior or we're going away from Jordan, because they're going to be very important also to allow us success, but I think it will be hard to key on Josh when you have DaVonte and Dexter and Que and they're evolving their games at the same time, it just adds to your offensive firepower and we definitely need some more of offensive firepower."
-On UCSB, Kent says that they force a lot of turnovers and are very good defensively, but they're also a sound offensive team with a top player, Alan Williams, on the inside that will pose some problems in the paint.
"They're a very good defensive team, they're a very patient offensive team and have a potential pro inside, who is going to be very tough for us to shutdown and handle," Kent said. "And they shoot the ball well, so it's going to be a tough matchup for us but I'm sure they're looking at us and seeing some things that they're going to have to deal with us, as well."
-Kent said that academics will be a little lighter during this week's road trip as opposed to the first road trip of the season to UTEP and TCU. Dead week and finals aren't for another two weeks, but it's still going to be a demanding trip in regard to playing three games in three days, he says.
"At the same time, three games in three days is going to be hard on anybody's body," Kent said. "Particularly with the travel for all of us teams coming up there. This is where your depth, your bench is going to be huge and obviously with our style of play will be huge, because we have to make sure we have the energy to get through the three days."
-On Josh Hawkinson, Ernie Kent says that now that Josh Hawkinson has kind of made a name for himself and team's now have film on him, he's going to have to make some adjustments to his game. However, he did note that it's going to be a good thing for the rest of the team that he's going to demand attention from opposing defenses.
"I hope they do have to pay more attention [to him] because that's going to open up the perimeter game more .... a lot of teams will play behind [him] instead of your guards," Kent said. "Now they can't play behind him because he can score; he can score inside, you can move him to the outside and now imagine a 6-8 or 6-9 guy having to chase him off of a screen the way he shoots the ball.
That's going to be difficult to do. It's going to be tough adjustments that teams are going to have to make because he's not just a low-post player. He can shoot threes, he can control the break, we can bring him off double-teams and he frees your up over the floor because now you have buckets everywhere with that smaller lineup you put on the floor. Now, we have give guys on the floor that can shoot the three and that's kind of what we've been moving towards.
"I'm not saying we're moving away from Junior or we're going away from Jordan, because they're going to be very important also to allow us success, but I think it will be hard to key on Josh when you have DaVonte and Dexter and Que and they're evolving their games at the same time, it just adds to your offensive firepower and we definitely need some more of offensive firepower."
-On UCSB, Kent says that they force a lot of turnovers and are very good defensively, but they're also a sound offensive team with a top player, Alan Williams, on the inside that will pose some problems in the paint.
"They're a very good defensive team, they're a very patient offensive team and have a potential pro inside, who is going to be very tough for us to shutdown and handle," Kent said. "And they shoot the ball well, so it's going to be a tough matchup for us but I'm sure they're looking at us and seeing some things that they're going to have to deal with us, as well."
