Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics
WATCH: Women's Hoops Media Session - Nov. 8
November 08, 2021 | Women's Basketball
STARKVILLE - Mississippi State's Doug Novak held his annual pregame press conference on Monday to preview States upcoming slate against Alabama State, South Dakota State and Alcorn State.
Below are just a couple of quotes from Novak's press conference. The full press conference can be found HERE.
Interim Head Coach Doug Novak - Nov. 8, 2021
Q: How do you alleviate some of the size disadvantages you will face throughout the season?
DN: "It's going to be a battle. It's not going to be a tricky scheme; it's just going to be strictly work ethic. Some of it has to be taking away the vision of passers. They cannot see all of the openings that may be at an advantage there. We might have to make them turn. If we can take away their vision just a little bit, then we can fix our feet in the post defense and maybe push them out a little further than I want, so they maybe have to lob a pass into the post and then we use our speed on the backside to swarm it and try to get a steal. I don't know if we have the depth to full-court press the whole game. We will take it game to game with that. There will be certain spots where we might have to pick it up to full court and run and jump a little bit from behind, but I think it'll be more of a surprise tactic than a steady dose. I just don't know if we have enough players right now to be able to do that consistently."
Q: What do you expect from your opponents this week, and do you think they can present the test you're looking for?
DN: "I really do think they can provide more than a test. I think they're good. Starting with Alabama State, they were 16-4 last year. They have a lot of returners, and they are athletic. They do play a nice high-low game with some thick, strong, post play. That's going to present some challenges, plus they like to run. 73 points per game, they shoot a pretty high rate from three, around 36%. For scheme, you're trying to maybe have some sort of player that is spying on that post player, and then they're skipping it out for threes, so our close-out game has to be really good. I think if we're not sound, this is going to be a really tough challenge for us right off the bat. It seems like South Dakota State is always in the tournament. I grew up in South Dakota and I have some fond memories of watching some battles in South Dakota State [versus] the University of South Dakota. Those games would start out and they would throw jackrabbits out on the floor. It'd be an automatic technical [foul], but that atmosphere and the fondness that they have for the game is pretty special."
Below are just a couple of quotes from Novak's press conference. The full press conference can be found HERE.
Interim Head Coach Doug Novak - Nov. 8, 2021
Q: How do you alleviate some of the size disadvantages you will face throughout the season?
DN: "It's going to be a battle. It's not going to be a tricky scheme; it's just going to be strictly work ethic. Some of it has to be taking away the vision of passers. They cannot see all of the openings that may be at an advantage there. We might have to make them turn. If we can take away their vision just a little bit, then we can fix our feet in the post defense and maybe push them out a little further than I want, so they maybe have to lob a pass into the post and then we use our speed on the backside to swarm it and try to get a steal. I don't know if we have the depth to full-court press the whole game. We will take it game to game with that. There will be certain spots where we might have to pick it up to full court and run and jump a little bit from behind, but I think it'll be more of a surprise tactic than a steady dose. I just don't know if we have enough players right now to be able to do that consistently."
Q: What do you expect from your opponents this week, and do you think they can present the test you're looking for?
DN: "I really do think they can provide more than a test. I think they're good. Starting with Alabama State, they were 16-4 last year. They have a lot of returners, and they are athletic. They do play a nice high-low game with some thick, strong, post play. That's going to present some challenges, plus they like to run. 73 points per game, they shoot a pretty high rate from three, around 36%. For scheme, you're trying to maybe have some sort of player that is spying on that post player, and then they're skipping it out for threes, so our close-out game has to be really good. I think if we're not sound, this is going to be a really tough challenge for us right off the bat. It seems like South Dakota State is always in the tournament. I grew up in South Dakota and I have some fond memories of watching some battles in South Dakota State [versus] the University of South Dakota. Those games would start out and they would throw jackrabbits out on the floor. It'd be an automatic technical [foul], but that atmosphere and the fondness that they have for the game is pretty special."
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