November 05, 2026 | Men's Basketball
Q: Talk about Tristan Reed and Willie Burnett III becoming more comfortable and aggressive.
CJ: "I agree, I thought they were both more aggressive. That's a good word, how they played. I thought both of them could have been more efficient and played better, but I do like to see them more comfortable on the court and have some aggression to each of their games. Tristan struggled a little bit finishing around the basket, getting caught handcuffed one time. At the end of the day, he's a freshman. They both are. But especially with Tristan and the position that he plays for us, he understands that there's some weight on him. He needs to grow up fast and not play like a freshman for us to have the kind of success that we want to have."
Q: Coach, talk about the 10-0, run to start the game.
CJ: "As you can imagine, after especially the last seven or eight minutes of the opening night when we gave up 24 points in 6 minutes and 54 seconds, we just gave up. We stopped guarding. We didn't grab the ball particularly well all game long, but in the last seven minutes we were on pace to give up like 75 for the half, and that's what we really focused on the last couple days. It was nothing new in terms of technique, just an understanding that we've been emphasizing how important guarding the ball is and then being in the proper gaps and in position on the weak side, and everything that goes with your scheme."
"I thought we looked very average at best on that end of the floor, even though it was a higher possession game. If we were to finish better defensively, the number of points per possession would have been much, much better, but because of the last seven minutes it wasn't. So, it gave me an opportunity to really kind of rally the troops, and I think they came out of the gate with a defensive mindset. Thomas [Bassong] certainly led the way with the early blocks and the early dog-on defense on the ball. You guys have heard me talk about him, and that's got to be part of his nightly output. It just is. He's got to be that guy for us, and certainly like all of us, like all players, he wants to be a complete player, and he wants to score the ball, and he can score the ball. But he can't take a night off that way for us."
Q: What impact have you seen from Kimani Hamilton to start the season?
CJ: "He's added a jolt to us. He's got experience, obviously. It's very unique, because he knows me, I know him, so he knew exactly what he was walking into. I've said this before, the cool thing for me was, he's not the same kid that he was and everyone would expect that from someone that goes away and matures, but it doesn't always happen at the rate that maybe we all would think it does, and it has for Kimani. It's like coaching a different human being in a very positive way, but he's got an edge to him. He's really got an edge to him. He's a competitive kid, but he's coachable as heck and he's about the team. He's about this program. He's so grateful to be here. He's got a joy to him every single day. He's really blended in nicely. Knock on wood, we'll have him all year long."
Q: How has Kimani helped to develop the young players on the team?
CJ: "Like I said, he's been a really good addition. It was very wild how it all turned out in July, and it was an interesting few weeks to say the least in how it all transpired, but it was fortunate for us that he was available, and he was very close to exactly what we were looking for. He was still available and it worked out. He definitely has brought that experience, that understanding and really helped, rather than just Hubbard and King Grace, who's a sophomore. The other kids that were around didn't play at all. So even though I wouldn't call him a returnee for us, he definitely has that kind of effect on our team."
Q: How has King Grace grown in his sophomore year?
"You would expect kids to have a big jump in their second year. I've always said that traditionally. Historically, most of the kids that I coached have always gotten better from their first to the second year, regardless of what their class was. I don't care if it's sophomore to junior, junior to senior, they've played two years. That's where they make the biggest jump, not that they don't continue to get better if they stay 3-4 years, but that first year improvement is always the most. I would have expected that from King."
"The game has slowed down for him. I think I said it last week. He's a leading scorer kind of guy where he came from. When you're walking into this level and you're not going to be a league scorer, but your brain thinks like a leading scorer, when the ball's coming your way, you get yourself in trouble a lot. There's been a lot of back and forth about that, a lot of film, a lot of teaching, and I think he's starting to understand he can pick his spots and pick his opportunities. He'll be a really good player for us. He's in a good spot. Hopefully, it will continue."
Q: Talk about Tee Bartlett making his college debut in tonight's game?
CJ: "At first glance, obviously he had a big size advantage like our whole team did. But I thought he handled it really well. He's excited to be out there. He got five rebounds, which the coach is always going to be thrilled with. He had some nice defensive rotations for us at first glance. You could see he's got beautiful touch. Even his free throws looked really, really good. He made a couple [of] nice passes. He's just got to continue to move better, change ends better, continue to get in better shape. The minutes will just hopefully come Saturday when we get back on the court. It'll pump him up a little bit, motivate him and he'll even work harder to try to figure out a way to get in the rotation."
Q: What have you seen from Willie Burnett III?
CJ: "He's an interesting player. He's got a lot of pizzazz to his game, if you will. He's got some wiggle. He's not like a freak athlete. He does it by changing gears, slow to slower, slow to fast a little bit. He'll get mad at me if I said slow to slower, but, half spins, he's just got his game he's worked on his entire life. It's unique that way, but he's got really good size, and he shoots that jumper from behind his head, and you can't get to him. So, he's got some shots that are I wouldn't say unguardable but they're hard to guard."
"They're very minimal, and he's just learning all facets of the game, though. He had three turnovers, but really two of them were his, the other one was TJ [Simpkins]'s fault, because he didn't go to the right spot and Willie threw it away in a side out situation. It really wasn't his fault, even though he was the trigger man, but he's so coachable. I love coaching Willie. He has some days in practice where he's cooking and he's hard to stop. If he can just, with the learning curve, figure out everything else, all facets to the game. That's going to determine how much he plays going forward."
Q: What do you think about the rotation moving forward?
CJ: "You never know how these games are going to unfold. Certainly, when you get some opportunities early in the season to play a bunch of guys for double digit minutes, if you're not a big believer, I do. If you think about playing a lot of guys in the season, you got to take advantage of that opportunity to get them film and get them game minutes and see how they're going to act under the lights. There wasn't anything in my brain going into the game that this is what we're going to do, but it presented itself and we took advantage of it."
