said<\/a>. \u201cWe get it. We see it. We all watch. But can you try, Syracuse? Can we try to be a little more positive with the sport thats struggling?<\/p>\n\u201cI just don\u2019t remember when negativity won the war.\u201d<\/p>\n
That, and more below from Monday\u2019s conversation with Autry which has been edited for clarity.<\/p>\n
Question: On how to balance the minutes of Kiyan Anthony when metrics suggest he\u2019s not playing well and dealing with the outside noise:<\/p>\n
Adrian Autry: \u201cI think at the end of the day the constant communication and you know, obviously, you know, as a coach you have to make a decision sometimes. It\u2019s just decisions that you make. Like I said, it was a game decision. It wasn\u2019t anything more than that. I just kind of made a decision and that was that.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a young player obviously with a lot of attention surrounding him. So just being able to keep him abreast of what\u2019s going on, expectations and (keeping him) in the loop and just kind of moving on and getting ready for this next game.\u201c<\/p>\n
Q: On whether Autry has talked with Carmelo Anthony:<\/p>\n
AA: \u201cNo I have not. \u2026 Just getting ready for the next game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Q: On whether he was concerned that Kiyan would understand the DNP was a basketball decision coming on the heels of Carmelo\u2019s comments on social media. Did Autry communicate to Kiyan so he\u2019d understand it wasn\u2019t a punishment:<\/p>\n
AA: \u201cI\u2019ll say this and this is what I\u2019ll say if anybody else has any questions going forward about the Kiyan decision. I made a coach\u2019s decision and that\u2019s that. That\u2019s all I\u2019m going to say from here on out about that. (If you want to ask) questions about the game, I\u2019ll answer questions about the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Q: Where does Kiyan need to improve to earn more playing time:<\/p>\n
AA: \u201cEverybody has to keep improving. We have to keep improving. We all have to improve as a team collectively. I thought we defended really well \u2014 well enough against Virginia. I saw some improvements there. Offensively we still have to be able to shoot the ball better. We have to take care of the basketball and collectively that\u2019s what we all have to get better at.\u201d<\/p>\n
Q: On Felicia Legette-Jack\u2019s comments on the negativity surrounding Syracuse basketball:<\/p>\n
AA: \u201cThey [fans] have a right to be frustrated. I\u2019m frustrated. I expect us to be playing better. But we\u2019re here where we are, where we\u2019re at and we just got to keep fighting. So again, I understand it. I think the biggest thing is that, I think her comments were saying that negativity has never really got anything better. But she understands it, she\u2019s had some ups and downs. It\u2019s part of it as we go through this landscape of college athletics and things that are changing, everyone has to adapt. We have to adapt. We\u2019re not, you know, immune to it. We\u2019re just putting out heads down and just trying to work and get back to where we would like to be at.\u201d<\/p>\n
Q: On Chris Bell\u2019s return to the JMA Wireless Dome and what Autry sees in his game now as a senior at Cal:<\/p>\n
AA: \u201cI think Chris is playing really well. He\u2019s a senior. He\u2019s shooting the ball, I think he\u2019s doing some other things a lot better. I think he\u2019s putting it on the floor a little bit more. He\u2019s having a good year. They\u2019re having a good year. They\u2019re coming in a confident team. They play really well on the road. I think Chris is a little more mature. But again I think Chris is having a really solid season for Cal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Q: On last year\u2019s conversation with Bell to potentially keep him in orange as a senior or enter the portal:<\/p>\n
AA: \u201cHe explored his options. We talked about that and he did the thing that was best for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Q: On Kiyan, Sadiq White\u2019s and Luke Fennell\u2019s development as freshmen:<\/p>\n
AA: \u201cThey\u2019re talented freshmen. I think the biggest thing now \u2014 especially when you\u2019re playing these Power Four level, Power Four teams \u2014 teams are a lot older. The physicality piece. \u2026 You\u2019re playing tough games in the non-conference. I think they\u2019ve come along nicely. Obviously everyone has to improve. I think the strength, the physicality piece, all those things factor in. But I think they\u2019ve really, you know, done as well as they could.\u201d<\/p>\n
Q: On what Syracuse has to do against Cal to get back on track:<\/p>\n
AA: \u201cYou\u2019re going to have to be able to defend the three point line defensively. For sure. They have not just Chris Bell, they have multiple guys. They do a good job of getting into the mid-range. Their guards are very efficient, [Justin] Pippen and [Dai Dai] Ames, getting off the bounce. Probably two better guards that can score off the bounce. So keeping the ball in front, making them take tough contested shots, not letting them get to the free throw line. And defending the three point line. Offensively, they\u2019re an aggressive team, we gotta be strong with the ball, take care of the ball and make solid decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cal head coach Mark Madsen was also asked about Chris Bell\u2019s impact on the Golden Bears program.<\/p>\n
Q: On bringing in Chris Bell, and his impact with Cal:<\/p>\n
Mark Madsen: \u201cThe impact of Chris Bell has been huge on our program,\u201d Madsen said. \u201cChris\u2019 work ethic is that of an NBA player. He is obviously an elite shooter but he\u2019s so much more than that. He\u2019s a strong finisher at the rim. He\u2019s a really good basketball IQ. He\u2019s somebody that, literally everybody on the team loves him. And so he\u2019s a ugy that\u2019s really helped elevate our program in a lot of ways and it\u2019ll be exciting for him I\u2019m sure and a lot of his friends that are still at Syracuse to be able to be out there and support him this upcoming game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Q: On preparing them for games against their former teams:<\/p>\n
MM: \u201cI haven\u2019t talked as much to players over the last few years in that situation. Most of our guys are on the older side and pretty mature. I think Chris is a guy that\u2019s been around. Nothing really fazes Chris. And I think Chris is going to manage it very, very well. He\u2019s a guy that never gets too high or too low. He relies on his work ethic and I think he\u2019s going to lean on that. He\u2019s a great player and he\u2019s going to trust his skills and go out there and play a good game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Q: On what Cal has meant to Chris Bell:<\/p>\n
MM: \u201cI think that sometimes as a player there\u2019s nothing wrong with a new surrounding.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone at Syracuse loves Chris Bell. We called when he went in the portal and we called over to Syracuse \u2014 and everyone out there that knows him \u2014 it was overwhelmingly how much they love him and they were going to miss him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Syracuse Orange basketball team has lost six of its last seven games and will attempt to regain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,41947],"class_list":{"0":"post-594674","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-syracuse-mens-basketball"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116046783077673261","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}