McKie, Battle talk at AAC Media Day
Temple head coach Aaron McKie and guard Khalif Battle spoke with reporters at The American Athletic Conference’s virtual media day Wednesday afternoon.
“We're still young too, you know, to some degree,” McKie said in his opening statement. “You think about it, in our short season last year, our young guys are freshmen and sophomores. They only got a chance to play 16 college basketball games, so we're still a work in progress, and you know fortunately for them this summer we were able to have a summer where we had the weight training and skill development and things of that nature.”
The Owls are coming off a COVID-19 and injury-riddled season that led them to finish with a 5-11 overall record and 4-10 record in AAC play.
Temple is adding a number of new players this season, including freshmen Hysier Miller and Zach Hicks, as well as getting back Jahlil White, who didn’t play last season as he recovered from a second meniscus tear in a knee he originally injured during his playing days at Wildwood Catholic High School.
Here are a few excerpts from McKie and Battle’s press conference:
McKie on what the returning guards need to improve upon:
“The decision making is going to be important. You got a lot of young, young guards out there. Just taking care of the ball, we can't go out there and beat ourselves. So I think that decision making part is gonna be big. I think the efficiency on the offensive end is gonna be also key for us. You know, making open shots and attacking and get to the free throw line, and all of those different things.”
McKie on how the team can improve its offensive efficiency:
“It’s just generating better shots. I think getting, we want to, we call it paint threes, we're collapsing the defense, and we're kicking it out, and we're getting those open threes and we're able to knock those down. And we’vd got a game that we practice every day that we call good, better, best. We were generating better shots, I might have a good shot, next guy might have a better shot, the guy after them might have the best shot.”
McKie on incoming freshmen Hysier Miller and Zach Hicks:
“They've been competing. They've been doing everything that we asked them to do, and I think the important part for those guys was having a summer of being in a college program, weight training and skill development that helps. They're not there yet. But they're continuing to work, and those are guys that I'm gonna be expecting to give us some minutes.”
McKie on what having fewer COVID-19 restrictions is allowing them to do:
“We've certainly had a lot more practice time, considering the summer that we had, and leading up to now, we certainly had a little bit more practice time. So you get the opportunity to teach more. Last year was start-stop, stop-start. We could have all the guys again in the gym, because of the COVID activity and the things that we were faced with last season, so we get to teach more.”
McKie on taking advantage of playing at home early in the season:
“If you want to be a good team, you want to take care of home court, and when you want to be good, you want to use your crowd’s energy and everything else to your advantage when you plan at home. Most teams that are really good that play deep into the postseason are teams that are good at home.”
McKie on the progress of implementing his culture into Temple’s program:
“I feel we’re growing. I feel we're establishing the culture that I want to establish. We're young, but you know, I want to win. I said it doesn't matter. The way college sports is now and the way sports is now.”
McKie on how the team’s forwards have worked on rebounding:
“it's something that we focused on all summer, being in better position to rebound the ball, and for us to be able to crash the offensive glass. So in order for you to be a really good defensive team, you got to rebound the ball, you can't give teams second chance opportunities, and that certainly wasn't one of our strong suits last year and we focused on that throughout the summer.”
McKie on who has improved the most this summer:
“A lot of our guys have had a good summer. Damian [Dunn] and Khalif [Battle] spent a lot of time in the gym together this summer working and just trying to get better and competing against each other. I think Nick Jourdain and Sage Tolbert had a lot of one-on-one matchups throughout the summer that helped each individual get better.”
McKie on the versatility Nick Jourdain and Sage Tolbert provide:
“It gives us more length and versatility. And that's what I want to look like, to be able to play at any pace, to be able to play against and with any team in the country. [Jahlil White] being 6-7 ong, [Tolbert] being 6-8 and long and athletic, Zach Hicks, you throw in, and he's 6-8 and he's long.”
McKie on how length affects the team’s defense:
“When you got length and athleticism, you can become more disruptive on the defensive side. That's what you really want to do, you really want to be solid in your core principles on the defensive side, but you want to be disruptive at the same time.”
McKie on if the team will use a 10-man rotation:
“I'm not sure at this point. I know it's difficult to try to play 10 guys. We certainly are capable of being able to play 10 guys, but I don't know if that's the best thing for consistency over a long-term plan.”
McKie on conference realignment affecting scheduling:
“I'm not sure. I mean, you try to project, and you try to put those games in place. Given the climate of college sports, college basketball in general, I don't know what that's gonna look like in a few years with conference realignment and everything else. We're certainly open to playing anyone. It's just a matter of making it happen.”
McKie on how he plans to use the team’s depth:
“We are figuring it out now. I mean, we have some unknowns. We have some guys that haven't played in a Temple uniform yet. So, I'm anticipating those guys being ready when they get the call. I'm excited just to see how we can play out. For us, we're certainly more athletic, I think we got a little bit bigger.”
McKie on how the team can close games better:
“More experience. More confidence. Just being experienced in those situations, and I think experience is the best teacher. We have some guys who've never been in that position before.”
Battle on what he’s looking forward to this season:
“The fans. Being able to travel you the right way instead of always being postponed or postpone games or postpone practices, so I’m just really excited to get back at it and just keep going.”
Battle on how he’s looking to improve this season:
“I feel like I had a decent year last year. I feel like it's a big jump for me this year working on the right things, really just locking in with Coach McKie all summer and the assistant coaching staff. I think I did some good things last year, and I thought I also did a lot of things that I could really improve on, and that's what we worked on all summer. So that's what I'm going to show this year.”
Battle on if the team will play with a higher tempo this season:
“We are looking to get out in transition more. I think we have a really diverse team where a lot of guys can get the rebound and start pushing ahead early, so, you know, a little bit of both this year.”
Battle on how the team’s chemistry has improved:
“We are a lot more comfortable with each other. Last year, we didn’t really have a summer to really work out with each other, get better. There was always a stop and start. So now, you know, this year, a lot of guys dedicated themselves to not having a year like we did last year. We were really just disappointed with the results, and we know we had a lot more to give.”
Battle on Zach Hicks and Hysier Miller:
“They picked up a lot faster than I thought they would. I give them a lot of credit for just hopping in and being able to go from the jump. Of course, they had to learn some things, but as far as where they are right now, I didn't expect them to get where they are.”
Battle on where the guards need to improve this year:
“Really everywhere… it's like it's the first time we really got to practice some of the work together all here during the summer, playing one-on-ones, playing pickup. Now in practice, we get to play together and healthy, and no stoppage, so you know our games really got to the next level.”
Battle on the team’s poor shooting from last season:
“A lot of it was bad shot selection, especially from my behalf. I'm forcing shots but this year we have a lot of guys that can that can do a lot or dribble off the catch and shoot.”
Battle on Jahlil White:
“Honestly, I can't I can't give [White] enough praise for how far he’s come. I think he’s going to shock a lot of people. He’s tremendous, offensively gifted. Tremendous defensively gifted. The sky's the limit for [White].”