Iowa State Coach Already Knew Oweh Was Terrific Player

Brandon Garrison's maturity and defense have impressed Iowa coach T.J. Otzelberger. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger already knew plenty about Kentucky’s leading scorer Otega Oweh before he went off for 35 points against Santa Clara in the NCAA Tournament Friday and hit the miraculous half-court shot that sent the game to overtime where UK won 89-84.

“He’s a relentless competitor, really gifted in space, gets into the paint, gets to the foul line, makes plays for himself and his teammates,” the Iowa State coach said Saturday looking ahead to today’s NCAA second round matchup. “Just a dynamic scorer.

“We played against him earlier in his career when he was at OU (Oklahoma(. He was a terrific player then. And now he’s playing with such tremendous confidence. It’s definitely not a task for one person. It’s a team defense thing, and it’s being intentional. It’s trying to be back in transition, keep him out of space and then make sure that he has to work and earn everything.”

Here is more that Otzelberger had to say about Kentucky on Saturday:

Q. Coach Pope and you both appear to know each other quite well. How would you define the identity of a Mark Pope team?

T.J. OTZELBERGER: “I think his guys play with tremendous passion. He’s really talented in terms of being able to get teams offensively to play with great pace and ball movement, purpose. And I think defensively, they recruit guys who are bigger guards and wings and have tremendous versatility and yet have great size on the interior to protect the rim.
“With each job and each opportunity, certainly there’s a different way to win games at that place, but I think with Coach Pope, you can count on a team that they’re going to play really hard, they’re going to compete. They’re going to play with his passion, energy and enthusiasm and it’s something you understand as the personnel changes. Those are characteristics and attributes of a Mark Pope basketball team.”

Q. Coach, your history with Mark Pope, how did you guys meet and what is it that clicked early on?

T.J. OTZELBERGER: “He had a friendship with Fred Hoiberg. I think they played together at Indiana with the Pacers, and I worked for Coach Hoiberg. So got a chance to meet him back then. When I was at UNLV, and whether he was at Utah Valley, BYU, and we had crossed paths on the road, and then with BYU, just we had an opportunity to go up to Salt Lake City and play. So we had a game there. Again, somebody that has a tremendous track record and we respect very much and just really admire the man that he is and how he goes about his business.”

Q. Coach, yesterday Brandon Garrison for Kentucky played a huge role in switching with the guards and helping guard the perimeter. As you guys were watching the film, what did you see that makes it hard for teams to have success on the perimeter when he is switching like that?

T.J. OTZELBERGER: “We remember him even when he was at Oklahoma State and his defensive versatility. And I think now what you’re seeing is maturity in his motor. I think it’s one thing to have the physical tools. It’s another to have the experience, the discipline, the knowledge of guarding on the perimeter and the strengths of that personnel. He did a terrific job yesterday. It completely changed the course of the game, his ability to switch and impact plays. So, again, it’s a veteran guy who’s been in the fights before, who cares about his team winning and stepping up on the biggest stage.”

Q. To go back to the question about Brandon, from a coach’s perspective, especially in the modern game, what is so disruptive? You talked about it a little bit, but what is so disruptive about a player that’s not afraid to switch, is not afraid to sort of like go onto smaller players, to step away from maybe where he would be normally defensively from his position?

T.J. OTZELBERGER:” I think when you have that length and versatility, you have the ability to contest shots on the perimeter. You have the ability to challenge shots at the rim. And I think oftentimes when a big gets switched onto a guard, the guard thinks it’s time to attack off the balance or create space, isolate and be able to get to his shot.
“With Brandon, he has such great discipline defensively, not only does he use his length to his benefit, but you always have in the back of your mind, do you really want to drive him to the rim and challenge him in? I think there’s a psychological thing that happens there is, all right, he could block my shot on the perimeter or the rim and he’s still got the mobility and agility to contain the balance. So he poses a huge challenge because of his ability to do all those things.”

Q. From a match-up standpoint, is Kentucky’s length, would that be the biggest challenge that they present for you guys?

T.J. OTZELBERGER: “They have great size at all the guard positions. So I think on the defensive end that’s switchability, versatility, that’s ability to close space on close-outs and take some air space away when you’re contesting jump shots. On the offensive end, that size is a factor, when they get to their spots and they can rise up and make shots. So I think size, length, versatility, both on the perimeter and the interior are certainly things that we have to factor in and things that pose challenges.”