The Amy Eagan Show

Gary Stocker (00:01)
It is basketball season. Welcome back to the Amy Egan Show where each and every week during the college basketball season, Coach Egan will join us to talk about a lot of basketball. We'll talk about academics, we'll talk about the Mountain West, we'll talk about the NCAA and coach as the new year rolls around here in a couple of months we'll start looking ahead to the tournament as well. Coach Egan, two games under your belt so far.

Amy Eagan (00:22)
Yeah. I mean, you know, I haven't slept for a while, but ⁓ no, it feels good to have two games under our belt and obviously being at home, ⁓ playing in front of our fans has been just an outstanding experience for ⁓ our program. Now we're getting ready to hit the road. So, you know, once you get started it it goes pretty fast and it never ends. But it's also really exciting this first year.

Gary Stocker (00:44)
I'm gonna talk about the road in a little bit, but let's look at last week's first two games. And I guess the first question was, new coach, new facility, mostly new players. In your experience do the players a react differently during that first game or two than they do during practices and scrimmages?

Amy Eagan (01:00)
Yeah, I I think, you know, the scrimmages and the exhibition give them a good idea of like game day stuff, how ⁓ we handle pregame, how we handle halftime, how we handle post game, what in game coaching looks like, you know, with them and that kind of stuff. So I think that gives them a good idea. ⁓ but you know, once you get to games and you get to intense games, ⁓ it can obviously be a maybe a different feeling for them. But I think a lot of it is, you know, we have the kids that came with us from Linda Wood. I think they help a lot with making sure

That the the kids that haven't played for us understand how things are and how things go. But I do think it takes some time to understand, like you know, how to make how to coach people, how to how to get them where you need them to be during game during games and so forth. And so it's kind of a growing experience as you go through the year. But most of our kids I think know us. we spend a lot of time with them outside of basketball, so I think they have a good idea that when we do coach them hard or need to coach them hard during a game, that you know, we're trying to put

them in a good position to be successful. I would say the other thing too, Gary, that we try to do is really coach them hard in practice and really be detailed in practice so that when we get to games, ⁓ they can really just go play, right? And then we can watch film and see where we need to get better and what what we need to continue to work on.

Gary Stocker (02:19)
I watched the the South Carolina-North Carolina women's game yesterday and the poor girls from North Carolina couldn't buy a basket. And to a slightly lesser extent, ⁓ against Seattle the threes wouldn't drop and you missed your tea your girls missed a couple late layups. How do you teach beyond that? The girls have to be crushed that they can't get the three to drop, that they miss those layups. How do you coach them beyond that?

Amy Eagan (02:23)
Woo. I know.

Yeah. You know, I I think we always talk about defense being something that we need to rely on, you know, day in and day out. And our defense can dictate a lot of stuff, defense and rebounding and you know, we struggle with offensive rebounding or or keeping them off the offensive boards, you know, during that game. And I think when you look at early games in the year, you know, everything's a process. ⁓ and that's really how we treat it. Like we treat every single day the same here, you know, from pregame to post game to the next day in practice.

⁓ everything stays the same and consistent and what we're trying to do is continue to grow them and develop them and ⁓ grow their game. And I think if you continue to do those things early on, especially with a bunch of new new kids, ⁓ you know, I always say you're not we're not denied a win, we're delaying a win. ⁓ or we d got delayed. I shouldn't say we're delaying it, but we got delayed. ⁓ because I th I believe if you take that that

process and you continue to work to get better, those delays are gonna turn into wins. So ⁓ again, we're just trying to be as consistent as we can and develop them and and coach them as hard as we can in practice so they can play in games.

Gary Stocker (03:46)
And and you mentioned in that Seattle game the the also keeping the Seattle girls off the offensive boards was tough and they had fourteen second chance points. I assume your players know they didn't do what you wanted them to do in that scenario.

Amy Eagan (03:53)
Yeah.

Yeah, they know. I mean, you know, we do post post game evaluations with and ⁓ I think almost every one of them wrote, you know, one of the things that we need to get better at for the next game is rebounding and, you know, keeping people off the boards and, you know, so we worked on that on Saturday. We had your stay off. We'll work on that again today. It'll be a focus. and it has to be going into Fresno State and BYU this week because they're both great at crushing the board. So it's something

Again, that ⁓ you know, we are the technique of it, you know, I I don't wanna say we just have kids that just are you know, have knacks for the ball that can just go get a rebound. I think for us it's gonna be a lot about the details and the t and the tech technical stuff in rebounding. So we have to really work on that and teach that and make it habits.

Gary Stocker (04:45)
And credit to I think the new coach at Seattle, he slapped a press on you from almost the opening opening minutes and they did a pretty good job with that, didn't they?

Amy Eagan (04:49)
Uh-huh.

Yeah, we did. I was really happy ⁓ with how we handled it. I think we only had fourteen turnovers, but at the same time we turned them over sixteen times and we didn't even press. And I really didn't think our defense on ball was very good with pressure either. So ⁓ I was really happy with how we handled that. You know, we didn't take care of the ball as well against New Mexico Highlands when they threw a press on a couple times. So, you know, it's ⁓ it's it was hard for us.

in regards to as coaches not understanding how you can't carry over ⁓ from one game to two days later. ⁓ but ⁓ again it's a growing process and maybe it's something we have to continue to work on day in and day out so that if we do see a press, you know, we we understand how to handle those things.

Gary Stocker (05:36)
And then I watched this the Highland game on Saturday, Friday night I guess it was. And I I noticed that, especially out in front, many the girls were trying to poke the ball away. Was that their own initiative or was that something you saw in the film and asked them to do?

Amy Eagan (05:50)
Yeah, the the the we we worked on then the next two days after our first game versus Seattle actually guarding the ball. You know, I just did not think we guarded the ball very well. And if you don't guard the ball, it's easy for for people to see, you know, movements off screens, to make passes, ⁓ to get into their offense, all that kind of stuff. And so one of the emphasises that we worked on and that we were trying to carry over to that to that game was guarding the ball. And I think doing that.

I think you saw that it disrupted them and we got some more steals from it. So it's something that we gotta continue to do. We gotta continue to guard the ball and make it hard for them to see, you know, their teammates and see start their offense and so forth.

Gary Stocker (06:30)
And then guess finally for the last two games last week. Now, coach, you know I'm a data nerd. And even though we're only releasing the audio portion of these interviews, if you looked at my forehead, you would see data nerd stamped across it. So so here's one statistic to look at. We'll try and do this from time to time. In against Highland, points in the paint were twenty eight for Highland and thirty-eight for New Mexico. Is there a a a standard, a ratio that you look at? How do you measure those points in the paint? Because everybody's gonna get points in the paint.

Amy Eagan (06:39)
Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, I think you want points in the paint because if you're getting points in the paint, there's probably in our system layups ⁓ or easy shots around the rim. And technically those are higher percentage shots than, you know, from the three and so forth. So I feel like the more points you have in the paint, you're probably ⁓ you know, you're probably scoring at a higher level with that. But ⁓ you know, we don't set a focus on as much like, hey, we need to outscore them in the paint or hey, we need to do this.

It's more about matchups. And you know, we were bigger than New Mexico Highlands. ⁓ we thought we had an advantage in the post against New Mexico Highlands. ⁓ and I thought we also did a good job of attacking the rim and and getting some O board. So it kinda depends a little bit on matchups and ⁓ you know, where your strengths, where your weaknesses are. But yeah, I mean it's always been proven a layup is a lot higher percentage shot than out on the floor. So we'll take it any day we can.

Gary Stocker (07:52)
And then I know you've been playing the first two games without a full team. ⁓ what about an injury update?

Amy Eagan (07:57)
Yeah, so we're we're getting there. ⁓ I think Valeria will be back this week, probably not unlimited minutes, but she'll be back with stuff. And then we should be getting Kaya and Gracie Wernley back at the beginning of December ish. ⁓ and then I think we'll have ⁓ Quinn back after ⁓ first semester. So right in time for conference play. So I think, you know, hopefully we can stay healthy. Everyone else stay healthy between now and then and we'll have a full squad heading into ⁓

Conference play right after Christmas.

Gary Stocker (08:30)
And you jump on a couple airplanes this week. You're headed to Fresno State, ⁓ I think maybe Tuesday or Wednesday and BYU on Saturday. I think both are both pretty strong teams, aren't they?

Amy Eagan (08:40)
Yeah, yeah. You know, Fresno, ⁓ he's in his second year there and they're well, from his first year last year to this year, they've gotten a ton better. ⁓ and ⁓ you know, they press for forty minutes a game. They're C ball, get ball type team. ⁓ they're gonna cause a lot of havoc and try to turn you over a lot, ⁓ and and create some possessions that way. So we gotta be ready for that. I mean, I think the good thing

kinda like I've said, is that's kinda who we were at jury and how we did things at jury. So we kinda understand what that looks like. Hopefully our kids can ⁓ you know, first game on the road, you just never know what that's gonna look like. But hopefully we can take care of the ball and limit their extra possessions with them pressing. And then we go to BY straight from there to BYU, who obviously is in the big twelve and a and a great team and really good and

Man, they shoot the heck out of it. So, ⁓ you know, we're really gonna have to know personnel with them, ⁓ and ⁓ be able to put together a good game plan defensively for them.

Gary Stocker (09:38)
And then finally the logistics. And how this is the first road trip. How does the D one women's college basketball team prepare for the the logistics of that first road trip? And then coach, the most important question, who sits next to you?

Amy Eagan (09:51)
Nobody sits next to me, you know? They try to stay far away from me. ⁓ no. ⁓ you know, our our Dobo, Sydney McHenry's ⁓ very good and very organized with stuff. And so she has everything organized. I mean, I think we're really lucky that we fly everywhere, ⁓ except for ⁓ UTEP. I think that's the only place we'll bust, but everywhere else we fly. And so when you fly and and are able to get all that organized ahead of time, it makes it a lot easier.

with stuff. So ⁓ yeah, we'll have an I t I mean, we already have an itinerary. We leave tomorrow and we won't be back till we'll come back early Sunday morning. So it's gonna be a a long road trip, but ⁓ I think a really good road trip because when you have a new whole new squad you want to spend a lot of time together. We're gonna have the opportunity to do that this week. And so we'll get to know each other on a a deeper level I'm sure. ⁓ but which is always good with team chemistry, right? And so for them, you know the challenge

⁓ is not to just spend time with people that you're comfortable with, but let's try to do stuff together and spend time with people that maybe we're not as comfortable with or that we need need to get to know more as we go through the road trip. So I'm excited. ⁓ it's gonna be it's gonna be a fun trip and ⁓ we're we're ready to get going with it.

Gary Stocker (11:07)
Coach, as we've shared previously, now that the season has started, we'll be recording this podcast every Monday morning. So for those listeners, those regular listeners, we'll have that posted sometime on Monday each and every week. Coach, always a pleasure to chat with you. You've been listening to the Amy Egan Show. Amy's is you've been listening to the Amy Egan Show.

Can I do this?

Amy Eagan (11:33)
I fluster you.

Gary Stocker (11:37)
'Cause you're the head coach at the University of New Mexico, right? I don't need to say that I already said that at the start.

Thanks for listening as always. We look forward to having you back again for the next episode of the Amy.

Amy Eagan (11:52)
You had it.

Gary Stocker (11:55)
Plastic.

Amy Eagan (11:56)
Yeah.

Gary Stocker (12:00)
You've been listening to the Amy Egan show. We'll be back next week with another podcast.

Amy Eagan (12:06)
Perfect.