Practices bother Groce before Illini opener
November 7, 2012 3:58 PM
Groce was displeased with Illinois' practice on Tuesday and also believed one of its practices last week was subpar and resulted in a disappointing performance during a 75-66 preseason win over West Chester on Sunday.
"I thought (practice Tuesday) was more about focus," Groce said. "I tell them all the time, you got to have a mindset to deliberately practice well. And you can't just show up, get stretched by the strength coach and warm-up drills start at 4:10 or 4:30 depending on what time we're practicing, and hope you're going to have a good practice. It doesn't work that way. That's not how you prepare.
"I'm trying to teach them right now on how mentally to prepare for practice. One of their goals is to be more consistent. Well, to do that you have to practice more consistent. You have to bring it every day. You have to be unflappable. You can't have excuses. You got to show up. You got to raise the bar. You have to compete every day. And (Tuesday), I didn't think we had it more mentally than anything else."
Scott Powers
"I thought (practice Tuesday) was more about focus," Groce said. "I tell them all the time, you got to have a mindset to deliberately practice well. And you can't just show up, get stretched by the strength coach and warm-up drills start at 4:10 or 4:30 depending on what time we're practicing, and hope you're going to have a good practice. It doesn't work that way. That's not how you prepare.
"I'm trying to teach them right now on how mentally to prepare for practice. One of their goals is to be more consistent. Well, to do that you have to practice more consistent. You have to bring it every day. You have to be unflappable. You can't have excuses. You got to show up. You got to raise the bar. You have to compete every day. And (Tuesday), I didn't think we had it more mentally than anything else."
Scott Powers
Filed under: Illini Basketball
