Originally posted January 10, 2018
Following the Austin Spurs 119- 108 win over the Windy City Bull, I had the opportunity to catch up with Austin Coach Blake Ahearn to talk about the Spurs ball movement, Darrun Hilliard, good-to-great basketball and Jeff Ledbetter’s three point shooting.
On the Austin Spurs 30-8 assists-to-turnover ratio, Hillard’s 12 assists and the Spurs ball distribution
From Darrun to all our group that’s one thing we try to pride ourselves on and I just told them that in an environment where it can get a little dicey with scouts here and everything, guys want to show what they can do, I thought we did a phenomenal job of moving the ball, sharing the ball, hitting the guys when they were open. We had a little bit of a lapse their in the third but for the most part they were phenomenal - that’s a testament to them. These guys are great, our job is pretty easy sometimes when they are clicking and rolling so that was great.
On Hilliard’s pass to Jeff Ledbetter at the the end of third quarter for a buzzer beating 3 and guys playing for the team
We talk about it all the time with our offence, moving the ball and passing up a good shot for a great shoot. Darrun could have taken a good shot, he made the extra pass and we got a great shot from Jeff and that stuff is contagious. With Darrun, it starts with him, and everybody else falls in line. Same thing defensively, we help the helper and all that kind of stuff. It’s contagious and we try to have that as much as we can.
On Ledbetter’s three point shooting (4-8 for the game)
He should have shot about eight more times. Jeff brings an edge to our team, a personality on the floor and shooting the basketball is just one of the parts of it which he does at a very high level. We are fortunate to have him. He comes in, he knows his role, he dos it to the best of his ability every night.