DJ Woodmore is a 28 year old 190cm point guard that is playing his first season with the EPG Baskets Koblenz. Last season with Morgenstern BIS Basket Speyer (Germany-ProB) he played 21 games averaging 15.1ppg, 4.4rpg, 2.3apg, 1.0spg, FGP: 60.0%, 3PT-2 (50.0%), FT: 87.3%. In 2018-2019 13.8ppg, 4.5rpg, 2.8apg, 1.3spg, FGP: 60.2%, 3PT: 36.5%, FT: 71.6% in the Regionalliga. In his first two seasons with Speyer he averaged 14.5ppg, 5.2rpg, 2.3apg, FGP: 44.6%, 3PT: 40.1%, FT: 72.1% and 17.5ppg, 7.0rpg, 3.4apg, 1.3spg, FGP: 47.5%, 3PT: 33.0%, FT: 76.4%. he played at Virginia Wesleyan College (NCAA3): from 2010-2014 and as a senior played 31 games averaging 20.1ppg, 5.9rpg, 2.4apg, 1.5spg, FGP: 50.3% (219/435), 3Pts: 46.0% (91/198), FT: 76.9% (93/121). Miles Schmidt-Scheuber and DJ Woodmore team up each week to talk basketball.

TheEPG Baskets Koblenz suffered a tough 90-82 loss against TSV Oberaching Tropics. The guests had the overwhelming 49-43 lead at the break. 49 was way too much to have given up. What was giving the team the biggest problems on the defensive end in the first 20 minutes?

I thought we didn’t defend well at all in the first half and the third quarter as well. They were doing a good job of penetrating and getting into the paint, and when we collapsed, they kicked it out and made the right plays. 

You had to play catch up basketball the whole night. How tough was it doing this conserving energy and what lessons do you think did the team learn from this catch up game you were playing? 

I think we learned that we can’t dig ourselves in a hole at all. Yeah I think we’re talented enough and experienced enough to make a comeback, but once we give a team confidence, it’s hard to take that away. 

The EPG Baskets Koblenz were in the game at the end with a few minutes to go down 85-82. But then sharp shooter Janosch Koegler hit a brutal three pointer deciding the game. Was there serious fatigue with the team at that point?

I think we had a few guys that were tired, some guys had to play a lot of minutes because of the injuries, but we have to find a way to get that much needed stop, regardless of the situation. It was a big shot off of a broken play, so you have to give them credit. But they beat us on 50/50 balls the entire game. and it finally came back to hurt us. 

How tough was sitting out and watching? What kind of discoveries did you make watching your team something you wouldn’t necessarily have seen had you been in uniform? 

Extremely tough to watch and know that you can’t do anything to help except be as vocal as possible. I thought we showed a lot of fight in the final quarter but it was just too little too late. I always think there are some areas we can improve on, but sometimes you don’t see it as clearly from the court as you do from the bench. We’ll talk about them this week, and get ready to try again next weekend. 

Zaire Thompson had a huge game with 14/8/6 stats. What strides did he make in this game? 

Z has always been capable of this kind of performance. He’s also had to sacrifice a lot of his offensive game because of the depth of our roster, but we knew he would step up when it was needed. He’s shown it all season. 

On what area’s will the team be working on most this week?. It lost the rebound battle and allowed 90 points

Defense forsake. I think Oberhaching did a lot of really good things this weekend. But at the end of the day, I feel like we shouldn’t be giving up 90+ points to any team. And they were able to do it twice. 

Next weekend Orange Academy arrive in Koblenz. You lost the first game by 23 on the road. What will be key in splitting the season series?

I think we just have to go out there and play with pride. I think our team should take the first loss personaly and want to do everything possible to get even with them. We need to hit them first and keep hitting for 40 minutes. 

When do you expect to be back in action and what are you doing to get back?

I’m hoping to be back this weekend for the Orange Academy game, but I’m not sure. Physio treatments and rehab have been going well so far so we’ll see. I’ll try to ease my way into practice this week and go from there.

James Harden, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant on a team. Will this work?

I think they have a chance to win a lot of games, butIi think their lack of depth and size at the big position will hurt them in the playoffs. We’ll see how they stack up against some the top teams in the Western conference.

Thanks DJ for the chat.