Stanley Whittaker (183-G-1994, college: Keiser) is a 27 year old 183cm point guard from Philadelphia playing his third professional season and first in Germany with PS Karlsruhe. He played his rookie season in Lithuania and last season had his break through with UBSC Raiffeisen Graz (Austria-BSL) playing 24 games: Score-2 (21.5ppg), 6.3rpg, Assists-2 (8.0apg), Steals-1 (2.6spg), FGP: 49.3%, 3PT: 40.5%, FT: 78.4%. He played his college ball at Frank Phillips (JUCO) and Keiser (NAIA). He teams up every week with Miles Schmidt-Scheuber to talk basketball.

Thanks Stanley for talking to eurobasket.com. PS Karlsruhe suffered a tough 112-85 loss to Tuebingen. Was there a mental factor going into the game knowing you would play 2 and 1 teams within 6 days?

Tough stretch for our group and we are undermanned but we have to make a better effort in competition. We can’t make any excuses for ourselves, the job still has to get done.

Tuebingen is without a doubt the massive surprise team for me. If one would of asked me at the start of the season, I would never have predicted this success. A new coach and one American seems to be the recipe for success. The team had a bad stretch in January losing 5 of 7 games, but since have won 9 of 10 teams. What makes this team so good?

They’re well coached, they play with a high level of energy and they get after it defensively and have great movement on offense.

Talk about the 40 minutes. How difficult was it defending them for 40 minutes? They scored 27 more points than in the first game.

They move the ball well, execute at a decent level and just last night it seems as though they couldn’t miss from 3.

They nailed 15 three’s. I guess when your that hot it’s difficult to win. Was that the main sore spot that PS Karlsruhe couldn’t defend? They also rebounded the ball very well?

It was just their night overall, we had some communication issues as well as matchup problems, they made us pay when we slipped defensively. That’s what good teams do.

How much of a factor does Isaiah Crawley make in their game. In the first game against you, he wasn’t present.

He’s a high energy guy, crashes the glass and he’s very athletic. He helps them a lot.

How is Tuebingen better today than when you faced them at the start of the season? They had 8 guys in double figures. That is very impressive. You don’t see that often not even in Europe. Can they make a run for the Pro A title?

They were in a such a great rhythm all night. They’re pretty much exploded in the 3rd quarter when we missed some looks, they were able to get out in transition and make us pay!

You had 20/4/5/4/3 stats. The biggest flaw was your shooting. Obviously teams key in on you. They did a better job than other teams. How much of a challenge is it to find good shots when your being keyed on well?

The ball just wouldn’t go in for me tonight, it was pretty frustrating because I got to my spots but just couldn’t convert. Credit to Tubingen, they sub in different guys that play hard and try to make things difficult for me.

The team now has to regroup and find a way to beat Rostock. Who can forget the thrilling 87-86 win. Now you must travel to Rostock where you will experience very tough fans. This will be a huge challenge for you. A win would be perfect for the self-confidence going into playoffs. What will be key for escaping with a win?

We have to do whatever it takes to get a win!

The 2022 NCAA final was very exciting with Kansas overcoming North Carolina 72-69. Will this go down in history as one of better finals?

I didn’t get a chance to watch it. But from what I’m hearing it was a thriller.

Thanks Stanley for the chat.