Malik Riddle (193-G-1999, college: HSU) is a 24 year old 193cm guard from Tennessee playing his second professional season and first in Germany with Pro B team RheineStars Cologne. Last season he played with Gzira Athleta Birkirkara (Malta-BOV League D1) averaging 28.8ppg, 9.4rpg, 3.9apg, Steals-3 (2.6spg), FGP: 57.8%, 3PT: 33.1%, FT: 75.5%. He began his basketball career at Rossville Christian Academy. He then played 2 seasons at Morehead State University (NCAA) and then played 3 seasons at Henderson State University (NCAA2). He teams up with germanhoops.com every week to talk basketball.

After tough loss to Erfurt and an exciting win over the Ahorn Baskets, how vital was it for the team to get a more comfortable win again beating Coburg 89-63?

It felt good getting a comfortable win again. The team still felt we started off slow but glad we picked it up in the second half.

The RheinStars had a slow start but came back in the first quarter, but still trailed 23-20 after 10 minutes. Especially Ben Diederichs gave the team problems.

Yeah we started off too slow and weren´t locked in as we should’ve been, especially me. We have to all be collectively invested if we want to stop the slow starts.

The RheinStars then outscored Coburg 48-25 in the second and third quarters. What adjustments did the team make to defend better?

We applied more ball pressure than we did the first half. We picked up the intensity and started getting easy buckets in transition.

The RheinStars broke the game wide open in the third quarter. How vital was your aggressiveness on the offensive end that helped ignite the RheinStars offense?

I felt I wasn’t aggressive enough on both ends of the floor so felt I needed to pick it up. Too relaxed first half and needed to play harder so the team could go on a run.

How proud were of the team that there were no let ups in the fourth quarter? The team played hard and executed until the end.

That was a good sign for sure, seeing how everyone was still focused in the end. We want to be a great team and in order to do that we need to finish games strong no matter what.

How satisfied were you overall of the defensive effort and pressure? You forced 26 turnovers as a team.

I thought we did a great job, have guys that play very hard on the defensive end and bring a lot of energy. Our defense is the key for us so as a team forcing 26 turnovers is good.

You had a very good shooting performance and scored 25 points. You were very efficient in 19 minutes. Are you getting more and more comfortable with your teammates every new game?

I’m getting more comfortable and I was just being aggressive and getting easy baskets. I know my teammates trust me so I just try to keep the aggression going.

You next play against the weak FC Bayern Munich. This is another team with very young players. How will you prepare for this next task best?

We have to focus on our details no matter the team or age. We have to come out with focus and be aggressive from start to finish. Personally I have to do a better job out the gate and be better defensively for the team.

Thanks Malik for the chat.