Jack Eggleston is a 24 year old 203cm power forward from Noblesville, Indiana that is playing his third year as a professional for the Bayer Giants Leverkusen in the German Pro B. He played at  Pennsylvania (NCAA) from 2007-2011. He played a total of 125 NCAA games. In his senior year he played 28 games: 13.2ppg, 8.0rpg, 2.1apg, FGP: 50.4%, 3PT: 45.1%, FT: 73.5%. As a rookie  for Leverkusen he played  23 games: 14.0ppg, 6.0rpg, 2.1apg, FGP: 49.5%, 3PT: 37.1%, FT: 71.2%. Last season he played 33 games: 15.3ppg, Reb-2(11.1rpg), 3.4apg, 1.6spg, FGP: 51.2%, 3PT: 34.1%, FT: 74.7%He spoke to German Hoops before the game against BG Karlsruhe.

Congrats on the important 72-62 win against Gotha snapping their three game winning streak. Leverkusen kept it close trailing only by three points at halftime, but had a big 23-6 run in the third quarter. Did Leverkusen make any adjustment and what was key for this massive turnaround?

Thanks Miles. I don’t think we make any big adjustments. We just did a better job of executing on both ends. The ball moved much more crisply on offense, and we eliminated some silly mistakes on defense.

Leverkusen did a very good job defending the three point line. How key was it limiting them in this area and keeping American Chase Griffin at bay?

Especially after they shot the ball so well against Cuxhaven, we knew we needed to slow them down from the perimeter. Marc Sonnen did an amazing job making things difficult on Griffin and taking away any easy looks.

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Jack Eggleston is a 25 year old 203cm power forward from Noblesville, Indiana that is playing his third year as a professional for the Bayer Giants Leverkusen in the German Pro B. He played at  Pennsylvania (NCAA) from 2007-2011. He played a total of 125 NCAA games. In his senior year he played 28 games: 13.2ppg, 8.0rpg, 2.1apg, FGP: 50.4%, 3PT: 45.1%, FT: 73.5%. As a rookie  for Leverkusen he played  23 games: 14.0ppg, 6.0rpg, 2.1apg, FGP: 49.5%, 3PT: 37.1%, FT: 71.2%. Last season he played 33 games: 15.3ppg, Reb-2(11.1rpg), 3.4apg, 1.6spg, FGP: 51.2%, 3PT: 34.1%, FT: 74.7%He spoke to German Hoops Before the next game against Ehingen.

A tough 89-64 loss to number one team BG Goettingen at home. When you look at the half scoring one could say that Leverkusen played well for 20 minutes, but in between lost some focus in the second and third quarter. Why weren´t you able to play better for 40 minutes?

I thought we played a decent first quarter, but Goettingen tightened up defensively after that. They are a very talented team with a lot of depth and it was tough for us to keep up.

BG Goettingen had a comfortable 12 point lead at half time thanks to a strong second quarter outscoring Leverkusen 23-9. What adjustments did BG Goettingen seem to make in the second quarter and why wasn´t Leverkusen able to stay with the 2010 Eurochallenge winner?

The biggest adjustment they made was to take us out of our ball screen game. They pretty effectively shut down that part of our offense and made it difficult for us to operate.

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Jack Eggleston is a 24 year old 203cm power forward from Noblesville, Indiana that is playing his third year as a professional for the Bayer Giants Leverkusen in the German Pro B. He played at  Pennsylvania (NCAA) from 2007-2011. He played a total of 125 NCAA games. In his senior year he played 28 games: 13.2ppg, 8.0rpg, 2.1apg, FGP: 50.4%, 3PT: 45.1%, FT: 73.5%. As a rookie  for Leverkusen he played  23 games: 14.0ppg, 6.0rpg, 2.1apg, FGP: 49.5%, 3PT: 37.1%, FT: 71.2%. Last season he played 33 games: 15.3ppg, Reb-2(11.1rpg), 3.4apg, 1.6spg, FGP: 51.2%, 3PT: 34.1%, FT: 74.7%He spoke to German Hoopsbefore the game against the MLP Academics Heidelberg.

Jack congrats last weekend on the 93-73 win against the Finke Baskets Paderborn. It was an even game at halftime, but the Bayer Giants Leverkusen shifted up a few gears in the second half to win the game. What were the main reasons for getting this big

Thanks Miles. I think we turned up the intensity on defense and did a much better job of taking away easy transition buckets and clean three point looks. Offensively, we moved the ball very well and knocked down open shots.

The Bayer Giants Leverkusen got big production from Tony Watson, Marc Sonnen and yourself. How relieving is it to know that you were able to play so well without a Jake Koch who didn´t play. With him playing the team is even more dangerous.

Tony and Marc both played very well against Paderborn and have been playing well all year. It has been fun to watch them develop over the course of their first pro season, and I’m sure they will continue to improve the rest of the year. Hopefully we can get Jake back on the court with us soon.

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Jack Eggleston is a 24 year old 203cm power forward from Noblesville, Indiana that is playing his third year as a professional for the Bayer Giants Leverkusen in the German Pro B. He played at  Pennsylvania (NCAA) from 2007-2011. He played a total of 125 NCAA games. In his senior year he played 28 games: 13.2ppg, 8.0rpg, 2.1apg, FGP: 50.4%, 3PT: 45.1%, FT: 73.5%. As a rookie  for Leverkusen he played  23 games: 14.0ppg, 6.0rpg, 2.1apg, FGP: 49.5%, 3PT: 37.1%, FT: 71.2%. Last season he played 33 games: 15.3ppg, Reb-2(11.1rpg), 3.4apg, 1.6spg, FGP: 51.2%, 3PT: 34.1%, FT: 74.7%He spoke to German Hoops about his come back and current Leverkusen losing streak.

Jack thanks for talking to German Hoops again. A tough 78-75 loss to BG Karlsruhe. The team keeps getting closer and closer but lost again. What was key for not being able to get the win at the end?

I think we just dug ourselves too big of a hole in the first half. We need to be able to come out of the gate with the energy and intensity that we showed in the second half.

The Bayer Giants Leverkusen seemed to have no answer in containing Germans Rouven Roessler who played many years in the BBL and breathed German national team air and Oliver Komarek who was a German A-2 national player in the past. How much fun is it experiencing good German players each weekend?

Both of them are good players, but I can’t use the word “fun” to describe any game that we lost. I look forward to seeing them later in the season so we can have another opportunity to contain them better.

After your long injury, how excited were you to finally be able to play on the court again? How did you feel physically and mentally?

It was great to get back out on the court and help my team. There was definitely a bit of an adjustment period after being out for two months, but I felt like I was able to get comfortable out there fairly quickly.

How tough was it the last months having to sit on the bench and not be able to help the team get out of this losing streak?

That was really the worst part of my injury, just sitting there feeling like I was letting my teammates down. I tried to be positive and support the guys, but no competitive person wants to sit on the bench and watch.

Have you ever suffered a 10 game losing streak in your career or is this the first time? How have you been dealing with it?

I wish the answer to that was no but we actually lost my first ten games in my junior year of college. This season, just like that season, is not the way you want to start. I’m confident though that we’ll continue to improve as a team.

What have been the main reasons for the losing streak. The loss of Josh Parker and your injury surely weren´t beneficial, but the team picked up some solid talent especially with Tony Watson.

Obviously any time you lose a tremendous player like Josh, you have to figure out ways to replace his contribution. I think Tony has done a great job in his place, but we’ve struggled a bit with injuries. All of our big men have missed significant time and some of the other players have nagging issues.

Especially a guy like American Marc Sonnen was a big pick up who shot over 40% his last two seasons in the NCAA. What do you like most about his game?

Although most people notice Marc’s shooting ability first, I really love his defensive intensity. Even if the ball isn’t falling for him, he’s going to give us everything he’s got on the other end of the court.

What parts of your game have been most difficult to get used to again after your long injury?

I’d say my touch around the basket and my decision making are the two things that are the toughest to get back. I’ve made progress with both and will continue to improve in the coming weeks.

The Bayer Giants Leverkusen can´t panic now. What will be most important for the team do now besides sticking together?

We need to make sure we’re taking advantage of every opportunity to improve. Every practice, every game is a chance for us to get better as a team. We can’t waste those chances.

What was the last DVD movie that you saw?

I just watched Primer.

Thanks Jack for the chat.

Jack Eggleston is a 24 year  old 203cm power forward from Noblesville, Indiana that is playing his second year as a professional for the Bayer Giants Leverkusen in the German Pro B. He played at  Pennsylvania (NCAA) from 2007-2011. He played a total of 125 NCAA games. In his senior year he played 28 games: 13.2ppg, 8.0rpg, 2.1apg, FGP: 50.4%, 3PT: 45.1%, FT: 73.5%. Last season for Leverkusen he played  23 games: 14.0ppg, 6.0rpg, 2.1apg, FGP: 49.5%, 3PT: 37.1%, FT: 71.2%. He spoke to German Hoops after beating Oldenburg in the playoffs.

Congrats on getting past Oldenburg in the first round of the playoffs? The three games had a total of 551 total points. How much energy did this series cost the team?

We’ve played all of our games this year at a pretty fast pace so I don’t think that the series took any more energy than usual out of us. We have plenty of time to get rested and ready for our first game Sunday.

The Bayer Giants Leverkusen won game three 95-90. The Giants had a nice lead at halftime, but Oldenburg stormed back in the third quarter to get back into the game. What was key at the end for Leverkusen winning the game?

I thought we did a great job of finding their shooters down the stretch and making sure they didn’t get any easy looks. Also we made sure to secure defensive boards and limit them to one shot.

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