pic credit: Joern Wolter

Roel Moors is a former professional player from Belgium that won 3 league titles in his homeland and enjoyed a 19 year career. He began his coaching career in 2015 and coach Antwerp for 4 seasons and then was a season with Bamberg, 3 with BG Goettingen and now he is in his second season at the helm with the Telekom Baskets Bonn. He spoke to germanhoops.com after the massive come from behind win in Oldenburg where Darius Mcghee scored a monumental 44 points with 10 three´s.

Congrats on the amazing 96-91 come from behind win on the road. Where do you rate this win in your coaching career with the amazing 44 points that Darius Mcghee scored and the way the team came back and won?

Thank you, of course every win is important to us. I think the fact that we finally found some defensive stops and of course the ability of Darius to make tough shots gave us a chance to come back in this game.

The team went to Oldenburg having lost 2 of the last 3 games including losing by 20 points against FC Bayern Munich. With what kind of a mindset did the team go to Oldenburg?

Our mindset is always the same. We go into games to win them even on the road. Of course in sports confidence is a major factor and our last couple of games didn’t really provide us that. In situations like this at the end of the day it’s about finding a way to win and luckily we did.

It was a high scoring game at the break as Oldenburg was leading 51-44. Bonn allowed 93 points against FC Bayern Munich. What was giving Bonn the biggest problems on the defensive end at the break?

Well I think overal we make too many mistakes, sometimes late in the shot clock. We are fighting each day to get better in defense because it will determine our destiny.

Oldenburg continued to execute well and open up their inside out game in the second quarter connecting more from outside. Was it more on your defense or their stellar guard play that allowed them to execute well?

You always have to give credit to opponents that play well and I think they did. We just didn’t make it hard enough for them at times.

In the third quarter Oldenburg stepped up their defense a bit and led 73-62 after 3 quarters. How was the mind set of the team? Could you sense that there was still hope to somehow turn it around?

I felt like we were always 1 step slow, we kept searching for solutions and this game again showed that a basketball game can turn around in no time. My guys showed many times already this season that they are mentally strong enough to fight back.

What kind of instructions did you give the team for the last 10 minutes?

Well we changed lineups a bit and changed the ball screen coverage and I think it gave us some confidence that we were finally able to get some stops.

If someone had told you prior to the start of the third quarter that the team would score 36 points on the road and Mcghee score 21 points and 6 three´s what would you have thought?

I would have thought that with Mcghee everything is possible. Of course it’s his first year in Europe so he lacks some consistency and is still learning things every day. But when he sees some shots go in a lot is possible.

How big was the team self-confidence of the team? Do you feel with every new three pointer, that that self-confidence grew to incredible heights in the last quarter?

I think a game of basketball needs emotions. At times we are too flat but during that run I saw a lot of positive emotions, even when we were still down 10.

Let´s talk about the 44 point night and 10 three of Darius Mcghee. How big is a game like that in today´s basketball?

It’s huge, we don’t see that a lot but to be honest it is not a total surprise to me that Darius is the one to do it.

It was the most three´s in the last decade together with Jacob Burtschi and TJ Bray. So many more three´s are taken in today´s game. Why doesn´t one see more games like this in the easyCredit BBL where 10 three´s are made?

It’s just incredibly hard to see 10 shots go in. Teams are physical in this league. It’s not like you can just get easy shots off.

Did you sense like he went into the game extra motivated after the big goose egg against FC Bayern Munich and 3 fouls and 3 turnovers?

Well of course he got hurt during that game which didn’t help. Also credit to Bayerns defense, where it’s not easy to play against Weiler Babb, who is to me the top defender in this league. It’s my job to help Darius and give him tools how to react against that defense and make him understand that whatever they throw at him he needs to know that he can hurt the defense with his quickness and shot making ability.

Did you have an extra talk with him before the game to help raise his self-confidence?

Not really, Darius is a confident guy from nature. The only talks I have a lot with him is about aggressiveness. You have all these tools, use them and be a killer.

I can imagine Mcghee´s 44 points didn´t surprise you? He had shown in college that he could score a lot once scoring 48 and 47 points in a game.

Yes as mentioned earlier, few weeks ago I predicted to my son that we would see a 40 point game of Darius with 10 3 pointers this season. Obviously I didn’t know it was going to be this early.

Will Mcghee have to invite his teammates to dinner or how does one celebrate the win and 44 point game as a team?

That’s a good question, let me put some pressure on him tomorrow.

Despite his great performance, many other guys stepped up. How vital was this win for the moral and getting back on the winning track?

Wins and especially like this can trigger something. Everybody is looking at the 44 points of Darius obviously but many guys provided something in this win. At the end of the day this team is put together to play team basketball.

Do you think that a game like this could turn the season around to where the team can make new steps going forward especially in the easyCredit BBL?

Let’s take it 1 step at a time. We need to work really really hard to find consistency. We have tools, we maybe lack some experience but we need to make up for that in other ways.

The Telekom Baskets Bonn are playing very well in the Basketball Champions League. How do you explain the better play here than in the easyCredit BBL?

Well we should not dramatize our level in BBL. We are 5-4 and everything is close together. We are just not that physical monster yet. In BCL we found ways so far to be more consistent in defense. Again we have a lot of young guys that are growing up fast and it’s our job as coaches to facilitate that process.

The Telekom Baskets Bonn have 2 tough BBL road games in Bamberg and Chemnitz. How confident are you that the team will be a top 8 team on Chjristmas?

We are confident that we can beat any team but obviously those are 2 extremely tough road games and we have 2 very important BCL games at the same time. However our approach has always been to look only one game ahead so we will not change that.

Thanks Roel for the chat.