Stony Brook coach talks NIT, Illinois
Stony Brook coach Steve Pikiell was on a conference call with media today. Here's a very quick rundown of what he said leading up to Wednesday's NIT game against Illinois:
-Pikiell said Stony Brook Arena, which has undergone renovations, seats around 5,000. He guaranteed the game will be a sellout.
"Students are lined up a outside my office (for the ticket lottery)," he said.
He also said the ESPNU broadcast will mark the first ESPN appearance for Stony Brook, which is in its 11th year at the Division I level after making the jump from Division III.
-Pikiell, a team captain as a player under Jim Calhoun at Connecticut, used phrases like "tough" when describing the Sea Wolves. "We attack the rim a little bit," he said. "I have some New York City guards, guys that get to the basket."
He added, "We'll be very undersized by Big Ten standards but we are tough."
-He expects "many challenges" when facing Illinois, specifically its frontcourt size against the "undersized" Stony Brook rotation. "We've got our work cut out for us in a lot of different ways," he said. "We are a team that has probably overachieved most of the season."
-Pikiell said the Sea Wolves play an up-tempo style that features some fullcourt pressure. Illinois coach Bruce Weber, who has watched about two games worth of film on Stony Brook, said they play a "packed man" mixed with some zone.
-Stony Brook is led by America East Player of the Year Muhammad El-Amin, a Lansing, Mich., native familiar with the Big Ten.
"I think he can score at any place in the country," Pikiell said.
Weber agreed: "He's a talented young man. I think he could play in the Big Ten, there's no doubt about it."
-The immediate concern for the Illini is playing motivated after a disappointing Selection Sunday.
"It's going to be a challenge, I'm telling you guys. This (Stony Brook) is not a team that will go down easy," Weber said. "It's going to be a hard-fought game. I can promise you that."
-Top-seeded Illinois had researched the option of playing on a neutral court. Weber said the game couldn't be played at Huff because "it's not a legal court."
More on Stony Brook coming later on HQ.
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