Four Questions with Russell Turner

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The best in the Big West?

Russell Turner played college basketball in Virginia, then worked in North Carolina. He’s been in California for nearly 25 years, but don’t call him a West Coast guy. It doesn’t mean anything to him.

“If being a West Coast guy helps me, great. I'll take it. But no, I don't worry about that. I don't label myself as an NBA guy, but the six years experience I have there has influenced me more than anything. I'm a Mike Montgomery guy. I'm a Don Nelson guy. I'm a Dave Odom guy. I'm a Tony Shaver guy. I like those labels better.”

The best label might be the one attached to Turner’s program: Winner.

Now in his 13th season at UC Irvine, Turner’s teams have claimed the Big West regular-season title six of the last 10 years. They’ve won 68% of their conference games in that span, and with a 5-0 start this season, the Anteaters could snag another one — or maybe their third NCAA appearance since 2015.

He spoke about the team’s defense, their approach, and his basketball influences in the latest Four Questions.

Q: This team might be your best defense you've had since 2014 when Irvine led the nation in 2-point FG defense and were 6th in block rate, but that team also had a 7-foot-6 center anchoring the defense. Is this a case where Bent Leuchten (7-1) and Dean Keeler (6-11) combine for one MEGA center? What’s been the key to that interior defense and overall performance?

Russell Turner: It's team defense. We have consistently been, pretty solid at protecting the rim for a number of years. And all the guys are part of that. We've had big guys — maybe not as big as Mamadou [Ndiaye] in 2014 — and that helps with our consistency in that area. But it's connected to all the players, not just the big ones, and the level of defense that we stay committed to.

This group is experienced. This group has some toughness. They very competitive. And they're smart. We go into each game with a plan and we've executed against some high-level offensive teams. We're building confidence and hopefully continuing to get better.

Q: Your non-conference schedule was loaded with a series of tough teams, including USC and four Mountain West teams. When you beat the Trojans and then just missed a win against San Diego State, was that the point when you knew you’d have a promising season?

Russell Turner: No, we knew it before that. We lost a couple key guys and I think because we lost those guys, maybe it was easy for some people to underrate us. But we knew that we had a chance to be really good. We played a summer foreign tour where we went to the Jones Cup in Taiwan, a competition that is really different than what most teams see. Our guys got real reps and a real opportunity to learn. That was a special trip for us.

So we add two really good freshmen in addition to our guys who came back (Justin Hohn, Pierre Cockrell, Andre Henry and Devin Tillis) and we knew we could compete. Then early in the season, we chose to play one of the hardest schedules we’ve ever had in terms of quality of opponents and the number of road games. And that was out of necessity.

We chose a good MTE in Las Vegas, and we played well in all three of those games and won them. That helped us build some momentum. We thought we’d get beat up and tested, but improve as a result. We did a similar thing in 2019, which was one of the years that we advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

Q: Basketball’s evolved to the point where some teams deliberately take only 3s or shots at the rims (or at least try to). Your team shoots the 3 well (37.3%) but don’t take a lot (27.7% of total FG attempts, 344th in D-I). Is that a conscious decision where you’re not trying to force things, and play to trends? It seems like you’re trying to run good offense and work for open shots, rather than specific shots.

Russell Turner: There’s a section of the basketball world that have embraced those analytical things that the media likes, and seems simple to understand, but don’t hold up as well under pressure. And college basketball is all about pressure. We love open 3s, but they gotta be open shots and good shots. If you wanna give us 40 good 3s, we’ll take 40 good 3s.

But we’re going to have to play basketball together, and we’re going to play to the identity that we have, which is geared toward the defensive end and having size to protect the rim. In some cases, that means that we’re going to probably shoot fewer 3s than the average team, and we’re OK with that. We’re trying to win, not solve a math problem.

To me, analytics are interesting. In some cases for teams, it’s valuable in recruiting, and for some coaches, it’s valuable for an image that they want to promote. But the game is about figuring out how to win, and that’s what we’ve been consistently good at. I do want our team to shoot good shots, whether those are 3s or 2s, but more than that, I want to make sure we’re good defensively and on the glass because I think that’s what leads to winning.

Q: You’ve worked for coaches who’ve won championships, who are in the Hall of Fame, and to a large degree, where smart guys ahead of their time. At any point, did any of them sit you down as say, “Russell, you’re a smart guy. Phi Betta Kappa, magna cum laude with a couple of degrees. You’re too smart to be a basketball coach”?

Russell Turner: I’m gonna tell you something. They actually did that. And it was really good for me. Dave [Odom] did that. He was really good for me, but he never would have hired me if not for my wife, who ended up being the top student in the medical school. What was was saying to me, in almost those exact same words was that I was too smart and needed to be better.

What he was saying was that I needed to be a better communicator. His impression was sometimes I was trying to be too smart. I think there's a place for everything and finding a good balance and being authentic is the most important thing in this industry. You've gotta be smart, you've gotta be tough, you've gotta be authentic and you've gotta have a good combination of qualities. Dave taught me that as much as anyone.

My great fortune in connecting with coach Odom was that he was so different than Tony Shaver, and they were both great. Tony Shaver was a product of the North Carolina system. Dean Smith and Roy Williams and all that. And then I went to work for Mike Montgomery on the West Coast, who was influenced very little by that school of thought. And from there, I went to the NBA with Mike, and then hooked on with Don Nelson who might be the most unique basketball mind there’s been. I've had a range of experiences that I'm super fortunate to have had and that all have influenced me in different ways.