The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - Head Coach Ime Udoka Joins Ahead of Match Up Vs Spurs

Episode Date: November 6, 2025

Head Coach Ime Udoka Joins Ahead of Match Up Vs Spurs

is the Matt Thomas show with Ross. Last night in Memphis, Rockets pick up another victory, five in a row, knocking off the Grizzlies. Talk about it for 10 minutes here on the radio program. He head coach of your Houston Rockets, EMAIDOCA here on the program. EMA, it's Matt Ross. Good morning to you. Coach, I didn't have Josh Akogi three straight threes on my bingo car from last night. Did you have that on your card?

Well, with the attention that Alprin and Kevin attract, somebody's going to get open looks, and he was the recipient, obviously, he was confident knocking down. It's really good to have it. We were talking about it in the first hour. Doubling Houston Rocket players right now, it's a pretty risky situation for opponents. Would you agree?

Yeah, we're getting to our spacing. Our outlets are there, and our guys are going to be unselfish for the most part and make the right read, and it's up to those guys that shoot the ball with confidence. And our numbers are showing that guys that put in his work. And like I said, when you got guys that attract all that attention, I'm in as well getting downhill.

Somebody's going to be left open, and they're taking that gamble, and we're making a pay right now. You are well north of 40% from three, number one, in the association, at least last night, in the numbers. Look, that's just hard work. Is that also good looks, not having a hand in the face, the extra pass? What do you attribute, and hopefully it lasts for a long time, but the rapid increase in the amount of success with three-point range so far this year?

Yeah, all the above. Like I said, when you have guys that, you know, they're going to score if you don't put two, three bodies on them. They're going to leave guys open and try to make – we do the same thing. We double guys and we'll live with certain shots, but our guys will put a ton of work this offseason, understanding who they're playing with. And so for us, it's just keep it simple, make the easy pass, and we'll get those wide-open looks.

And once you continue to knock those down, they have to guard one-on-one, and our stars can get loose. And what about the offense, obviously, has been one of the best in the league, but I think it can get even better, especially with respects to the turnovers that were better last night. How do you go about improving that with a roster that doesn't have a ton of great ball handling, has some good ball handling, but some guys who can be a little bit prone to turning the ball over? Yeah, it's like we said, keep it simple.

Don't over penetrate. Excuse me. don't over penetrate, just make the simple pass. You know, we saw the effect it had on us opening night, way too many turnovers against O'KC. We've tried to prove on since then. You know, last game against Dallas wasn't our best, 17 for 17 points, but 10 in the first half yesterday and only 3 in the second half,

so we made a point emphasis, and guys really took care of the ball, made simple play, and let the other guys be recipients, like I said. Let's get into a Kogi a little bit. I love him so far in terms of just doing a little bit of everything. What did he get on your radar and what did you think about him coming into where he was last year and what he's been able to produce for you right now? Well, we knew he fits into what we do really well.

You know, another tough, hard-nose, versatile defender that's going to offensive rebound slash crash and do the things that we do. You know, obviously the three-point shot had been a little up and down in this career so far, but like I said, when you're getting these open looks and our guys are putting in the work and we're letting them know, take these shots. the right shot don't pass them up and then we obviously are really good at offensive rebounding so

for us it was great it was a late pickup in our last signing and free agency and with the injury to Dorian and Jay Sean coming into season we knew we needed another defender another body until guys were healthy and obviously he's been a pleasant surprise but the work he's put in

and to be a late signing and be an addition that was kind of there for depth we love his versatility he brings another defender so Alman can take a little bit of a break at times. And he's, like I said, he's making guys pay when they double off of Alprin or Kevin. Rocket Tech coach, Ima Doka was here on Sports Talk 790. Kevin Duran and Alpern Shungoon, I'm in Thompson getting a lot of the headlines.

But I feel like Jabari Smith Jr., has been and can continue to be a real X factor for you guys with what he does defensively shooting 39% from 3 as well. Just your thoughts overall on how much he can impact and raise a level. level of you guys' game on both ends of the floor. Yeah, I mean, we've talked about it. Since I've been here, we need our young guys to take these jumps. And him, I'm in, Alperin, they've all done that, Tari, as well. We need reading all our guys to continue to grow.

And so, you know, we said it with Fred and Dylan and the vets that we brought in from day one. And now Kevin, you know, they're going to do what they do and add to the team. But we want our biggest growth will be from our young guys taking these jumps. And so Jabari has obviously done that with his body. confidence, aggressiveness. I saw that, you know, I saw a month after the season last year. He had bothed up already. He got strong, put in

the work, and, you know, once again, if you have these really good players, you're going to have lesser defenders on your times, and you've got to win those matchups, and then his versatility on defense allows us to do so much, you know, he's guarding anybody from two two to five on given nights and

switching on to ones, and so the length and size that we have, and he's a huge part of what we do. of wanting to see some improvement from some young guys. Reed Shepard, how do you assess his season so far early on, both good and bad? It continues to be confident and aggressive, and that's the main thing with them. We've said that from day one is, you know what you're out there for. You're going to play out these guys, and you're one of the best shooters in the league,

so don't pass up shots, take those shots and be aggressive. On the defensive end, let's continue to put him in situations where he's going to have to grow and improve. And so we're not scheming up anything to hide him or anything at. these guarding guys. We're switching on to John Morant one night. We're switching on to Cooper Flag one night, and he needs this end-game experience to improve on that area. And so our thing is, you know, he has really good hands,

and sometimes he lets guys go to get those reaches and gambles. We want him to move his feet a little bit and take on those challenges. And so, you know, a few games into the season so far, he's improved, and we're going to need the shooting, his ball handling, you know, his secondary point guard for us out there. And with the amount of, you know, he played football. 47 games last year, so he's still getting it, getting experience under his belt, and every game is learning experience for him.

Forlitz your run, Ema, we got San Antonio tomorrow night. Have you as a coach philosophically changed your ideology about guarding Wembe today than maybe you did when he was a rookie a couple of years back? No, not really. We were going to do what we've done before, and then at times, you know, we had a really good defender for those type of guys. Dylan Brooks was, you know, we put him on him and cat and, you know, all the, all the stretch fours and five that take advantage of bigger guys. And so we have a lot of smaller tough defenders that we can throw at them and then have some length and size behind it.

And so, you know, he's shot the three not as consistent as he is now, but he's doing some of the same things at a higher level now. So we still want to be aggressive and be physical with them, put guys on him that can climb into him, take away his airspace and force him to help. And so we've had success doing that so far. Is it overly simplistic to say try to get him outside of that comfort zone, get him beyond 15, 17 feet, or is that just, are there other ideologies behind that? No, I mean, he brings the ball in he's shooting deep three, so you can't just guard him in those areas, although we do want to be physical in those spots. You know, he's all over the court doing so many different things,

handling, setting screens, rolling to the basket popping. So he's obviously a very complete. complete player. So they have to have somebody that can match up to them in all different areas on the court. And like I said, send them to certain help. And then I've just got to keep them off the glass with his size.