February 11, 2017 HEAD COACH CHRIS BEARD Opening
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Texas Tech Postgame Quotes Texas Tech vs. No. 3 Kansas – February 11, 2017 HEAD COACH CHRIS BEARD Opening statement … “I thought it was a great crowd. I really appreciate the students coming out today, and all of the season ticket holders. We have a lot of objectives this first year building the program, and certainly one of them is to create one of the best atmospheres in college basketball. Those of us that are from Tech and love Lubbock, like myself, understands that on these special days. We have one of the best home courts in basketball. We have got to get to the point where we have crowds like this every night and not just when we play Kansas. I just want to say thank you to everyone who came out and spent your own money to buy tickets to this game to support our team. The crowd made a real difference. I thought that the crowd, in the second half helped willed us back into the game. Thank you, Lubbock, for a great crowd. Sorry that we came up a little bit short. We hope that you will continue to give us a chance.” On the team’s toughness in the second half … “I thought in the second half, we competed. I think we outplayed Kansas. In this game, we probably outplayed them 28 to 30 minuets out of the 40, but that doesn’t matter. It’s all about the final scoreboard. I like our guys before tonight, and I still like them. We are getting better. There is no question that we were a better team than we were a couple weeks ago when Oklahoma State hammered us at home. Just in this league, it is so brutal. We are possibly playing the number one pick in the NBA draft, three or four NBA players, and a Hall of Fame coach on a night where they were making shots, so it’s difficult.” On the game’s final play … “I didn’t get a great look at it. I thought there was an illegal screen to get him open. That is why we called a timeout when we saw the set up. We knew that screen would be there, so I told Justin (Gray) don’t flop. Play and respect the game. If you get hit, take the hit. It was disappointing when we didn’t get the call, but that is not an excuse. That is just what happened. With (Josh) Jackson, he is just a special player one‐on‐one. He just made a move, and Zach (Smith) had to make a play. It was either let him lay it in or make a play. Those were three good officials today. I thought that they called a nice game.” On games coming down to one possession ... “You just have to keep grinding. That is what we talk about the first day of practice. In our league and at this level, these games come down to one or two possessions. Every day in practice we play one or two minute games. We play one possession drills. Tonight, I thought we had some improvement. Two of our better shooters got wide open three’s in the last two minutes and 30 seconds of the game. Niem (Stevenson) was the hottest player on the floor. He and Kennan (Evans) both. Kansas was kind of denying Kennan (Evans) the ball late, so Niem (Stevenson) had the ball in front of our bench. It was just an unfortunate turnover. We just played one of the best teams in the country for 20 minuets with two turnovers, and one of them was Niem (Stevenson) trying to press late. We are playing better. We just got to take that next step. What you do is you have to stay the course. You continue to try to work at it and get better. You got to keep coaching and keep working at it. I got a lot of confidence in our players. We will stick to the plan, and we will stick to the grind.” On Niem Stevenson’s performance… “I thought Niem (Stevenson) played well. He is a talented player. Offensively, he is very aggressive. He can shoot the ball better than he shot tonight, but he certainly a guy that we are counting on for the rest of the season, and certainly next year as we try to take the program to the next level with each season. When junior college transfers come in, there is always kind of a transitional period. Niem has remained unselfish, and he has worked really hard. He played for two great coaches at Seward in Kansas. I thought he played well tonight, and more importantly I think he is playing great basketball in the last couple of weeks.” On Aaron Ross and Anthony Livingston… “That was disappointing. Anthony (Livingston) and (Aaron) Ross would agree with that. It is really hard to win today because we have three special performances. There were three players with a score over 20 points. We shoot a good percentage, and we get to the free throw line. It was a low turnover game, but you are playing arguably the best team in college basketball. You need that fourth guy. You can get away with some nonconference wins when you have two guys show up. You will never when a Big 12 game unless you have three. To beat the top half of the league, you have three guys those specials nights, and you have to have that fourth or fifth guy. I thought Kansas top three for four guys get a lot of credit, but I think a guy like (Lagerald) Vick, who comes through and hits a three at some point. He is a good player for Kansas. Tonight our bench was not good. We need better play from those guys on the bench.” On his team’s rebounding effort tonight ... “Coach Self had some nice words to say when we shook hands. When he talks, I listen. He just said that our guys scrapped and fought. The first thing you look for on that is the rebounding because normally if the team is hustling and fighting when you are undermanned like we were. You just got to fight on the boards. I thought that was an indicator of how hard we fought tonight. We played hard and well enough to win tonight. It just didn’t go our way. We just have to stay the course. Hopefully in the near future, I can sit here and talk to you fine people where we were just one point different.” Texas Tech Postgame Quotes Texas Tech vs. No. 3 Kansas – February 11th, 2017 GUARD KEENAN EVANS On the team’s defensive adjustments that led to second half run … “We talked about being there and being able to take more charges. In the first half, we tried to contest the shot. In the second half, we tried to come out, take more charges and be there on the reverses. They had us scrambling everywhere. We tried to be there earlier to stop the scrambling.” On the performance of Zach Smith, Niem Stevenson, and himself … “I think it’s great. It’s really awesome that Niem has been able to pick it up in Big 12 play. We want this to continue for him. With Zach, it’s a given. He has to put this up every game for us to win. We want to have the same stats but come out with the win.” On how the team made their run in the second half … “Our fans getting into it. They gave us support. Everybody was talking to each other and playing as one. We were helping each other out and getting great shots on the offensive end.” On what they need to do to have a chance of making the NCAA tournament … “Like Zach said, we have to try to put this one behind us as much as it hurts. We need to get back into it tomorrow and get to work.” FORWARD ZACH SMITH On what he saw during Kansas’ final possession … “What I saw was a one‐on‐one play. He made a move, had an open layup and I tried to make a move on the ball.” On limiting turnovers after having nine turnovers in the first half … “It was a combination of playing tight and playing sloppy.” On how much this game hurt … “It hurts, but we have another game coming up Monday. We have to move forward.” Kansas Postgame Quotes Texas Tech vs. No. 3 Kansas – February 11, 2017 HEAD COACH BILL SELF On his plan after the final timeout … “I told them ‘Don’t just go score’. When we got the rebound with about 13 seconds left, we weren’t going to use it. Devonte’ [Graham] hesitated, and Josh [Jackson] was at half court, I figured we better call one. Then, I drew up a bad play in the first timeout which I guarantee wouldn’t work. We kind of got a break when Chris (Beard) called right after that. So, we changed the play and said ‘To heck with it just get the ball to Josh and get out of his way.’ He did such a good job of driving it downhill. I don’t know if it was a fair play for Zach [Smith], because I don’t believe he was guarding Josh. Josh’s man fell, so Zach had to take Josh. He was able to get ahead of him and steam drive him downhill.