Texas Tech Postgame Quotes No. 14 Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma State – January 23, 2018

HEAD COACH

Opening Statement … “It’s just another night in the Big 12. These games are so hard to win. Tonight, we’re really fortunate. Oklahoma State outplayed us in the first half. Mike (Boynton) does a great job with his team. I think it’s one of the untold stories this year in college . The adversity that he’s had; getting the job his first year and then the FBI deal. He basically loses two of the all‐time great Big 12 players with (Juwan) Evans and (Phil) Forte, and he has his team in the middle of the fight. I have a lot of respect for him. We’re really pleased to win tonight against a team that is really good. I think you have to give our guys a lot of credit though too. When our backs are against the wall, effort wasn’t a problem tonight. We’re trying really hard and pressing a little bit. We want to win so bad for ourselves, for our fans, but I think we made just enough plays. These guys to my left and right (Keenan Evans and ) played like real Big 12 players tonight protecting our home court. Then, I want to recognize our fans again. Simply stated, we don’t win this game if we don’t have a home court advantage. We didn’t give our fans a lot to cheer for during the first 25 minutes of the game, but when we started playing better, they were really there to pick us up. Student attendance was big time tonight. If we continue to get our students to come out like this or even better, I think we have the chance to do something special as we build the program. Thank you again to our season ticket holders, to our students, and to anyone that came tonight on a single‐game ticket. I don’t think we win tonight without the crowd that we had.”

On first half compared to the second half … “In the first half, our defense was keeping us in the game. Our offense was really struggling, and the main reason why was because we had 11 turnovers in the first half. You can’t play with that. I thought in the second half we won the game with our defense equal to first half performance. We played great. Our offense finally caught up which started helping. In the second half, we out rebounded them. We got to the line, and we had a low turnover half. That is normally a formula for us to play good basketball.”

On Keenan Evans’ effort in the second half … “Keenan didn’t play any different tonight than he has been. He’s a great shooter. I don’t use that word great a lot. I think he was a good shooter when we came here. Now, he’s a great shooter now. I’m not taking the credit for that, but I am saying Keenan has really bought into the process of getting in the gym more than he ever has. A lot of time this happens with seniors; he’s got that light. This is his last go around, he wants to play in the post season. Hopefully, he’ll make money playing basketball one day so he spends a lot of time in the gym. Basketball, there is a mathematical part of it. Sometimes your shots go down, and sometimes they don’t. What I’m really proud about with Keenan is that he’s remained aggressive during this time. He got to the free throw line tonight. He had a 5‐ game. He probably should have had a seven or eight assist game, but some guys missed some easy shots. I’ve never waivered my opinion with Keenan’s jump shot. He’s one of the best shooters I’ve ever coached.

On the lessons he learned from tonight’s game … “Every game in the season is a learning opportunity. I think a lot of times average‐to‐good people you learn most of your lessons after your losses. That’s when everyone is focused and on edge. I think elite people can learn after wins, and that’s where we are trying to get our program. That starts with our seniors. I have a lot of confidence that tomorrow they will come in pleased that we won, but then they’ll remember our 12‐hour rule. That’s over, let’s look at what we could have done better. That’s always the next step when looking to the next opponent. We have to play against a great team in South Carolina. They’re a team that was in the Final Four last year and has one of the all‐time greatest coaches in college basketball.”

On Jarret Culver’s performance … “I think when you are struggling, you have to find a way to stay in the game. If we were down 20 at the half, this win doesn’t happen. Even though we we weren’t playing our greatest, we were trying to find a way to keep it around 10 points and give us a chance. We’re all going to remember the second half plays, but it’s a lot of big plays in the first half that set the tone. Whether it be Tommy Hamilton’s three or Justin Gray’s drive or Culver really helping us stay in the game in the first half. It’s a 40‐minute game, each possession has a life of its own. For fans and for coaches, you may ask which is more important whether it’s the last two minutes or the first two minutes. I would say it’s all about equal. In our program, we value good basketball in the beginning and end. I would agree with you that Culver played two great halves of basketball.”

GUARD JARRETT CULVER On the key to the rally in the second half… “We started off aggressive. Coach (Beard) always talks about being aggressive. He said come out and play as hard as you can no matter the circumstances. When I came out, I tried to play as hard as I could.”

On how important this win was after two losses last week … “It was a huge game for us. We were just trying to fight as best as we could and just trying to fight in the Big 12 because this is a tough conference. This was a big game for us.”

On the seniors helping him grow … “They help tremendously. They have been in the Big 12 before, so just getting me and the younger guys ready to play tonight is a big role that they play. In practice, they get us going. They know a lot of things that we don’t, and that also helps us.”

GUARD KEENAN EVANS On the key to his play in the second half … “I told the team before the season started that I was going to be the guy that set the tone for us. I was trying to be the guy to get steals, deflections and rebounds in order to get us going in the second half.”

On having confidence after back‐to‐back losses last week … “We knew that they were going to fall eventually especially after a tough two games on the road. Once we got back, we got back in the gym the same day. We put up more shots and got back our confidence. When we try to get to the free throw line, we just try to knock them down.”

On scoring off of turnovers especially in the second half … “Coach always says that our offense helps our defense, and our defense helps our offense. Getting steals and getting breaks turns into scoring. Doing that really didn’t put that much pressure on our halfcourt offense.”

On what Coach Beard’s message was at halftime … “We weren’t playing good. We weren’t playing hard, and that our backs were up against the wall. We needed to come out in the second half and do the things that we talked about in the game plan. Also, we needed to come out and because this game came down to rebounding.

On the keys during the last five minutes of the game… “We just knew that we had to be aggressive. We forced them to make mistakes. Once we knew that, we got back in the game. We all know that in the Big 12 games that is comes down to the last four or five minutes of the game so we had to tough it out.”