Photo by: Robert Huskey/Texas A&M Athletics
Aggies Practice, Meet Media in Anaheim
Mar 23, 2016 | Men's Basketball
Texas A&M got its first look inside the Honda Center with an hour practice on Wednesday in preparation for the NCAA West Regional. The Aggies also met the press following their workout.
Select comments from the press conference are posted below. A transcript is also available courtesy ASAP Sports. Full audio is available through the links on this page.
A&M faces Oklahoma in Thursday's first regional semifinal at 6:30 p.m. (CDT). The game will air nationally on TBS.
Press Conference Transcript courtesy ASAP Sports.
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Texas A&M Head Coach Billy Kennedy. Coach, an opening statement.
BILLY KENNEDY: Obviously we're excited to be here and thankful to be able to get here, and having beaten Northern Iowa in an unbelievable game; they were a really good team. Now we're playing another really good team in Oklahoma. So right now it's all Oklahoma and trying to figure out a way to slow them down.
Q. How good of a job has your team done of now moving past that epic win and putting all their focus on OU?
BILLY KENNEDY: I think we're ready for Oklahoma. I think Monday, obviously, was a good day to get back and kind of recuperate and refuel, so to speak. Yesterday we had a really good practice. Our guys are very familiar with Oklahoma. We see them on television all the time. They're former Big 12 opponents, so we played them a couple of years ago. So they know what's at stake. I think we're ready to go.
Q. What does that do to your team's confidence when you make an effort in that situation? How much does that impact your team's confidence?
BILLY KENNEDY: Well, we were confident before. I think it can only help. But I think we've got to learn from what we did wrong and put ourselves in that situation. Our guys know it's incredible. They're thankful. But hopefully it only helps. We shouldn't become arrogant. That's for sure. We know how fortunate we were to win.
Q. A lot has been written about your successful management of Parkinson's, and I've read that stress can lead to a worsening of symptoms. With that in mind, how do you handle a situation like this when you're at a big event like this and there is a lot of stress?
BILLY KENNEDY: You know, it hasn't had a negative effect on me. I'm pretty laid back. I'm from New Orleans, the Big Easy. I've coached a lot of games. I've been blessed that the stress really hasn't been a factor.
This disease affects people in different ways and hopefully that won't be a symptom as we go further down the years in my career.
Q. Somewhat along those lines, the fact that five years after the Parkinson's diagnosis you're coaching in your first Sweet Sixteen as a head coach. Is there a message in that?
BILLY KENNEDY: It's no different message than Michael J. Fox or Janet Reno or so many other people who have had the disease in stressful jobs and have gone on and been successful. I've been totally blessed that the symptoms aren't greater than they are, and I've got great doctors. I see them once a year. I've been fortunate I only have to go once a year. I am thankful that I'm in a position where I get the best care and best support, and my wife is awesome. She's a nutrition junkie, unfortunately, but it's helped me in fighting this disease, and we think it's a big part of why my symptoms are so mild.
Q. What is the biggest challenge you face with this Oklahoma team?
BILLY KENNEDY: Oh, we're playing Oklahoma now? No, I'm just kidding. Buddy Hield and their guards. Their guards are really good. You've got to get back defensively and protect the three-point line. We're a defensive-oriented team and that's something we spend a lot of time on, but we haven't played a team that's as lethal offensively on the perimeter as they are.
Q. Billy, you talked about Oklahoma's guards. But I'm curious about your impressions of Ryan Spangler on the inside for them?
BILLY KENNEDY: Spangler is, you know, an engine that protects the paint and keeps them going. He hurt us on the glass when we played them a few years ago. He's got a great motor, great energy guy. He's a blue-collar guy. He understands that for them to be successful, him and Khadeem have to do a lot of the dirty work that the guards don't necessarily do, although they've done a lot, also.
But I think Spangler's a hidden key for their team. When he's playing with great energy and making threes, they're really hard to beat.
Q. I know you're looking ahead now to Oklahoma, but did you allow yourself at all a chance to look back, we're talking about an historic comeback the other day? Have you allowed yourself to take it in as a fan?
BILLY KENNEDY: Yeah, I watched it on the plane, and then I got home -- probably we got home 1:30 or 2 a.m. Sunday night or Monday early in the morning, and my wife and I we watched SportsCenter, we watched everything, and tried to enjoy it for about two hours. Unfortunately we were up till about 3:30 or 4:00. They replayed the game actually on CBS when we got home, so a lot of our guys even watched it.
So we were able to get that behind us and enjoy watching it and recognized how blessed we really were to win.
Q. The few times that Buddy Hield has been, I don't want to say shut down, but had not the kind of games you're used to seeing from him, have you been able to learn anything from some of those games such as West Virginia in the Big 12 Tournament?
BILLY KENNEDY: We watched that game. Obviously I thought West Virginia did a really good job of taking him away. It's really hard to do because the other guards are so good. When you do that, sometimes they beat you with the other four guys. But you can't let Buddy -- he could go for 40. He's a guy I would think of a LeBron James type. You better not let a guy like that go off on you.
So we're going to pay a lot of attention to him and hope we can limit his touches, like most people have tried to do.
Q. Billy, how would you describe or evaluate Danuel's season, his performance to this point?
BILLY KENNEDY: I think he's had a good season. He hasn't had the greatest season compared to last year how well he shot the ball from three. But I think some of that has to do with the expectations that were on him and him pressing too hard and trying too hard early on. I think recently he's done a better job of letting the game come to him. But he's obviously Second-Team All-SEC. Last year he finished as First Team. But he's done other things to help us win and not just rely on scoring.
Q. To follow up on your answer earlier about the symptoms that you have, what are they? And how have they impacted your life?
BILLY KENNEDY: I've got tightness. I get tight, and then that's how I was diagnosed. I had stiffness in my shoulder in Murray, Kentucky when I was coaching, and the doctors said, hey, it's an old football injury maybe or athletic injury, bone spurs. "Coach, you're getting old." So I said, I'm getting old. So I kept lifting and working out and doing things.
Took the job at A&M, and I would see a chiropractor and I'd feel good for a while and it would get tight again. And I changed my exercises in what I do lifting. Then I saw a doctor at A&M, and it's been well written, they diagnosed me with the disease. About a year later I started taking medication and it's helped with the stiffness, and that's really the gist of the symptoms that I have at this point.
Q. Will you care to share with us your defensive approach and what you're going to do with Buddy tomorrow night?
BILLY KENNEDY: Well, I'm not going to give you all my secrets. You can't let him get transition baskets. We need to get back and locate him early. That's the first thing. And two, you can't leave him on an offensive rebound when they get one, because he sprints behind the line as well as anybody, and they find him. We've got to rotate guys on him and hope we can wear him down with two, three, four guys.
Q. Anyone else you've played this season that brings that dynamic to the game?
BILLY KENNEDY: The Murray kid at Kentucky is as good in as in the country. He probably would prepare us for Buddy as well as anybody.
Q. Coach, you guys have done a good job of, I wouldn't say shutting down, but keeping the leading scorer below their average. Are there just even generic keys to that that you can give us a hint on?
BILLY KENNEDY: I mean, we make a big deal about trying to know who the best two scorers are on the other team, and we game plan to try to limit those pretty much everybody we play against. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The thing that makes Oklahoma so good is their other guards, they've got the green light too. They're very comfortable, and Coach Kruger's done an unbelievable job investing confidence in those guys, and that's where they beat you. You pay too much attention to Buddy -- I've mentioned before, we played Oklahoma just a couple years ago at the Toyota Center, Buddy had six and we weren't guarding him any different than we would guard anybody else. Jordan Woodard had 20. So they're a good team. They've got other guys.
Q. Coach, both teams are senior-dominated, starting four seniors. It seems to be a trend this year in college basketball. Can you talk about how that develops when you have a team with that much experience?
BILLY KENNEDY: Seniors -- I was at Murray State a few years back and we were the oldest team, I think, in the NCAA Tournament when we beat Vandy up in San Jose. So maturity and older guys definitely helps because guys that have been in the system, guys who understand they're playing maybe their last college game and embrace the opportunity of playing in a tournament, embrace what the coach is telling them, I think that's a huge advantage in basketball.
All the way, I'm a San Antonio Spurs fan, so I would say the Spurs have a huge advantage with those guys being in that system for 17, 18 years. The Warriors kind of throw that thought out of the water. But anyway, I think it's a huge advantage.
Q. Several times this year Jalen has come out maybe a little out of control, had some early turnovers, you've had to sit him down. How do you balance that passion with wanting him to be under control within what you're trying to do?
BILLY KENNEDY: Well, it hasn't just been Jalen. We've had our scorers have a tendency of doing that. The one thing is when I yank him out, he doesn't take it personal. Last year he got frustrated with it and didn't deal with it the right way. This year he's been much better at handling it. We continue to talk about it. It's hard. He is wired and motored a different way, and it's a great thing. But sometimes it can be -- it hurts him. Sometimes it's best to bring him out and say, hey, man, you're going to sit here until you settle down and slow down.
The bench has been a great help for getting him right in that area.
Q. The scouting report on Oklahoma, at least with Big 12 teams, is to pressure them a lot. Is that something that you guys have done a lot? Are you natural at doing that?
BILLY KENNEDY: We're not a great ball-pressure team. We're more of a protect the paint, get back, make you beat us from the three-point line. That's what's going to be one of the key things is can we defend the three-point line better than we have in the past, and will they shoot it as well as they have? That's, I think, 40% of their offense is from the three-point line. They're either first or second in the country from the three-point line. We have to do a better job defending the three-point line than we have.
Q. What do you see at your strengths that you can exploit against Oklahoma? What are your strengths?
BILLY KENNEDY: Strengths defensively you said?
Q. Just team in general.
BILLY KENNEDY: Well, one, we've got a 6'10", 275 pound center that needs to touch the ball in Tyler Davis. He's a big body. We've got to keep him out of foul trouble. He picked up two fouls against Northern Iowa in the first half, and that disrupted us offensively. We have to be able to guard the ball screen with him because he is big. They're going to pull him away from the basket, and we're going to have to do a good job of guarding the three-point line with our bigs when they have to step out.
Then offensively, we have to be able to be disciplined enough to make them guard us. They're a good defensive team, but they want to play fast, they want to attack, and that's something we can do some offensively. We can play a variety of ways, but in this game, I think we have to be a little more disciplined offensively.
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Jalen Jones, Alex Caruso, Danuel House.
Q. I'm curious in your own ways how you've tried to soak in what happened the other night but yet let it go and refocus for this and how difficult that's been a challenge?
DANUEL HOUSE: I don't think it's difficult. We watched film over it and we talked about it the next day, and the next day we focused on Oklahoma.
ALEX CARUSO: Yeah, I don't think it was as hard for us to put it past; just knowing we had another game to play, as I think some of the fans did and some of the media maybe. So it was pretty easy for us knowing that we had another game to play and someone else to get ready for.
JALEN JONES: We did a great job of getting past it, and our coaching staff did a great job of making sure we were locked in on Oklahoma. Just watching a lot of film on Oklahoma and getting prepared for them.
Q. Alex, what's it been like watching Tyler progress especially from the first of the season? He said he wasn't in good enough shape to play with you guys when practice started. What's that evolution been like?
ALEX CARUSO: It's been really cool just to see how Tyler's come along, going from where he probably spent ten seconds in the paint every time down on offense, to he's been able to move and kind of understand the game a little better.
Just him coming along and being more aggressive, being more poised, it's something that took me maybe two or three years to kind of get a grasp of to be a mature player, and he's doing it a lot faster. Obviously, we wouldn't be where we would be right now if he isn't playing how he is.
Q. Alex and Danuel, Billy said that you guys made some mistakes that got you into that situation against Northern Iowa and you can't repeat that. What did you see on film and what were some of the errors that you made that you can't make against Oklahoma tomorrow?
DANUEL HOUSE: We weren't executing and we weren't making the right plays. We were turning over the ball and just shooting quick shots. So we've got to execute our offense and make sure that we get the ball moving.
ALEX CARUSO: Yeah, just first half our sense of urgency as a team defensively, offensively, we weren't aggressive enough. We kind of let them dictate everything they wanted to do, how they wanted to play, and they took advantage of it, held us to 22 points and then they scored 30-something. So we played right into their hands.
So coming out knowing Oklahoma's going to come out with a high sense of urgency, we've got to be aggressive and match that.
Q. Jalen, I visited with Coach Kennedy a few minutes ago about a few games this year where he has sat you down early because maybe you had a couple of turnovers or weren't playing the way he wanted you to play. Would you discuss kind of those times? He said last year was a little tougher. This year you've kind of understood and maybe when you sit down and watch and see how things are going, you're a little better when you come back in.
JALEN JONES: I mean, it's the coach's decision on that. Whenever he wants to take me out, he takes me out, and I feel confident about our bench coming in and replacing me. Tonny does a great job coming in and giving us great minutes, Tavario does as well. When I'm on the bench, I'm just seeing what I can do to help when I get back in the game.
It's nothing about coming out the game. Whenever he wants to take me out, he takes me out, and I accept it.
Q. Jalen, for you, although Alex and Danuel, if you have anything to add, I'd love to hear it. When you were going through your recruiting process, how aware were you of Coach Kennedy's diagnosis? Was there any trepidation as you considered Texas A&M?
JALEN JONES: I was aware of his disease when I came and visited the campus a few times. I'd always see him working out and always eating right, so that was never a concern for me. The players, I asked the players about it, and they said they'd never seen the effects from it. So that never had anything to do with me coming here, and I knew he would be ready to go. I felt pretty confident about his health.
Q. Obviously Buddy Hield is one of the best players in the country. What do you have to do to try to slow him down, which both teams they've faced so far haven't been able to do that?
JALEN JONES: We've got to limit his touches, make sure he doesn't get in the sweet spots and start heating up from three pointers. You've always got to be alert. Even when they miss a shot, he's always trying to run out to the three-point line and get a quick one up.
It's just being alert. Making sure you're always stay attached to him. Just staying on him.
ALEX CARUSO: Yeah, just make it as hard as possible. Really good player, obviously. Up for like every award this year. Can heat up. You've just got to do your best job to not let him catch it and hope he misses as much as possible.
DANUEL HOUSE: They said it all.
Q. Alex, as good as Buddy Hield is, how important is it to not to forget about the other guys along the perimeter that shoot over 40%?
ALEX CARUSO: Yeah, that's something I think people are forgetting about a little bit is just how balanced their guard play is with those other two guys, Cousins and Woodard. They're both experienced and both shooting 40% from three if not better. So it's not like you can shut down one guy and the rest of their team's going to fold. They're a really complete team, so I mean, everybody else, whoever's not guarding Buddy has to be just as aware and just as ready to play.
Q. Alex, you've been on campus for a long time and you saw some football mania when you first got there. This is the first run the basketball team has made in quite a while. Would you describe Aggieland this week for us?
ALEX CARUSO: Yeah, got a lot of smiles and congratulations in class on Monday and Tuesday. Just everybody excited for us. They're making T-shirts like "44 seconds" or something like that. Everybody's really excited.
It's nothing we didn't expect as a team, so as far as we're concerned, we're ready to play and ready for all of Aggieland just to come and support us.
Q. Jalen and Alex, when you see your coach fighting through a disease like that, what impact does that have on you and your teammates and just your work ethic seeing him go through that?
JALEN JONES: Just being supportive. I just always check up on him and see how he's doing. He's just always ready to go. He's full of energy all the time. He's calm and laid back and throughout the adversity and the crucial times throughout the game. He's just relaxed and chill about everything. I don't even think the disease really bothers him. He always seems like he's ready to go for everything.
ALEX CARUSO: Yeah, just I mean, he's trying to make us better before he's worried about himself every single day. He's trying to get us better as a team, us better as individual people and players. So just knowing that he has our back is really reassuring and just brings us confidence as a team.
Q. Danuel, you've played four Big 12 teams already this year. Do you see similarities in how Oklahoma plays with some of these other Big 12 teams or is there another team that you play that you can compare to how the Sooners play?
DANUEL HOUSE: That's tough. You can't compare any team, so we really haven't seen any match-up like this. We've got to take every step slowly and pay attention to every little detail because every team is different, especially with the candidate for National Player of the Year. So you've got to take everything carefully, focus in on details and follow the game plan.
Q. Alex, I know you've watched and followed Aggie basketball for a long time. Where were you when A&M lost that last-second game to UCLA in this building in 2008 and what do you remember about that?
ALEX CARUSO: I remember the picture on the front of the paper the next day when he got a foul and everybody being mad about it, but I was somewhere. I was probably playing basketball that day and I probably watched the game and I was probably upset for about a week. But I'm just ready to go out there and play, get some redemption from the Honda Center.
Q. Continuing the T-shirt thread from earlier, when you get back home, will you add that T-shirt to your collection, the "44 Seconds"? Will you make sure you get one?
ALEX CARUSO: Yeah, I'm going to have to. That's not something I think I'm going to ever forget. So I'm going to have to get some type of memorabilia or memento for that.
Q. How much confidence does beating Big 12 teams like you did this season give you going into this game?
JALEN JONES: It obviously gives you a lot of confidence, but I think as a team we're confident against any team that we play against. But being 4-0 against the Big 12 definitely gives us a lot of confidence, and we'll definitely be ready to go.
ALEX CARUSO: Yeah, just we're a confident group. In the Sweet Sixteen you've got to be doing something right. We're ready to go out and play. Know that Oklahoma's fought and battled with teams we've beaten already, but they have something different about them. They've been playing really good all year, pretty consistent. So just got to be ready to go out and play.
Select comments from the press conference are posted below. A transcript is also available courtesy ASAP Sports. Full audio is available through the links on this page.
A&M faces Oklahoma in Thursday's first regional semifinal at 6:30 p.m. (CDT). The game will air nationally on TBS.
Press Conference Transcript courtesy ASAP Sports.
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Texas A&M Head Coach Billy Kennedy. Coach, an opening statement.
BILLY KENNEDY: Obviously we're excited to be here and thankful to be able to get here, and having beaten Northern Iowa in an unbelievable game; they were a really good team. Now we're playing another really good team in Oklahoma. So right now it's all Oklahoma and trying to figure out a way to slow them down.
Q. How good of a job has your team done of now moving past that epic win and putting all their focus on OU?
BILLY KENNEDY: I think we're ready for Oklahoma. I think Monday, obviously, was a good day to get back and kind of recuperate and refuel, so to speak. Yesterday we had a really good practice. Our guys are very familiar with Oklahoma. We see them on television all the time. They're former Big 12 opponents, so we played them a couple of years ago. So they know what's at stake. I think we're ready to go.
Q. What does that do to your team's confidence when you make an effort in that situation? How much does that impact your team's confidence?
BILLY KENNEDY: Well, we were confident before. I think it can only help. But I think we've got to learn from what we did wrong and put ourselves in that situation. Our guys know it's incredible. They're thankful. But hopefully it only helps. We shouldn't become arrogant. That's for sure. We know how fortunate we were to win.
Q. A lot has been written about your successful management of Parkinson's, and I've read that stress can lead to a worsening of symptoms. With that in mind, how do you handle a situation like this when you're at a big event like this and there is a lot of stress?
BILLY KENNEDY: You know, it hasn't had a negative effect on me. I'm pretty laid back. I'm from New Orleans, the Big Easy. I've coached a lot of games. I've been blessed that the stress really hasn't been a factor.
This disease affects people in different ways and hopefully that won't be a symptom as we go further down the years in my career.
Q. Somewhat along those lines, the fact that five years after the Parkinson's diagnosis you're coaching in your first Sweet Sixteen as a head coach. Is there a message in that?
BILLY KENNEDY: It's no different message than Michael J. Fox or Janet Reno or so many other people who have had the disease in stressful jobs and have gone on and been successful. I've been totally blessed that the symptoms aren't greater than they are, and I've got great doctors. I see them once a year. I've been fortunate I only have to go once a year. I am thankful that I'm in a position where I get the best care and best support, and my wife is awesome. She's a nutrition junkie, unfortunately, but it's helped me in fighting this disease, and we think it's a big part of why my symptoms are so mild.
Q. What is the biggest challenge you face with this Oklahoma team?
BILLY KENNEDY: Oh, we're playing Oklahoma now? No, I'm just kidding. Buddy Hield and their guards. Their guards are really good. You've got to get back defensively and protect the three-point line. We're a defensive-oriented team and that's something we spend a lot of time on, but we haven't played a team that's as lethal offensively on the perimeter as they are.
Q. Billy, you talked about Oklahoma's guards. But I'm curious about your impressions of Ryan Spangler on the inside for them?
BILLY KENNEDY: Spangler is, you know, an engine that protects the paint and keeps them going. He hurt us on the glass when we played them a few years ago. He's got a great motor, great energy guy. He's a blue-collar guy. He understands that for them to be successful, him and Khadeem have to do a lot of the dirty work that the guards don't necessarily do, although they've done a lot, also.
But I think Spangler's a hidden key for their team. When he's playing with great energy and making threes, they're really hard to beat.
Q. I know you're looking ahead now to Oklahoma, but did you allow yourself at all a chance to look back, we're talking about an historic comeback the other day? Have you allowed yourself to take it in as a fan?
BILLY KENNEDY: Yeah, I watched it on the plane, and then I got home -- probably we got home 1:30 or 2 a.m. Sunday night or Monday early in the morning, and my wife and I we watched SportsCenter, we watched everything, and tried to enjoy it for about two hours. Unfortunately we were up till about 3:30 or 4:00. They replayed the game actually on CBS when we got home, so a lot of our guys even watched it.
So we were able to get that behind us and enjoy watching it and recognized how blessed we really were to win.
Q. The few times that Buddy Hield has been, I don't want to say shut down, but had not the kind of games you're used to seeing from him, have you been able to learn anything from some of those games such as West Virginia in the Big 12 Tournament?
BILLY KENNEDY: We watched that game. Obviously I thought West Virginia did a really good job of taking him away. It's really hard to do because the other guards are so good. When you do that, sometimes they beat you with the other four guys. But you can't let Buddy -- he could go for 40. He's a guy I would think of a LeBron James type. You better not let a guy like that go off on you.
So we're going to pay a lot of attention to him and hope we can limit his touches, like most people have tried to do.
Q. Billy, how would you describe or evaluate Danuel's season, his performance to this point?
BILLY KENNEDY: I think he's had a good season. He hasn't had the greatest season compared to last year how well he shot the ball from three. But I think some of that has to do with the expectations that were on him and him pressing too hard and trying too hard early on. I think recently he's done a better job of letting the game come to him. But he's obviously Second-Team All-SEC. Last year he finished as First Team. But he's done other things to help us win and not just rely on scoring.
Q. To follow up on your answer earlier about the symptoms that you have, what are they? And how have they impacted your life?
BILLY KENNEDY: I've got tightness. I get tight, and then that's how I was diagnosed. I had stiffness in my shoulder in Murray, Kentucky when I was coaching, and the doctors said, hey, it's an old football injury maybe or athletic injury, bone spurs. "Coach, you're getting old." So I said, I'm getting old. So I kept lifting and working out and doing things.
Took the job at A&M, and I would see a chiropractor and I'd feel good for a while and it would get tight again. And I changed my exercises in what I do lifting. Then I saw a doctor at A&M, and it's been well written, they diagnosed me with the disease. About a year later I started taking medication and it's helped with the stiffness, and that's really the gist of the symptoms that I have at this point.
Q. Will you care to share with us your defensive approach and what you're going to do with Buddy tomorrow night?
BILLY KENNEDY: Well, I'm not going to give you all my secrets. You can't let him get transition baskets. We need to get back and locate him early. That's the first thing. And two, you can't leave him on an offensive rebound when they get one, because he sprints behind the line as well as anybody, and they find him. We've got to rotate guys on him and hope we can wear him down with two, three, four guys.
Q. Anyone else you've played this season that brings that dynamic to the game?
BILLY KENNEDY: The Murray kid at Kentucky is as good in as in the country. He probably would prepare us for Buddy as well as anybody.
Q. Coach, you guys have done a good job of, I wouldn't say shutting down, but keeping the leading scorer below their average. Are there just even generic keys to that that you can give us a hint on?
BILLY KENNEDY: I mean, we make a big deal about trying to know who the best two scorers are on the other team, and we game plan to try to limit those pretty much everybody we play against. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The thing that makes Oklahoma so good is their other guards, they've got the green light too. They're very comfortable, and Coach Kruger's done an unbelievable job investing confidence in those guys, and that's where they beat you. You pay too much attention to Buddy -- I've mentioned before, we played Oklahoma just a couple years ago at the Toyota Center, Buddy had six and we weren't guarding him any different than we would guard anybody else. Jordan Woodard had 20. So they're a good team. They've got other guys.
Q. Coach, both teams are senior-dominated, starting four seniors. It seems to be a trend this year in college basketball. Can you talk about how that develops when you have a team with that much experience?
BILLY KENNEDY: Seniors -- I was at Murray State a few years back and we were the oldest team, I think, in the NCAA Tournament when we beat Vandy up in San Jose. So maturity and older guys definitely helps because guys that have been in the system, guys who understand they're playing maybe their last college game and embrace the opportunity of playing in a tournament, embrace what the coach is telling them, I think that's a huge advantage in basketball.
All the way, I'm a San Antonio Spurs fan, so I would say the Spurs have a huge advantage with those guys being in that system for 17, 18 years. The Warriors kind of throw that thought out of the water. But anyway, I think it's a huge advantage.
Q. Several times this year Jalen has come out maybe a little out of control, had some early turnovers, you've had to sit him down. How do you balance that passion with wanting him to be under control within what you're trying to do?
BILLY KENNEDY: Well, it hasn't just been Jalen. We've had our scorers have a tendency of doing that. The one thing is when I yank him out, he doesn't take it personal. Last year he got frustrated with it and didn't deal with it the right way. This year he's been much better at handling it. We continue to talk about it. It's hard. He is wired and motored a different way, and it's a great thing. But sometimes it can be -- it hurts him. Sometimes it's best to bring him out and say, hey, man, you're going to sit here until you settle down and slow down.
The bench has been a great help for getting him right in that area.
Q. The scouting report on Oklahoma, at least with Big 12 teams, is to pressure them a lot. Is that something that you guys have done a lot? Are you natural at doing that?
BILLY KENNEDY: We're not a great ball-pressure team. We're more of a protect the paint, get back, make you beat us from the three-point line. That's what's going to be one of the key things is can we defend the three-point line better than we have in the past, and will they shoot it as well as they have? That's, I think, 40% of their offense is from the three-point line. They're either first or second in the country from the three-point line. We have to do a better job defending the three-point line than we have.
Q. What do you see at your strengths that you can exploit against Oklahoma? What are your strengths?
BILLY KENNEDY: Strengths defensively you said?
Q. Just team in general.
BILLY KENNEDY: Well, one, we've got a 6'10", 275 pound center that needs to touch the ball in Tyler Davis. He's a big body. We've got to keep him out of foul trouble. He picked up two fouls against Northern Iowa in the first half, and that disrupted us offensively. We have to be able to guard the ball screen with him because he is big. They're going to pull him away from the basket, and we're going to have to do a good job of guarding the three-point line with our bigs when they have to step out.
Then offensively, we have to be able to be disciplined enough to make them guard us. They're a good defensive team, but they want to play fast, they want to attack, and that's something we can do some offensively. We can play a variety of ways, but in this game, I think we have to be a little more disciplined offensively.
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Jalen Jones, Alex Caruso, Danuel House.
Q. I'm curious in your own ways how you've tried to soak in what happened the other night but yet let it go and refocus for this and how difficult that's been a challenge?
DANUEL HOUSE: I don't think it's difficult. We watched film over it and we talked about it the next day, and the next day we focused on Oklahoma.
ALEX CARUSO: Yeah, I don't think it was as hard for us to put it past; just knowing we had another game to play, as I think some of the fans did and some of the media maybe. So it was pretty easy for us knowing that we had another game to play and someone else to get ready for.
JALEN JONES: We did a great job of getting past it, and our coaching staff did a great job of making sure we were locked in on Oklahoma. Just watching a lot of film on Oklahoma and getting prepared for them.
Q. Alex, what's it been like watching Tyler progress especially from the first of the season? He said he wasn't in good enough shape to play with you guys when practice started. What's that evolution been like?
ALEX CARUSO: It's been really cool just to see how Tyler's come along, going from where he probably spent ten seconds in the paint every time down on offense, to he's been able to move and kind of understand the game a little better.
Just him coming along and being more aggressive, being more poised, it's something that took me maybe two or three years to kind of get a grasp of to be a mature player, and he's doing it a lot faster. Obviously, we wouldn't be where we would be right now if he isn't playing how he is.
Q. Alex and Danuel, Billy said that you guys made some mistakes that got you into that situation against Northern Iowa and you can't repeat that. What did you see on film and what were some of the errors that you made that you can't make against Oklahoma tomorrow?
DANUEL HOUSE: We weren't executing and we weren't making the right plays. We were turning over the ball and just shooting quick shots. So we've got to execute our offense and make sure that we get the ball moving.
ALEX CARUSO: Yeah, just first half our sense of urgency as a team defensively, offensively, we weren't aggressive enough. We kind of let them dictate everything they wanted to do, how they wanted to play, and they took advantage of it, held us to 22 points and then they scored 30-something. So we played right into their hands.
So coming out knowing Oklahoma's going to come out with a high sense of urgency, we've got to be aggressive and match that.
Q. Jalen, I visited with Coach Kennedy a few minutes ago about a few games this year where he has sat you down early because maybe you had a couple of turnovers or weren't playing the way he wanted you to play. Would you discuss kind of those times? He said last year was a little tougher. This year you've kind of understood and maybe when you sit down and watch and see how things are going, you're a little better when you come back in.
JALEN JONES: I mean, it's the coach's decision on that. Whenever he wants to take me out, he takes me out, and I feel confident about our bench coming in and replacing me. Tonny does a great job coming in and giving us great minutes, Tavario does as well. When I'm on the bench, I'm just seeing what I can do to help when I get back in the game.
It's nothing about coming out the game. Whenever he wants to take me out, he takes me out, and I accept it.
Q. Jalen, for you, although Alex and Danuel, if you have anything to add, I'd love to hear it. When you were going through your recruiting process, how aware were you of Coach Kennedy's diagnosis? Was there any trepidation as you considered Texas A&M?
JALEN JONES: I was aware of his disease when I came and visited the campus a few times. I'd always see him working out and always eating right, so that was never a concern for me. The players, I asked the players about it, and they said they'd never seen the effects from it. So that never had anything to do with me coming here, and I knew he would be ready to go. I felt pretty confident about his health.
Q. Obviously Buddy Hield is one of the best players in the country. What do you have to do to try to slow him down, which both teams they've faced so far haven't been able to do that?
JALEN JONES: We've got to limit his touches, make sure he doesn't get in the sweet spots and start heating up from three pointers. You've always got to be alert. Even when they miss a shot, he's always trying to run out to the three-point line and get a quick one up.
It's just being alert. Making sure you're always stay attached to him. Just staying on him.
ALEX CARUSO: Yeah, just make it as hard as possible. Really good player, obviously. Up for like every award this year. Can heat up. You've just got to do your best job to not let him catch it and hope he misses as much as possible.
DANUEL HOUSE: They said it all.
Q. Alex, as good as Buddy Hield is, how important is it to not to forget about the other guys along the perimeter that shoot over 40%?
ALEX CARUSO: Yeah, that's something I think people are forgetting about a little bit is just how balanced their guard play is with those other two guys, Cousins and Woodard. They're both experienced and both shooting 40% from three if not better. So it's not like you can shut down one guy and the rest of their team's going to fold. They're a really complete team, so I mean, everybody else, whoever's not guarding Buddy has to be just as aware and just as ready to play.
Q. Alex, you've been on campus for a long time and you saw some football mania when you first got there. This is the first run the basketball team has made in quite a while. Would you describe Aggieland this week for us?
ALEX CARUSO: Yeah, got a lot of smiles and congratulations in class on Monday and Tuesday. Just everybody excited for us. They're making T-shirts like "44 seconds" or something like that. Everybody's really excited.
It's nothing we didn't expect as a team, so as far as we're concerned, we're ready to play and ready for all of Aggieland just to come and support us.
Q. Jalen and Alex, when you see your coach fighting through a disease like that, what impact does that have on you and your teammates and just your work ethic seeing him go through that?
JALEN JONES: Just being supportive. I just always check up on him and see how he's doing. He's just always ready to go. He's full of energy all the time. He's calm and laid back and throughout the adversity and the crucial times throughout the game. He's just relaxed and chill about everything. I don't even think the disease really bothers him. He always seems like he's ready to go for everything.
ALEX CARUSO: Yeah, just I mean, he's trying to make us better before he's worried about himself every single day. He's trying to get us better as a team, us better as individual people and players. So just knowing that he has our back is really reassuring and just brings us confidence as a team.
Q. Danuel, you've played four Big 12 teams already this year. Do you see similarities in how Oklahoma plays with some of these other Big 12 teams or is there another team that you play that you can compare to how the Sooners play?
DANUEL HOUSE: That's tough. You can't compare any team, so we really haven't seen any match-up like this. We've got to take every step slowly and pay attention to every little detail because every team is different, especially with the candidate for National Player of the Year. So you've got to take everything carefully, focus in on details and follow the game plan.
Q. Alex, I know you've watched and followed Aggie basketball for a long time. Where were you when A&M lost that last-second game to UCLA in this building in 2008 and what do you remember about that?
ALEX CARUSO: I remember the picture on the front of the paper the next day when he got a foul and everybody being mad about it, but I was somewhere. I was probably playing basketball that day and I probably watched the game and I was probably upset for about a week. But I'm just ready to go out there and play, get some redemption from the Honda Center.
Q. Continuing the T-shirt thread from earlier, when you get back home, will you add that T-shirt to your collection, the "44 Seconds"? Will you make sure you get one?
ALEX CARUSO: Yeah, I'm going to have to. That's not something I think I'm going to ever forget. So I'm going to have to get some type of memorabilia or memento for that.
Q. How much confidence does beating Big 12 teams like you did this season give you going into this game?
JALEN JONES: It obviously gives you a lot of confidence, but I think as a team we're confident against any team that we play against. But being 4-0 against the Big 12 definitely gives us a lot of confidence, and we'll definitely be ready to go.
ALEX CARUSO: Yeah, just we're a confident group. In the Sweet Sixteen you've got to be doing something right. We're ready to go out and play. Know that Oklahoma's fought and battled with teams we've beaten already, but they have something different about them. They've been playing really good all year, pretty consistent. So just got to be ready to go out and play.
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