January 14, 1998
A&M Guard Jerald Brown:
(On missing the dunk at the end of the first half) "I tried to be aggressive at the end of the first half. You can always say 'if'. I maybe should have laid it in, but I can't take it back. They are physical and made their shots in the second half.
(On the shooting drought in the second half) "You feel like you are pressing. Mentally, you start hoping and wishing that the shots will go down. That just makes it tougher to get a shot to fall.
We put a lot into this game. Everybody does. We hoped that we could beat them, and we prepared to. They executed and we didn't, and we will work on that."
A&M Guard Brian Barone:
"We came out and competed. We gave it a lot. The shots we took were in and out. I know Larry (Thompson) had some go in and out. In the second half their shots fell and ours didn't.
Coach told us to come out with 'reckless abandon'. They are just people. It was not like they were going to take us out in an alley and beat us up. We came out loose and played well in the first half. We need to come out loose every game."
A&M Center Larry Thompson:
(On A&M's inside game) "Coach told us to try and get the post players involved. We wanted to make their wings collapse on our post players, and they did. It worked well in the first half."
Head Coach Tony Barone:
"I thought the physical wearing down of our team was the difference in the game. They came out in the second half and tightened the screw. I was pleased with our effort, I thought the players played hard. Kansas was more physical rebounding than I realized. They are definitely a top three team and they play with great poise. I thought we played a good first half. But it's a 40- minute game. We came out in a triangle and two defense. You give up some things in trying to take other parts of their game. I thought Larry Thompson played well tonight. I was pleased with the way the players competed."
Kansas Head Coach Roy Williams:
"I am hopeful that the fans enjoyed seeing the effort and enthusiasm that the A&M players put out tonight. They have to realize that they are in the Big 12 now and it is a different brand of basketball than they are used to playing. They are doing their best. I promise you that things will get better. We're blessed and fortunate to win tonight. They out-played us. They were more aggressive than we were. We had two real runs that separated us. Not to say anything bad about Tony (Barone), but they played a triangle-and-two. I like it when teams do that. It allows for us to have some open areas. I am real proud of the way that our team played tonight. Paul (Pierce) had some problems knocking down some shots in the first half but he stayed patient and they fell for him in the second half. The good thing about our team is that we have so many weapons that it is hard to concentrate on stopping just one or two of our players."
Kansas Guard Ryan Robertson:
"I think every game the other team is gunning for us. With the kind of success we've had over the years we expect to get the other teams' very best effort. I have to give A&M credit. They gave us trouble at the beginning of the game by playing a style of defense we haven't seen yet this year. They (Aggies) were extremely aggressive throughout the game."
Kansas Forward Paul Pierce:
"We came out in the second half and played much more aggressive . We picked up our game a level and A&M struggled at the beginning of the half so we were able to open up a good lead. We were frustrated at the beginning of the game, but basketball is all about adjustments. At halftime I asked myself what I had to do to get better looks, and in the second half I worked to get better shots and they started falling."