February 04, 2002
What happened in the Baylor game?
"It's tough to win on the road. We know that. But yesterday was one of those situations where we just didn't play. Give Baylor all the credit. They got after us. I knew we were in trouble when they hit a banker three-point shot about the second shot of the game. I knew it wasn't going to be a good day. We just didn't play. Defensively, we didn't have any intensity. Unfortunately, I don't know why that would happen after we've been playing pretty good as of late. We had some momentum going on and a chance to be .500 in conference. It was a big game for us and we just didn't get the job done."
How were practices leading up to the game?
"We had a bad practice the day before the game. As a staff, we pulled our hair out as to why all of the sudden this was happening. Some of it is that some of our guys are sitting out of practice again. Keith is hurt and hasn't practiced and the same with Bernard. Keith's a player just like Bernard is. But they need to practice with the team. They have legitimate injuries. But we're not deep enough to overcome that kind of stuff. It's starting to catch up with us."
How can you recapture the momentum you had going into the Baylor game?
"That's our challenge. What we have decided to do is to not even talk about the Baylor game. We are just going to throw that one out the window. At the end of the game, I didn't get all over the guys. I was afraid that we lost some confidence after that game and there was no need for me to go in there and pound it in even harder. We've got to try to get back to playing like we were playing. And that's playing with some confidence as we get ready for this Texas game. We're just going to throw it out the window and say 'It's a bad game guys. Let's move forward.' I think that is the best way to handle it with our team."
How much does it help that you have a chance to bounce back against Texas, a team you beat earlier?
"Texas is not the kind of team you want to play to get something like that back. But that's what the Big 12 does to you. It keeps coming at you. Texas is one of the better teams in the conference. We did get the win up there and so we know that they are going to come in here with a little bit of focus. So we've got to focus. There were some things in that game that we liked. Obviously, we liked the outcome. But there were some things we need to improve on to beat them here at Reed Arena."
Texas has lost a couple of games recently, so maybe their confidence is a little down?
"Well, we'd hope their confidence is a little down. But knowing Rick over there, he's going to have them ready to play. They are going to come in here and look at our team and feel that this is a win they should get unless we do something about it."
You talked about Baylor getting revenge for your first game with them. Can you compare the situation with Texas as this is your second game with them?
"We surely are going to expect them to throw everything they have at us. And it's our job to make sure we are ready for that type of challenge. But the good thing is that we have them at home and you would like to think that given the confines of Reed Arena, it would be to our advantage. We know it's going to be a very difficult game no matter where it's played. There's a lot of emotion and things that go back to before these players and me got here with these two programs. It's just going to be a highly-emotional and hotly-contested game that we've got to be ready for."
If there was one thing that you could pick out as to why you beat Texas in Austin, what was it?
"I thought defensively we changed it up on them and caused them to get out of sync. I think they shot somewhere along the lines of the 32-33%. So, we did a good job defensively, not for 40 minutes, but long enough to get the win. We've got to duplicate that."
Texas has made itself a reputation of good defense, but you were able to get some good looks at the basket and hit the shots.
"I thought through the first eight minutes of the game we had to settle down. They came out with that pressure defense and tried to give us that knockout punch. They had us on the ropes but once we recovered we starting executing and hit those shots. The shots that they do give, you have to knock those down. And we did that. That's always important no matter where you're playing. But especially with teams that pressure they way they pressure you. You've got to hit the shots you do take and knock them down."
What is Andy Slocum's situation?
"He's going to be evaluated today. The doctors are going to X-ray his hand, give us some feedback and determine whether he has to go back into a cast or soft cast. But until they look at that X-ray today, we'll have to wait and see what's down the road for Andy. He hasn't been able to practice at all."
And Keith Bean?
"Keith actually popped his shoulder again in practice. He wasn't undergoing physical contact, but he was shooting and he did a little something to it. He's a pretty tough kid and I think it is a little more serious than he led us on to believe. From then, our practice went down hill that day before we went up to Baylor. Today, we'll wait to see how sore he is and he may just have to sit on the sideline."
And Jesse King?
"Jesse has improved. His knee is feeling better. But there are still times he has to step away from practice. Now, you are talking about two or three starters. That's not good. We're trying to get some continuity and some timing down. We're not going to beat this team around, but we need all these guys in practice."
Daryl Mason was able to work in a little bit during the Baylor game. Is he going to play more in the Texas game?
"We hope so. We need someone else to give us some quality minutes. He'll be one of the guys we look at. He has missed a lot and needs to get back into the flow of things. I thought I would give him a few minutes in the Baylor game. It may have not been the ideal situation to do it in. But he was able to get some sweat in and bump bodies with somebody else other than his teammates."