December 27, 2004
Excerpts from Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie's weekly media luncheon on Monday at Rudy's Barbeque:
What do you expect from Houston this week?
"Houston is really a good team. Coach Penders has done as good a job as you could possibly do. He had some returning guards who have experience and that's a perfect situation for him to go into. They recruited well and recruited to the strength of his coaching ability. It'll be a very difficult challenge for us. They are playing extremely well right now. You can throw out the game at Washington. They didn't play all that poorly that game, either. Washington made everything they shot. "
Will it be a good match up and good test for your defense going against a team that tries to light it up?
"I'd rather play somebody who couldn't score, to be honest. They do a good job of scoring and playing to their strengths. They force help and when you help they end up getting easy baskets. They just do a good job of knowing what they want to do. They play with great purpose. Some people would think it's a freewheeling style of basketball, but really it's a very sound style of basketball because they get the ball in the paint all the time and they get the guys they want to take the shot. It's a very sound way to play."
Does this game kind of mark the start of a second season in terms of the names of the teams you will play? Is this the demarcation point from here on out with big name schools?
"I don't know what demarcation means. We've defined ourselves already if that's what it's supposed to mean. We've defined ourselves as a team that's going to play hard and we're going to play to our abilities. Hopefully, that and the strengths we have will be good enough to win in conference. I don't know if it will or not. I know that for us, our margin of error is very small because of our lack of experienced players and because of our roster. But we won't let anyone define us. We defined ourselves a long time ago."
Are you excited about getting closer to Big 12 play? Is the conference any different than what you thought it would be?
"We haven't studied the teams too much at all. We've been concentrating on our next opponent. But it will be as good as there is in the country. The players are great, the coaches are great, the traditions are great, and the home courts are great. You just have to play your absolute best every single night to have any kind of chance to win. That's a ways away, but we're looking forward to it. But we have a lot of things we'd like to do before that starts."
You open conference play at Kansas, followed by your first conference home game against Texas. Is that a brutal way to start or does it really matter?
"That's very difficult, but tell me what would be any easier? That's the beauty of conference play. Not matter what conference you're in, you conference opponents will take away every single thing you have. Everyone scouts in the preseason and does a really good job of preparing, but not nearly to the extent they do in conference. It comes down to players making plays. You have to be prepared to take care of the ball, you've got to really guard well, and you've got to rebound well, those kinds of things. So as far as finding easy games in conference, there aren't any. You can say one game is all that much tougher than another. They are all tough."
What will be the biggest challenge Houston presents on Wednesday?
"Getting back in transition and keeping them out of the paint. They do a great job of running transition each and every time. What they do is they maintain for 40 minutes. We haven't played a team that can play for 40 minutes like they can. That will be a very big challenge for us. We've had periods where we've played really well, but not a 40-minute period. We have to play for the entire game because they really do a good job of playing for 40 minutes."
What's been the most pleasant surprise since you got here?
"The most pleasant surprise has been Joseph Jones. He's not only going to be a great player, and he's not yet, but what a great ambassador for our program. He's been a joy. I've enjoyed coaching all of them, but he's something else. He gets better every single day. He'll struggle in conference, I know that, but he's a great building block. He's competitive and he's stubborn in the right way. He's as coachable as any I've ever seen. And I heard a lot of bad things about Antoine Wright, but he's been a joy to coach. From day one, he's been great and has been a great leader for us. I wouldn't have expected anything less, so I guess that's not really a surprise. We've always had pretty good luck getting guys to buy into what we want them to do. Those are just two things I knew Joseph was going to be a good player, but I didn't know he would progress at the rate he's progressing right now."
How has the basketball atmosphere here been? The crowds have increased and has that part of it been okay with you?
"Well, no, because every game is not sold out. I've heard people talk about how good it is, and we're very appreciative of every single person that comes thorough there, but until every single game is sold out, we won't be satisfied. I've been at places where that's the case and you can't get a ticket. Our guys have been deserving of being watched, followed and supported. Our people have been really good, but there just haven't been enough of them. For a school with 44,000 students, and with a former student base as large as ours, there's not been enough. But I've been really appreciative of everyone who has shown up because they've really supported our team. We're not really trying to gauge against what's been going on, but on what has to go on. That's what goes on at all the other conference schools that win. That's what we're going to try to do. If it's a little bit better than it has been, that's great. But that's not good enough."