February 16, 2006
Head men's basketball coach Billy Gillispie met with members of the press Wednesday on the Texas A&M campus.
Click the link to the right to listen to the press conference. A transcript is posted below.
Billy Gillispie Media Luncheon Quotes
How's the break gone?
"It's been busy. I've been recruiting quite a bit and our guys, we've been practicing. We haven't taken any days off. We'll take today off, but I think it's been a breath of fresh air, especially coming off two wins. I think we definitely needed some time off since we've been here since Christmas Day. Hopefully it's going to pay benefits for us down the stretch."
How much do you hammer home playing Baylor? You guys maybe haven't done enough winning to overlook anybody, but if there's anyone to overlook Baylor is sometimes the team people overlook, but this is a huge game...
"There's nobody overlooking anybody unless they overlook us. They played very well against us here last time and that was after they'd only played four games because their season was just getting underway. We have great respect for them. We'll have to play our best game of the year to have a chance to compete over there on Saturday. That might still not be enough. They are a very talented team. They have interior players that are talented. They have perimeter players that are talented. They have a great coaching staff that always puts them in a position to succeed. Believe me, we know how good those guys are and we're going to try to play our absolute best and hope that will be good enough."
Where do you see they've improved the most?
"They just get better every single time out. They're playing a lot of young people and they're very, very talented young players. They're just getting more comfortable in what they're being asked to do. They're rebounding the ball better. They're really defending much better, as you would expect as the season goes along. They're just doing every phase of the game better. The first time we played them their shooting percentages weren't very high...they were at 31 percent the first time, they're at 36 percent now. When you're at 31 percent and you go to 36 percent over a four or five game period, that means you're really shooting the ball well. They're just doing everything better because of probably familiarity and talent."
Do your guys see an opportunity ahead for possibly the NCAA Tournament?
"We don't talk about that. We won't get tricked into talking about it. We see an opportunity to go play on Saturday. We play a formidable opponent and one that's as good as anybody in the league probably except for two teams--just like all the rest of us. There is probably two and 10 in this league right now, or maybe there's three and nine. We're one of the nine, and they're one of the nine, and anybody could beat anybody on any particular night. We're playing 16 games. We started out 1-3, hopefully we'll finish strong, but we're going to play 16 games. That's what we said and that's what we'll maintain. We'll add them up at the end and see where we are."
You guys finished strong last year. What were some of the things that resulted in you guys finishing strong?
"Well, Antoine (Wright) went crazy. He just started playing as well as anybody could play. Other guys played right along with him and probably just continued to gain confidence. It takes a while to figure out, especially coming off the previous year, if you are good enough to win in the Big 12 because it's such a bear. It took us a while. We were 4-7 at one point last year and we were always fighting. We were 2-4 and we'd win to be 3-4. We were 1-3 and we'd win to be 2-3. We never could quite get over the hump. I think really when we won at Colorado, that was a big win for us especially after the thrashing we got at Texas. It just gave us a lot of confidence to finish up the season 4-1 in conference and go into the postseason."
After last week's not just wins, but emotional wins, have you noticed more of a hop in the step of the players?
"Probably so. They're not giddy or not overconfident by any stretch. They know that if two shots don't go down, we go 0-2. But that's the way basketball is. We know where we are. Our guys don't get down, I don't think they get too high if they win. I really appreciate that and I really believe that to be true about our team. That's why you can survive in a conference such as the Big 12. You can't get too high on wins and you can't get too low on losses. You just have to keep on going. I think they will. I would think they'll be operating with about as much confidence as they could possibly have."
Both shots looked to be the result of good ball movement. How much of a sign of progress is that?
"We did get a great shot. Marlon (Pompey) made a great pass on Wednesday, an extra pass. The ball touched four players' hands and that was great. Dominique (Kirk) made the shot. The ball did go from one side to the other. The other, they were playing their screen roll a particular way, and Acie (Law) made a delivery of the ball to Joe (Jones) in a timely fashion. They've executed at the ends of games about as well as you possibly can. We usually get 'a' shot, which is the most important thing, to make sure you get 'a' shot. Hopefully that's going to continue in the close games that I'm sure we'll have. I was really proud in the Oklahoma state game and the Colorado game...we didn't call timeout in the Oklahoma State game because they didn't have any timeouts, and we didn't want to give them too much of an advantage in a tie game. We just told them what we wanted to do and they ran it. Luckily for us the shot went in. it's an unselfish team. They all believe in each other and I think it makes it a lot easier to make an extra pass when you do believe in your teammates."
You could sort of see that in the Oklahoma State game...
"Yeah. They knew what they wanted to do. They had a plan, and you know, your plan doesn't always work. Again, it's very important to get 'a' shot at the end of the game. That sounds simple but it's not, because the defense is making sure that you don't. In that game, I thought Dominique showed great composure, great maturity by not forcing it, because it would have been easy to try to take it to the basket. He didn't. He got it to Acie, Acie did a really good job of forcing them to double him, and then he delivered the ball on time to the target and Joe made the shot."
Was that Marlon who tipped the ball out after the Oklahoma State miss?
"I can't remember who tipped it out. He (OSU's Jamaal Brown) got a pretty good shot, he was too close to the basket. But we were able to get it. That determines whether you win or lose, 50/50 balls. That was a 50/50 ball, and we were able to get it and just make a shot."
Talk about Dominique's play on the last possession...
"He didn't have an advantage. The numbers were totally against us. Now, he's taken some in there with those kinds of numbers that he didn't need to. But I just think it was a sign of maturity. He's a high-strung, intense player and he wants to try to make plays. He's playing with a great deal of confidence. I thought he made an unbelievable decision in a very tough circumstance to be able to get it to Acie."
So he probably wasn't as open as people thought...
"They had an angle I think. It would have been a 1-on-2 if he had continued on to the basket. I don't know for sure. But I'm sure they were going to continue running back, but it would have been 1-on-2 at best, so he made a great decision, especially in a tie game. If he goes in there in a situation like that where we don't have an advantage and he forces up a bad shot, they have a lot of time to come down and score and you can get beat. With what he did, the worst thing you were going to be faced with was an overtime period. I don't know if that was his thought process or not, but it seemed like he knew what he was doing and I believe that he did."
Does the type of game also influence not calling a timeout? If you had been down by one or two would you have been more likely to call a timeout?
"It was all influenced by them not having any timeouts left. That's what I talk about with these guys all the time. There was a situation with Colorado the other night where they had the guys we wanted them to have in there. We wanted to call a timeout but if we called timeout it gives them another opportunity to substitute. Timeouts really dictated a lot of stuff that happened in the game last week that the common fan probably wouldn't understand. Just like setting a good trap on the ball screen against Oklahoma State...they were forced to call two timeouts and those kinds of things. Those are factors that really play a much bigger part in the game than people may quite understand. You put a team with no timeouts at the end and you have an advantage. It doesn't always work out where you hit the shot, but you have an advantage. We talk about that kind of stuff all the time."
When was it in the Colorado game that you didn't want to call a timeout?
"At the end. They tried to sub (Andy) Osborn in there before their last shot but he got there after the 15-second buzzer. We were going to call the timeout after we looked at it, but we liked the personnel they had on the court so we didn't call timeout to give them another opportunity to sub. They had good guys out there anyway, and they got the shot they wanted from the guy they wanted, but you probably lessen your chance for a guy making a shot at the end."
The whole Missouri situation that came up...
"We issued a statement and that's over."
But as long as you continue to have success here, coaches that have success early on, their names continue to pop up...you can see the power of the internet I guess, but what do you take from that?
"It's already been addressed. I have great respect for what y'all do but that's already been addressed. I think sometimes you have to ask questions but I don't think that question has to be asked today, with all respect to what you do. I don't know, because y'all do your job a lot better than I could, but that's already been addressed."
Did it take you by surprise the way things can work though, that all of a sudden something like that could pop up?
"In general, I'll say this. You have no control over anything. And the bad thing is, in any of those situations, it's not people that make any decisions-whether it's a coach or a school-that's not where the information comes from. It's unfair to everybody. It's a tribute to the success that our guys are having, when your name starts getting put out there. But sometimes it can be a distraction. We won't let it be a distraction, and that's why I felt it was necessary to make a comment on it."
Your last few weeks at UTEP, with the season still going on and the A&M stuff starting to pop up, how did you handle that at the time?
"We coached our team. That's it. That's all you can do."
You never brought it up one way or the other with them?
"I might have, but you can't defend speculation. They trust me. I trust them. That's the way you go with it."
Going back to Baylor...last time they shot lights out from 3-point range. Do you change anything defensively to make sure you get out there? It seemed like pretty good defense though...
"They really did a great job executing their offense. They penetrated and pitched, put us in help situations. For the most part, we did okay. We have to do much better. They caught the ball too close to the 3-point line. Again, that's a tribute to how well they ran their offense and forced help. They got exactly what they wanted from their offense in those situations. We have to do better. You can't survive giving up 16 3-point makes. We were very lucky to do that."
How much of what they try to do is geared to setting up a 3-point shot?
"They were 16-for-30 in that game. That's way too high for anyone to give up. But their personnel, again, as good as (Aaron) Bruce is those other guys are really good too and they know how to play with him. He knows how to set those guys up. Their guys inside have really developed since that time and they're probably going to have more balance because they're really starting to come on. I think they play to their strengths. Coach (Scott Drew) does a great job of getting them to play to their strengths. Last year they used the screen and pop with (Tim) Bush and Bruce and they did a fantastic job of giving themselves a chance to win a lot. I really believe they do a great job of playing to their strengths. It's fun to make 3s if you can make them like that. It's fun. It's like a dunk. It's a momentum changer."
People are talking about the women's game tonight (against Baylor) maybe having the same effect that your win over Texas last year did. What do you remember about what that game meant in the big picture, especially having that many fans there and making them want to come back?
"It meant that we broke an 18-game losing streak in conference. To the fans, I think, it meant more because it was Texas. To the coaches and players, it meant more because it was the No. 9-ranked team in the country. It probably gives you a great deal of confidence because they hadn't won a Big 12 game. And if that's your first Big 12 win, I think it means a lot. But as far as tonight, it should be a fun game. It gave our guys confidence to know that if they played the right way they could possibly have some success in conference. It helped us (with the fans), it carried through the whole season. We only had a couple of games where we didn't have attendance that was top notch, and that was expected, especially coming from where they came from."
What would be your ideal minutes per game for Joseph Jones? What would you like to see him play?
"28 to 32, probably."
You'd probably prefer it to be 32 but you choosing when those minutes are and not him...
"Yeah. Either foul problems or something. He played one of the better defensive games I've seen an interior guy play that doesn't block shots on Saturday. Or that hasn't blocked shots so far. He was really good on defense, and Acie was really good on defense. Our whole team was, but those two guys really were good on defense. You would rather have Joseph play when you want him to, instead of when you're forced for him not to be playing."
On Acie's minutes...is 38 or 39 minutes over a long stretch bother him?
"I haven't seen it. I thought last year he got tired at the end but I haven't seen it this year. He did as good a job as you could possibly do last spring and summer. His body is better. He's a year older. His experience is greater. His toughness is much better than it was. That's too many minutes. You don't need to play 38 minutes. If anybody can do it....we ask him to guard the initiator for their offense, which is usually a really good player in this league, push the ball as quickly as possible, score, be a leader, do everything in the locker room and do that on a daily basis in practice. That's stressful and he's handled it very, very well for having to play so many minutes."
You've played so many close games but haven't had a chance to rest him...
"He's been out because he's been sick and he stepped off the curb last week on the day of the game and messed his Achilles up, and so we've just been in kind of a bind. Logan (Lee) getting hurt early, that's not something that too many people have talked about, but that was a devastating loss for us. These guys have been able to pretty much overcome it, but our hands are tied a little bit. Acie's handled it fantastic. He's been great. I see him getting stronger. I usually see it on defense, and the way he played defensively in the 2nd half against Colorado and the entire game against Oklahoma State is as good as he's ever played here."
Last year did he have an ankle injury?
"He messed his ankle up in the Texas Tech game out there, the third game of conference. He came back and played with it immediately but he was never totally healthy. I think he got tired last year. Our practices were very intense and I think he got tired."
Saturday he said he was ready to go back out there and play another game...
"He's in really good shape. All of them are in good shape but he's in really good shape."
Will he join the track team after this season?
"He's too slow (laughter)."
How many football guys are you going to bring in to the basketball program? At some point is that tough because they miss so much time early?
"It's tough. I think Martellus (Bennett) is a special guy that has handled it really well. I think there was a time about a month ago he said, 'Man why did I do this?' he started training a long time ago for football. He goes right into it, never has any time off...you don't get any time off for Thanksgiving because they are playing. He gets no time off for Christmas, and this is a freshman we're talking about. I really believe he got his second wind and he's starting to emerge. He played great against Texas. He's played great in every single game he's been in lately because he's understood the value of the ball. His hands have gotten better and everything, and I wouldn't doubt that he totally dominates a game before too long, because he's really coming along. I think all of us just expected a little too much from him too soon because he's a freshman. With him, it's very easy to forget that. Our situation has kept him from getting to play more because we have to have Joe out there. And, I think Marlon's (Pompey) played great for us. He's a guy that I really trust and I really trust Chris (Walker) and I trust all of them. But those guys have been through the wars together, and when one basket seems to mean so much to a team, to where you can't let a guy play through mistakes in conference, those guys really, really mean a great deal to you. We score 46 points on Saturday against a really good team and we won. We scored 61 points (against Colorado). We need to score more than that. To be able to win games, your defense has to be fantastic. That's putting too much pressure on your defense but I think they've accepted that now. You can't afford to give up one basket, so guys like Josh (Carter) and Antanas (Kavaliauskas), and Martellus particularly and Red (White) as well...those guys are getting better defensively. But they aren't quite as far along as those other guys are, and you just don't want to take a chance of giving up 'a' basket. That's my conservative nature that's keeping them from getting better because they need playing time. I know that, but I just don't want to give up 'a' basket."
On offense you talk about guys valuing the ball. Is there sometimes a difference having seen the older guys in practice before, where you see them doing the right things and haven't gotten as much a chance to see the younger guys do so as much?
"Well, I think they know where the ball is supposed to go. Marlon had six turnovers on Saturday, but he had three throwing to Joe on a high-low pass. Those are bad turnovers but they're not killers. Inexperienced players make turnovers that usually lead directly to baskets. Not that we study or practice how to make good turnovers, but if you're trying to throw the ball to Joe close to the basket, that's a little bit different. You talk about these are turnovers we can accept...turnovers on the baseline are not killers. Turnovers on the perimeter usually lead to straight baskets. That's what young players probably don't quite understand as much as experienced guys."
The game at Kansas State, Marlon played seven minutes. Was there something going on there?
"He didn't play very well. That's a long time ago. I think that he was affected by missing the foul shot against Oklahoma. I think that bothered him a little bit. He's become a great leader for us and a great locker room guy, and has matured as much as anybody I've ever seen in two years. His leadership means a great deal. All of those guys have a great deal of confidence playing with him. There was a time where he probably cared, but his care level is sky-high. He thought he let everybody down when he missed those foul shots, and I think that affected him for two or three days and a couple of games."
When you first got here where was he at, that first game or first day of practice?
"He would have fallen down and laid there for eight minutes. That's what happened in the individual workouts. Those are great stories though because it's a story that he changed. He's done more than expected. He had a great summer last year and he's a really improved player. He can score better than he's shown. I think he's a little like Dominique, he defers too much to Joe and Acie. As we've gotten better it's because Dominique has taken more of a role and said, 'Hey, I need to score 10 points.' Chris has done more than saying 'Hey, I need to make two or three shots in a game.' I think we have a lot of room for improvement in that area. Marlon's been a great success story and it's going to get better."