Nov. 30, 2010
Audio from today's press conference is available to the right in MP3 format.
On whether the team played hard in the Boston College loss... “We played hard. Boston College played great, I think I said that after the game. I think what it looked like was we had one or two guys on each possession on defense that really didn't know what they were doing. Our field goal percentage defense is pretty good and our defense is pretty good, but it can be a lot better. I thought we played pretty hard in that game, I just thought Boston College was phenomenal. They made a lot of shots and a lot of plays down the stretch. So did we, but they just made one more than we did.”
On whether he got what he wanted out of the Old Spice Classic... “I think it was good that we lost. You don't hear coaches say that very often, but maybe it'll wake us up a bit. I don't think we were improving at the rate I think we should be improving. We're not going to be good just because the last few teams here have been good. I've been trying to tell the guys that. But we lost down there, so it was more of a mental thing. We talked about trying to improve mentally in the next two games, and I think we did that. But with that said, it was also get a good, tough win against a Temple team...you hate to say it, but your back is against the wall early in the year. You lose one and you'd hate to come home 1-2, and you're playing a quality team. It wasn't pretty, but to gut it out and win that game I thought was really good. So we learned a lot about our team and ourselves, which is what you want in an early-season tournament.”
On lessons learned from the loss... “I think we became a closer basketball team because of the Boston College defeat. I think they're starting to realize what a fine line there is between being an NCAA tournament team and sneaking in to the NIT. It's a really fine line there. There's a lot of good basketball teams. There are 338 Division I basketball teams, and a good 100 that are NCAA Tournament-worthy. There's just a lot of really good basketball teams. We were able to play two of them this weekend, which is good for our program.”
On the difference mentally between going 2-1 versus 1-2 in Orlando... “It was huge. It's a fine line between winning and losing, and I've been trying to get that through to our guys. Really the difference in the game was our toughness and our determination in the Temple game. We really didn't play great, didn't shoot the ball well and didn't execute very well. But we were just tough. We rebounded and were very determined. At the end, we ran two plays and got nothing, credit their defense. It ended up in Dash's hands, which probably isn't ideal for us the way he's shooting the ball right now, and we had three guys in inside position. We had a great chance to get the rebound no matter which way it bounced. That's just determination on our guys' part. That said, we were lucky on the other end because they missed a wide-open shot. You have to be good and lucky to survive in this deal and our guys realize that. I like to think we're going to get a lot better because of playing these three games in four days.”
On the message to the team when he didn't start David Loubeau Thursday... “We had a bunch of guys screwing up. This team's a handful, and I'm going to win. It cost us a game, and it better not cost us another one. It looks like David was the one who screwed up because he didn't start, but there's a lot of post guys behind him that didn't start either, to just give you an idea. I know I get hired and fired on winning games, but to me I have a much bigger responsibility than winning games. When these guys leave here in four or five years and they go and hit the real world...as you guys know the real word is not easy. It's not a lot of fun sometimes. I just can't keep babying them. I've got to get them ready. I try to teach them life lessons. It cost us a game but I've got enough confidence in us as a staff and in the players that we're going to win enough games to be okay in the end. But we still should have overcome it, it was just four minutes of a guy not being out there. It was kind of a shaky start to the tournament.”
On the overall tournament experience... “I think it was a fun tourney. We had a Thanksgiving meal the night before, and guys got to ride some rides. Being in Disney there was great weather. Saturday they got to enjoy the parks after practice. We stayed at a great hotel. Disney takes care of you. Everything was just fantastic. ESPN and Disney did a great job. It was a great experience. That's why I do it.”
On the Aggie fan support in Orlando... “The BC game might not have been as close if it weren't for those fans. They were making a lot of noise and inspired us. And they hung around all weekend, and they were loud on Sunday. I tell you it makes a huge difference.”
On the difference in rebounding this season... “We're bigger. We talk about it all the time. A lot of it has been our competition, to be quite honest. Now, we did out-rebound Boston College and Temple, which are two big teams. That was the most impressive of all rebounding margins, the Temple game. We really challenged our guys, especially our bigs, before the game. Their big #50 (Eric) didn't play a lot, but they had two really quality post players that really concerned us. We really challenged our guys and they stepped up and did a great job. I think we are just bigger across the board.”
On playing great defense despite offensive struggles... “We learned a lot from the Boston College game, because our offense affected our defense in that game. We had two droughts in that game and it was because we let our offense affect our defense. We talked about that the rest of the weekend so we learned and got better because of it. We started the game so poorly against Temple, we couldn't score. We kept saying don't let our offense affect our defense, keep guarding. Temple was pretty inefficient on the offensive end too, they struggled. But yeah, we did withstand it and had some really good defensive possessions late in the game. It's all part of the growing-up process. We got better because of the Boston College game, I think that's why we withstood Temple. On the other hand, because I'm as critical as I am, I've got to get us to execute better. We didn't execute at a very high level, especially down the stretch. Hopefully we'll get better on that between now and Thursday.”
On Khris Middleton's development... “He's always been good with the basketball. He handles it quite a bit. We want him and Naji (Hibbert) and certain guys, when they get rebounds, to push it. It helps our break. Khris tries to do that, he's a tremendous passer. I thought he had a great weekend. He was exhausted on Sunday. I had to play him so many minutes in the first two games. He just had nothing in his tank, and I thought Temple put a lot into stopping him in that last game. But the thing I want Khris to do is I want him to think he's a 20-point scorer on the season, not just a couple of games. Khris has to be more aggressive, and he tried. I think his upside's tremendous. I think he's going to get so much better as this year goes on. He's going to get everyone's best defender, and he's gotten better with that. He can score, he can rebound and he's a great team defender for us. He had a great rebound when that kid missed the shot out of the corner (Temple). The guy threw Dash down and Khris had to go get it over Dash's guy, and he did.”
On the team's depth... “We've got to be deeper. Our guys know that and we've talked about that. There are three keys. I circled the box after the (Boston College) game, Naji Ray and Kourtney. They didn't do anything against BC, and those guys are the key. I know Dash is going to play the way he's capable of, he always does. BJ is BJ. Nate is Nate. Loubeau has been real consistent and I think Khris has proven he can play at this level. I feel good about those guys, it's just getting these other three to play at the level they're capable of playing at. Then you can sprinkle a ninth guy in there and you're deep enough to be successful.”
On this week's games against SFA and Pacific... “We've got two hard games. You guys have noticed in my scheduling that I try to schedule good teams. They may not be big names to Texas A&M fans but they are teams that are well-respected around the country. Stephen F. Austin was in the NCAA Tournament two years ago, and last year they finished second and lost in the championship game to Sam Houston. Danny (Kaspar) does a great job. They're going to come in here and grind it and run sets and get after us defensively. We were lucky to beat them two years ago at home. So it's a great game for us, they'll really challenge us. Then you've got Pacific, Coach Thomason is one of the better coaches in the country. They'll come in and spread us out and do some things. We don't have a lot of time to prepare but last weekend will help us out with that. So it's two great RPI games for us. And home games. I think they are two teams that are going to win a ton of games, which helps prepare us for the league.”