Wednesday night's game against Iowa State is Military Appreciation Night. All veterans or active duty military personnel may receive two free tickets to the game, and may purchase additional tickets for only $10. To claim your tickets, visit tickets.12thmanfoundation.com, click on "men's basketball" and then on the "military night" link.
The team will be wearing special camouflage jerseys which will be auctioned off following the game on aggieathletics.com. Proceeds will benefit the USO.
Audio from today's press conference is available to the right in mp3 format. Select quotes are available below.
HEAD COACH Mark Turgeon
Just when you think the team may be mentally fragile, you go and win two road games. Can you talk about last week?
"Well we talked about it last week, that it was a chance to show who we really are as individuals and as a team. It's not how many times you get knocked down, it's how many times you get back up. And we talked a lot about that. With that said, there was a little bit of luck to win at Colorado too. We played well at Colorado though. That 7-point play about did us in there, but we overcame it. I think it gave us confidence going in to Texas Tech. That was a hard week, with two road games, and to get home late and go to class the next day and then travel Friday to play an early game Saturday. That was a tough stretch for us. I was really proud of our toughness, our will, just to get it done. I thought Tech played really well, they showed a lot of fight. It was a good week for us."
Would you say BJ's shot at Colorado was as big as Josh Carter's 3 pointer at Nebraska two years ago?
"Well, we were fighting for our NCAA life I guess more so when Josh made his shot. But I think BJ's hopefully will have the same impact on this team that Josh's jump shot did at Nebraska. It was just really good execution by our guys. I don't think there's any question it's given us a lot of confidence and given us a chance to hopefully have a pretty good season."
You said Saturday you needed a deep bench and one of those key guys is Andrew Darko. How proud are you of him?
"He gave us 16 great minutes on Saturday, with Dash in foul trouble. Having to chase their guards around, I thought he did a great job all day on (John) Roberson. He blocked his shot twice. He gave us great energy and plays with great confidence. He hit a big three in the first half. I'm really proud of Darko, I always have been. He's just getting a chance to play now. He's really kind of settled in. I know his teammates have a lot of confidence in him. They know he's going to guard, they know how tough he is. Every time he shoots it we think it's going in. It just shows you, what a kid who comes here and every day busts his tail and understands the system can do. The thing about Darko is he knows what's at stake. He knows how great it is to be a part of the NCAA Tournament. He knows every possession counts. We made two mistakes defensively on Roberson in the second half, and (Roberson) made two 3s. I didn't have to correct the guys because their teammates were correcting them. They know what's at stake now. The way we play, and as difficult as it is for us--we just can't show up and roll the balls out--every possession does matter for us. I think our guys are starting to understand that."
When you decide on BJ to take the last shot against Colorado, how much of that is "feel" versus the matchup?
"It's all feel. It's just having a feel, a gut feeling, on who will be able to make the play. You have to guess right and the player's got to make you look good in those situations."
Talk about Nate's play over the last few weeks...
"You look at our seniors that played Saturday, Darko and Nate and BJ, they all had really good games. (They see the) Light at the end of the tunnel, (they) know it's about over. They all three are playing with great confidence. Nate does a tremendous job on the boards and a tremendous job defensively. He's making some 3s for us. He's really helping us. I just think his rebounding effort for those two buckets in the second half was just huge. It just comes down to wanting it more sometimes, and I think Nate just wanted it more than the other team a couple of times. I'm happy for him. The kid's worked hard. I think there are even better days ahead for Nate. I think he can play better. I don't think he can play with any more effort, but I think he can play better. And hopefully he will down the stretch."
On going to David Loubeau late in the Texas Tech game and his play of late...
"I think he had five points in the Texas Tech game when I went to him (late). We went to him and he made plays. We all have confidence in David down there on the block. We were down two, and he was in foul trouble Saturday, and he made back-to-back plays. He made three or four plays against Colorado down the stretch. The big thing was he scored over the double team in one of the baskets against Texas Tech, which is a step in the right direction. We've been working on that with him. We have a lot of confidence in him, and a lot of confidence in Khris, in BJ, in Nate. We have confidence in Naji, if he's in the game late, that he's going to make a play. So there are a lot of guys that we have confidence in. But David made some really big ones."
On David's effort over the past two-plus games...
"I'm more proud of David with his defense and his rebounding. I thought his defense in the last two games was as good as it's been in a while, and he played with as much intelligence as he has in a while. That's what's encouraging. He knew he was struggling to help us offensively so he stepped up to help us in those areas. I never lose confidence in my guys and in what they can do and how they're going to help us. I'm not going to quit going to David. He's done it for three years now and he's made some big shots. We're executing at a better level now and that's helping David. We're screening better, we're shooting the ball better from the outside here lately. Hopefully we can keep doing that and that opens things up for David."
You were down 18-8 early at Texas Tech, and down early at Colorado, and then came back of course. What do you feel like y'all need to do to start faster?
"Well, we didn't have any energy. I thought were playing well at Colorado, Colorado just made some tough shots and we missed some wide open ones. The Tech game, we just had no energy. That's why I subbed early. We were out of it. I was just begging them over there to play harder, to try harder. Then the switch came on and we got right back in it pretty quickly. Guys, we are who we are. We're 73 practices in, and I don't know how many games we've played--a lot--and we are who we are. I'd love to say we're going to start games 10 to 0 and we're going to be the best team in the country, but we are who we are and we're making the most of it."
Was last week's two wins just you guys playing better basketball, or was it something else?
"No, we played better. I thought we played really well at Colorado. Colorado played well. We were more committed...we all felt like we had our backs against the wall and we played that way. Hopefully we'll continue to play that way. But we played better last week, we really did. We didn't play well at home in those last two games. I just think we played with a little more toughness, a little more fight, last week."
A lot of people will point to BJ's shot (at Colorado) if there is going to be a "turning point" this year. But could it have been the Baylor game? How did you feel getting on the plane to go to Colorado, were you feeling the guys were about to turn it around?
"Well, since we lost to Texas the second time we've really practiced well. It's not like it's a light switch for us. For some teams it is, and some teams it's not. It's not for us. But we've practiced well. We didn't start the game well against Baylor but we really played well after that. 4-4 is not the end of the world in today's BCS basketball. It's hard. To this point I think this team's doing really well. It's amazing where we are, guys. Are you kidding? In the first couple of weeks of practice, I wasn't sure if we could win a game. We're getting really good leadership now, because we've been humbled. And they're a lot easier to coach today than they were two weeks ago, which helps me. I think the guys are doing great. We'll see what happens in the next six games in the league, but hopefully they'll continue to do great. We weren't picked to win it but we're fighting, we're up there. We'll just keep plugging. It's not easy for us, but you know what? I think we're playing well. So it should be interesting. But us playing well doesn't mean we're going to roll over somebody. It means we're going to have a chance to win the game."
You said the older guys are understanding the position the team is in. Is that something that's running through the team to the younger guys?
"Yeah. Oh yeah. It's spreading. It's spreading quick. Like I said, we made two mistakes late in the Tech game and I didn't have to say a word to the guys. The players were all over it. They know. Sometimes the young guys think, 'Well, I'll have next year or the year after that.' No, no. It's 'Let's take care of business now.' These younger guys will grow up pretty quick because of it. I think Keith gave us great minutes the other day and I think Kourtney gave us great minutes in both games. They're growing up. Naji's getting better. I know he's not shooting the ball well right now but he's getting better. I think there's an understanding among our young guys that we have to be deeper than we've been. And we were deeper Saturday, which helped us win the game."
Talk about the leadership shown by your upperclassmen...
"The way Nate and BJ are playing commands respect from their teammates. Those guys are just giving it everything they have. I think Dash Harris had a great week, and he gets no credit. I know (Colorado's Alec) Burks had 24, but my gosh. Dash was all over him, especially late in the game. Dash did a tremendous job on (Texas Tech's John) Roberson. He hit two 3s and neither one of them were on Dash. I think he's playing well, he's running our team great. I think you see our four upperclassmen that start show toughness, and they're showing, 'Hey, we've been here and we know what it takes. We've got to get it done.'"
How important is continuing to be aggressive and getting to the line to the success of the team?
"It's part of what we do. We shot 30 free throws against Baylor's zone, and that's a lot of free throws against a zone. It's what we do. We've got guys who are really good at penetrating, and we've got guys who can pass the ball. I think it's one of the best passing teams I've ever had. It doesn't show at times but they can really pass it. We're doing a lot of different things offensively and we're just picking and choosing different lineups. We've been able to get in the lane and get some open 3s, and we've been able to get in the lane and get some fouls. But the more 3s that we can make it just opens everything up. It opens the drive up, and it opens the post-up game up. We're shooting it better and hopefully that'll continue. We did it last year down the stretch, really started to shoot it well, so hopefully we'll do the same this year."