College Station, TX - Texas A&M is 2-0 on the season, having defeated Liberty (81-59) and Southern (83-58) this past week ... the Aggies travel to New York City this week for the 2K Sports Classic and will face Mississippi State (Thursday, 6 p.m. CT, ESPN2) and either St. John's or #16 Arizona (Friday, 3:30 or 6:30 p.m. CT, ESPN2) at Madison Square Garden.
TEXAS A&M BASKETBALL WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE
Monday, November 14, 2011 - College Station, Texas
ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH GLYNN CYPRIEN
On Coach Kennedy's return to the sidelines...
"It was great to have Coach (Kennedy) back last night and have him in uniform, have our commander-in-chief back. I thought his energy level was good. He was great with the guys. The guys were really excited to have him back and I thought he did a really good job in coaching the team last night. The guys really responded well. To have him back first of all is a blessing for everyone involved, especially this program and this university, and he's extremely excited to be back. We're awfully excited. We still understand that it's a day-to-day process with him. He's still under the care of his physician, and we just want to continue to pray for Coach and get him back as close to 100 percent as possible."
On the win over Southern...
"There were a lot of good things I thought we did. We shot the ball pretty well overall. Looking at the stats, anytime you shoot 56 percent for a game you're excited about it. I thought some guys really played well. Ray Turner continued to play well. He was 9-for-11 last night, and the majority of his points came in transition. He's got to continue to do that for us to be really good. We really emphasize to Ray running and getting up and down the floor and getting easy baskets. I thought Kourtney (Roberson) was pretty good. He was 5-for-8 in the low post, and he's got to be a low-post presence for us. Dash Harris was really good in terms of his leadership with the team, making sure guys were in the right spots and being a great leader. And Jamal Branch played pretty well, 3-for-5 for a freshman isn't bad. So overall as a team I thought the effort was really good. I thought the guys played hard. In the second half defensively there were some lapses, which we've got to clean up. That can't happen. Anytime you get a lead on a team you have to keep them down and not give them confidence. We'd like to cut turnovers back a little bit, but anytime you play fast you're going to have turnovers. That's not necessarily bad. On the defensive end though, we only created 11 turnovers and for me, a defensive guy, that's no good. We'd like to get that number up to around 16 or 20, which means we're really active defensively. But overall we're happy with the effort, we thought the guys played well and played hard."
On playing without Khris Middleton...
"Going into the game without Khris (Middleton), we had some concerns as to how we were going to manufacture points, and that's going to be a concern until we get him back. Other guys are going to have to step up and some guys have. We started Jordan Green last night and he was good, he was active not just in terms of points. He played a good role for us."
Do you see Jordan continuing to start?
"You know, he was good. He brings a lot to this ballclub. He's really active defensively, he's long, he's wiry, he plays so hard. I don't know, I think it's kind of a day-to-day deal with Jordan and that position. We'd really like for Naji (Hibbert) or one of those older, veteran guys to step up, but right now Jordan's played really well. He's brought it every day in practice and that's what Coach is about and what we're about. The guys that practice the hardest will usually get the nod when it comes to starting."
How important is Elston Turner's role on the team?
Well, it's very important, even with Khris (on the floor). We were going to play him at multiple positions. We'll play him off the ball but at times we'll play him at the point spot too, or we'll have to play small with him and Jamal and Dash. But he's going to have to do more, he's going to have to get up more shots. We're going to have to get him more touches, and we'll start working on that today where we'll run more stuff for him and get him an opportunity to score more buckets. He's a coaches son, he understands how to play. He's always in the right position on the floor on the offensive end. I give him a hard time about the defensive end, but that's just me. He's going to have to manufacture points for us and I think he can do that."
Talk about this road test and the measuring stick this tournament will provide the team...
"I spent all night last night looking at Mississippi State, and they're awfully good. Rick (Stansbury) is a good coach, and we've played against him at different universities I've been at for years. They're good. Dee Bost is a good player. (Arnett) Moultrie is a good player. It's going to be a road test for this team, especially without a veteran in Khris. But we're just going to have to get up there and play. I think the one thing that'll be good for us is that we have a lot of guys that have been tested. We've got a lot of guys that have played a lot of minutes, and we're hoping that will help. There will be some 'big-eyed' guys, some guys who will look around Madison Square Garden with big eyes so to speak. But for us, we're excited about it. We're excited to play against a good team and good opponent, and we want to see how we're going to fare against a good program. It's a great event for us, the timing is good for us and we're awfully excited about it."
Do you anticipate Coach Kennedy being part of the trip?
"We expect him to be a part of the trip."
How special is it not only to take the team to The Garden but for him to go with you?
"There's no question about it (that it's special). We've kind of circled this date. You want to gauge your team. Having two home games was good, but now you go to a neutral site and play against a good ballclub. This is another gauge for us. Going to New York and that type of setting I think will tell us a lot about our team. Again, we have to have other guys step up and play well without having Khris, but I think they will."
How much more difficult will it be to keep the up-tempo style you've shown in the first two games going this week?
"When you play against good teams-and Mississippi State is a good team-you're not going to always be able to play up-tempo like that. You're going to have to manufacture some points in the half court. You're going to have to run some offense. You're going to have to move the ball from side-to-side and get it reversed. This on Thursday is going to be one of those nights, where it won't be a transition, up-and-down game. We're going to have to score some points in the half court, and we understand that. But again, our philosophy is in the first seven, eight or nine seconds we want to push and put the pressure on the defense early, and if you don't have anything back it back out and run some plays and try to score in the half court."
In watching Mississippi State, what are some of the things they do that you'll stress to your team?
"Well, they shoot it and they shoot it quick, and they get up and down. They will run a lot of ball-screen action. The game I saw last night, South Alabama, they shot it well and shot it fast. Rinaldo Sidney didn't play, he had a groin injury. We'll prepare as if he's going to play on Thursday, we expect him to play. That will give them another good post to go along with Moultrie. But I think they want to play fast, they want to play up-tempo. We have to really guard the ball. We have to really rebound the ball. We have to really contest shots, and there's going to be a lot of long rebounds. So we have to get our guards to rebound the ball. It will be a good test. They are very, very talented. They have really good guard play. So we have to be ready to play."