TEXAS A&M BASKETBALL WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE
Tuesday, December 13, 2011 - Reed Arena - College Station, Texas
Team Snapshot
Record: 8-1
Streak: Won 6
Ranking: #22 (AP), #22 (USAT/ESPN)
Last Week: def. Sam Houston State (H), 64-37 (Wed.), def. ULM (H), 67-54 (Sat.)
This Week: Saturday vs. (#13) Florida, 1:30 p.m. CT (Sun Sports/FSN), Sunrise, Fla. (MetroPCS Orange Bowl Classic)
Watch the entire press conference soon on www.aggieathletics.com.
HEAD COACH BILLY KENNEDY
"We have a great opportunity this week to play a nationally-ranked team in Florida. I told our guys that you only get so many special opportunities on your schedule to gain the attention and respect of the college basketball world, and we're looking forward to the opportunity we have in playing on Saturday. It will be two totally different teams in a lot of ways. They're averaging 86 points a game and are one of the leaders in the country in scoring. A lot of their points are coming from the 3-point line. They're very explosive offensively and can cause havoc defensively with their small guards. It's a great challenge for us and I know our guys will be ready and excited to play."
Talk about Florida's guard play...
"(Kenny) Boynton and Erving Walker have been there for a while, as has the Erik Murphy kid. All three of those guys are shooting a high percentage, with a number of their shots coming from the 3-point line. (Mike) Rosario and (Bradley) Beal are two other perimeter guys that were top recruits in the country. So they have four outstanding guards who can all shoot the ball at a high percentage."
How beneficial will it be this week to be away from games (with exams)?
"Well, being in exam mode is different all over the country. We actually practiced last night, and we'll come back and practice this afternoon. Our times will change all week. Most of our guys will finish in the next day or two, and I tell them that they become professional players then. We have them as much as we want, and most of them look forward to it to be honest with you. To play a team like Florida that's recognized to be so good, they'll be excited to play. I think we'll be fresh. Getting away from playing a lot of home games the last couple of weeks will be good. It will be a good test to try something different."
How beneficial is it to have a tough road game at this point leading up to Big 12 play?
"I think it's very important for us to start carving our own identity and separate ourselves from last year's team. Most of the success and the hype this team has gotten I think has been based on what happened last year. This Florida game is a special opportunity. It's not going to make or break our season because it's so early, but it will give us a feel for where we're at and how we will compete against a higher-quality opponent now that we have all our pieces. Mississippi State, Khris (Middleton) didn't play, it was new, it was early. Now we're playing a team where we should have all our guys. Hopefully Kourtney (Roberson) will be back, although he's questionable. We'll need all those pieces to compete against Florida. I think it's a good thing to have a game like that, and have some time in between before you play Rice and eventually Baylor-who will be a top-10 team when we play them."
You want an up-tempo pace, but when you play team like Florida where that would play into their hands do you change what you want to do?
"They're averaging 86 points a game, we're averaging 64. When you look at the two losses Florida had, they were in the low 70s. We have to be somewhere in between there. I would love to tell you we could beat them 87 to 86, but I don't want to try that."
Do you like where you're at on the defensive end at this point in the season?
"On the defensive end, we're obviously further ahead. Offensively, we're getting better, when you add Khris to the lineup. I think some of our other guys have gotten better offensively. But again, when you're talking about playing Florida versus some of the opponents we've played the last couple of weeks, you really don't know exactly where you are. It's hard to determine. We'll find out a lot on Saturday."
You've kind of cut the rotation down, are you getting a better feel for that?
"I think we played 8 or 9 just recently, and 9 is a pretty good number to have to rotate in and out. Foul trouble, you get into 10. I like how we had it the other day, but again we weren't in foul trouble and we had a comfortable lead. We need another perimeter guy to step up and we need Kourtney to get healthy, especially for the grind of the Big 12."
Talk about the challenge defensively that Florida will present, especially their success at the 3-point line...
"Yeah, they're very dangerous in transition. They have a very good post player in Patric Young. That's why they're ranked so high. You look at their two losses, one was at Syracuse by just a couple of points, and at Ohio State. Two of the top 3 or 4 teams in the country. It's going to be difficult. We've got to get back on transition defense and limit them easy buckets in transition. We have to keep everything in front of us and hope we can get to their shooters a little bit and hope they miss. They're that explosive offensively."
Talk about Keith Davis' progress...
"Keith has really stepped up and bought into his role. Keith has been a great addition for us, because on the defensive end he wants to play defense. He wants to rotate and block shots and help and do a good job on ball screens. And then offensively, he doesn't really want to score, so that makes those other four guys a little more comfortable playing with him. Because they all want to score. So him buying in to a role has helped us. If we get everyone buying in to a role like he has, we will be a much better team."
Why do you think Florida's big guys have such good shooting percentages?
"They get a lot of dunks. They're very athletic, very big, and they run the floor extremely well. The shots that the guards do miss around the basket they seem to clean up. Patric Young will be a first-round pick somewhere down the line. He's only a sophomore but he's a force inside."