Monday, December 19, 2011 - Reed Arena - College Station, Texas
Team Snapshot
Record: 8-2
Streak: Lost 1
Ranking: RV (AP), RV (USAT/ESPN)
Last Week: lost to (#13) Florida (N), 84-64 (MetroPCS Orange Bowl Classic)
This Week: Thursday vs Rice (7-3 entering game Monday vs Temple), 7:05 p.m. CT (FOX Sports Southwest)
Watch the entire press conference soon on www.aggieathletics.com.
HEAD COACH BILLY KENNEDY
"We're trying to get back and bounce back after getting hit pretty hard against Florida, especially the first half. Today's going to be a defensive day obviously. When you give up 50 points in the first half it's very difficult to win. I know we need to score points but I was really disappointed in how we defended Florida for the first 20 minutes of the game. They're very difficult to guard, but you can't give up 50 points (in a half) and expect to have a chance to beat Florida in Florida."
What was most disappointing defensively?
"Just the things we had worked on-defending ball screens, having our post guys step up, and containing dribble penetration a little bit better. And they are very good and it was a tough matchup for us, but the things we worked on didn't carry over into the game, especially the first 10 minutes. That was difficult to see. There are going to be games where you don't make shots and you don't get many opportunities to score, but you better be good defensively. And that's what we're going to base our program on here."
What was the difference in the second half versus the first half?
"There were two differences-one, I think we got used to playing at that level of competition. I thought our guys were a little more focused coming out...we knew what they were doing and we adjusted. And two, I thought Florida didn't play as well in the second half. Not to take anything away from what we were doing, but they didn't execute as well as they did in the first half. They had seven threes in the first half and some were uncontested, and in the second half they didn't score as well and didn't press as much. We handled their pressure a little bit better than we did in the first half."
When you have two halves like that what do you come back and focus on, the first one and improving on it or the second one and building on it?
"Well, we've got to get it to where we have a program with a defensive mindset as a team, and not just two or three individuals. That's what we want to try and emphasize today, and then we'll have more balanced practices the next two days. We want to make a point that we can't give up 50 points in a half and expect to win against good teams."
What good did you take out of the game?
"We were able to get the ball inside some, and we played a smaller lineup the second half-which is probably most effective against Florida and the way they play. The Murphy kid shoots the ball so well on the perimeter, and our bigger post guys have had problems going out on the floor defending in those situations. I think we hadn't had to do that this year and we haven't had the opportunity to do that, because Khris has only played two games. I thought that's an effective lineup for us offensively and sometimes defensively. But you hope you don't have to do that, because you put four guys on the bench that will never get a chance to play if you play small."
Talk about the challenges Rice will present on Thursday...
"Rice will create some challenges because of the big kid they have (Arsalan Kazemi), one of the better big kids we've played against. He's averaging 12.5 rebounds and 14 points a game. They've got good size. It will be a challenge to see how we bounce back, to see what kind of maturity we have in how we bounce back before the holidays."
Do you feel like this is a loss that may motivate your team and be something you can use to keep the team from getting ahead of itself?
"No, I don't know if losing helps you a whole lot most of the time. We're going to choose to take the positives out of what we got out of the second half. We got some good shots the first five minutes in that stretch where they went up 9 to 1. I was worried at first that we shot it too quick, but we had an open 3 by Elston (Turner) and Khris and David had decent looks. We're not a catch-up team. We don't have the kind of athleticism where we're going to score off our defense or are that explosive offensively. So we have to stay within 10 to give ourselves a chance."
You're 8-2 with a chance to go 10-2 through non-conference play. Was that where you expected to be? Or better or worse?
"We would have liked to have won one more game for sure. Mississippi State and Florida both jumped on us pretty quick and we weren't able to catch up. Not having Khris and not having Kourtney in practice...we're still trying to catch up. I just think we're not where we want to be on both ends of the floor, and you don't know that sometimes until you play the caliber of team like Florida. You can hide some things when you're playing lesser opponents, but we've got a ways to go. We'd definitely love to be 10-2 finishing out the year before conference play."