TEXAS A&M BASKETBALL WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 - Reed Arena - College Station, Texas
Team Snapshot
Record: 10-7, 1-4 Big 12
Streak: Lost 1
Ranking: NR
Last Week: lost to Texas (A), 61-51 (1/11); def. Texas Tech (H), 67-54 (Sat.); lost to No. 5 Missouri (A), 70-51 (Mon.)
This Week: Saturday vs Oklahoma (H), 3 pm CT (Big 12 Network); Monday at No. 7 Kansas (A), 8 pm CT (ESPN)
HEAD COACH BILLY KENNEDY"Hope everyone is doing alright. We are still battling. I thought we played the way we needed to play the first 12 minutes of the first half, style of play, manage the game the right way. Then we got out of character and started throwing alley-oops, speeding the game up a bit, taking questionable shots and (making) turnovers that fueled a very good offensive team into putting it on us in the last 7 minutes of the first half. That's where we lost the game."
On not being able to get over the hump on second-half runs, never closing inside of 10 points...
"Well, when you're down 20 on the road against the No. 5 team in the country, you have to play so well to get over that hump. Again, I thought we came out and played the way we needed to play. We wanted to control the tempo, we wanted to manage the clock, make them guard us, go through Khris (Middleton) and get the ball inside. We were able to get some easy baskets in transition off our defense at the beginning of the half, but then we turned the ball over and it doesn't take much to get that team going. They're a very good team and very explosive offensively. You've got to play a lot smarter. (For example) Keith Davis took the ball out of bounds off the side, and he'd never taken the ball out of bounds for us. We've got to make better decisions than that. And we did cut it to 10 again, so it wasn't just that one possession. We just went through a stretch where we struggled scoring again. We got fatigued, Ratliffe hurt us, and I was disappointed how we guarded the ball screen at the top. But Missouri's got four shooters, it's really tough to play two post guys, and that's what we went with. They're a tough matchup to guard."
Can you take some of the good things you saw yesterday and build on them in preparation for Saturday and beyond?
"Yeah, I think so. We're starting to establish a style of play that works for this team. Our guard play has to be really good and manage the game better for us. We have to manage every possession from the bench. It makes it difficult to be really good but I think that's what we're going to have to do just to give ourselves a chance to win."
When you say you're starting to establish a style of play that works for this team, what exactly do you mean?
"I think we need to run when we get the opportunity to run, but we need to run clock and play a little bit slower. We need to run things through Khris and really try and get the ball inside to be effective, because we're really struggling with shooting the ball from the perimeter. We only had 5 assists yesterday, and 5 assists is not going to win many games. We're not making plays for other people. We just have to do a better job of managing those situations. We can't play as fast as we'd like to play, we just don't have the depth and we don't have the scoring power to do that."
How do you get your guys to the free throw line more often while minimizing the fouls you commit?
"Go inside and take power shots, and be able to beat somebody off the dribble. That's something we struggle doing. And make teams guard you. I think we shoot too quick sometimes and the wrong guys take the wrong shots. We have to make teams guard us. Not having enough assists and not getting to the free throw line usually means you're not beating people off the dribble. You're not making plays for other people. We need to get more athletic, and that's what we're trying to do beyond this year."
What kind of conditioning has Kourtney Roberson been able to do?
"He's traveling with us, he's working out on the bike with our strength coach, and lifting. He can't put a lot of pressure on his foot yet, running on it, but he's out the boot we look forward to getting him. That should help give us more size around the basket to where we can score more and maybe get fouled around the basket. I think in two weeks we'll have a better feel whether he's ready or not. We're hoping to get him back in the next 10 days to 2 weeks."
Have you crossed paths with Coach Kruger before?
"Yeah, I've known Coach Kruger since he was the head coach at Pan American. He's one of the better coaches in the country. He's coached at every level and won at every level, and is doing a really good job with this team. They had a really good player sitting out last year named (Romero) Osby, who can score and is really talented. They're getting decent guard play from a kid they recruited, so this is a better Oklahoma team than last year. He's doing a really good job getting the most out of them. Beating Kansas State at home the other day was a big win for them."
Do you think Khris is gaining more confidence as he recovers from his injury?
"He's definitely playing better and we're doing a better job of getting him the ball and running things for him, but he wears down quick. His conditioning is not where it needs to be. So we play him a few minutes, get him out, and try to get him back in. Our game plan the first 12 minutes was to try and get him the ball posting up some, running him off screens and him making post feeds. For the first 12 minutes we did a pretty good job of that, I think he had 8 points, and we were able to get the ball inside. I also thought Elston did a really good job. We played better with Elston at the 1."
What's your thought process seeing all the success that the Murray State program is having?
"It just gives me confidence that I know we're doing the right things. When you see a team that's undefeated and ranked 10th in the country, they're doing the same things we did last year. They've been groomed, they've been trained in a system over a four or five year period. Sometimes it takes that to get that going. They've got really good guards who can shoot, and that helps."