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TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEJanuary 12, 2013Dejan KravicJamal Williams, Jr.KANSAS – 60 Q. You had three free throws to be down against the number six team in the country. How good were you feeling since going into that half? JAMAL WILLIAMS Jr.: Since the beginning of the game, we had confidence and faced a little adversity, but the three free throws kept us focused coming into the second half and playing even harder. Q. You guys knew they were going to make a run. Where did you think it got away from you a little bit there? JAMAL WILLIAMS JR: In the second, half I felt like we got too comfortable, and they noticed we got comfortable, and that's when we took the first punch. Q. You were very aggressive in the early going. What kept you right there for the first 20 minutes? DEJAN KRAVIC: The big man is obviously an offensive threat T they're going to have two people there and try to keep him away from the ball. And on offense, the focus is to be patient on offense. Just pass the ball around until we see what our best option is, and that's what we did in the first half. Q. For you guys, a young team gaining experience, what does this do for you knowing that for a long time you've had such a tough squad? DEJAN KRAVIC: We're happy with how we played for 25 minutes of the game. But it's a step in the right direction, but we're still not satisfied. So we've just got to keep building and building from here. We can't take a step backwards. We have to keep moving forwards. It starts next practice and the next game against Oklahoma? Q. Jamal, did you know you were going to need a spark to step up today? JAMAL WILLIAMS JR: Yes, I knew once we found out about Trency's situation, I knew I had to take the next step up and show them that I could bring the energy also, and we still could be a team. Even though he's not with us, we're still a family, and that's always going to be a brother to us. Q. Was your play physical underneath? Did you think that would work against that big man? DEJAN KRAVIC: Yeah, that's the only way you can. If you don't play physical against him, he's blocking every shot. And there were times in the second half where I faded away from him and just missed easy shots. But the objective was just to go at him, just go at him and try getting him in the air to try to get him to foul you. That was our objective in the first half. Just take it inside and be aggressive. If you're not aggressive, he's blocking it. Q. Why was Young a bigger factor in the second half than in the first half? DEJAN KRAVIC: I thought he brought a lot of energy in the second half. Going through the media timeout, he had four or six straight points. He was just playing more aggressive, driving to the basket. It caused us to come and help. And once you miss one shot, you miss it whether you got a put back. He brought a lot of energy to the team. He got them going. I thought he was a person that got them going. Q. Jamal, this is the toughest game that Ben McLemore has had in college. What did you do defensively to contribute to that? JAMAL WILLIAMS JR: We came together and we all communicated. We wanted to down the screens. We knew that if we force them to the baseline, they would have had to make a tough decision. So what I did was be aggressive with them. I played a down. I didn't let him get comfortable. I kept him out of his comfort zone. Q. You guys were hovering around 9‑ or 10‑point deficit, and they kind of hit two at the end of the shot clock, first start is the three, and Johnson hit a runner. How deflating was that that you guys played the possession so well, and then that kind of just had you blown away after that? DEJAN KRAVIC: I thought it was defining, actually. I remember I was under the basket, and I looked at the shot. There were two seconds left, and I saw we were playing great defense and playing great defense for the whole shot. And then for that shot to go in, that hurt a lot. Kind of brought it down, I think. I don't even know what happened after that, actually. But those shots that they made at the end of the shot clock and the transition buckets, I think that's what hurt us. I was getting 13 turnovers in the first half. I think just turnovers and transition buckets really killed us? Q. Jamal, when you're preparing for the game and you look at tape of McLemore, how impressive was he on tape? JAMAL WILLIAMS JR: He's a great player. I like the fact that I got a chance to play against him. During film, I knew he was going to have a good game, so I just anticipated him. I tried to be a step ahead of him, tried to think it through each time and read what he was going to do. Some plays he made good plays and we defended? Q. Do you think he'll be on TV for a lot of years from now? JAMAL WILLIAMS JR: Oh, yeah, he'll be successful. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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