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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 11, 2015Toddrick GotcherNorense OdiaseMike SmithRobert TurnerKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI Texas – 65 THE MODERATOR: We are ready to begin with the Red Raiders of Texas Tech, Coach Tubby Smith, and his three student‑athletes tonight will be Toddrick Gotcher, Norense Odiase and Robert Turner. Coach, we will call on you first for an opening comment. COACH SMITH: Well, we want to just congratulate Texas, obviously played extremely well there during that stretch in the second half when they came out. We thought we were playing fairly well, but they turned it up another notch and Rick Barnes and his staff had his team ready to play. I'm really proud of these guys, our players, they competed extremely hard tonight and came up short. Q. Toddrick, do you think y'all had any breakdowns when Texas went on that run or did they just go off? TODDRICK GOTCHER: Yes, I believe we had a lot of breakdowns, it started off with rebounding. We didn't rebound the ball well. They got a lot of second‑chance points and you gotta give 'em credit for what they did. Q. Norense, in the first half, Texas shot threes and in the second half they went down low, what were you seeing? NORENSE ODIASE: They made an emphasis to get it into their big guy and we just tried to battle and get it in front of them. Q. Rob, what have these past two years meant to you playing on this team? ROBERT TURNER: It really meant a lot and I learned a lot, and I will take it with me as I continue my journey into the future. It was a great opportunity to play for Coach Smith and the rest of his staff. And just to have this opportunity, like I said, has been a blessing. Q. Toddrick, what have you learned from Rob and how do you plan to implement those lessons next season? TODDRICK GOTCHER: I learned leadership and toughness. I look up to Rob and he means a lot to me. When he came in, I was excited and he is so tough and a great player. So hopefully in the future, I'll get them aspects, also. Q. Norense, what have you learned this season and what do you hope to see next season? NORENSE ODIASE: Work hard. Everybody works hard but you've got to do the little things, extra things, put in more time in the gym, just listen to the coaches and play your game and play confident. Next season we've got to get better in every aspect of the game. We can't get beat like this all the time. The guys we got back, our core, we're ready for it. Q. Rob, what have you seen from the freshman this season and what do you expect from them next year? ROBERT TURNER: This is a strong foundation, I look for them to come back stronger than ever. This is a great group of guys. I've had a great time watching them grow throughout the season and I can't wait to see the progress next year. This was a learning experience and I don't think anybody is ready for what the Red Raiders have to bring next year. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. We will call on Coach. Q. Coach, what do you think of your guys' fight down the stretch in this game? COACH SMITH: I thought we competed extremely hard. I thought Rob laid it on the line. He's a guy that‑‑ he's been the catalyst to us‑‑ he was our first recruit when we got to Texas Tech and he tried to do his best in the second half, kept us in the game there early in the second half when we couldn't get a rebound. But this group is relatively‑‑ well, they're very young, especially the five freshman, the four that play. And with Justin Gray not being here, we missed his leadership among the freshman, among the team, but especially among the freshman. I am glad he was here with us today. We have a lot to build on, and that's why I was happy to hear them say. I was happy to hear Rob and Norense and Toddrick say that they believe and they trust in what we're trying to get them to do. Q. How much did it hurt with Zach having two early fouls in the first half? COACH SMITH: It hurt, but we battled back, 4‑point game at halftime, getting good stops and sometimes the ball wasn't really bouncing our way. It got pretty physical during that stretch when they sort of dominated the boards. If we could have gotten more out of D‑Will, another scoring‑‑ we needed another scoring punch and someone else to step up and make some shots. But, again, we did some good things, penetration, but then we get to the basket and didn't find the open guy and tried to take a tough shot. Q. Are there any building blocks you take from this game specifically over to next season that you can build off of? COACH SMITH: Just the kids' attitude. All year long we have been outmanned a lot, they have never given up, they have come to work extremely hard in practice. For the most part, each individual player has lived up to what our expectations are. We need to get them to overachieve and that's something if you're going to play at this level and win at this level, everybody is good. Everybody says are you going to be able to take it to the next level and the only way you can do that is to train and prepare the proper way. Q. What did you learn from this season? COACH SMITH: I tell you what‑‑ I learned that‑‑ I learned a lot about just‑‑ me, trying to‑‑ you've got to be yourself and sometimes when you have a young team you tend to be a little less‑‑ you try to be patient, but sometimes that can be taken as a weakness. By that I mean players, just like a little kid, if you don't discipline them properly and make them do things in practice the proper way‑‑ not that you take things for granted, but then again you do. Your games are coming so fast and you're trying to keep guys healthy, you know they're getting mentally drained and physically because they're young. The fundamentals may not be as‑‑ may not work on them as hard as you should. I learned that the fundamentals are most important and if you don't practice it every day and if you don't stress certain things every day the slippage will happen. Q. I saw that Justin Gray was here and was off his crutches. Do you know how he is doing? COACH SMITH: He's doing well. I don't know how‑‑ probably be Maybefore he will start. That brace, he still has to have that brace. I think he's at a 40‑degree angle, 30 degrees. He can bend the knee now. But he's a hard worker and very dedicated, so I know his rehab is going well. It's going well. He is there at practice every day on the sidelines, doing his exercises. So he's‑‑ I really like ‑‑ and I really think if we had him this year, it would have been a different‑‑ maybe we wouldn't have won as many games, but I'd like to think he would help us win a few more games. Q. Coach, college basketball has been criticized for being low scoring and going the wrong way. If there is one thing that you could do to improve the game, make it better in the future, what might that be? COACH SMITH: Basketball should be a game of finesse and John Wooden said that and it's turned into a real physical play. I think you gotta clean up the game and call it. A foul is a foul. I think it will open up some things. We probably need to make some changes on the court. I'm in favor of widening the lane and putting the three point line back because a lot of that has been part of it, space the floor a little bit better. All those things will help. Man the shot clock. I think all of those things will help the game improve in a lot of ways, especially, and I think the scoring will go back up. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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