	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 8, 2017

Kansas City, Missouri

Texas - 61, Texas Tech - 52

THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by Texas Tech, Coach Chris Beard. His student-athlete with us tonight is Matthew Temple. Coach, an opening statement?

CHRIS BEARD: Just answering questions.

Q. Matt, playwise did Texas do anything differently in the last ten minutes, or did their shots just start to fall?
MATTHEW TEMPLE: Credit to Texas. They started to knock down shots and make some plays, but they executed in the last 10 minutes of the game and we didn't. That was kind of the bottom line.

Q. Matt, obviously a couple lower scoring performances from the offenses to wrap up the season. What do you think was the difference offensively especially in the second half tonight?
MATTHEW TEMPLE: Like I said, lack of execution. Coach prepared us for when teams switch to zone or man and we've been preparing for that. It's just a lack of execution on our part. It's gotta get better.

THE MODERATOR: Okay, Matthew. We'll let you go back to the locker room. Questions for Coach Beard now?

Q. Coach, there's been so many close losses this season. What do you tell the guys after another one like this tonight?
CHRIS BEARD: There's only one team in college basketball that ends with a win. That's on a Monday night in April. So as disappointed as our ending is, the bottom line is it's an ending. So I choose to reflect on the positives. Starts with our five seniors. Got a lot of respect for those guys. Few of them endured a coaching change. That's tough, but they gave us everything they had this year and couple of them chose to spend their senior season at Texas Tech where they had other options.

So I will be forever indebted to those guys helping us get the program started. There will be a day in the near future where in this same tournament we're winning games and doing the press conference first and not second, and I'll think back to these five seniors that helped us lay the foundation this first year.

Q. Coach, what do you think the biggest difference was in the final 10 minutes of that game? Aside from them starting to get hot?
CHRIS BEARD: Bottom line is we have one guy on our team tonight that shoots 50%. That was Matt. We've got one guy on our team tonight that has more assists than turnovers. There is an individual component to basketball. I'm proud of our players, and they did great a lot of things this season, and the bottom line is when you get to March you have to have individual performances.

I think our players will be the first to tell you that. You have to give Texas credit, too. The sign of a well-coached team is a team that doesn't quit and Texas had every reason to lay it down the last few weeks to month, but they're obviously in this tournament to make some noise. Our guys came to win, too. But we just didn't play one of our better games tonight. You gotta make half your shots in tournament play. You've gotta get to the free throw line. We had nobody on our time that got more than 2 free throws tonight. But besides Matt Temple and maybe Millinghaus giving us some energy minutes, I don't think any of our individual players played well.

From a coaching standpoint, we'll take responsibility, too. I wish we could have done some more thing to help our guys. But the bottom line is, give a lot of credit to Texas.

Q. Over the season, where have you seen Keenan really improve and grow the most?
CHRIS BEARD: Well, I think with consistency, especially in Big 12 play he proved to be a guy that could get to double figures, shoot a good percentage. I think the good thing for our program and for Keenan and for Texas Tech fans is that there is a whole other ceiling for Keenan. We've got to get him better to where he plays well in the month of March, and I take responsibility for that. I take a lot of that responsibility. I look forward to really working with Keenan this off-season and summer as he hopefully establishes himself next year as one of the best players in the Big 12.

But we wouldn't have had the season we did without Keenan Evans, so I appreciate everything he's done this year.

Q. Coach, as you've gone through the season maybe you have had time to reflect, maybe just some take-aways that you have immediately from your first season here?
CHRIS BEARD: It always takes some time to reflect and you've gotta be careful to talk in times like this. It's the emotions more than intelligence. What I will say is that there's nobody that wants Texas Tech to win more than me. We're going to get it done here. We're going to establish ourselves. We're going to get better. Our returning players are going to get better and we're going to recruit, and I just want everybody to know that loves Texas Tech basketball like I do personally that this kind of season ending is unacceptable and the way we played today is unacceptable. So we will use this as the starting line. I look forward to greater things ahead, but the expectations of our program is to compete for championships, to compete in the NCAA Tournament and to play better in this tournament. So we will do everything we can in the next 364 days to try to improve.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297