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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 8, 2018Chris BeardTommy Hamilton IVKeenan EvansKansas City, Missouri Texas Tech - 73, Texas - 69 THE MODERATOR: We are joined now by the Red Raiders of Texas Tech, Coach Beard and his student-athletes, Tommy Hamilton and Keenan Evans. Coach, congratulations on your victory. CHRIS BEARD: Thanks, just really proud and happy for our players. It was one year ago we sat at this table and we said we were going to do everything we could in the next 364 days to put ourselves in a better position and we've done that. I think you've got to give our players all the credit, including these two guys to my right, two of our five seniors that have really, you know, had a special season. We just don't want it to end. We want to keep playing. I want to keep coaching these guys and I want to coach 'em two more times in Kansas City and six times in the NCAA tournament. We have a lot of respect for Texas. They're a tough team. They've overcome a lot of adversity this year with the injuries and I have a lot of respect for Shaka. They're an NCAA tournament team in my book and they're a great team with a great coach. Pleased to win for a lot of reasons and our respect for Shaka and Texas is at the top of that list. Q. Keenan, what did the five days of rest do for you this week to help you get back? How close are you to being at pretty normal condition as far as where you might have been earlier in the season? KEENAN EVANS: It was definitely a big help. Just staying in the training room with our trainer, Chris Williams. He stayed up there with me and didn't leave me up there by myself to ice by myself. It was big to sit out a little bit and rest it and it helped me come ready to play. Q. Are you almost back do you feel like? KEENAN EVANS: I'm getting there, man. I'm getting there. Q. Tommy, in terms of the aggressiveness you guys had with getting to the basket. I guess you had a couple of passes to Zhaire. How did that help you out, getting aggressive and spreading out the floor? TOMMY HAMILTON IV: Zhaire is one of my favorite targets. I love when he goes backdoor and we make those things happen. We came out with a game plan, and we wanted to attack them and that's what we followed through with. Q. Keenan, when you guys were up 1, what did Coach tell in you terms of the huddles after that timeout and what did y'all do that helped y'all get there? KEENAN EVANS: He questioned us and asked us do we want to win? We were in the same position last year. This is your senior year. You haven't won in the Big 12 tournament. Are y'all going to get stops and rebounds? And we did it. Q. Keenan, what did you see from Jarrett in those first couple minutes where he was all over the place, 7 points and 6 rebounds? KEENAN EVANS: He was doing it all. He was doing everything we needed him to do and more. We looked for him to make big shots and he did and we looked for him to rebound down by Tommy and Norense and getting good box outs, and he did everything we needed him to do. Q. Keenan, what's going through your mind when you saw Texas start off cold 3-16 and 0-9 from the three. Is it tempting to let them keep shooting from so far out? KEENAN EVANS: No, we didn't want to give them horse shots. We wanted to contest all of them and we wanted to convert on the offensive end while they weren't making shots, and we knew they weren't going to shoot like that all night. So we tried to take advantage while we could. Q. Keenan, Coach talked about putting this team in a better position than a year ago when you were at this tournament. How would you sum up the confidence level of this team to possibly win this tournament? KEENAN EVANS: High, high confidence. We got everybody back. We're getting healthier by the day. We all know what we can do and what we're capable of and we're trying to play together and play for one another and we know that this is our last go-round. So we're just trying to make the most of it. Q. For Tommy and Keenan, Tommy first, when Zhaire made that LeBron play as he lacks likes to call it, how much of a swing was that for you guys momentumwise. It seemed like everybody kicked it up on defense? TOMMY HAMILTON IV: That's one thing we practice on. I don't know if you saw me, but I was sprinting back, too. CHRIS BEARD: You were? TOMMY HAMILTON IV: Yeah, and that's something we get from Z all the time, something that makes him special and he has bought into and that's what separates him from most of the other freshman in the country. Q. Did you see him running and what was that like when you saw him make that play? KEENAN EVANS: It's great. I remember when he first got here in the summer he was making those plays. So that's what we expect of him. Jarrett got ahead and slowed him down for Z and he made that play and it gets us going, energizes the bench and everybody on the court and kind of stopped them from going on the run that they were on. Q. Keenan, just looking back on it, getting this first win in the conference tournament, what does it mean to y'all? Coach said he was challenging you to win this game. What was it like to know you met the challenge he gave you? KEENAN EVANS: Feels good. It's still a long road. We got another one tomorrow, so we've got to not get too high and too low and get on to the next one. TOMMY HAMILTON IV: I'm just happy to be a part of this with these guys, you know, man. My career never meant that much to me, but, you know, it's kind of hard to deny it being around them and being in the locker room with them. It's just fun. Q. Obviously, Young went off for a lot of the game. What did you guys do to stop him the last couple three minutes because he didn't score after he hit a really big hoop? KEENAN EVANS: During timeout Coach was like who was going to step up and take that challenge and I told him I would. So I was trying to get on him and make it as tough as I could and was trying to make it as hard for him as I could and stop him from being the high guy. Q. Keenan, I was curious what was the scouting report on Jacob Young averaging 5 points a game? KEENAN EVANS: We knew he was streaky and could turn into a big-time shooter. We just lost a couple and slipped up on some stuff and he got hot and he just kept going. They kept feeding him. THE MODERATOR: Guys, thank you for coming. Congratulations. Questions for Coach Beard? Q. Chris, that stretch at the end where Keenan gave you a little breathing room first with that 18-foot jump shot then the free throws. Was that the Evans that you have seen all year long up until the injury and how good was it to see that guy again after the second half against TCU? CHRIS BEARD: He's one of the best players I've every coached. I think he's one of the best in the Big 12 that translates to him being one of the best players in college basketball. It's not just his talent. It's his courage. He wants to be in those moments. He wants the ball in those moments and it's been a maturation process for him. Started playing for Tubby and took a lot of bumps, helped them get to the NCAA tournament as a sophomore. Last year he was a leader, All-Conference player, doubled up his numbers and now this year he's one of the best players in college basketball. Tonight, we've been in these situations before. He has the ability and the courage to take games over. Q. You'll either face Baylor or West Virginia two entirely different styles of game, but you've split with both. Do you have a preference? CHRIS BEARD: No, just -- this league is so good, you guys have seen it, every game has been a 1-possession game in this tournament so far. No, there's a lot of things that I am looking forward to, but playing against another Big 12 team is not one of them. We have extreme respect for West Virginia and Coach Huggins, and Baylor and Coach Drew, two teams that are going be in the NCAA tournament. So I'm not looking forward to playing either one of them, but I'm looking forward to competing again in this tournament. Q. First time you guys have made a semifinal since 2005. I wonder if you could reflect on that accomplishment and also what it might mean for you next week as a way to prepare for the NCAA. CHRIS BEARD: I was here in 2005 working for Coach Knight and we had some success in this tournament, played a change-up game against Coach Sutton and Oklahoma State. When you build a program there's going to be a lot of firsts. You've got to do things that haven't been done before and those are things to reflect on after the season which we definitely will and right now we are just trying to stay in the moment. I respect the question. I would give the guys all the credit. These guys have a chip on their shoulder and they're trying to do things that have never been done before at Texas Tech. I am really appreciative and thankful to be a part of the ride with these players. Q. What would you do as far as preparation for NCAA next week? CHRIS BEARD: That's a good question. In your nonconference schedule and your conference schedule you prepare for everything. In the Big 12 we're fortunate enough to be part of the Big Monday from time-to-time. So it's just like the NCAA tournament situation, Thursday, Saturday, Friday, Sunday. These situations, back-to-backs, we've been here before in our multi-team tournament at Connecticut. We played Boston College and Northwestern in a similar situation. We will remind the guys of that. We've prepared for that. There is nothing that could pop up in March whether in our schedule or in practice, and it's ultimately our jobs as coaches is to prepare our guys. So even though tomorrow will be a tough game against a great opponent, in a lot of ways we're prepared for this back-to-back situation. Q. Chris, I think Texas had four stars with ten points. I was curious if you defend them different. Are they a little bit more unorthodox and they're not that accurate of a shooting team? CHRIS BEARD: They're a dangerous team. It starts with their overall talent level. You've got in my opinion three guys that could get drafted this year. They're really, really good players. As with all teams we have really good players, sometimes you can't take the coaching for granted, but I've been doing this a long time. I don't think I'm better than anybody else, but I promise you nobody watches more film than me and nobody loves basketball more than me. Shaka can really coach. A game like today when Jacob goes off that's not just Jacob, that's Shaka instilling confidence in that guy and he's given him the ability to take big shots all season long. Today that paid off for him. Certainly they're a tough team. If you want to stop the said the three-ball can get you and if you want to stop the three-ball, the inside guys can post up. I think as they continue to get healthy, and Bamba didn't have his legs today. We all know he is a much better player than he played today although he played really good. I think they're a team that can make a real run in the tournament. THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much. We'll see you tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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