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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: DALLASMarch 15, 2018Chris BeardKeenan EvansNiem StevensonZhaire SmithDallas, Texas Texas Tech - 70, Stephen F. Austin - 60 CHRIS BEARD: First of all, I just want to congratulate Stephen F. Austin for a great season. They were everything we thought they would be and more. Kyle Keller is a great coach. They've got good players. They've got a program is what they have. You go back to Danny Kaspar and certainly Brad Underwood, and now Kyle has taken it to another level. They just forced us into so many things and took away things, but I just wanted to congratulate them on a good season, and I know Kyle is just getting started building the program there. For our guys, we knew we were going to have to play great to win this game because we knew how good Stephen F. Austin was. I'm really pleased for our players that we advanced to the second round, beating a team that we had nothing but respect for. Q. Keenan, on the alley oop that you threw to Zhaire in the first half, the 360, it looked like you almost changed your mind before you threw it to him. Can you take us through what you saw from him? KEENAN EVANS: I actually was about to throw it to Zach at first, and then the defender went to Zach, and then Zhaire had back cut, so I just threw it to him, and he did his thing. Q. Keenan, I know you had a lot of emotion after that game. What was it like just to finally get that first NCAA Tournament win and just kind of really -- cement a legacy here as a senior? KEENAN EVANS: It felt great. Last time we were here, we didn't get the job done. And for us to get the first one out of the way is a really good feeling, and I feel like all we can do is improve the rest of the way. Q. Zhaire, on that dunk, on that 360 alley oop, what was going through your mind? ZHAIRE SMITH: I was about to catch it, and I just 360'd. And I surprised myself. Q. Keenan, just talk a little bit about first half versus second half. It seems to have been a trend all season long. It seems like either you catch your second wind or just kind of the difference between those two halves for you? KEENAN EVANS: I honestly don't know. I guess I just get aggressive later in the game, and it's something that I have to do for my team. I've got to get to the line, make plays, and just try to bring us to a win. Yeah, as the time winds down, I've got to get more aggressive and more aggressive. Q. You guys took 10 threes in the first half, but only six in the second half. How did you feel like you adjusted as started driving on them? KEENAN EVANS: We had to go to man to five, and we had to be aggressive. That's one of the things. We got probably not even 10 free throws in the first half. And one of our big deals is get to the free-throw line, and not only were we jacking up threes in the first half, we were missing threes when we were shooting them. So it was an adjustment to drive the ball more. Q. Keenan, was it about as intense and frenetic a game as you've played in, and how physically and mentally exhausting was that? KEENAN EVANS: Definitely. I wasn't ready for it to end. And like Coach said, they were everything we saw in film and watching them play. It was very intense, very emotional, and I'm just glad we came out with the win. Q. Zhaire, what was it like playing in front of essentially a home crowd while playing in the NCAA Tournament? ZHAIRE SMITH: It was a blessing to play here. I got the fans behind us, and that motivated me and gave me energy to play harder. Q. Talk about they came out in the second half, really started -- I think they hit their first six shots in the second half. What defensive adjustments did y'all make at that point to cut them down the rest of the way? NIEM STEVENSON: Just being aggressive. That's our motto right there, just being aggressive on both ends of the floor. We had to play better one-on-one defense, and that's how we got it done. Q. Niem, just obviously it was a game of runs, especially at the end of that one. Keenan had a nice little run there, but you had a nice, little steal that allowed him to get that fourth point and really kind of propelled you. Just the defense that you played, what did you feel you did differently or the whole team did differently to kind of get you guys on that run and sustain possessions? NIEM STEVENSON: Just being aggressive, and I'm not going to lie, I was trying to get it back. I just missed the lay-up. I was like, yeah, let me get that back. So you know, just heart. So that's what we all had. Q. Chris, how much do you think it changed the complexion of the game when Bogues got his leg cramps and Hoyfield got four fouls? Do you think that changed them at all? CHRIS BEARD: Yeah, I'm sure from Kyle's perspective when you lose one of your better players and he was playing so aggressive, absolutely. I think foul trouble in the first half kind of put us in the same situation, but yeah, I would think that Kyle would tell you that affected them because he's a really good player that was playing so aggressive. We were game planning for him every time-out. Q. Coach, you were running the high horn set a lot in the second half. What were you trying to get out of that? CHRIS BEARD: A basket. (Laughter). No, Stephen F. Austin plays pressure defense. We put it in the same category as West Virginia in our conference or South Carolina in our non-conference schedule, so it's important to get the ball into play. You can do that individually, a guy V-cutting or in and out or back cutting, but then sometimes you've got to get some X's and O's involved to just make the first pass, and the horn set was good to us in the second half. Q. You've already talked about the respect that you had for SFA, but when you look at these seedings, they're definitely not a 14 seed, are they? CHRIS BEARD: No, they're a really good team. Look, they passed the eye test. Make sure I get this right, I've watched so much film, but they beat LSU. They lose to Missouri by one point. They've won true road games at places like Louisiana Tech. They had a great run in their conference, which to me being a Texas guy, I understand how good the Southland Conference is and how good the coaching is. It's probably the most underrated conference, good basketball, good coaches. They do what's to me the toughest thing to do in all of sports, and that's to win your conference tournament after you've had a great season. I think it's more pressure filled in Game 7 of the NBA Finals or the Super Bowl. I've never participated in those, but when I was at Little Rock, we had a special season, and it gets down to that championship game of your conference tournament, and you have to win it to advance. And it's a different level of pressure and stress. So just the fact that Stephen F. Austin did that, that's all I needed to know personally about how tough this team was. So I think they're a really good basketball team, and we're just pleased to win the game. I've got a lot of respect for their players and their coach. Q. I know you mentioned this to be a game of runs. You guys had that run at the end with the defensive stop and then Zhaire had that nice little V cut in there to get the dunk. What did you see from your team knowing that they had to kind of grit your way to a grind-it-out victory? CHRIS BEARD: Yeah. I was really proud of that ending. That's something we've been working on for two years. Finish was our motto. Last year when our season ended sooner than any of us would have wanted, we regrouped, and we just decided that the thing has got to be finished because we were so close last year. So finishing doesn't just mean close games. It means finishing the semester academically or finishing in the weight room your last couple reps or finishing individual workouts, basically just a mindset to finish. Like in football, the whole fourth quarter deal, we wanted to finish. And tonight on the biggest stage, the biggest game of the season, I thought we did a great job finishing the game late. We had different players do it. Keenan Evans is a great player. And everything he gets, he deserves, but we're a team. And tonight when it's the Justin Gray pass or the Brandone Francis corner three or the Zach Smith block, it's just great to see our plan, a team win, where everybody embraces the idea of finishing. I thought we were a confident team late, and I thought our coaching staff did a great job keeping it positive, as well. Q. You guys didn't take your first lead of the second half until around three minutes left, and obviously you busted it open the last few minutes. Can you just explain what SFA was doing that was so efficient defensively throughout the whole second half, and what was just so, I guess, an annoyance just hanging around and being able to be productive? CHRIS BEARD: Yes, sir. I think I can answer that. They're one of the best defensive teams in college basketball. They really are. Their turnover margin I think is No. 1. I know we were telling our guys all week long, they cause more turnovers or the differentials more than West Virginia. That got our guys' attention. I can step up there and talk all night, and I don't know if they'd listen or not, but when I say, hey, these guys make you turn it over like West Virginia, they listen. So yeah, I just think it was them playing their game. They've been doing that all year, whether it be their non-conference win, their successful run through the Southland Conference, winning a championship in a conference tournament. They are just a good defensive team. They do it in different ways. They'll trap. They'll deny. They press. And above all, it's just discipline. It's a Kyle Keller team. They're not going to make mistakes. They're hard. They're tough. We're pleased to get this win. I would agree with the first question, that's not a 14 seed. That's one of the best teams I think in college basketball this year. Q. Brandone hadn't hit a couple threes in the last game, hitting some open shots. That three he hit tonight, how big was that not just for him but for the momentum? CHRIS BEARD: Yeah, first I think we've got to talk about the pass. They trapped the ball out of Keenan's hands. I think we made the extra. Then we made the extra. The spacing was good. I was really pleased tonight. I think we had 25 baskets, and we had 14 assists, so 14 assists on 25 baskets on 14 passes. That's the way we want to play. That's balanced. That's a little bit of motion, but more importantly just spacing. And then Brandone has worked hard to earn the right to make that shot. Brandone is a guy in our 300 club. He makes 300 every day, seven days a week. I think you've got to give our student managers and the assistants, the guys that put in the long hours following rebound on the ball. But that's a team thing when a guy makes a shot like that, but I was proud of Brandone Francis. Q. As long as Keenan has been around here in college and suffering through turf toe and ankle sprains, how much do you feel like he kind of epitomizes college basketball? CHRIS BEARD: I think he's definitely a part of it, and I would put Carter from West Virginia and Graham from Kansas. That's no disrespect to Graham. He's a great player. But I think Keenan would have been the Big 12 Player of the Year. I believe that. If I didn't believe that, then I shouldn't be coaching at Texas Tech. But this guy is a special player, and I think his story is he's not a McDonald's All-American. He's not even a top 100 guy, and he just gets to school, and he gets to working. I think you've got to give Tubby Smith and his staff and Joe and Vince and Pooh and those guys credit too. They laid the foundation. I have to give our staff some credit. And then above all, you've got to give Keenan Evans credit. This guy has willed himself into one of the best players in college basketball. I think the one and done and the great players, that is a part of college basketball. Those guys deserve it because they are so talented, but I think the Keenan Evans story, the Jevon Carter story, the Devonte' Graham story, these guys are just special. These are guys that just continue to get better. I just love coaching him. I just don't want it to end. I want to coach that guy another day. It is like when you go to a good movie and you know it's getting towards the end, but you are loving the movie so much, you want it to go a little bit farther. Or you've got a good plate of enchiladas and you're looking at it, and you only have two bites left, but it's so good, you turn it into three bites. I want it to keep lasting. I'm so glad we get to go back to the hotel, and I get to coach these guys another day. I can't wait until tomorrow to prepare and certain Saturday a chance to play again. But guys like Keenan make this job great, and this is all about the players. And we've got good players. Q. What did you think about the beginning of the game and your team's mindset and mentality in the early portion of the game? CHRIS BEARD: I thought our young guys looked a little bit star struck on this stage. That's understandable. I thought our veterans did a good job kind of calming them down. We had good productive time-outs. Patience is not one of my strengths, pretty emotional guy. But I thought that the coaching staff did a great job with me to kind of prepare me, long game, long game, let's hang in there. So it wasn't our best of starts, but you've got to give Stephen F. Austin credit. I hate the guy that sits up here and talks about we didn't play well and never talks about the opponent. We didn't start the game well because Stephen F. Austin is a really good team, and they took some things away from us. But we did calm down. To be in the game at halftime, that is all you ask for in this tournament. It's a long game. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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