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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 14, 2019

Kansas City, Missouri

Iowa State 83, Baylor 66

THE MODERATOR: Okay, we are ready to begin with our first news conference of the day with the Cyclones of Iowa State. Head coach, Steve Prohm, two student-athletes, Marial Shayok and Talen Horton-Tucker. Coach, we'll call on you first for your thoughts on today's victory.

STEVE PROHM: This was obviously a great atmosphere. This is the elite conference tournament. You know, I've coached for a long time, but I love coming over here the last four years. Our fan base obviously travels incredibly well, unbelievable venue. But it was a great win for us. Obviously wish Baylor all the success in the world as they go on to the NCAA Tournament, but this was a really good win for our team. I thought we really competed. We kept the rebounding to -5. That was our goal. We didn't know if we could win it, but if we kept it in a reasonable range we thought we had a good chance. Then we did a good job outside of the initial thrust defending the 3-point line and that was the biggest two keys to the game. Our core guys played well. Tyrese made shots. Lindell off the bench, but collectively our team was bought in and competed the right way.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for our athletes?

Q. Talen, can you talk about your game and how you got it going early? Good to see that a couple go down early?
TALEN HORTON-TUCKER: I would say my teammates feeding me the ball, having that confidence in me is a big thing for me as a freshman and with them passing the ball and having the faith in me to knock down those shots is big. I credit them for everything they did for me this year and so far up to this point.

Q. For either one of you, thoughts of the next game, either a chance to redeem yourselves against TCU or a chance for a rubber game against K-State?
MARIAL SHAYOK: Both opponents are pretty tough. We've got to bring our A game from here on out, the rest of the season. So whatever wins we're going to get right tonight and lock in on the scout.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, gentlemen. Congratulations. Questions for Coach?

Q. Coach, the opportunity in the next round, you went to K-State each one on the other's home court and then you got swept by TCU which is not normal for you guys. Your thoughts about the next round?
STEVE PROHM: We're glad to be there. We'll watch this game this afternoon and the assistant who has the scout he has both teams prepared and we will go back to my room and whichever team wins start preparing for them. I thought we were detailed today. We had several days to prepare for Baylor so obviously that helped. As you get further in the tournament play with the quick turnarounds you don't have as much time to process it to your kids so you gotta go off your habits and be fundamentals. Both teams present different problems, obviously TCU beat us twice. We didn't defend them the right way and then Kansas State, they were able to slow the game down at our place and at their place we were able to get the lead and make the game at a little bit faster pace.

But obviously both teams are really good and congratulations to K-State on winning the regular season, but it will be a great atmosphere, semifinal tournament, Big 12, it will be a lot of fun.

Q. Coach, I think in the first couple of games against Baylor y'all were like 15-41 from three. What was the difference today? Was it creating stuff? Knocking down open jumpers? What was it?
STEVE PROHM: You know, when you make shots life is a lot better. That's just the reality of it. In some games you can break down to really the Baylor game at our place last five possessions. Marial, the shots he made today he missed, a wide-open three in the corner. Babb missed one. Marial missed a layup and a 15 footer and you loose a possession game. When this team is making shots and competing the right way defensively it's a very good basketball team. When you get really those three guys Talen and Tyrese and Marial 12-23, we're going to be tough to beat if we compete the right way.

Q. How inspiring was that crowd out there? It was filled with Iowa State fans.
STEVE PROHM: Yeah, until you really get here there is really nothing like it. As a kid, you go to these conference tournaments and in college, you know, when I worked with a team in college you go to the conference tournaments, but until you come here and experience Iowa State basketball and Big 12 in Kansas City, it's really unreal. It's surreal. This is an 11:30 game on Thursday, so you can imagine what it's going to be like tomorrow night at 6. It's incredible. We showed our guys a hype video from a couple of seasons ago when we were here and just the pep rallies, the hotel. We've got an elite fan base that love their school and love their sports and have a lot of pride in their school. You can see it by the way they come out and support it.

Q. Do you think Baylor played better defense than maybe the numbers indicate? It looked like you guys had a lot of contested shots today.
STEVE PROHM: You know, I would have to look at the tape and see. Our biggest thing from an offensive standpoint is more just about us, are we playing in transition? Is the ball being moved the right way? Are we cutting the right way? Are we playing with the right pace? When you're getting stops to hold them to 66 is how long because it means you're getting stops and able to play in transition. Anytime you have an opportunity to play in transition, somebody's defense isn't going to be as good as they are when they're set up in the half-court. Obviously you've got to attack their zone a certain way and attack their man a certain way. We did a lot better job attacking their man today than we have in the two previous games. Some of their physicality in the past has bothered us.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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