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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 14, 2019

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas State 70, TCU 61

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by the TCU Horned Frogs, head coach, Jamie Dixon, student-athletes today are Desmond Bane and Alex Robinson. Coach, we will call on you first for an opening statement.

JAMIE DIXON: Well, obviously a disappointing result for us. I mean, obviously we had the lead, played well early. Just seemed to be the more physical team, Kansas State. We weren't able to get it done, so congratulate them. We've been playing good basketball. Played well for the first half and did some good things, but eventually the turnovers got to us. Certainly proud of our guys. Proud of how we responded, how we played good basketball down the stretch, proud of 20 wins in a really tough conference, the toughest in the country. We've proved that we're a very good team. However, we've come up short against the top-10 teams, top-12 teams in the country in our league, Kansas State specifically and Texas Tech and Kansas. But otherwise we have played well. Disappointed to lose this game because I thought we had the opportunity to win it.

Q. For both of you, Coach mentioned the turnovers. What was K-State able to do defensively to get you guys out of rhythm?
ALEX ROBINSON: They do a really good job of rotating and playing the passing lane. I felt like they did a pretty good job of that.

Q. Do you have anything to add?
DESMOND BANE: Pretty much that's it.

Q. For both you guys, what allowed you to get back after I think they pushed it back out to 9, but you cut it back down to 5 or 3 with a couple minutes left to go?
DESMOND BANE: Just our resilience and fight. We got a lot of fight in us. I knew there was nobody quitting when they went on that run. We have been preaching stick together and stay together and that's what we did. We were able to get some stops and make a few plays on the offensive end to cut down on the lead.

Q. How stressful is the next three days going to be, whether or not you guys make the NCAA Tournament, and do you guys feel like you've done enough?
DESMOND BANE: I mean, it is what it is. But I feel like we've definitely done enough. We got 20 wins in the best league in the country. That's really hard to do. Like Coach said, 7 of our 11 losses came to top-12 teams in the country, others on the road. So I feel like we have no real bad losses. So playing in this league and winning 20 games I feel like we should be, we're deserving of a tournament bid.

ALEX ROBINSON: Just going off what Desmond said, we have 20 wins. We're playing in the best conference in the country. We don't have any bad losses. I definitely think we deserve to be in the Big Dance.

THE MODERATOR: Okay, guys, we will let you go back to the locker room. Thank you. We will go to questions for Coach Dixon now.

Q. Coach, when they were making that 17-2 run in the second half to take the lead and you know, the free throw bounces their way, they kick it out for a three. At that point, how do you try and slow down their momentum?
JAMIE DIXON: We were trying to slow it down before, we played well, did some good things. Eventually the turnovers got to us and they got some transition baskets, but we were emphasizing the rebounding and the numbers were gradually going back their way. Those two things were the obvious statistics that stood out.

They just seemed to get more physical, more aggressive on our drives, on our penetration, and, you know, they were able to keep us from getting direct line to the basket. Then they hit a couple of shots and obviously that can kill you. A 3 after a missed free throw can really hurt. So, you know, but the turnovers by and large are eventually going to catch up to you and that's where we got a lot of their baskets. In the half-court I thought we defended well, but live ball turnovers can be baskets the other way in most situations. They certainly got us in that area.

Q. Coach, you, Desmond and Alex all mentioned this is the toughest league in the conference. Is it the double Round Robin. What is it about this Big 12, you obviously used to coach in the Big East. What makes this conference tough?
JAMIE DIXON: I think the bottom teams are as tough as the other bottom teams, top to bottom and that's what it gets down to when you talk about the NCAA Tournament, you get no easy wins. And then you play everybody twice. We have seven losses versus Kansas State, Texas Tech and Kansas, games we were in and had chances and opportunities. You don't get the unbalanced schedule. You get maybe one of those teams once and maybe get 'em four total and we've got seven losses against those teams and this is a neutral game. You lose on the road to them, you feel like you could get a home win out of it. But we didn't.

That's the challenge. Those are very good teams and we had some situations where we weren't playing with obviously some number situations. But you've got to find the way. But we did a lot of other good things, too, to obviously Iowa State is highly ranked and we got two wins against them. But those seven losses, pretty much everybody in the country is going to loose to those teams.

Q. Coach, how much does the fatigue in a seven-man rotation factor into this second half decline?
JAMIE DIXON: Again, you knew they were going to make a run. They got more physical and more aggressive. I don't know that fatigue was it. Desmond not playing a lot in the first half, but then playing with three in the second half. You don't want those things to happen and against them we've been in foul trouble pretty much every game, and it amazes me. But, you know, we've got to figure that out. They're a physical team, but yet they play very good defense at the same time. Very good at guarding the dribble. Very strong at the end of finishes, but I felt like we were fine with that.

We were able to play guys 20 minutes or so, everybody. I thought that would balance it out, but again, I don't think it was a fatigue thing. I just think they just got more physical at the end and we get Desmond with three right away in the second half and it changes a lot of things.

Q. Jamie, you guys have won 2 of your last 3. If you get in, do you feel like you can make some noise?
JAMIE DIXON: I do feel like we've been playing well. I went through the game last night and watched it and I thought we played, and I told our players that we played really 74 minutes, I said 70 after the game, of really good basketball. Then I switched it to about 74 because we had a 6-minute spell against Oklahoma State where they seemed to be getting some second shots and that was a turning point. I guess you could say we played 20 good minutes here. They made the big plays. At Texas, seemed like we made those shots at the end of the clock, you know. They get et three at the end of the half after we score. That's momentum even though we've got the lead. Obviously they get the three at the end and it's a 3-point game, shot fake shot. So they kinda made some big shots. They got the guys scramble play at the end of the first of half. The guy steps out-of-bounds, gets a layup, you know what I mean? They made some plays at the end of the clock. But give 'em credit. The guys that made it, the shots, were Sneed and he's an experienced guy along with those other seniors. I know he's a junior, but he's been playing all the way through, and to me he's a big factor of the team. He seems to be the toughest, most physical guy they have among a bunch of tough, physical guys. He made those big shots. I thought those two threes were the ones that got us, down a 3-point game. He shot fake shots and gets a three on it, and the end of the half was a devastating three. You know, those are plays where you think you're playing pretty good defense and you end up giving those up for 6 points. That's really the difference when you can get it, get down to it.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, we'll let you go. Thank you for coming.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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