MAUI JIM MAUI INVITATIONAL

November 21, 2022

Mark Adams

Daniel Batcho

De'Vion Harmon

Lahaina Civic Center

Texas Tech Red Raiders

Postgame Press Conference

Creighton - 76, Texas Tech - 65

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with an opening statement from coach and then take questions for the student-athletes.

MARK ADAMS: Well, it probably goes without saying, but Creighton's just a very, very good basketball team. They're just extremely efficient. Their guys all know their roles. They play very solid defense. They don't foul. Extremely good three-point shooting team.

So we had our work cut out for us. There were some real bright spots for us that we can build on as we move forward.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes, please.

Q. Daniel, I noticed you got hurt a couple times. How are you feeling right now?

DANIEL BATCHO: I'm feeling better. I was just cramping.

Q. For both the players, I know the result was disappointing, but what was it like in this environment, the smaller gym, really loud crowd?

DE'VION HARMON: It was great, a lot of fun. It's a blessing to be out here in Hawaii doing what you love. Like coach said, Creighton's a great team. They're ranked No. 10 for a reason. But we got to bounce back and we will.

Q. Daniel, I'm from Arizona, wondering if you, they have got some key guys left from when you were there that season, and did you see them this weekend and have any relationship with those guys?

DANIEL BATCHO: Yeah, I soon my friend Adama. He's from France too. He used to be my teammate. It was good to see him.

Q. Can I ask you, since you left Arizona and came to Texas Tech, it seemed like your career really took off. Can you reflect just briefly on the difference, you know, what happened? And I know you were sick that year and some things happened and then you really took off when you got to Texas Tech.

DANIEL BATCHO: I wasn't sick or anything. I was just injured.

Q. Anything else about Texas Tech that's really helped you?

DANIEL BATCHO: They really like believe in me. They pushing me.

Q. De'Vion, you guys were playing a lot of defensive pressure in the first half, forcing a bunch of turnovers. I'm wondering if you saw an adjustment on Creighton's part in the second half that, how they took better care of the ball?

DE'VION HARMON: Yeah, they hit a lot of threes, so we didn't take care of that as well. They all drive right. We let 'em drive right. So just little things like that. They're really good at shooting the ball. Shoot at a very high clip as a team.

But you learn. You learn from games like this and just bounce back.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you, guys. We'll take questions for coach.

Q. How do you feel Creighton adjusted in the second half? Obviously shot better, but what did they do specifically offensively?

MARK ADAMS: The biggest difference was that first four minutes. They came out and just punched us in the mouth and I thought that was the difference. They came out with just a really aggressive mindset on both ends of the floor. It set the tone for the rest of the game.

Q. Second-chance points was kind of a big part of the game. They ended up with a pretty big advantage there. I know that's something you talked about earlier in the season, but was it just their length or what happened there on the boards?

MARK ADAMS: You know, that's a great question. We're going to go back and watch the film. I know that they exposed us in so many ways that we can improve on.

But they're really, really good at walling up and not fouling. I was just begging the referee, just, I would like just one free throw in the game, just give us one. But to their credit they're very disciplined. If you would have said, look, we're going to hold them to seven offensive rebounds and we're going to have 11 and we're going to only have nine turnovers and we have 13, I would think, man we got a great chance to win this thing. And then we shoot the ball 62 times and they shoot it 49. Of course they had more free throws. But I thought we would be right in the game.

Second half we really weren't in the game. But it goes back to their great shooting and their shot selection. They had 9-20 from the three-point line. So that was the big difference.

Q. You folks looked like you had to fight for every basket or every point you got. Do you think that was more them or was it more you folks?

MARK ADAMS: It's a little of both. But you have to give them a lot of credit. We're just, again, so young and we're not to that place with our team where our guys still know exactly where to take their shots. We passed up some and we took some bad ones. It's just going to be a learning process.

But, again, give Creighton a lot of credit for that, for making us shoot those tough shots.