BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 10, 2023

Rodney Terry

Dylan Disu

Christian Bishop

T-Mobile Center

Texas Longhorns

Postgame Press Conference

Texas 66, TCU 60

THE MODERATOR: We've got Coach Terry here along with Dylan Disu, and Christian Bishop will be here shortly.

Coach?

RODNEY TERRY: Again, another highly-contested Big XII game. Two really good teams going at each other. They know us about as well as we know them.

At the end of the day I thought our guys really responded from the last time we played these guys about nine days ago. We scored 42 points in the paint tonight; they scored 36 last time. We're a + 2 on the glass. Last time we were manhandling the glass.

A lot of respect for Coach Dixon and his team and his program. They're a really, really good team. But give my guys a lot of credit in terms of how hard they played today. They stayed and worked the game for forty minutes. Wasn't perfect, but they gave us incredible effort and determination and found a way to get it done today.

Q. Christian, how many friends and family did you have here? What got into you playing in front of the hometown fans?

CHRISTIAN BISHOP: I think I had about like 17, 18 friends and family here, so you always got to put on for the city whenever you are in town, so that's what I was trying to do when I got out there.

Q. (Question off mic.)

CHRISTIAN BISHOP: No, that's all me.

Q. Dylan, the first half, unstoppable. Then no shots really in the second half and Christian dominates in the second half. Dylan, talk about your first half and C. Bishop how, you picked up.

DYLAN DISU: Coach talked to us before the game and said we were going to have a heavy dose of putting the ball inside. And he said he trusted us and believed in us to go score. Just take our time and score, and that's exactly what we did.

Then when I got in foul trouble I think C.B. went in and picked up right where I left off and dominated.

Q. For each of the players. Dylan, mid-season coaching change, now you're one victory away from playing for the Big XII title with a Coach you didn't anticipate being your coach at the time. What are your thoughts?

DYLAN DISU: I mean, I love RT. We loved him before so it was a seamless change, as difficult as that may be to believe. RT has done this for a while. He old so he knows what he's doing, man, so it wasn't no difficulty in learning to play for RT.

Q. Christian, you spoke a few moments ago about how many friend and family are here. Knowing how many Jayhawk fans you have grown up around, what does it mean to be playing against Kansas for the Big XII tournament title?

CHRISTIAN BISHOP: They are a well-coached team and it's a great opportunity to play against a great team like that. That's why I came to Texas in the first place, to have an opportunity like that.

Q. Obviously Timmy is such an integral part of this team. What does it say about y'all that you're able to band together and play for a Big XII title tomorrow without one of your starters?

DYLAN DISU: I think that that just kind of is a testament to how much we believe in each other and how much we play for each other because we love each other. Obviously we're not happy that Timmy is not playing, but we just come together and said next man up. That's what we have embraced this entire season.

Q. What's it going to take against Kansas tomorrow to get this done?

CHRISTIAN BISHOP: The team with the most energy tomorrow is going to probably win the game, so we gotta come out with some pop and be ready to go.

Q. Dylan?

DYLAN DISU: Yeah, what C.B. said basically. It's been a long week and it's going to come down to who wants it more, and that's going to show in the energy.

Q. How much did RT talk about what happened at TCU as far as on the boards last game? How much was that an emphasis during the week?

CHRISTIAN BISHOP: We got out-physicaled last time we played those guys at their place, so we had to come out with our motors going, and luckily me and Dylan were able to do that today. Just gotta keep going.

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

Q. Rodney, the guys touched on it but you go back to that first half, TCU shot 60%, scored 44 points. You look at your last seven halves of basketball, the defense has been tighter. What has clicked for them since that first half in Ft. Worth?

RODNEY TERRY: This group has been a very resilient group all year long. Anything we needed to work on, try to fix, try to be better with, they've done a great job with.

That last game we played at TCU they were more physical, they out-toughed us at their place. They outrebounded us by a large margin. They had two fast-break points in this game. They're the fastest team in the country, but taking care of the basketball early was a high emphasis and I thought we did a nice job with that.

We had 10 turnovers in the game as opposed to 15 or more at their place. But our guys really responded. They responded well. We knew tonight when that shot went up, our bigs were going to be there really working hard to box out these guys out, and our guards needed to come down and help us rebound.

We needed five guys on the glass today, and it also allowed us to get out to our strength. We can play fast as well and get up the floor, and we were able to do that today.

Q. What are you seeing from Dylan over these last couple of games? Talk about Bishop's energy and how important that will be tomorrow.

RODNEY TERRY: Disu is really rebounding the ball for us at a high clip. He did it yesterday really well for us and then again tonight. He went and got some tough rebounds outside his area, and some grown-man rebounds, and really, really stepped up to the challenge as opposed to what we had nine days ago.

C.B. came in and played one of his better games of the year. He came in and he had so much energy and will in the game and just really lifted our team when he came in. He gave us an incredible lift offensively and defensively.

Guarding Miller, Miller had been a guy that gave us a lot of problems over the course of the two games we played previously. He had eight points today; he had 20 and 21 in the two previous games.

That was a big matchup, and I thought the way our bigs played was really good for us.

Q. Coach, your two leading scorers, Carr and Rice, were combined 5-27, but you still beat TCU. What does that say about your team and how do you get those guys going here in Kansas City?

RODNEY TERRY: Those guys, they're prime time players. They'll play big and continue to score the basketball as needed. I thought they gave us great leadership down the stretch. Even though they weren't scoring, they were out there guarding and really just following the game plan offensively and defensively.

They'll shoot the ball much better than what they shot to this point right now, and hopefully they start tomorrow night in terms of moving forward. I thought everybody else collectively did their job at a high level.

I thought Tyrese played well for us, and our bigs came in and gave us a great lift. Brock came in and gave us great energy. Arterio came in and gave us good minutes. Team win! Team win. Again, this team all year long it hasn't been one guy. It's been multiple guys that can lead us in scores any given night, and those are the hardest games to play.

Q. What did you learn that you can take into tomorrow night?

RODNEY TERRY: Well-coached team that plays really fast. We've got to do a great job of taking care of the basketball. Wilson has had a great year. Harris, as he goes, they go pretty well. So we have to do a great job on Harris. Thought Gradey played really well at their place. We did a pretty good job on him the last time around, but they've got a good team, one of the top team in the country, and they will put a lot of pressure on us to try and guard those guys for forty minutes.

Q. Rodney, this is the time of year where coaches tighten the rotation, shorten it up. You guys are comfortable playing nine. You've done it all year. How much has that helped you with Timmy being out of this tournament, and do you expect to look at him tomorrow for shootaround to decide what to do with him?

RODNEY TERRY: We have had a next-man mentality all year long, and we've tried to continue to develop our bench all season long. Even when guys like Arterio weren't playing a lot he was working hard to be prepared for an opportunity like he's had in this tournament. He's really responded as well.

Mitchell is still working hard and developing as well. What Brock brings to the table. In March Madness you have to have an extended bench to be able to play through adversity and play through fouls and someone getting nicked up, banged up a little bit.

We have been able to do that in this tournament, and I think it will help us in the next tournament.

Q. What do you like most about your team right now? What do you need to work on?

RODNEY TERRY: You know what? The thing I like most about our team right now is I think they're living in the moment. We talk about it all the time. Play in the present, live where your feet are, enjoy this journey, man! Be excited about and wanting more. Stay hungry.

And this group has done that. They've done that at an unbelievable level and they've had great chemistry doing it. I wouldn't change anything in terms of trying to get better. I think our guys are guarding as well as they've guarded all year, and we will have an incredible challenge tomorrow against one of the top teams in the country.

Q. Coach, if you were to win tomorrow, what would that say about your case for a number one seed?

RODNEY TERRY: You know what? We have just tried to control what we can control. We got forty minutes in front of us against a really good team that we know is going to come out and be a motivated team to play really well tomorrow.

We've got to come out and do tomorrow what we have done over the last three ball games, and that's try to sit down and play as hard as we can defensively and have our defense travel.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much.