NIT SEASON TIP-OFF

November 26, 2003

Rick Majerus

RICH MAJERUS: Well, you know, we got man-handled. Our guys were looking to beat a call. I even fell victim to it, got a little rough there. They were more physical, more dominant, more determined. They were a good team and deserved win. You know, we hopefully come out of this and can improve.

RICH MAJERUS: No, no. I've had longer ones. I mean, there wasn't a lot of shouting in there. The problem is, we have a captain who didn't speak and maybe didn't call the pick on that one ball. We just have a lot of young kids. Bogut is -- I get so -- I laugh so much about everybody, he's this, he's that. What was he tonight, he tried, was just intimidated tonight. He was what he was tonight; a young kid tonight. There's not a lot of leadership or experience around him, so, you know, we fell victim to the jump shot. We fell victim to the trap of settling for the jump shot and not moving or screening without the ball.

RICH MAJERUS: No, we knew they played like this. They played great. I take my hat off to them. Their defense was good, they were sound, they were into us; they were more physical, they were more combative. They were determined. We played poorly as a result of Texas Tech.

RICH MAJERUS: Oh, man, that would be hard to say. You've got to take your hat off to Emmett but the enemy was us in a lot of ways, too. So I really haven't studied that. I think he's a very good player. He went to Chicago and I think he found out he would be in the top tier or second round of the draft and wisely went back to college. He's physical and tough and strong. He's got an athletic NBA body. He sure stuck it to us tonight. Tonight he looked like a Lotto pick. I don't know if he will be, but he did against the Utes.

RICH MAJERUS: Emmett? He's just a good player. He's a very physical player. He's very strong, confident. He plays through hits. We were man-handled tonight. It is what it is. I can hardly wait, we are in a tough situation where we don't practice and I'm excited about, irrespective of what may happen here, in the remaining game of going back and practicing. We're a good practice team, we go back and practice and we get better. They stuck it to us tonight. We had a lot of turnovers that were of our own doing. You know, I think I've tried to put in things for a tournament like this. I didn't think we would be so young when we came out to this at the time it was booked. You know, we're here and hopefully we can play better and be more representative in the next game.

RICH MAJERUS: You know, as I said, we fell into the trap, taking some jumpers. Like Frost takes that jumper; his conditioning is so bad, so abysmal, you can't put him on a bike. He goes in the pool. You know, a pool is -- I've got to assign a coach to him in the pool because the trainer is a great trainer, a superb trainer. He's not a guy who can kick Frost's ass in the pool and now we've got to try to put him in the pool and try to get him in condition. He needs to practice is what he needs. He's restricted in that. He's only had three practices. It's one of those Catch-22 situations; I don't know which way to turn with him. But that didn't account for getting your ass kicked on non-blockouts, things like that.

RICH MAJERUS: No, I don't have any explanation for that right now. This kind of rivals -- I guess last year we were 1-for-11 in the first half against Gonzaga and we were three for 14 tonight. You know, I think our guys just got pounded by a superior, more physical, tough determined team. I think that they put their head down in every way and wilted at the foul line as well, psychologically. That was the will of the physical presence and combativeness of Texas Tech, whom I applaud.

RICH MAJERUS: I haven't seen Texas Tech play. I can't comment on relative to -- I think I saw them play on TV once last year, I don't know. I think that they are an older, veteran team led by a great warrior in Emmett and I like that 55, and 55 stuck it right to Bogut, came right over his back, through his back and around his body and he kicked his ass.