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NCAA MEN'S 3RD & 4TH ROUND REGIONALS: SAN ANTONIOMarch 21, 2007Joseph JonesAntanas KavaliauskasAcie Law IVMarlon PompeySAN ANTONIO, TEXAS Q. Thomas, tell us about the new look, and what prompted you to do that? ANTANAS KAVALIAUSKAS: Just a hair cut. It doesn't mean anything, you know. It's just a hair cut. Q. If each of you could, if you had to pick one guy that you think is the emotional leader of the team, who would you say it is? ACIE LAW IV: My choice would be Dominique Kirk. He's just -- he does so much for us, and gets the least amount of credit. He never complains about it, and as well in practice he's just -- he's a hard worker, and he brings each and every day -- he's a great leader and inspiration to myself to do the things I've done. If I had to pick it would be him. JOSEPH JONES: I have to go ace with Acie, Dominique Kirk. He does so much. He never gets that much credit, but everyone knows that he's there, and he does a lot for each one of us individually, as well as for the whole team. I say Dominique Kirk. ANTANAS KAVALIAUSKAS: I say Dominique Kirk, too. Q. Why? ANTANAS KAVALIAUSKAS: Just a great leader, like Joe said he's the glue to this team. Q. Want to talk about the defense. Both of you guys have held your opponents to low percentages. A little bit about the defense you expect to face tomorrow night? ACIE LAW IV: They've got big guys in the paint, and the guards get out and give the pressure. They're going to try to dictate the tempo. We're going to have to take a good job of taking care of the ball. If he gets the opportunity it's going to get tough for you to get back in the ballgame, because that's how good they are defensively. JOSEPH JONES: The defense pressure is very great. All of them get out to the ball, as well as going inside. Dorsey gets up there and throws them to the stands. So they are a great defensive team. They help each other, and it's going to be a tough task tomorrow. Q. Joe, can you talk about playing a team that's won 24 straight games. How much of that is because of the conference they play in? JOSEPH JONES: Anyway you look -- I don't care what conference you're in, a win is a win. 24 straight games, that's a lot of games. That's amazing. It's going to be hard. Once you get on a streak, on a roll, and you're getting wins, anything you do, it's kind of hard to break that, it's very hard to break that. So we know it's going to be a tough game tomorrow coming out. They're going to bring their A game. They're going to bring everything they have. We'll give everything we have, also. But it will be hard to break their streak. Q. Acie and Joe, just talk about the magnitude of what this team has accomplished. From 0-16 in the big 12, to the Sweet 16 and doing it in your backyard. Talk about the magnitude of all that, how it's come to fruition these last three years. ACIE LAW IV: I would never have imagined playing in San Antonio with the Sweet 16 with the opportunity to go to the Elite 8 after what I experienced my freshman year. That was tough to not win any ballgames in conference, and then to come forward and get in the playoffs. It was tough to me. Coach came in and he changed all of our mind sets. He told us we were going to win, and not take as long as people thought. We believed him and was able to get it going to the post season the next season and this is where we are today. JOSEPH JONES: It's been a long, tough road. I wasn't part of the 0-16 team. But coming in as a freshman and talking to coach before I got on campus, he said we're going to win, we're going to do great things and it won't take us long. And have been riding that since then. It's been fun. It's been great. It's been real hard. It's fun. It's amazing to do the things we've done. Q. What's the emphasis on defensive rebounding been leading to this game? They've got you've got pretty good offensive rebounding numbers. JOSEPH JONES: To get every ball, every rebound. Every team we faced is great rebounding teams. We try to be strong, and try to be mean and try to get the rebounds? Q. The popular perception is the NCAA Tournament is controlled by back court play, do you agree with that? ACIE LAW IV: I don't agree with that. You have to have good guard play in the tournament, but I think it's a total team effort to get it done. You can have the guard playing and if two of your guys aren't rebounding or getting into the baskets, you can still lose that ballgame. Your guards are an important team, but I think it's a group effort. And all five of us have to be on the same play, and those of us on the floor have to be on the same page, we need to play hard, play together. And I think if you've got that you should be fine. Q. Acie, can you talk a little bit about your approach to taking over and not being afraid to take big shots at the end of the games? ACIE LAW IV: It's a confidence that I have in myself, not being afraid to miss. We get in tight situations, and my teammates have confidence in me, just not being afraid, like I said. If I fail, I've got to look at myself in the mirror and say that I had the confidence to take that shot. And that's the biggest deal, I'm not afraid. Q. You guys mentioned about the defensive pressure that Memphis will throw at you. Can you see on tape anything about team quickness and how you might match-up with that quickness and if you've played anything like that before this year? ACIE LAW IV: I'm not sure we faced anybody as fast as them and as fast as the way they play. They like to dictate the tempo and get it going. It's going to be difficult for us because we're for the used to playing that fast. But we're going to practice and prepare for it and hopefully we will prepare for it and be prepared when the game comes and get through it. Q. All the talk of the home court advantage, is that kind of a trap with the Memphis coming in with a nothing to lose mentality. They think the whole gym -- ACIE LAW IV: It can be a trap, we're not falling into it. We know you have to go out and perform for 40 minutes. Perfect example is when we were in Lexington, playing against Louisville, they had the home court advantage, basically. They wasn't able to get it done. We understand that and we've got to go out there and play. We know that's a great ball club coming in with a chip on their shoulder. It's going to be a great ballgame. Q. How would you rate your play in the tournament so far and what's the team going to need from you tomorrow? ANTANAS KAVALIAUSKAS: For me it doesn't matter how I play, as long as my team wins. So I guess it's been good, because I helped my team to win, so we won. Q. Acie, was there -- do you remember one particular low point of your freshman year, that winless season, one game, one road trip, one comment from students or anything that kind of epitomizes what you went through that year? ACIE LAW IV: From the students, I remember this, we had one guy, I can't remember what game it was, but it was two students in the stands and they had paper bags on their faces, and one had 0 and the other one had like 11, indicating our record in conference. And so that's one of the things that always standards out in my mind is one of the lowest points in my year at A&M was when we were 0-12, or whatever we was, they had the paper bags on their faces. Q. Acie and Joseph, you guys made a decision to be close to your families, to play close to home. Does it get any better, then, than being in San Antonio. I know you don't want to make too much about home court advantage, but you made this decision to stay close and here you are? ACIE LAW IV: It's just a great opportunity for me to get to play on a stage like this in the Sweet 16, on a national stage and right here in the State of Texas, to where my family could get here and get the opportunity to see me play. And a lot of my friends and things like that are going to be watching the game on TV. It's a big deal. But I don't want to lose right here in my own backyard. Like I said the fans can only do so much, but hopefully we can get it done. It's a big deal to play in front of my family right here on this stage. JOSEPH JONES: It's amazing to see our friends. You look in the stands and see half your family up in the stands if you want to, but we can't take advantage of that. We've got to come out and perform and just not use the fan support as the base of our energy, we have to bring our own energy to compete and play the game as hard as we can. It's amazing. It's great to see your closest family and friends that are there are -- that are there to support you. Q. For Marlon and Acie. Can you guys talk about the edge that Billy keeps in practice with you guys, the days that you want to choke him? We know about all the great days, but the days that he is purposefully trying to build that kind of edge in you guys and how he does it and how you guys keep from choking him? ACIE LAW IV: He's never satisfied. I honestly believe if we was to win a national championship next weekend and a couple of days after, we'd get a couple days off and come in from practice, he'd honestly say if go something like, you think you've done something, just to make you mad. That's the kind of person he is. It makes it great to play for a guy like that. He never gets complacent with what he's done. He always wants more. It keeps us hungry, and it keeps us with a good mindset each and every time we're on the floor. But there are days when he says stuff like that, but we say come on, coach. But it makes it great to play for a guy like that. MARLON POMPEY: He sometimes we have two good practices, and he knows we're trying hard. He's going to try to test us mentally, and try to say stuff, a couple of things he said I'm going to get you next time, today is your day. It's a mental thing. And he tries to see, he knows physically we can all be tough. Mentally we'll be there. The last part of the game he needs something, he needs a good play, we can't break down and go home. And Acie is a great person for that. The last minute shots, he always makes those, he'll make three out of four. It's a mental thing, unless you're mentally stable, and he has a lot of confidence. End of FastScripts |
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