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NIT SEASON TIP-OFFNovember 23, 2007Joseph JonesDominique KirkMark TurgeonNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK MARK TURGEON: It's just a great day to be an Aggie. The football game went well for us. We won that game. Really happy for Coach Fran and his staff to go out that way. It's been a tough season on them. So it was a great win. Tonight's performance, I wasn't expecting this. I was expecting a high-scoring game out of them. They're so hard to guard. They space you, they have a lot of guys that can score. I thought we did a really good job of taking our defensive game plan and sticking with it. Then in the second half we picked up our pressure even more and played with much more composure on the offensive end in the second half. So. I think we had two turnovers until that last two minutes when we subbed in there, so it was really much better. So I'm really proud of our guys. We were getting better. We've come a long way since our first exhibition game. The thing I told them is we can still get a lot better. Q. Dominique, can you talk about the defense in the second half and coming out and taking control? DOMINIQUE KIRK: Yes, sir, Coach told us keep tidying up on defense, get better. I think Derrick Roland and Donald Sloan did a good job on Butler. Time to play, they went out there and fought hard against them. We went out there and just tried to play hard in the second half. Q. Joe, could you talk about the start so much better than the last two starts overall? JOSEPH JONES: We just tried to come out, we knew coming out we had to get a quick jump on them, because they were a very good team. They ran a lot of different things for their best players. So we tried to come in and try to take away a lot of those things and it worked out for the best of us. Q. For both players, you lost some key personnel from last year. Had you changed in players. Did you get a sense that maybe nationally you had been somewhat written off? And do you think you sent a message to the nation the last couple of days? DOMINIQUE KIRK: You can't never replace a guy like Acie Law. He's a great player, great leader. And you know, we have to just bond together as a family, like we've always been. I don't think we were scratched off or anything, I think we just continue to fight hard. I think people see us out there still continuing to fight hard. So that's what we do. JOSEPH JONES: Like Dominique said, we lost Acie, Thomas, we lost a lot of key players last year. But I think we have a lot of young talent that's hungry and ready to play. Ready to step up and get a chance to show that they can play a little bit. And tonight they showed. They came out to play. It was a group effort tonight. I don't know if the world thinks we're a good team or not, but I think we're a pretty good team ourselves. We've got to keep that confidence throughout the year. Q. You guys are in the first large chunk of the second half is 10 or 12 minutes, they only get one basket. You guys just open it up; what do you see in the faces of the guys on the other team? JOSEPH JONES: I really don't know. I see a lot of frustration. They're getting a couple shots in the first half, and then second half there were shots weren't falling. So you see a little frustration. But most of the time I pay attention to our team and try to keep fighting and digging down, getting more stops and more rebounds and pushing back at them. Q. What did you think, Dominique? DOMINIQUE KIRK: Just like Joe said, I think you're going to see a little frustration. They're a challenging team. Ohio State's always going to be a challenging team. They've got a great coach. They went out there and the shots they were shooting weren't falling today. You could tell there was a little frustration in their eyes but they went out there and they battled. Q. If you're going to play at A & M, do you have to love playing defense? JOSEPH JONES: Oh, yeah, you have to. DOMINIQUE KIRK: You have to. Q. So you love playing defense? DOMINIQUE KIRK: Oh, yeah, that is the outcome of the game. Defense wins games. So we go out there and try to play defense every day. That's where it starts. And offense takes care of itself. Q. You heard me ask them about loving to play defense. So much of it is who can get on the highlight reel for this or that. How much enjoyable is it to coach guys that want it that badly on the end of the floor? MARK TURGEON: It's nice. I think our team was built for defense. If you look at our team, we're fast, we're athletic. It was built for defense. And it's been programmed before I got here to play defense. I like defense as a coach, too. If you look back at the history of my team. So it's just been an easy carryover. But the guys think that way. Don't get me wrong, we love offense, too. And we're trying to become a lot prettier on offense. Tonight we made shots where we've looked better. But it is nice. And they understand. A & M knows how to win now. They've been taught to win. Young kids, even if they didn't play a lot last year, they know what it's like to win. So it's been a good carryover. Q. How much does it mean to you to come to this facility on this stage, and to play so well? MARK TURGEON: I was just really proud of our group. We haven't really played a game together. I didn't think we were very good the other night against Washington the first 20 minutes. You know, UTEP had us down, had a chance to beat us, had us down 10 second half in our place. So it's nice to put almost a full game together. I thought our defense, pretty much the whole game was fantastic. Our offense was a little nervous early. They just turned the ball over. So we're getting closer. It's becoming more of a complete team. That's what I'm most proud of. I know it's Madison Square Garden, and it's the NIT, which I think is the premier tournament, because it was the first preseason tournament. But I'm just proud of our team getting better. That's what's fun. Q. How much of a luxury is it to have Jones and Jordan in the same lineup together? MARK TURGEON: It's pretty nice. Especially with the way DeAndre is starting to play. I know he was rated really high coming out of high school. But if you only knew how far this kid's come since August. He's come a long way. I'm just trying to make him a little bit more mature on and off the court, if I could. He's a very young 18. Or 19, whatever he is. But he's coming. But Joe and Dominique Kirk give me so much comfort. Seniors, they've been through the wars. They've started almost every game in their careers. Those are the guys. But having a guy like DeAndre really makes it tough on the other guys to score inside. He's just batting balls and other things. I've said to him from day one, and he's a guy that to answer your question, he likes offense more than he likes defense. I think he could become one of the best defenders in the country in time if he just puts his mind to it. Right now he doesn't have his mind to it. He's a little lazy at times. But once he does, he's going to be really, really good. End of FastScripts |
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