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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2008Jeff BzdelikDrew HallMarcus King-StocktonRichard RobyKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI CHARLIE FISS: We're joined now by the Colorado Buffalos and Coach Bzdelik and he brought three student athletes, Marcus Hall, Richard Roby, and Marcus King-Stockton. Let's go to questions for our three student athletes first. Q. The first half, was that the best you guys have felt running the offense this year? RICHARD ROBY: I think we ran the offense well at times, but for 20 minutes I think we did make the extra pass and looked for one, another and we shot a great percentage at halftime. We did that because we got stops, too, and we pushed the ball up and let the defense get set. Q. I wonder if you could talk about the way that Baylor was able to come back and tie the game and then you still had the extra jets to go out and put them away in overtime. MARCUS HALL: It is a game of runs, you know? We went on our run and we knew they were going to come back and fight. They won 20 games this year, so we knew they weren't going to go out without fighting. It was about weathering the storm. Like the Coach said in the locker room, when the smoke cleared, we were on top. RICHARD ROBY: Yeah, it is a good basketball team. They were able to make shots and get the ball to transition and they're great one-on-one. We knew they could score the ball. We just had to sustain the run. We did that and we kept fighting. Q. Marcus and Richard, can you both address, that must have been the most support you have had out of a crowd all year, even at home, wasn't it? RICHARD ROBY: We have a great crowd, I think. People that support us do a great job. I guess we had some other people start supporting us at the end probably. Didn't want to see Baylor win. MARCUS HALL: We appreciate those who do support us. MARCUS KING-STOCKTON: Yep. Q. For Marcus, can you just talk about the give and go working a lot today and how much y'all's confidence kept growing with sticking with it and going to the basket and following through on all those plays? MARCUS HALL: They were playing pretty aggressive defense. We knew when we hit a wing or swing the ball, that you have to look for it afterwards, you know? And we just -- we knew that we had to drive the ball and get away from the jump shot and not fall in love with the jumper. That's what got us shooting 70-something percent in the first half. Q. Can you talk about -- I mean, did your eyes kind of light up when you saw a smaller guy on you on defense? RICHARD ROBY: Not really. A lot of teams put smaller guys on me to try take away my driving abilities and make me into a jump-shooter. And Jerrells is a great defender, very strong. I knew my work was cut out for me going up against him the last couple years. Q. Both the women's and men's has been a tournament of upsets with the 12 seeds coming through and being the 5 seeds. Did you feel like underdogs -- this is for any of the players -- when you were out there facing Baylor? RICHARD ROBY: We thought we matched up with them. We watched film. We saw what we needed to do better and we never felt like a 12th seed. We had a lot of tough losses throughout the year, a lot of close games. So we knew we were better than our seed was. Q. What was the mind-set going into the second overtime? You had the lead in regulation. You had it in the first overtime. What are you feeling going into that second overtime? MARCUS HALL: Don't give up, you know. This could have been our last opportunity, you know, and it is a new season for us, and that's the way we're looking at it. We refused to give up. Q. You guys know you are the first 12th seed ever to win and how does that feel? MARCUS KING-STOCKTON: Feels great. (Smiling). RICHARD ROBY: It does feel good. Me and Marcus and Marcus -- Marcus sophomore and me and the other Marcus are freshmen. We are the first 11th seed to win here, too. That's a big accomplishment. Q. Kevin Rogers scored 24 points the first time he played. Was that a big key for you all to not allow him? MARCUS KING-STOCKTON: Yes, it was. The first time they played us, he hurt us on offense and got a lot of easy dunks. We want to try to take that away from him and make him earn some points. Q. Rich, you beat Oklahoma in boulder and afterwards their coach talked about being embarrassed. Is that any motivation for you guys catching them tomorrow? RICHARD ROBY: You know, we just want to go out there and play hard. We can't worry about what people say in the media. We know we're capable of beating that team on our own floor, on a neutral floor. We got to go out there and execute and play with the same type of intensity we played with today. MARCUS HALL: I mean, like Rich said, we can't worry about what people say. We believe and to us that's all that matters, the coaches and the team and those that are supporting us believe we can win the ball game tomorrow. That's all that matters. Q. Is that motivation to you, though, that they said that? MARCUS HALL: Of course. CHARLIE FISS: Thank you very much. Congratulations on your victory today. We'll excuse you to go back to your locker room. We'll keep Coach here for questions. Q. Jeff, you said yesterday you have trouble getting a feel in the locker room how the team is going to come out. Were you pleasantly surprised the first half the way they executed? COACH JEFF BZDELIK: You know, we haven't won as many times as we would have liked throughout the course of the year. But this team has always battled. We've lost Big 12 games by one on the road, by two on the road and by six on the road, at home by seven, by nine. You know, they've always battled and that's one thing -- I've slept good throughout the year from that standpoint, that I know that they will give it their very best and we've come up short but this team, they have a big heart. They're great young men. I'm proud to be coaching them. And I would have said that today had we lost. Q. Jeff, can you talk about what you saw in Baylor's defense that you were able to take advantage of today? COACH JEFF BZDELIK: Well, they really got up into us. I shouldn't be giving away any secrets, so I'm not sure I want to answer that question (smiling). But we really did a great job of passing the ball, making the extra pass. I think that was the key. We practiced this morning. I mean, we watched film last night. We're going to -- regardless of where we're seeded or what our record is, we're going to keep working to get better. And our players showed that today. We learned a lot about ourselves the last couple of days in practice and worked on a few extra things and the thing is we made the extra pass today. We cut a little bit harder with a purpose. We had variety to our offense. I think this offense takes a long time to develop, and it is getting better as time goes on every day. And so I think we saw the fruits of our labor today, especially in that first half. Q. Is this kind of what you expect, what kind of performance you expect out of a senior like Roby? COACH JEFF BZDELIK: Without question. I thought Richard handled himself very well. You know, Richard is a terrific young man. I think all you have to do is listen to him. He is very intelligent, carries himself really well. He does great in the classroom. He's been a joy to coach. I wish I could have him for another couple years. You know, he rebounded the ball today, got a couple blocks, got a couple steals, communicated well on defense, cut hard; really proud of him, really happy for him. Q. Coach, talk about your defensive effort? It was two seconds to go in the second overtime when they matched their season average in points. COACH JEFF BZDELIK: You know, we held Baylor down to 68 points. The first time we played them, which is well below their average, I think they were averaging 83 points per game at that time when we played them. We tried to trap their ball screens. Today they tried to drive against it, and I think they got away from their ball screens which is their bread and butter and they just started putting their head down and driving the ball on us in that second half. Jermy Jackson and Marcus King-Stockton, their biggest strength is their athleticism and their intelligence and in order to blitz or we call trapping ball screens, they're excellent at doing that, they can do that well against a team that runs a lot of ball screens, they become very effective players in that kind of game. So that really helps us to hold them down below what they normally average. Q. One of the most talked about games in the Big 12 was the five overtime Baylor game. Did it concern you at all just going up against the team with that kind of overtime experience and a team that's really proven that they can almost play forever? COACH JEFF BZDELIK: Well, they're very deep. We're not. But I wasn't concerned. I enjoy these kind of games, to be honest with you. I think that's what you get into coaching for. Being in the moment. Even though we haven't been in overtime games this year, you know, we practice special situations a lot so we're prepared. I think preparation breeds confidence so we practice special situations a lot. You never know. And tonight -- today was one of those moments. It's not like when you are in a time out and you diagram something where we've run this hundreds of times in practice, in this kind of situation. Yes, it is not in that particular moment in the game, but we know what to do. And I thought we executed well at times -- most of the time. CHARLIE FISS: Coach, thank you. Congratulations and good luck tomorrow. End of FastScripts |
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