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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 12, 2009

LaceDarius Dunn

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA

Baylor Â– 71
Kansas - 64

CHARLIE FISS: All right. Let's welcome the Baylor Bears. Coach, congratulations on your victory today. This is Coach Scott Drew and his two student-athletes, Henry Dugat and LaceDarius Dunn.
Coach, your thoughts on today's victory?
COACH DREW: The first question I got asked, how are you able to do it? Our guys showed a lot of heart, and obviously they knew coming into this we are going to have to leave it all on the line and really come together as a team. I couldn't be more proud of the effort. We got down five. We could have easily packed it in at that time. We didn't.
I know, again, when you have seniors that care and you want to go out in style, it makes a tough out. Again, we give God the credit.

Q. LaceDarius, what got said in the huddle during that time-out after Kansas didn't get up five on you guys? What was the mood like and what did you all talk about?
LACEDARIUS DUNN: We kept our poise. We knew the team. Kansas is a great team. They made a run. We kept telling ourselves we can't get down and can't give up. We just kept fighting.

Q. Henry, can you just kind of describe the mood on this team coming into this tournament after winning two games? It seems like y'all are really believing in yourselves.
HENRY DUGAT: Yeah, before the tournament, we didn't end the Big 12 season like we wanted to. But we couldn't hang our heads. We knew coming into this it was a new season. We had to leave it all on the line. We needed to accomplish what we needed to do.

Q. Lace, what was it about your zone defense that you think bothered them?
LACEDARIUS DUNN: I think we just -- we just played great. I think that was the best time we ever played that zone that greatly that we did today. We kept it packed in and contested shots was the most important thing. We contested the shots and tried to make it tough for Sherron. He is a great guard. I think we kept it packed in and the better the zone was.

Q. Did you feel like you guys are finally playing like you are supposed to play, like you expected coming into the season?
LACEDARIUS DUNN: Exactly. I think we came in with a chip on our shoulder. We didn't win like we wanted to. We knew coming into the Big 12 tournament, we had to come here and play because no team here is going to lay down. We had to come back. I think we are playing great basketball right now.
HENRY DUGAT: Like Lace said, a lot of people were counting us out coming into the tournament. I don't think they expected us to make it this far. We had a chip on our shoulder. We knew what we were capable of and we knew we had to step it up. We knew it is not through right now. We still got work to do.

Q. Henry, Lace hit a big three to put you guys up seven. It was kind of a fast-break situation. Did you hear him yelling at you as you came down the floor?
HENRY DUGAT: I heard Lace from the time I got the ball. I knew he would knock the shot down. I know he is a great shooter, one of the best in the Big 12. I knew if he got a good look, he would knock it down.
COACH DREW: Just so you know, everyone knows when Lace is open. He makes sure everyone knows. (Laughter).

Q. I wonder if you can talk about the lift you got from Mamadou.
HENRY DUGAT: He stepped up real big for us today.
We knew with a guy like Cole Aldrich, we knew we would have to step up. I think he stepped up real big with rebounds and he got a lot of blocks that led to a lot of stops for them and transitions for us.

Q. Henry, you have a lot of confidence with the shot down the stretch. Talk about the jumper you made when Kansas had taken a five-point lead or regained it. And the free throws at the end, what was going through your mind there?
HENRY DUGAT: My teammates and coaches, they have been telling me to stick with it. Finally, the confidence started going. I knocked a few easy ones down earlier. I was able to get into it.
And just the atmosphere of the game, I wanted to take it and I made it.

Q. How good are you? What kind of team does Baylor have?
HENRY DUGAT: I think we just showed what we are capable of doing tonight. A team like Kansas, defending national champs, we were able to come out and take care of business.
CHARLIE FISS: Congratulations on your victory today. We'll keep Coach here. Questions now for Coach Drew.

Q. Scott, can you talk about the time-out -- nine-minute time-out when they got up five. Were you trying to keep them calm or what?
COACH DREW: We said for T.V. sake we now made it more interesting, now we can come out and play.
But the biggest thing we did was try to keep the poise. They made a run. We knew great teams make runs, and then great teams answer runs.
So I thought the seniors in the huddle really did a good job of keeping everybody focused and keeping everybody knowing that this -- we got a lot of game left to be played.

Q. Just talk about your defense and your zone and what made that so effective today.
COACH DREW: Well, I think Mamadou and Josh really stepped up and were huge today. And we were active in it. The big thing is we didn't give up a lot of second-chance points. Kansas did get 12. But, again, they are a pretty good rebounding team, and we can live with that. We knew that was key coming in to keep them off the glass and for the most part, we did a pretty good job.

Q. Your hustle stats today look real impressive, and the categories that you haven't necessarily taken care of business this year, touches and tips and defensive stops and blocked shots. Was that the difference that was able to weather the storm when they were coming back?
COACH DREW: I think definitely we're playing as a team, and we don't have any alternative right now but to win.
So we're doing the things that you need to do to win games against good teams.

Q. Would you break down the differences? Is it confidence? Is it game plan? Is there something that you have done different in practice? Is it anything?
COACH DREW: I think yesterday I had said something and really -- normally I don't see that many intelligent things. Walking out I thought "that was pretty good." The nonconference we were playing how -- I mean we were ranked seven straight weeks. We were playing good basketball, beating Arizona State, Wake Forest. We were playing good ball. And then got into conference and 3-1, we start losing a couple. Couple tight ones. We go to some places that are tough to play. We lose and then it was like putting a weight vest on. That was 10 pounds after losing four games in a row.
Then when we lost five in a row, went to 20 pounds. I mean, it is tough when you have expectations, you were not meeting them and you are frustrated. I mean, that's how the conference season went for us.
Now, once we got to the conference tournament, the vest came off because it is a new season. We were great in the nonconference. We want to be great in the conference tournament in the post-season.

Q. Usually, if you play a zone the whole game they eventually find some spots. Did you make any adjustments during the game where they would get the ball in certain places?
COACH DREW: You are always adjusting throughout the course of the game with personnel and what they are doing. The big thing throughout the game, the common thing, is our defense was tremendous when we didn't give them second-chance opportunities.

Q. Coach, Josh Lomers yesterday and Mamadu today. Do you have the strength and stamina inside for these guys to keep playing back to back to back well?
COACH DREW: I think we don't have any other choice. They know we're in it to win it. The good thing about playing zone, it does save you, too.

Q. Talk about the lift you got from Mamadu coming off the bench.
COACH DREW: Mamadou was huge in the blocked shots but in the tip-dunks he had 4-4 from the field. Obviously we wouldn't have won the game without him. I think that's a senior not wanting to play his last game.

Q. You are getting contributions from a lot of guys and that's got to help if you are trying to make a deep run in the tournament.
COACH DREW: Most definitely. Players got to step up and players that maybe haven't stepped up or even from game to game, someone, again -- Josh was yesterday. Mamadou was today. You need that to win four games in four days. Our guys are well aware of that.
Right now we all have confidence in each person that plays.

Q. Looked like you may -- something you did down the stretch, but you made an effort to give guys rest throughout the game. Lace rested some in the first half. C.J. quite a bit the second half. How much did that help you in that last closing stretch?
COACH DREW: I think that was huge when we went to the bench and we got positive contributions. We were able to play them and rest other guys and you got to have that. Again, we were able to get that. Even I mean, Anthony Jones did a very good job for us as well.
CHARLIE FISS: Coach, thank you for coming. Good luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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