|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 10, 2010Craig BrackinsGreg McDermottKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI Texas – 82 CHARLIE FISS: Let's introduce the Cyclones from Iowa State. Coach Greg McDermott and his student-athletes, Diante Garrett and Craig Brackins. Coach, we'll call on you first for your thoughts on tonight's game. COACH MCDERMOTT: I think one of the key things that happened in the game that was really a detriment to us was Justin Hamilton's foul trouble. You know, there are some front lines across the Big 12 that maybe you can afford to have a guy in foul trouble. We only have three front line players available. Texas's front line is not one of those. You know, with Johnson and James and Pittman -- and Coach used Matt Hill a little tonight to run fresh bodies at us. I think in the end we really wore Craig Brackins and LaRon Dendy out. Marquis Gilstrap, we couldn't get him off the floor with foul trouble. That ended up being a big factor in the game, because Justin was a guy that was playing almost 30 minutes a game for us down the stretch here, and we only had him out there 11. Our guys didn't quit. They continued to compete, but Texas, and in particular their front line, was just too much for us tonight. CHARLIE FISS: Thank you, Coach. Questions for our two student-athletes. Q. Craig, in particular, what Coach said, was that really kind of difficult when Justin went out with the foul trouble and they just kind of kept coming at you in waves, was that kind of difficult as far as handling the boards against Texas? CRAIG BRACKINS: Texas's front line, they have multiple players that can come in, give them a quick lift. Justin, he leads our team in offensive rebounds. He's a big guy. Dexter Pittman is a real strong guy. And Justin would have helped out with that with bodying against him. So with him getting into foul trouble, and then when he comes back into the game, he has to play conservative and not get another foul. So I think it wore a couple of us out. But I think it just hit Justin where he couldn't come in and get his rhythm and help out like he really wanted to. Q. Craig, you guys doubled Johnson a lot, and he passed out of that and got some baskets and kind of left Pittman open. They said that was a little different than what they usually do. How did you guys handle that? Was that something that surprised you or was it different than when you played them the first time? CRAIG BRACKINS: I don't really remember the first time what we really did. I think we doubled a little bit, too. But it was difficult having them pass it out then them passing it in leaving the guards stranded with Dexter. We did our best to rotate and get out of that. But we were doubling the posts, and it worked out couple times. I think a couple times some of us front line players was a little late. But the game plan was there. And sometimes we didn't execute it, and I think we paid for it. CHARLIE FISS: All right. Thank you. Questions for Coach. Q. With them using the bigger lineup, and obviously you said you had foul troubles also, but the bigger lineup they played, how much trouble did that just, with them starting that kind of lineup, what kind of challenges did that present? COACH MCDERMOTT: When we got in foul trouble, it presented huge challenges. Because we had nowhere to turn. And when Justin got his third, we were really forced to leave him on the bench the rest of the first half and not start him the second half as a result of that. But we were, as Craig alluded to, we were late on the double teams a few times. There were several times we got a hand on it, and deflected it and just didn't come up with it. But they did a good job of burying Pittman under the basket. Our guards were a little late getting there at times. And that becomes a tough match-up. And to their credit, you know, I think it was 60-59 and we had a good, solid double team and Damion James hit a 3 from the top as we rotated out of it. And that's what great players are supposed to do. He misses that and we come down and score and we get the lead and we get the momentum. Maybe it's a different story. Q. You mentioned James, 28 and 16. Rick said he was pretty much a man on the boards. Was that with everything and the foul trouble, was that hard to just keep hill under control? COACH MCDERMOTT: I think some of it he outworked us. And there were other times we were right there and he just went over the top of us. He played tonight like a man on a mission. I thought his aggressiveness tonight compared to what I've seen on tape recently was at a different level. When you have seniors, you know like James and Pittman that have been in the program, they don't want it to end. And they played like it tonight. CHARLIE FISS: Thank you, Coach. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|