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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2010

Ekpe Udoh

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

Baylor Â– 86
Texas - 67

CHARLIE FISS: We're joined by Baylor Bears, Coach Scott Drew, and his three student-athletes Tweety Carter, LaceDarius Dunn, and Ekpe Udoh. Coach, we'll call on you first for your thoughts on tonight's victory.

COACH DREW: Well, I knew in the beginning of the game, especially waiting around as long as we had to play, early on wanted to make sure we took care of the ball, got high percentage shots. And we were able to withstand any surge Texas would have early on.
And when Lace got in foul trouble, I thought the team really rallied, did a great job going into halftime. We felt good from the standpoint we were up, and we knew with Lace coming back and we knew we could play a little bit better as far as the rebounding goes, especially. We were excited for the second half and I think the first couple minutes in the second half really were big for us.
All year long we've had great upper classman leadership, Josh, Tweety, Ekpe, and Lace, and I thought once again they did a great job. When you have good leaders like this, you have good team chemistry. It makes your coaching job a lot easier.
CHARLIE FISS: Thank you. Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Lace, what happened on the tech?
LACEDARIUS DUNN: Got caught up in the moment. One of my players, unfortunately, got into it with one of their players. I got caught up in the moment.
COACH DREW: I thought it was algebra you were talking about.
[Laughter]

Q. LaceDarius Dunn and Tweety, can you talk about getting to four in a row against Texas. Did you see it in their eyes that they were done in the final four minutes of the game? What did you see out there?
TWEETY CARTER: No. We knew we had to come out and play 40 minutes. Texas is a good team. They play and fight hard. We knew we had to come out and play 40 minutes. Like coach said, we did a great job when our leading scorer was out. The first half we did a great job maintaining the lead. And second half we were able to get him back in and keep him out of foul trouble, and fortunately we got the win.
LACEDARIUS DUNN: Well, he really summed it up. We knew we had to come out, play 40 minutes against a team. I think we did a great job just coming out and messing with their intensity. They beat us on the rebounding, but I think we just gotta do a better job of that tomorrow against K-State. They're a little bit better team. We'll try to do a little bit better tomorrow.

Q. Lace, how eager were you to come out and make an impact in the second half because you didn't get to play that much in the first half?
LACEDARIUS DUNN: I wanted to come out and just provide for my team. Just really didn't do the things that I do, that I been doing throughout the year. Score the ball, rebounding, whatever it takes to get the victory. So I think I did a great job of it.

Q. Ekpe, it looks like you guys aren't satisfied even though you know you're in the NCAA tournament. You all really came out and played with a vengeance tonight.
EKPE UDOH: We're here to win the tournament. That's what our mindset was. So just coming out this game, we got the win, but we can't dwell on it.
Frank Martin has Kansas State playing really well. We've got to get ready for them.

Q. Damion James said last night this game was personal for him. I guess it was personal for you guys, too. Did that comment mean anything?
TWEETY CARTER: I mean, anytime you hear a comment like that you're always going to come out with another boost of energy. Yeah, every team we played we take it personal because we want to win, every game.
So we just wanted to come out and show that we belong here. And I mean, that was his opinion. You know, it's been like that with every team we've played.

Q. Tweety, you were at Baylor when Baylor lost 24 games in a row to Texas. And now you've won four in a row. Can you kind of talk about how the series has changed? Now it seems like you expect to beat them, and really have them frustrated playing against you.
TWEETY CARTER: You know, when I first got here, you never know what you're getting yourself into when you come to a program that had been down for so long.
I always wanted to be a part of something special. And when I was getting recruited, I felt like this was a special program, special team. And first year didn't go like we wanted it to. But every year you want to come out and play. And our season is big in beating Texas.
And fortunately we got four wins in a row. That's a great thing. But you never know. We might see them again.

Q. Ekpe, you and Lace keyed the 13-0 run to start the second half. Could you talk about what was working there and how key that was to kind of build the lead there to start the second half?
EKPE UDOH: I mean, we were just having fun out there. You could see on our faces, we just came out. Lace got hot. That's what he does. We just had fun and stayed together.

Q. Tweety, talk about, you had a pretty good performance against cans sass state the first time around. You're going to need some help this time. Kansas State is playing pretty well. What will you have to do, and Ekpe, the same for you, too. Because their front line was good tonight?
TWEETY CARTER: We've got to come out and play Baylor basketball. Take care of the ball and rebound. Like Lace said earlier, we've got to rebound, because like tonight we got our rebound tonight. But we got the win. We've got to come out and match their intensity tomorrow. But most importantly take care of the ball and just come out and play Baylor basketball.
EKPE UDOH: We've just got to stay aggressive. You know, I mean, Kansas State's front line was probably more aggressive than we were. It starts out with me being the defensive player I am, I gotta get us going on defense. And offense is going to take care of itself.
CHARLIE FISS: Thank you. Questions for coach.

Q. I don't know how much it means to you, but at the end of the game fans were chanting four in a row against Texas. Can you appreciate how much this means to Baylor fans and the family beating a rival like this four times in a row?
COACH DREW: I think we just approach it one game at a time. I know Texas is a very good team. And Coach Barnes does a great job. He's made it an elite program in the nation. Anytime you beat them, period, you're doing something well.
And I think it just shows where our program's at right now and what we've been able to accomplish, and again all the credit goes to the players, because when you have players coaching, they make us look pretty good.

Q. You guys just don't seem satisfied at all. It seems like these guys just want more every time.
COACH DREW: I think part of that is from the standpoint that we've been on a roll. And it's fun playing when you're hot, when you're doing good things.
We held them to 36 percent defensive field goal percentage. And I think Tweety, up front, really set that tone in the second half for that spurt. And Ekpe, and they're enjoying themselves right now. I think their hard work is paying off and it's showing.

Q. Scott, can you talk about just being able to hold the lead there in the first half with Lace out as long as he was?
COACH DREW: Anytime you're able to be up, period, when you're missing your leading scorer for 15 minutes is a pretty good thing.
I think Fred Ellis really stepped up, hit two big 3s for us, but all year we've had different players step up and do good things when time was needed. And again, that's what makes a good team. I think people can see we have great team chemistry. And again, the upper classmen deserve all the credit for that.

Q. There are sometimes coaches know that there's a game coming up or a big game, and sometimes it maybe has a feel that it could be one of those really good games. Is that the kind of feel you have with Kansas State coming up tomorrow?
COACH DREW: In the Big 12, every one of those games, you have a feeling like that. And, again, I mean you're playing the number one conference in the country. Number one RPI. 28 and 12 against other BCS schools. 106 won nonconference record. If you're not up for every game, you're getting beat. I think this tournament shows that by the upsets we had to begin it.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about what you expect from Kansas State? It's going to be pretty much a home game for them?
COACH DREW: We're hoping that all their fans have to go to work tomorrow, but I think it's a situation where we have two very good teams, two teams in the RPI's top ten in the country. And I know last time it was a great game. Came down to the last nine seconds. And probably it will do the exact same thing tomorrow, if we play well.
If we don't play well, then we don't have a chance.
CHARLIE FISS: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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