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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 12, 2010

Ekpe Udoh

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

Kansas State Â– 82
Baylor - 75

CHARLIE FISS: We're ready to begin with the Baylor Bears. Coach Scott Drew, student-athletes Ekpe Udoh and LaceDarius Dunn.

COACH DREW: Coming into the game, we talked about how similar both teams were. Both teams were 25 and 6, both teams 11 and 5 in the conference. We were 7 in the RPI. They were 6. And the first time we played, it was back and forth the whole way. So we knew it would come down to a few possessions, and tonight they made the big plays down the stretch and credit to them for doing that. Credit Coach Martin for getting them ready and executing down the stretch.
Obviously we think they'll go far in the tournament. And hopefully we see them again, Final Four, somewhere at that level.
CHARLIE FISS: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Lace, talk about that stretch there at the end. You guys at one point I think had a one- or two-point lead. What was the difference down the stretch?
LACEDARIUS DUNN: I think we just stopped executing well. They really took us out of playing our game doing the things we do well. So hats off to Kansas State.

Q. Lace, can you talk about Pullen's performance, even when you all were on him, seems like he's awfully tough to guard?
LACEDARIUS DUNN: He's a great player. He do great things for his team. I'm sure he's a leader, and he just came out tonight and led his team to a victory. Hats off to him and good luck to them for tomorrow.

Q. Ekpe, do you see Jacob as kryptonite to you guys; second time he's delivered a victory to you?
EKPE UDOH: Just had a good game. Big players make big-time plays. I wouldn't call a player kryptonite, though.

Q. You guys were down 5 when you went out with four fouls. Watching it from the bench, did you feel pretty good about the situation as far as you guys actually cutting into the lead and how tough was that to sit there and come back in kind of cold after being out?
EKPE UDOH: It's tough, but I made those fouls, so I had to deal with it. I'm confident in all my teammates. When I went out I didn't have like a worry that we were going to get like beat by 20. So I just knew we were going to stay in the game. When I came, I have to make plays.

Q. Ekpe, about two minutes to go, they had an offensive rebound. They had a miss inside to get an offensive rebound, and Pullen hit the 3. How critical were the rebounds? I think they only wound up with one rebound difference, but how critical was that particular rebound?
EKPE UDOH: It wasn't as big -- it was just the last stretch, you know what I mean? Kansas State got us out of our comfort zone. We kind of melted a little bit tonight. We have to build on it, look at it, get ready for the tournament.

Q. Lace, kind of glad to be done with the Big 12 play and moving on to the rest of the NCAA?
LACEDARIUS DUNN: Not really, because our goal was to come here and win the whole thing. We're going on to the big tournament. We'll have to step it up to another level. Hopefully, we can go down there and play Baylor basketball and do the things we do well and come off with the victory. But the most important thing is you lose one, you're done. We're going to go down there with a chip on our shoulder and play.
CHARLIE FISS: Thank you. Questions for coach.

Q. You have to feel good about where you're probably going to be seeded, especially after the way you've been playing. Could you just talk about that?
COACH DREW: Hopefully they take into account, obviously, our RPI. If they do that, we should be in good shape. Normally you look at the non-conference record. I mean we beat Xavier. We built South Carolina at South Carolina. We beat Arkansas at Arkansas. We beat Arizona state at Arizona state. So everything they normally look for in criteria, high RPI, good road wins and then strong conference performance, we have.
So hopefully we do get a good seed. I know our guys would like to put in a request for Oklahoma City or New Orleans, but I don't know if they'll take that.

Q. Was it the energy level that Sutton was playing with or did you lose track of him? Why was he able to cause so many problems?
COACH DREW: Good question. I think we have to credit him, because he came out and really was aggressive and really performed well. I mean, 14 and 14 is, eight offensive rebounds. He definitely was a difference-maker tonight.

Q. What were they doing specifically on Tweety or was that just a credit to Clemente? Tweety didn't have one of his normal nights. Six turnovers.
COACH DREW: I think, first of all, coming into the game I think he was a little wore out from the Texas game. And I think Kansas State is so deep and they rotate so many players in there, they kept fresh people on him. But they do have size and they do have length once you get around Clemente. So you put all that together, credit Kansas State's defense in how they kept rotating fresh guys on him and they did a great job.

Q. I was wondering, just in general when you get to this point in the season, how important do you feel that guard play is across the board?
COACH DREW: Guard play is huge. It makes coaches and programs look good. And that's why we have two of the best in the nation in Tweety and Lace. And that's why we are what we are. You look at Clemente and Pullen, the exact same thing. The difference is the last we played Kansas State twice, and both times both of those guys have had great games. And tonight both of them had a great game.

Q. Will it be a little bit of a relief to get to the NCAA tournament after getting through the Big 12? And how much does this kind of game and playing in the Big 12, how much does it get you guys ready for NCAA tournament play?
COACH DREW: I think, first of all, we have good momentum. We've won -- we're 8 and 2 in our last ten games. So I think we're playing good basketball. I don't think there's anything after tonight's game where you say, wow, you're in trouble.
I think we just take our hats off and credit Kansas State, and I think it's going to be a tough ticket tomorrow to watch this game, and we'll cheer for every Big 12 team and hopefully we'll show the nation that we are the best conference, and we have teams who do real well and advance far in the tournament.
CHARLIE FISS: Thank you, coach.

End of FastScripts

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