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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 9, 2011

Fred Hoiberg

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

Colorado Â– 77
Iowa State - 75

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Iowa State, Coach Fred Hoiberg and student-athletes Jake Anderson and Diante Garrett. Coach, opening statement.
COACH HOIBERG: Well, kind of a microcosm of our season. We went out there and really fought hard. And we're right there at the end, gave ourselves a chance.
They had -- obviously Burks was a difference-maker. He made big plays all game long. And he goes in there, throws his body around and does a great job drawing fouls. And they were calling them tonight. So it's a tough team to play against. They got some players that do a great job of getting to the free-throw line, and they did that.
I'm really proud of our effort. I'm proud of our guys for going out and continuing to fight and continuing to give ourselves a chance to win basically every night we took the floor. At one point we lost ten in a row, but the guys continued to go out there and give it everything they had. Our seniors, these two guys here to my right, really going to miss those guys, as well as Jamie.
Those guys did everything they could to teach our young guys the right way to approach things. They're great leaders. They're great kids, and Iowa State will miss these guys very much.
All of them have bright futures ahead of them. So I love the way that our guys competed. Unfortunately we just didn't make the plays down the stretch that we needed to make.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for our student-athletes.

Q. Jake, can you just talk about your performance tonight and how you kind of stepped up your game?
JAKE ANDERSON: I mean, I've been capable of doing this the whole year. I've been doing this the whole year. But tonight Colorado did a lot of focus on D.G., Scott and Jamie. And I just took what they was giving me.

Q. Diante, can you just briefly sum up your career and just talk about what kind of influence Coach Hoiberg had on you this year and where you think the program's going?
DIANTE GARRETT: Coming here my freshman year, I was young. I was learning from Bryan Petersen, just getting better each and every year, just staying in the gym 24/7 and getting a lot of shots up. When Coach Hoiberg became my coach, he lit my eyes up more. First day meeting him, talking to him, and he was telling me keep my confidence up and we're going to be looking for you to make a lot of plays for us and be the leader for this team. Do whatever you have to do to help the team out.
It boosted my confidence even more and staying in the gym even more than I was in the past, just getting prepared for the season. It was a full season under Coach Fred.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.

Q. Can you just talk about the possession -- you get 35 seconds, looks like you could melt it down, but Jamie ended up with the deep 3-pointer. What was the idea there?
COACH HOIBERG: Well, over in the huddle I asked Jamie, Are you ready to win this game for us? He said, Yeah, I'm ready. He said the same thing in overtime the first two possessions of the Nebraska game. He said, Give me the ball, Coach. Got a couple of shots and he knocked both of them down. That ball hit every part of the rim three times before it finally bounced out. So he got a great look at it. If he didn't have the look, it was going to get back in Jake's hands and make the play.
The way they were keying on Jake down the stretch and Diante and Scott, I really thought we could get Jamie a good open look, and we did.
And unfortunately, again, it did everything but went down. Diante gets a shot the next time down, it rolls around the rim three or four times and goes out.
It's a game of inches. And they hit a couple of free throws early that almost bounced over the backboard and fell. Unfortunately that's part of the game. It was a day where they got a lot of those rolls, and we didn't.
But, again, I'm proud of the guys effort. They played and gave us a chance to win.

Q. How hard is it to beat Colorado when Alec Burks is doing everything that he did today?
COACH HOIBERG: Pretty hard. I thought Alec Burks was a lottery pick before today. And nothing changed my mind the way he went out there and performed today.
He's a big-time player. Prototypical wing in the NBA just the way he plays. Does such a good job drawing fouls and drawing contact. Handles the ball extremely well and he's great in transition.
And he shoots the ball. You know, he made a big 15-footer for them down the stretch. And obviously did everything by getting to the free-throw line and knocking them down when he had to.
Colorado is a tough team to play against. They have two wing players that you don't see on a daily basis with Burks and Higgins. They're big and they have size. We gave that up pretty much all year, gave up size. The way Relphorde is playing and Knutson, they make shots. The trouble with double-teaming a guy like Burks, he attacks the big guy, splits you and gets in the paint. We tried to man up, and we had a couple of situations I thought where we stabbed at them and put them on the free-throw line when we didn't have to. But both big-time performers, and Burks was awesome today.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

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