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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENT

March 11, 2011

Mark Turgeon

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

Texas Â– 70
Texas A&M - 58

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon, student-athletes Khris Middleton and B.J. Holmes. Coach, opening comments.
COACH TURGEON: Too much Tristan Thompson. Second-chance points was really the game. And I felt like every time the shot clock went down, we either fouled, they scored or they got a second-chance point. We just couldn't -- when the shot clock went down, we just couldn't get stops.
And I have to go back and watch the film, but literally it felt like 10 out of 12 times down the stretch when the shot clock was going down they made a play in the last five seconds or we fouled.
And that was the difference. We cut it to 54-50, and Hamilton made -- I didn't think it was a great shot for him, it probably is, but a tough deep, deep 3, put them up 57-50.
I felt like we really guarded until about 30 on the shot clock, down to five on the shot clock, didn't get it done. And J'Covan Brown was great.
He made his first one. We weren't supposed to leave him after that. And we did. And we just had some breakdowns. But give them a lot of credit. They are really good, because we've gotten a lot better. And we played pretty well, especially defensively. We just weren't strong enough to rebound with them.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. B.J., as good as Tristan and Jordan were, what was working for J'Covan and how big was he, how big of a factor was he?
B.J. HOLMES: You know, J'Covan is a spark plug off the bench. We know he can shoot it coming into the game, and we just gave him open looks. He knocked them down and made us pay for it. And a lot of miscommunication on our part and can't leave good shooters open.

Q. B.J., you guys seemed like you were going to be aggressive offensively, winning or losing you were going go to the basket, can you talk about that, that strategy?
B.J. HOLMES: I think we was aggressive early. Late we tried to settle for a lot of jump shots. And that's what I think led to their run. And we was trying to get the bigs in foul trouble in the beginning of the game, and towards the end we sort of slacked up, and they forced us to take some hard shots, took us out of our game a little bit.

Q. B.J., as a senior, how proud are you of the way you guys fought? I mean, you lost to these guys I think a combined 41 points in the first two meetings but really fought in this one. How does that bode for the next few weeks?
B.J. HOLMES: I don't take no moral victories. It's a loss. I hate losing. Whether it's by 1 or by 11. We gotta get ready for the tournament, ready for Sunday and put this game behind us.

Q. Khris, could you speak to where you guys are? As you head into the NCAA Tournament, how confident you are?
KHRIS MIDDLETON: Pretty confident. After losing this game we've got to pin it back, just let it seal in tonight, and tomorrow move on and practice getting better and just wait to see where we're going to go, who we're going to play.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.

Q. Coach, there was one sequence there, I think you were within about five points, and they seemed to just have the ball down their end for a couple of minutes. And that was when J'Covan got a 3-pointer, and Lucas took the ball to the basket. Can you talk a little bit about that?
COACH TURGEON: We couldn't rebound. They were patient. But they were patient because we were really guarding them. But they got a second-chance point I think on one, and then they went to the foul line and missed the free throw and knocked it back and got that possession, that kind of same formula we had in Kansas.
What I said, the shot clock was going down. We just didn't make the plays defensively.
Tristan Thompson, are you kidding me? How good that kid is. We're trying to box him out. He just jumps over you. And the shots he made, he made some tough shots in the second half when we had things going.
So they're good. They're good when they shoot the ball. They haven't shot the ball as well lately. They didn't shoot the ball well in the first half, but they got going in the second half. We picked our poison. We weren't supposed to leave J'Covan Brown. He hurt us.
But they're a good team when they shoot it like that.

Q. How pleased are you with the way your group fought against this good team tonight?
COACH TURGEON: Well, I was pleased with the way we started. The thing I'm disappointed in is we made the same mistakes late in this game we made in Kansas. We had some defensive breakdowns, didn't guard screens the right way, we didn't recognize who we're guarding, how we're guarding them. And you're right there, a four-point game against a really good team, and that's the disappointing thing.
And guys have got to grow up. And as hard as it is sometimes for us to score, especially against Texas, really good defensively, we can't break down.
And you take away all the second-chance points, a lot of that was just talent, a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger than us. But we can't have those breakdowns. And that was disappointing. We did it at KU. And we did it here today.
For us to get to where we want to be as a program and where we think we belong, we have to beat a team like Kansas or Texas. We've got to play 40 minutes, not 37 or 32 or whatever we've done.

Q. Coach, you had a little bit of a drought there in the second half on offense. You got to the line a few times, but the shots weren't falling in that middle section of the second half. Could you talk about that stretch of the game and where your priorities are on offense going into the tournament, what you need to straighten up?
COACH TURGEON: You just gotta make some shots. That's the bottom line. You've got to make shots. David's been real efficient for us. And Tristan Thompson blocked his first shot, kind of got in his head.
They're hard to score on. They're really hard. I did think we missed some open ones. We blew it right before half. We missed a couple open shots, missed two front ends in one-and-ones. Should have been tied at one point at half, then we would have built that lead up.
So give them a lot of credit. I mean, they're really good defensively and they did a good job on certain guys. And I thought Khris had a better second half. But Nate didn't play well. Dash didn't play well offensively, and we just couldn't get enough shots for B.J.
Since we were four and four in the league, we've played much better offensively. Tonight doesn't look good, but we were almost 60 percent last night. And I think the other -- we didn't shoot well against Baylor, but every other game we shot the ball well.
So I think we're headed in the right direction offensively. It's not easy for us, but we're heading in the right way.

Q. I know he plays good against a lot of teams, well against a lot of teams, but you guys seem to bring the best out of Jordan Hamilton. Is that just a tough matchup?
COACH TURGEON: Yeah, he's tough. He made shots early and he let us know it. He's pretty talkative out there. He was good. He made that big 3 late. It was 54-50. He's a good player. One of the top 10 players coming out of high school. He's gotten better defensively. Good player.
So I thought Naji and Khris tried. I thought they tried to guard him. The kid's good.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

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