|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: ALBUQUERQUEMarch 15, 2012Scott DrewBrady HeslipPierre JacksonQuincy MillerALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO Baylor – 68 THE MODERATOR: Coach, an opening statement. COACH DREW: Before the game, I know our guys were prepared for a very good game. SouthDakota State coming in, we had a lot of respect. We knew they were a great team and we're pleased to get the win. I think in the beginning of the game we showed our jitters a little bit, then after that, I was very pleased with how we calmed down and got back to playing basketball. We only had four turnovers in the second half. We rebounded very well. Defensively, especially the last ten minutes of the first half, I thought we guarded well. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the Baylor student‑athletes. Q. Brady, first couple of minutes you're in a zone and you quickly switched out. How does that help the three guards it seemed like that's been effective in the man? BRADY HESLIP: Definitely. When we go man, we're a feisty team on defense. We all work hard and try to rotate and play for each other. But that team's a really good team overall, and they can really shoot the ball. So once we realized that, we had to switch to man. Q. Pierre, Coach Drew talked about little nerves there at the beginning. Did you feel that? I guess maybe talk about how you guys kind of answered that early punch from them? PIERRE JACKSON: Yeah, I was extremely nervous, but once we got down there and warmed up, I was fine. They came out there swinging, knocking down open shots, knocking down contested threes. Coach called a timeout, and we had to regather ourselves, and we switched to man. A.J. came in and brought the defensive punch that we needed, and we got stops and got the lead. Q. Brady, when they got up early, coming into this game, this was kind of a sexy pick as an upset. When you guys got down early, was any of that running through your mind? BRADY HESLIP: No, not at all. We've started games sloppy before this year, and we found the resolve to come back. Today was no different. We knew that was a great team, and we didn't think they were going to come out there and just give the game to us. We were ready for a 40‑minute fight. They really came out swinging and knocking down shots and making some great plays and playing unselfish. So none of that crossed our minds. We knew we were going to regather ourselves and rebound from it. Q. Quincy, you guys pretty much controlled the boards. Is that something like you all felt you had to do against a smaller team? QUINCY MILLER: Yes, definitely. We knew we had to rebound. Coming in, that's what Coach Drew is always talking about, rebounding the ball. Q. Pierre, what's it a struggle particularly early to get the ball inside? Were they just kind of denying, denying? PIERRE JACKSON: Yeah, every team does a scouting report no matter how much time they've got. They knew how we forced the ball in. So our bigs, they collapsed really and had great help‑side on the bigs so they couldn't really work and do their best. They did a good defensive job at the start with that. Q. Quincy, when they started coming back, what kind of held you guys together and allowed you to hold them off there at the end? QUINCY MILLER: We've been in a lot of games where teams came back. We just kept our composure and that's a sign of us maturing. Q. Pierre, for some of us that haven't seen them before, wanted to get the inside scoop on the glow‑in‑the‑dark uniforms. I know it's not the first time you've worn them, but what is the story with those? PIERRE JACKSON: I don't know. I don't know where it came from. I happened to see it in this book in my coach's office, and I got a sneak peak and I liked it. We've got a pretty good record with them, so I really could care less. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Drew. Q. Anthony Jones really gave you a big lift in the first half. He hadn't been playing a whole lot, but he really came through. COACH DREW: I think that's one of our biggest strengths to our team all year long, we said our leadership and our depth. You look at it, if people said coming into the game Quincy Acy's going to have four points. Perry Jones is going to have two points. Are you going to win? Most people would say no. But the great thing is that's where we have other people that can step up. Anthony Jones, I think every coach would dream of coaching a player like him. When he started, he was a great teammate. When he hasn't played, he's been a great teammate, and he's always put the team first. Those guys are hard to find nowadays. I'm very proud of him and happy for his success tonight. And we have confidence in him, no question about it. Q. They don't have the size to match up with you inside. What specifically did they do to try to take away that interior? COACH DREW: If you look at their help‑side, they did a tremendous job fronting the post and having a lot of people in the back so you couldn't lob over. When we have outside shots that are open, we like to take them. We wanted to get inside, play inside out. I thought for the first half we were getting to the paint quite a bit. But for some reason we didn't finish as much as we normally do inside. I thought we missed some of those. Again, how can you tell your team's nervous? Perry has a wide open lay‑up to start the game. He hadn't missed a wide open lay‑up since, I don't know, non‑conference? I think that kind of showed in the beginning of the game just where we were at. I think we had four or five quick turnovers. Then in the second half, we only had four turnovers. Again, SouthDakota State did a tremendous job not being nervous, and coming out and making shots, getting us down. But that's why we've played a tough schedule in the non‑conference. That's why we have the Big 12 season to get us ready. If we were up 8‑0, we knew it was going to be a big game. If we were down 8‑0, we knew it was going to be a great game. That's what we get in March Madness. Q. Same thing that I was asking Brady. You guys were kind of the sexy upset pick here this week? COACH DREW: It wasn't for me (laughing). But go ahead. Q. From the pundits, so to speak. How do you keep your team away from that and keep them focused on the task? COACH DREW: Well, I think you'd see why people would say this. SouthDakota State's an outstanding team. They're the last team to beat Washington. They beat them by 19 points at their place, and had 32 straight non‑conference wins at home, dating back to '08 when Valpo beat them. I'll give Valpo a plug. But I was going to say, we knew it was going to be a hard‑fought game. If you look at it, with our having four of the five starters never playing in the NCAA Tournament, experience tends to tell you what you're going to get from people. Inexperience, you don't know. Again, very pleased that we came back, kept our composure. Any time you win in the NCAA Tournament, Coach is happy. Q. Coach, you talked about your time at Valpo, that is the last program that made any kind of tournament run and most of them lost in the first round. But even losing in the first round, giving a team like Baylor a run, what does that do for a mid‑major like Valpo or SouthDakota State? COACH DREW: I think it will really help their recruiting because nationally a lot of student‑athletes will know about them and like their style of play. Coach does a great job. They're fun to watch. Recruits want to play in that kind of style. They have good kids, it seems like. So I'm sure other people want to be a part of that program. Glad we don't have to play them next year. Q. How big was Pierre's defense as a catalyst for you guys? You got 23 points off turnovers. COACH DREW: I think A.J. really did a very good job first and foremost on Wolters. He's a great player, as we all know. Pierre, I thought was active in help side and helped out. But A.J. was tonight one of his better defensive performances. Then I thought Deuce learned a couple things tonight because he wasn't too effective early on. I think hopefully that will help him prepare for the later opponents we play. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
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
|