|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA MEN'S 2ND & 3RD ROUNDS: ALBUQUERQUEMarch 16, 2012Quincy AcyScott DrewBrady HeslipPierre JacksonQuincy MillerALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO THE MODERATOR: Questions for the Baylor student‑athletes. Q. Quincy Acy, does it seem a little unusual playing Colorado again? QUINCY ACY: Yeah, I mean, we saw them in the bracket though and we knew it could be a potential match‑up. But, yeah, it seems a little weird since they're not home anymore, the Big 12, that is. Q. Quincy, what do you remember about that game last year? It seemed like it followed the pattern a little bit of Colorado's game last night, except you guys got over the top. QUINCY ACY: A lot of rebounds, I remember Roberson had like ten offensive rebounds against us. That's been Achilles heel for us this year. So we're going to look to try to limit his offensive rebounds and contain everybody on their team. They've got a lot of different players from last year and they're a different team. Q. Brady and Pierre, there was a time in the last year or so when Baylor didn't really‑‑ nobody really knew where you guys were going to end up. I know that's kind of‑‑ as far as in a conference, I know that's kind of an AD and a coach issue. But did you guys have any concerns about that? BRADY HESLIP: We see it when it's in the media and stuff, so it makes you a little uneasy not knowing what's going to happen. But they figured it out in a couple of weeks and we were just patient with it. I'm happy with the way it turned out. PIERRE JACKSON: I honestly didn't know we were going into a different conference or anything. I think we were fine in the Big 12 though. Q. Quincy, describe your coach and how he gets the most out of you as players? QUINCY ACY: Coach Drew is very charismatic. He's always energized. He treats you like grown-ups. He doesn't just treat you like a little kid, I guess. He expects you to act like a pro. He gives us a lot of leeway, which is good, but it also comes with trust. He expects you to know what you're doing on the court. He expects consistency. Coach Drew is a great coach. I love his coaching staff, and it brings the most out of us just because he gives us the confidence to do what we know we're capable of because he knows what we're capable of. Q. First year of both you guys playing. Could you talk about how long it took you to develop that on‑court chemistry and what that was like for both of you out there? PIERRE JACKSON: It didn't take long for me. Like I said on my visit, I felt comfortable with them. So after the summer happened, we went to Canada, and they're just great players and great teammates, and they made me get comfortable really fast, so it was really easy for me. BRADY HESLIP: Yeah, I think it started in Canada. Pierre did a great job distributing to everybody. I remember a lot of specific occasions where he was just making a crazy pass to me and I'd be wide open for a three. So I'd say it started in the summer, and it just went all year and kind of got stronger all year. Q. Did you show the boys around your neighborhood there, Brady, when you were up there? BRADY HESLIP: Yeah, we went on a scavenger hunt. We didn't do too much other than that. We just kind of hung out and won a few games, had some fun as a team and got closer and everything like that. It was a good trip. Q. In terms of this team being able to come back, I believe it's five times now this team has come back from double digits. Can you talk a little bit about that, Brady and Quincy Miller? Is that a situation you guys would rather not be in though? BRADY HESLIP: Yeah, I think it's a situation nobody wants to be in, but sometimes it just happens in the game of basketball. You can't really control it. But it doesn't faze us really because we've been down so many times before and we know how to find the resolve to get back in the game. It's not like anybody panics or gets concerned. We know it's a 40‑minute game and it's a game of runs. So if one team makes a run, we know we're coming back with another one. QUINCY MILLER: Nobody ever wants to be down by double digit points; but we always find the resolve to come back, just like Brady said. Q. Quincy Miller, your first NCAA Tournament game yesterday. How similar or different was it in your mind than what you thought it might be? QUINCY MILLER: I thought it was exactly how I thought it would be. Just playing against a great team like that. I knew it was going to be intense the whole game. It was what I expected. Q. Did you feel like the team came out maybe a little jittery? Did you feel like maybe you've got those nerves maybe over with now? QUINCY ACY: Yeah, we had a couple mental mistakes on defense early on, and they made us pay for it by hitting some good shots. Coach called us over to the bench and told us we had to get it together or we were going to go home early. Guys did a great job of fighting back and paying attention to what Coach had for us and we started getting stops and stuff. But they're a great team, and they executed their game plan well. Q. Following up on that, Quincy, I know Pierre said he was nervous at the start of the game. How were you at the start of the game, and did it take you a while to kind of relax and just play? QUINCY MILLER: Yeah, I was nervous just because it was my first NCAA game. But it didn't take me that long to get unnervous (laughing). Q. Quincy, can you just talk about the familiarity factor with playing Colorado and then just a Big 12, Pac‑12? Did you feel there was any kind of a statement there to be made? QUINCY ACY: We don't want to talk about no statements or nothing like that. But it's good to play a team that we have film of from last year and stuff like that and a couple players are the same. But they're a different team. They have a different mindset this year. They're on a good run coming from that conference tournament. They have great players that are playing really well right now. We have to pay attention to this year's film, and we can still gain a little bit from last year from plays and stuff. But we're really going to have to execute our game plan well. Q. When you guys have gotten behind by double digits as you have several times, what is Coach Drew's demeanor in a situation like that? Is it motivational, X's and O's or what? BRADY HESLIP: Usually he'll call a timeout, and one thing about Coach Drew is he's the most positive coach I've ever seen. He's never yelling at anybody for negative things. We get in the huddle and we're not talking about what just happened. We're talking about how to do things better and just encouraging us like, all right, let's get back to our game now, that's over with and stuff like that. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Drew. Q. Did you think you'd be playing Colorado this soon after they left the Big 12 or is this a little unusual? COACH DREW: Unusual from the standpoint you don't really think about playing people in postseason. You think about playing them in maybe exempt tournaments or home at home series, but you don't think about playing who you might play in postseason. Q. They have a bunch of new players and you have new players, but there are some players back from both teams. Does it help that you all played them last year? Maybe the coaching style or anything like that? COACH DREW: Normally, yes, but since Tad had just gotten there and only been there for a year, I don't really know if we had a great feel for what they did. They had a lot of veteran players that aren't there anymore. So we're like everybody else that we're facing right now trying to familiarize ourselves as much as possible with them. One thing people don't realize sometimes during the season coaches are so busy with their next opponent and their own team, they don't get a chance to watch much other basketball. So a lot of times you're not as familiar with different teams as fans might be who watch more games on TV. Q. What did you see from them last night? Have you gotten a chance to look at that game? COACH DREW: I think we've definitely seen enough film to know why they've been winning is because defensively they've really been solid. Tad has always prided himself on trying to instill a good defensive team, and he's done a remarkable job up there, especially with the turnover from last year's team to having a young group to get them to play as hard defensively as they've been doing, then rebounding. Roberson's an animal on the glass. He had ten offensive rebounds at our place last year, so we know how good he is and what he can do. He's improved his overall skill package on the offensive end too. Besides that, I know transition. They've pushed it. We need to make sure that we do a good job limiting easy buckets for them. Q. I'm curious when Colorado and Nebraska left and then a lot of other teams were thinking about it, what were your emotions when Baylor was sort of in this area where they didn't know where you were going to end up? COACH DREW: I think like every other coach in the Big 12 you just hated it because it was such a good conference and league at the time. When it's experiencing as much success, why change? But at the same time, I was blessed and fortunate enough to know the leadership and our university were going to put us in a great situation. So I just had to worry about recruiting and our team. But I know Colorado's been successful this year in the Pac, and I'm sure they're enjoying being there. Q. Your team has displayed the ability to come back from double digit deficits, but I guess how important is it to avoid that situation or at least limit the runs against? COACH DREW: Well, you can trust me, I'd prefer to be up rather than down. But I think that's the experience we've gained throughout the year. With a younger team you worry when you get down you might panic and start taking shots and making plays that you don't normally make. I think yesterday was a great illustration of that from the standpoint we got down. Weren't playing well early on, but we maintained our poise and were able to come back and put together a nice 15 minutes in the first half. Q. Four of your five starters yesterday in their first NCAA Tournament action. Did you sense going into the game jitters at all? And what did you do to try to calm that? COACH DREW: I didn't do a very good job calming it, but the good thing is after you get up and down a little bit, those jitters leave you. That's just every kid dreams of playing in the NCAA Tournament, so if you're not excited, you're not nervous, you're not ready to go, you wouldn't be playing at the level you're playing at because this is why you do what you do. Q. Five of the eight that played last night, that was their first time. I know it's just one game, but how much do you think that helps getting a game under their belt going into this second game? COACH DREW: I think it definitely‑‑ you get rid of some of the anxiety, some of the nerves. You're always more tired for the second game because it's hard sleeping after wins. Your adrenaline's going. You're excited. So I think both teams will be more relaxed. Although Colorado was pretty good, so I don't know if they need to be any more relaxed. I know definitely our last 15 minutes of the first half is how we'd like to play for 40 minutes. Q. How strong was the play of your starting guards and do you expect that kind of performance moving forward? COACH DREW: Well, I think that's the great thing about our team. Before the game if you would have said Quincy Acy's going to score four points and Perry Jones is going to score two points and you're still going to win, I think that, again, speaks to the depth of our team and the talent from other people. We've won games where our guards haven't scored. We've won games where our bigs haven't scored. So I think having a balanced attack is important because some games people play well. Some games they don't. Sometimes defenses take away certain things and give other things. For us, we like it when everybody scores. You can get a bunch of people in double figures. But at the same time, our depth is definitely a strength of our team. Q. A number of people have discredited Pac‑12 basketball this year, I think including the tournament committee gave them two bids. How do you think Colorado would stack up in the Big 12? COACH DREW: I think just like they did when they were still in the Big 12. I thought they were very competitive. Just like any of us, really hard to win on their home court. In the Big 12 is tough to win on the road anywhere. That's where with the selection and stuff, I know so many of those things are done on RPI and strength of schedule. One thing that sometimes we forget to talk about is people play some non‑conference games with schools in your area and region, and if they happen to be down that hurts your strength of schedule. But if they happen to be up, that helps. I know if you're in the tournament and you're playing in March Madness, you're a good team and you're well‑coached. 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
|