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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 13, 2014Cameron ClarkLon KrugerRyan SpanglerKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI Baylor – 78 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Oklahoma Sooners Coach Lon Kruger and student‑athletes Cameron Clark and Ryan Spangler. Coach? COACH KRUGER: I thought it was a ballgame in which Baylor from the start, I thought, was more aggressive and dictated. I thought we were reacting most of the first half, especially, they were quick on loose balls and they did a good job. They did a really good job. I thought they played with more urgency and determination from the start. I liked our guys' fight there late to get back into it, and a little bit of a look at it. But still credit Baylor. I thought they deserved, did what they needed to do to win a ballgame, and they deserved it more than we did. Q. Ryan, it seemed like Baylor's size and length bothered you guys more so than in the first two times you played them, both offensively and defensively, could you talk about what their size did tonight? RYAN SPANGLER: I think not even thinking about their size, I think they just hit us first. The last two times we've played, we've hit them first, not let them do that out of the start. But today they hit us first. They got on a roll, and it was hard to stop. Q. It seemed like Austin really affected, I guess, your willingness to go to the hole just for the whole team. Maybe he didn't have that effect in the first two games, could you just talk about that? CAMERON CLARK:  Well, his size, you know, he blocked a lot of shots. We could have did a better job just being more aggressive. But credit Baylor, they came out and popped us. We didn't do what we needed to do to get the win. RYAN SPANGLER: Yeah, he blocked a lot of shots in there. I think we need to get‑‑ all week we worked on getting on two feet and pump faking, but I don't think we did that today like we practiced. So I think the things that we practiced, we need to bring to the game. Q. Ryan, you were on a pretty good roll coming into this event, and you're going to be in the NCAA tournament. What does this do now? Does it humble you a little bit, make you need to play harder defense? What's your mindset once you hear your name called Sunday? RYAN SPANGLER: I think it just shows us, you know, how much better we need to get by next week. There's a lot of things we need to work on. Defense is one of them. We need to keep picking up our defense like we have the last five or six games. But there's just little things we need to work on to become a better team and come out firing. CAMERON CLARK: We just got too comfortable, I feel like. We've just gotta come out more aggressive from the start. Playing like we've got something to lose. I feel like we just didn't come out there ready to play. And we just gotta learn from this and see where we place in the tournament Sunday. Q. Were you surprised? Because you told us yesterday they were pretty giddy, pretty excited about the postseason. So did this effort surprise you or was it like what Baylor did, like hitting first, like Ryan said? COACH KRUGER: I think Baylor affected the way we played, for sure. We had three or four really good days of practice in preparation and guys were anxious to play. I think Baylor, again, got into us early, especially on the boards. They got quicker to loose balls, dictated with Austin's presence inside. I think that had more of an effect on us than us not wanting to play. I thought we entered the ballgame in the right frame of mind, but I thought Baylor dictated. Q. You talked about how much you liked your team's fight. Was it just too much of a deficit to come back from? COACH KRUGER: The second half, most teams are going to compete like crazy when you dig yourselves a hole. Our guys did that. I thought they were more active defensively the second half. I thought it got a little frantic there defensively, didn't quite change gears. We went to the offensive end and didn't shoot it as well as needed to, especially against their zone. So we'll learn from this. No one likes ‑‑ no one likes the result. No one likes the way we played, necessarily. Again, credit Baylor for that, but we have to learn from it and play better next week. Q. We always talk about seeding for the NCAA tournament, where you're going to be seeded, where you're going to be seeded. Is it more important who you'll be matched up with more so than any particular number of seed? COACH KRUGER: In most years it probably is. You know, certain matchups might be size or a pressing team or depending on what teams are comfortable with or not comfortable with. The number in front of a name this year is probably maybe because of the great balance and the depth of teams in the country, may not be quite as significant as other years. But regardless, we've got to line up and win some battles and play better than we did tonight. Q. Coach, the old adage it's tough to beat the same team three times in one year. How much is that a true statement and how does that affect a team? COACH KRUGER: It's tough to beat good teams three times. Baylor's a good team. They've won nine out of their last ten now, playing with confidence and playing well, and I thought that showed tonight. They opened the ballgame with that confidence that level of attitude about what they wanted to get accomplished. And, again, I don't think necessarily beating a team three times, except when it's a good team, it's really hard. And Baylor's a good team. Q. How does this affect pickup going into next week in terms of just momentum, because you were playing so well and does this affect it at all? Is this a different game? COACH KRUGER: It won't affect our momentum that we had. I think, if anything, we should have more focus on how we have to play and what we have to do and learn from this game. I thought this is a great opportunity to‑‑ again, I don't like the result, but when you lose a ballgame you have to learn from it. And we've got a lot ahead, and we've got a few days in preparation for whatever comes next week. Q. Coach, obviously not the way you wanted to come out and play tonight, but considering the fact you've got a few extra days off, how much of a benefit can that be going into the NCAA tournament? COACH KRUGER: We'd rather be playing if we had the two choices, of course. But we'll get back to Oklahoma City, Norman, tomorrow and probably shoot it a little bit, work out on Saturday, and find out what's happening on Sunday, then a couple days of practice next week. At this time of year, our guys understand what we need to do. And I think tonight maybe reinforced that a little bit hopefully in a positive way. Q. Can you project how playing in this year's Big 12 might be able to prepare you for the NCAA? COACH KRUGER: Well, arguably and certainly our thoughts is best conference in the country, and every night you line up it's against a really good team. A lot of different styles in the league, some smaller teams, some bigger teams. So really it has to prepare you well. The balance, the depth of really good players in the league, it's tough every night. So we know when you go to NCAA tournament play, you expect it to be tough but we've also been through that grind and hopefully we've benefited from it. Q. Back to Baylor's size, it appeared tonight that size mattered as much for Baylor on offense as defense. They've got a lot of easy shots, five dunks and three uncontested layups, and most of that was their big guys getting easy stuff. Can you talk about how hard it was to just keep them from easy shots? COACH KRUGER: They won the battles early. I thought they set the tone early. They established post position. Our big guys, Ryan and Cam and D.J. and Tyler did a good job of fighting size all year long. Today we didn't win that battle. Again, I thought their big guys early established that they were going to catch where they wanted to and we doubled a little bit in there early, but still they made plays at the rim that they didn't do in the other two ball games. So, again, they're playing well. I think confidence might be a lot of that right now, the fact that they're on a good roll and playing with a high level of confidence, and they won those battles. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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