Keyonte George
Just like you said, we had to gut that one out. Shots aren’t going to fall the time. We preach controlling what you can control. That’s your effort, going to rebound, playing defense. We take care of those things, and ultimately we should come out with the win. We played hard, fought hard and got a good home win.
(got in a zone there late) in the back of my mind, I know the coaching staff and my teammates, they have a lot of confidence in me. And I feel like I’ve proven myself to be able to take those shots in those last couple of minutes. Anybody can do it, it was just me tonight. Last couple of nights, it was LJ, Flag and Jalen. We’re all going to have our turn, and I was able to go out there and make some big-time shots to close the game.
(scored seven straight points late, what was the key) Just staying locked in, trusting myself, trusting my work. And we were able to show that tonight. Y’all don’t see the work we put in each and every day. And today, it showed. The last two minutes, that’s when it comes in being in shape, playing when you’re tired. And like I said, being locked in. Taking pride in defense and then your offense will come easy to you. That’s why I think I was able to make those shots down the stretch.
(shot 24% in the first half, how did their length affect y’all) I would just say, I feel like No. 4 (Davis) did a really good job locking and trailing and just being active. And as far as the whole team, the bigs were helping out, blocking shots. They were all long, so we had to really take care of the ball and play off two feet, two hands. That’s what we preached coming into the second half, and we were able to keep the ball in our possession and get good shots.
(another fast start for LJ, what did you see from him today) We all know what LJ is capable of. And it was only a matter of time when he really started feeling it. His game is coming along, and we’ve seen it in practice, and you’re just now seeing it in the game. He’s in a really good groove, he’s put in a lot of work on the mental side of the game. He’s really watching film, he’s trying to figure out what he needs to get better at, how he can impact the game in any kind of way. So, it’s really good to see that his game is coming along.
(finishing through contact, body control) I feel like I’ve had body control. But I really took the time to really work on my body and get in shape. And Coach (Bill) Peterson, he wasn’t here, but we always talk to each other. We watch a lot of basketball, and he talked to me about just staying on my feet. There are a lot of people that get hit and land on the ground. But if you land on your feet while you get hit, people are going to say, he stays on his feet strong, good body control, like you said. And he’s been helping me with that thus far.
(Anthony Black)
I’ve been knowing AB (Anthony Black) since sixth or seventh grade, playing AAU against each other, we played against each other in high school for two years before I went to IMG. A lot of people don’t know that we’re best friends, I go over to his house, he goes over to my house, we stay at each other’s house. So it was a real emotional game for both of us. We talked a lot leading up to this game and we had a lot of fun going at each other. But at the end of the day, we’re not going to take anything personal that we say to each other in between the lines. Outside of basketball outside the lines, we’re brothers, we love each other. I love his family and he loves my family.
(Texas) I’ve seen Texas a couple of times this year. We saw Marcus Carr in Canada, they got Tyrese Hunter, Timmy Allen, that’s a really good guard group, Arterio Morris. They play hard, they play really good, they’re playing with each other. We’re playing really well right now, but there are things we can get better at with our team. We just want to take it one day at a time and see where we want to go from here, and go over there and play hard and see where the chips fall.
Jalen Brdges
(against TCU and K-State, you weren’t able to close out close games, what’s changed since then) I feel like it’s just our sense of pride to protect home court. We had a goal to go undefeated here for our last year in the Ferrell Center before we move over to the pavilion. Obviously, we lost to TCU and Kansas State, so we weren’t able to accomplish that. And we’re just trying not to lose any more games in front of our home crowd.
(got in early foul trouble, what was your mindset coming into the 2nd half) Just affect the game any way possible, whether that’s playing good defense, getting rebounds, getting on loose balls, making shots, it doesn’t matter. I’m just trying to make winning plays to give my team a chance to win.
(how good did that feel to hit the 3-pointer with about 12 minutes left when y’all were down five) Honestly, it was just another moment in the game. I saw it go through, and I tried to make it back on defense. That’s really all that was.
(pride in playing for Big 12) Absolutely. I believe the SEC has won the last three Big 12/SEC Challenges. And I played them last year and I lost to Arkansas last year. So, a little extra added motivaton for me.
(Arkansas one of the more athletic teams you’ve faced) Yeah, I feel like compared to everybody we’ve matched up with, they’re definitely up there, if not the most long and athletic team that we’ve played. They had basically four to five guys on the court at all times over 6-6, 6-5.
(feel like the zone worked pretty well in the second half) Absolutely. I feel like it just kind of gave them a different look, and we run different actions out of our zone. We just like mixing it up sometimes when we’re struggling to get multiple stops in a row. So, anytime you can disrupt the flow of the offense, which is what the defense is designed to do, basically, that’s a good thing.
Scott Drew
I think that’s a fitting game for the last Big 12/SEC Challenge. Really proud of our crowd, I thought they gave us a great lift. I think we’re the first ranked team to win today. I know the Big 12 is off to a great start, and I’ll be cheering for the Big 12 the rest of the day. I want to thank God that last shot didn’t go in. That was a great tip play. I didn’t see that one coming. Really proud of Jalen playing the second half with three fouls, and Keyonte really got it going down the stretch. Even though Adam’s 1 for 11 and Langston’s 1 for 6, they’re 2 for 17, I really credit our guys for finding a way to not turn the ball over and not give Arkansas transition buckets. We did a good job on the glass, we did a great job mixing up defenses, and I thought Adam and Flo had good leadership down the stretch for us.
(Still find a way to win shooting 33 percent) You’re not going to make shots all the time. As a coach, you just want to have good shots, and if you have good shots you’re doing your job and hopefully getting some offensive rebounds. The 12 second-chance points were huge for us. The free throws, our guys really did a great job on the free throw line, and made tough free throws down the stretch.
(Adjusting to Arkansas mismatches) They had a lot of mismatches with Jalen’s foul trouble and Langston’s foul trouble. We went four guards, and it’s one of the longer more athletic teams. One or two things happen, either the guards get a turnover or rebound and score in transition and you got to go to a smaller lineup or the bigs beat you up inside and you have to go to a bigger lineup. Coming into halftime, we were all frustrated because we didn’t like how we closed the half. But you look at it, and I told the guys we’re shooting 24 percent, they’re shooting 61 percent, and it’s a two-possession game. We’re not going to shoot 24 percent second half and we’re going to play better defense. So I thought we came out and played Baylor basketball the second half.
(Zone in second half) The coaching staff has done a great job working with the guys and the upperclassmen helping to put that in, so we have a curveball, slider, as Fran (Fraschilla) says a second or third pitch.
(Closing out games lately) First, our defense is better and our turnovers are better, and that helps with that. So if you don’t give people easy transition buckets, now it’s five-on-five in the halfcourt, and throughout the year hopefully you improve as a team, and we’re doing better with scouting reports, rotations.
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