The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Postgame Quotes
01.31.2011 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2011
(#3) Texas 69, (#16) Texas A&M 49 - Postgame Quotes
Monday, January 31, 2011 - Reed Arena - College Station, Texas
Attendance: 13,300
TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH MARK TURGEON
I've been doing this 24 years as an assistant coach and head coach, and I haven't seen many teams as good as Texas. Playing at the level they're playing at, I thought they were fantastic.
With that said, we played with panic the first five minutes of the game, shot it quick. Our effort wasn't going. I apologize to Texas A&M fans and family. Our team isn't playing at the level it can.
On Hamilton's play against Middleton and offensively...They were all pretty focused on Khris. I thought Hamilton was great on both ends, played with great energy, great effort, played harder than my guy did. He took on the challenge.
On Texas' bench play...There wasn't any drop off in that, Wangmene played well, Matt (Hill) played well. They played well. They ran it down our throat early; their transition was great. They ran right past us, it was just superior athletes out there tonight.
On Texas being a great team...I think what David said, I think Texas really played at a high level. I told Rick, if they keep working hard and getting better that they can win a National Championship, and I don't say that very much.
With that said, we're just not ourselves. I've been complaining and moping about this team, and it's all coming to a head right now. I know we've taught them how to play, but it just didn't show at times.
Can you put your finger on what's going wrong...I think we just got really caught up in ourselves and became really uncoachable. We kept winning, beat a K-State team that didn't play very well here, and I think we just became uncoachable.
I've felt this coming for a while, I just hope I can fix it before Saturday.
On Texas' defense...They're just such good athletes, they can pressure the ball, then they have shot blockers in the back. They're good. They're dialed in, they played hard for 40 minutes, focused, they're on a mission.
On A&M's lack of effort...The lack of effort is the hardest thing for me. Lack of effort, lack of intensity, lack of trying to do it the right way. That's the hardest thing for me to take.
On B.J. Holmes' injury...I'm hoping it's just a bad bruise, he fell and hit it on the floor. It's a little swollen, just a knot on the top of his knee. We have to get him back for Saturday.
TEXAS A&M JUNIOR FORWARD DAVID LOUBEAU
On what made the difference in the game...They played really good actually, but I think it was us. We went in there mentally, and just didn't play an overall good game at all.
On what got A&M to a bad start offensively...I think we just were too much in a rush, not being patient, not playing smart. I think we were too amped up for the game, caused us to do silly stuff, crazy stuff, and letting bad things in there.
On what to work on...It all starts with us getting back to the chemistry level we had before, playing together and doing basically everything together, and practicing hard as well.
TEXAS HEAD COACH Rick Barnes
On his team's defensive play...I thought we were good defensively, again. Mark and his team, one thing that we always talk about when we play A&M, they do what they do as well as anybody, but I thought we did well defensively. I thought Matt Hill's minutes, Alexis Wangmene, J'Covan, they had great minutes.
On getting the win...It was a really nice win for us, we beat a really good team. I'm really impressed with what Mark has done and what they've done here in my 13 years.
On the bench's play...Again, Matt Hill is one of those players. What really impressed me about those guys, Matt hasn't played much, Lex hasn't played, and I think that goes to their maturity. They had to be ready to play. They really understand what we're trying to do on both ends. And I expect that from older guys.
On guarding the perimeter and Khris Middleton...Texas A&M, they execute. We obviously have a lot of respect for them, but I do think that A&M missed some shots out there. One thing that we've tried to do all year is take away the team's leading scorer, all year. When you do that, you'll have to have a team and people that really help you out defensively.
On Balbay's making layups...I will tell you again, and we don't keep this stat, Tristan Thompson does an incredible job getting in the deep post and getting a seal. Even though he doesn't get an assist for it, he should, because he's the guy clearing the lane.
On how good this team has become...We were four games in, and I told the team, we're just getting started. I talked all year long about the rhythm of our team, our routine, and not only what we do in practice, it's everything we do, and I really give my guys credit for that.
TEXAS SOPHOMORE GUARD/FORWARD Jordan Hamilton
On keeping Khris Middleton scoreless...On our scouting report, they were saying that he's the one of the most improved players in the country. I told myself I was going to guard him harder than I've guarded anyone before, and that's what I did tonight.
Is playing defense fun...Absolutely. We have no choice. When you're playing with a guy like Dogus Balbay, who can guard anyone in the country, he makes it fun on defense.
On attacking offensively in the first half...Sometimes I drove, I felt like I could shoot right over them. Coach and I have worked on a high release jump shot, that's what I did a couple times early.
On Matt Hill's play...What Matt Hill does doesn't really show up on the stat sheet, but he's great defender too. He did a great job on the Morris twins, and he did a great job today.
On forcing turnovers...That's all just hustle in practice. Coach talks about never letting up, and that's what we did, and we got a lot of steals.
On getting seven wins in a row...I think it's great, but we still have to keep coming and keep getting better. If we keep coming along, we'll keep doing what we need to do to be a great team.
TEXAS SENIOR Dogus Balbay
On Coach Barnes' saying the team's defense can still get better...You know what, he's right, we can still get better. We still make mistakes, I made a few today, my teammates did it. You can always get better on defense.
On getting a win in College Station...Unfortunately, I wasn't here last year since my injury, but it was great to get back and play at College Station, it's unique and different than other places.
On the bench's play...We've been talking about it the last couple of days, how important the bench is. They did a great job. We always trust our bench. Tonight was one of those nights, they came in and they changed the game.