The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
01.14.2016 | Men's Basketball
Men's Basketball players talk Oklahoma State in preparation for Saturday's home game (5 p.m. CT, ESPN2).
Members of the Men's Basketball team met with local media today to discuss Saturday's game against Oklahoma State.
Senior Guard Javan Felix
On preparing for Oklahoma State: I think the biggest thing for us is carrying over the things we do in practice. That was the recipe for the game against Iowa State, and it worked for us. We were the most enthusiastic, more aggressive and more connected team, like Coach Smart always talks about. We carried it over, and it worked out well for us. So we're going to continue to practice that and try to carry it over into the game Saturday.
On sustaining the high shooting percentage they had against Iowa State: That's part of us being aggressive. If we pass those shots up, then we're tentative all over the floor. We have to keep shooting those shots. And nights like Tuesday, they went in for us. We're going to keep shooting them, because we know we can make them, and we work on them every day.
On recognizing the style of play needed to win on Tuesday: Yeah, just staying aggressive all of the time in anything we do: pressing, offense, defense, baseline, out of bounds, anything. We just want to be aggressive, and that's the biggest thing for us.
On there being extra emphasis on the two home games this week: Not really. We just want to come out and get two wins. We need this win and it just so happens to be at home. We need it bad. We know it's hard to win on the road here in this league, and we want to make it hard for Oklahoma State to come in here and win. That's definitely our focus.
Senior Guard Demarcus Holland
On Coach Smart mentally preparing the team: He's seeking us to think about winning only. When you think about winning all the plays you want to make, as far as making a 3-pointer and having a dunk or a big block, those things happen if you just get lost in the game. The way that you do that is to go into a game with a clear mind. Approaching the game with the right mindset: 'I'm going to do my job and what I can, not what I can't control.'
Senior Center Prince Ibeh
On Oklahoma State after the Cowboys' close loss Wednesday: They're going to be ready to play hard. They're itching to get a win. But we're the same way, so I think we just need to focus on playing harder and being more aggressive.
On what sparked the energy against Iowa State: The situation we were in. Before practice [Coach Smart] told us to focus on always being uplifting no matter what play goes wrong. In the game Iowa State fought back a lot of times. If we would have gotten down in those situations, we could have lost that game.
Freshman Guard/Forward Tevin Mack
On playing alongside the other freshmen: I think the first exhibition game we had this year against Tarleton State, we all came in and scored three 3's back-to-back-to-back. So we were kind of excited about that. It's always good when we can go in there together and get some experience together, because we're going to be here for the next couple of years. We might as well get some experience now, get used to playing together and get some chemistry going. It's been good playing with those guys.
On Eris Davis' relationship with Coach Smart: They have a good relationship. We call Coach Smart his dad. We say Coach Smart's his dad, because he acts like his dad sometimes. [Laughs] They have a close bond together, though, and Eric kind of helps Coach out when he gets excited in a game. Eric kind of grabs Coach and tells him to, 'come back and calm down.' He kind of does that and he helps him out. They have a good relationship.
On his role in the team among the freshmen: I'm talkative sometimes. I will talk a lot in a game definitely. Practice, I talk sometimes, but I think that Kerwin [Roach, Jr.] is the more quiet one. He's more of a quiet, reserved, laid back person. Then Eric's definitely the most fired up. I'm in the middle, I guess.
