TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH BILLY KENNEDY
Opening statement
I'm kind of sorry you had to watch that‐ it was an ugly game. Fortunately both teams were ugly. You can't give Kansas a 20‐point lead on your home court and expect to play perfectly and win the game. The only thing I can say is we didn't throw in the towel. We had some opportunities.
On Khris Middleton's play
He was big for us. We played him at the 4, and it was a mismatch at times. I thought that was key. And defensively we picked up our energy finally when we started to make some shots.
Was the missed three by Kinsley what you wanted on that play near the end of the game?
No, we were trying to drive the ball. We had a small line up in the game and we wanted him to drive the ball or shoot the three, which we think he had an opportunity to make.
On having Dash Harris back
It was good to see Dash back out there. He moved pretty well and played 24 minutes, and down the last stretch. Defensively I thought he did a pretty good job at the top of our defense.
On Elijah Johnson's play
That's the mark of a good team that has talented players. Elijah is a good players. We took a chance to take Robinson away and leave him open‐ but he's a good player ad stepped up and made shots.
On Loubeau fouling out
It was a loss not having him. But I thought Ray Turner defensively did a really good job down the stretch.
SENIOR GUARD DASH HARRIS
What made it tough to play against Kansas' defense?
We just didn't take smart shots, we rushed up, took quick shots that weren't good team looks, and it put us in a hole. We can't play against top‐10 teams or any team playing behind like that.
How do you evaluate your game tonight?
I'm never satisfied with anything. It was just good to be out there tonight with my teammates. I just wanted to wait until I was healthy enough to do some of the things I do best, which is run the floor and play hard defensively. And I think I was able to do some of those things tonight.
On Kansas having big plays, and Tyshawn Taylor's three‐point play late
They had a lot of big plays. That was a big momentum swing for them. It broke our momentum‐ it was a big play. Rebounding the ball, missing free throws, everything is a big play down the stretch.
JUNIOR FORWARD KHRIS MIDDLETON
What were you guys doing during the comeback?
Just playing hard, playing our game and trying to get stops.
What was your role out there tonight?
I was just trying to play my game, get in the zone and play some team basketball and find my teammates. I was just trying to make things happen.
KANSAS HEAD COACH BILL SELF
Was this one of those games where you just can't make shots?
You know I don't know. I thought that we had a couple of key players play miserably the first half and kind of got it going a little in the second half. They played better and we played awful down the stretch.
Was it you playing bad or A&M playing well that sparked A&M's comeback?
I think it's a combination. I think that A&M played pretty good down the stretch. They shot 50 percent in the second half. Middleton got on a roll, Dash got a big three. I think we helped them though.
On the team making bad plays but having a decent end to the game
No, we actually did okay tonight he last couple of minutes considering key players didn't play. The last couple of minutes we didn't play great obviously, we didn't make free throws, but I don't think it was us turning us over, but us making bad plays.
On Thomas Robinson's technical foul
Inexcusable. As bad a play as I've seen.
O n Elijah Johnson's play
Elijah was great in the first half. I didn't realize he had 18 until I got to the stat sheet. When your second leading scorer has four, that's obviously not great.
On Tyshawn Taylor's play
He can go get in the paint and get his own shot‐ he needs to start getting more shots for his teammates. But I think he's as good as it gets in the country when it comes to getting your shoulder past people.
SENIOR G TYSHAWN TAYLOR
On Elijah Johnson’s first half…
“He was huge. He got us off to a good start and shot the ball well. We had kind of been waiting for him to get going. It was good for him to get a little bit of confidence going into a big game on Saturday.”
Is it frustrating that A&M cut your lead down so much?
“For sure. We were up 21 with 14 minutes left in the game and you’ve got to be able to put teams away when you’re up that much. We made the game interesting. It was good that we pulled that out but we shouldn’t have let it get that close after we had such a big lead.”
What happened to cause the A&M run?
“They went to a match‐up, and Thomas got in foul trouble, he was sitting on the bench. We just weren’t hitting shots all night, besides Elijah, he was the only one making some shots. You have to credit their defense—we know they’re a good defensive team, they were p h ysical with our bigs and pressuring the ball and stuff like that. We were getting looks but we just weren’t hitting them. Khris Middleton played amazing in that second half. He sparked them a little bit. You’ve got to be able to withstand runs and make your own, and we didn’t. They made a huge run and if we hadn’t had a 20‐point lead that game could have gone either way.”
