Texas Tech Gets First Game Action of 2012
By: Trenten Hilburn - Texas Tech University
Updated: November 1, 2012
Texas Tech defeats UTPB in Thursday Night's exhibition 88-63.
Post Game Quotes, Coach Walker:
Post Game Quotes, Coach Walker:
Opening Statement
"First
of all I'm very happy to get my first win as a head coach, I know it's
not official until next Friday but it's gratifying to see
work come to fruition and see the guys work really hard and really pay
attention. We have some things we need to work on obviously, we have a
young team that is playing their first game, their first college
minutes, but for the most part they played hard came
a little bit sluggish the second half but picked it up and gave us shots
at the end, but that's through fatigue and me subbing in and out a lot
of guys to give them a look but for the most part I was pretty happy
with our effort and how we played together out
there tonight."
On Texas Tech's press
"For
the first time with the crowd and as I say with popcorn popping I think
those guys did a great job. We have to work on our positioning,
you know we have JT (Jordan Tolbert) who's been out for a week and is
just trying to figure things out and we are running so many people in
and so many guys have different positions and we have to communicate
better on substitutions to know who is supposed
to be where but I'll tell you this it's like the zebras, the lions
looking at the zebras because we are running so many guys and they play
different positions, it's gray on offense to because Josh Gray could be a
two or Daylen Robinson could be a two and Toddrick
Gotcher could be at the point. We have a lot of different variables of
ways we can play and we really didn't do much offensively because we are
trying to save that for the games we really just tried to keep it
limited and run a lot of ball screens and save
all the plays we work on for next Friday. It was kind of ragged on
offense because I let those guys play a little bit and use their
individual abilities."
On having playmakers this season
"I'm
a firm believer that at the end of the shot clock you have to have
playmakers, everyone is going to do a good job scouting, there
are five final four coaches in this league they are going to know every
single thing we are doing and for me to think that I'm going to go out
there and teach them every single thing is crazy but we have guys that
can make plays and that's what we didn't have
last year and this year we have guys that can make plays that can create
havoc and it's unpredictable because it's not in the play and it
creates offensive rebounding opportunities and we have a guy like Dusty
Hannahs, who you all saw for the first time and
Ty Nurse that can make shots. The combination of all those guys I have
to make sure I play guys at the right time but I think with the
combination of all those things and if we can keep the press, the press
is just to wear people down so that last four minutes
is all Texas Tech, that's what we are working on right now."
On Dejan Kravic's play after not playing in over a year
"I've
been very happy with Dejan even in a scrimmage and now as a coach I
always want more. I always say Dejan you ought to have 15 or
20 rebounds because if he gets to that next level there is nothing he
can't do, he's such a versatile player, he can pass he can run he made
some steals in the press and he's really really good player and his
basketball IQ is really great. That was his first
time playing in the lights and he's only going to get better with time,
and as his toughness level increases his ability to really be able to
dominate a game will increase as well."
On his nerve for his first game as head coach
"I'm
relieved, I was telling somebody today I don't worry about losing, I
learned that from my predecessors it's never about losing.
You put your plan in place and you practice it, you believe in it, you
get your players to believe in it and you see in their eyes that they
believe in everything that your doing and you get them to go out there
and play hard and play together and hopefully
they play smart and the number one thing they have to do is play with
pride and humble and hungry you can accomplish anything. I just told
those guys a minute ago that there are no obstacles, odds, or
oppositions that we can't overcome if we've got faith in
each other. I have faith in myself and I instill that in them to have
faith in themselves and in the team collectively and that's where we are
going as a team."
Texas Tech Player Quotes
Junior Dejan Kravic
On how it felt playing the first game
"It
felt great, we've been waiting for the whole summer and preparing for
it, getting ready for the first game so it was just really
exciting to get out on the floor."
On Texas Tech's press
"I
thought our guards came out with a lot of energy and played well the
first half, with the high energy we created steals and we needed
to keep it up the second half and for the whole 40 minutes, but it was
good overall."
On giving up offensive rebounds
"Yeah
that was one of our weaknesses today just not crashing the boards hard
enough. Coach tells us that we have to attack a person and
then pursuit the ball and I think we should've done a better job but it
will improve game by game."
On being able to tell if Coach Walker was nervous during the game
"No,
he looked positive, he was ready to go and he had a great attitude, and
we had a great attitude coming into the game and I think
that's what helped us have such a great start."
Freshman Dusty Hannahs
On how it felt playing the first game
"It
felt good to get out in front of a good crowd, it was loud the
environment was great and just as Dejan said we've been waiting and
waiting to come out and unleash it and today felt pretty good."
On Tech's press
"It
was just scattered movement and making sure to rotate on a trap and
everyone did a good job of that, and everyone was causing a lot
of turnovers and steals and we feel like if we put the pressure on them
and make them make a quick decision then we can get steals and put them
out of their game."
On how Trency Jackson plays
"He
just brings so much energy, he's always the most energetic player and
as you can see he has tremendous athleticism and like you said
he's fearless. He's that guy that you don't want to guard during the
game and it's great to have someone like him on the floor with us."
