Texas Tech University Athletics
Postgame Quotes
November 05, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Billy Gillispie, HEAD COACH
On the game against Our Lady of the Lake
"I thought they did perfect again, they tried hard and I didn't think they were as scared as the first time. Twenty turnovers, I've never been apart of that before but I couldn't care less at this point we are obviously making a lot of mistakes right now but they have been out of commission and not omission and those are correctable things. I thought they improved drastically from one time to the next. One team was a half court team and we learned a lot and the other was a fouling team and we learned a lot. When those situations occur in the very near future we'll be able to handle it better."
On Tech's offensive play inside
"We didn't do a very good job of reading the ball and we only had two or three possessions where we could reverse the ball and get it inside like we like to. I'm starting to see it more in practice and their starting to understand what we need to do to get open at the high post and read the defense from the wing. We just have to do a better job of driving when the drive is appropriate and throwing the ball inside, we a had a few possessions but not enough."
On the progress Tech has made since their first game
"They were a lot better tonight because those teams are hard to guard, but I'm going to put my guys in tough situations where they have to guard the ball and we're going to over extend our defense and we have to get better at helping but it was basically about guarding the dribbler, and that's my fault, that we didn't guard the dribbler better but I like putting them in tough situations to see where we are and also to put something on tape where we really, really guard the basketball but now we've got to be able to get in help position and we have to learn how to guard our man before they catch the ball and make them catch the ball way outside the NBA three-point line, where they're not an offensive threat and then you back off and play them as a driver but that's what we are trying to teach and all my teams before have been in the same situations and it takes a while and we foul a lot at the start but I'm going to put them in the hardest situation that I can because we are thinking about winning conference games so we will play a lot smarter when we play next week for real."
On Gillispie's time since he was hired by Tech
"It's been real fast, especially when you have 10 new players and we brought in six of them and there's been a lot of stuff we have been trying to do, it's been fun a lot of fun but it's been a blur. Trying to get out in the community and on campus and trying to develop relationships that are going to meaningful for forever and just trying to every single thing that you have to do to build the foundation of the program that we want to have. We're taking baby steps from Thursday to Friday and from Friday to Saturday but that's what we need to do and what we are willing to do and that's what we are dedicated to doing and we know it's not going to happen over night but the things we can control our effort, our chemistry which is unbelievable especially for young players, our work ethic, we are going to play hard, smart and we're going to play together, we already are playing together we don't have any selfish thoughts, we take bad shots and those kind of things, but we are going to play hard and we play together but we need to play smarter but it's too early for that to happen."
On a the point guard position
"We haven't had much leadership from that position just yet but I'm confident we will and they're trying they're over thinking things because they know if they make too many mistakes in practice or the in a game they're going to be taken out and you can't play that way and I'm messing as well and I know that but it's all going to come together at some point and again we are taking baby steps, baby steps with our players, baby steps with our program but if you take enough baby steps eventually you will have something special and that's what we are trying to do and we are tying to develop a culture to be very, very successful for a long time."
