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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: RALEIGHMarch 17, 2016Tubby SmithJustin GrayDevaugntah WilliamsRaleigh, North Carolina Butler - 71, Texas Tech - 61 THE MODERATOR: At this time we'll go ahead and begin the Texas Tech press conference. We'll start with an opening statement from Head Coach Tubby Smith. TUBBY SMITH: Well, good afternoon. I certainly want to commend Butler. They certainly did the things that they had to do. Their defense, stepped up their defense, made some big shots. Those threes that Kellen Martin made in transition were a dagger. I'm really proud of how my guys competed. It's been a good season. Sorry it's ending THE MODERATOR: All right. At this time we're going to open the floor up for questions for the student-athletes. Q. Justin, you all had a good start to the first half. Did Butler change its defense or do you think you all settled for more jumpers than attack the basket? JUSTIN GRAY: I think we settled for more jumpers rather than attack the glass and the rim. Coach Smith was reiterating that constantly, get to the glass, get to the line and get them in foul trouble. But we had great looks. Guys knocked those down all season but tonight it wasn't falling our way. Butler made great shots. They were knocking down threes from everywhere. Great gaming and well-coached team. Q. Despite this loss, you guys have had a good season. What are some of the things that you're proud of that you've accomplished this year? DEVAUGNTAH WILLIAMS: For the most part, just making it this far throughout the adversity, through the injuries, we just stuck in it, regrouped after the losses, but it was just good making it this far. JUSTIN GRAY: I think the togetherness we created over the year. Last year, I think we were a group, but I think this year we're more of a family and a brotherhood, and I thoroughly enjoyed it throughout the whole season. I mean, I love practicing with these guys. I mean, in the hotel room, just hanging out with them constantly. These are my brothers. I'm going to miss Devaugntah; he's been a mentor to me. Taught me so many things in the game. I'm glad we made it here, but, yeah. Q. Hey, Justin, with so many young guys coming back next year including yourself, how important was this run this year to the Tournament? JUSTIN GRAY: It was very important. Of course we've never experienced an NCAA Tournament. Overall the arena and fans and just the atmosphere. We never experienced that before. Of course we played in the Big 12 Tournament but obviously that doesn't compare to March Madness. I think it's a great experience. Now we know what it feels like and we know what we have to work on in order to advance next year. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions. Gentlemen, you're excused. Thank you very much. All right. Now we'll open the floor up for questions for Coach Smith. Q. Tubby, you mentioned the transition threes for Martin. They did a fair bit of damage in transition. What were they doing that made it so difficult to contain them there? TUBBY SMITH: We were turning over. First that's how you get transition baskets and live-ball turnovers just killed us and they just made good on it. And it's hard to recover in that situation, because now, it takes a lot of -- tells you how focused he is, and how focused they are. He's been here before, made shots like that before. It was just clutch, clutch shots. A lot had to do with they forced some turnovers and capitalized on it. Q. Coach, pretty good 8-9 match-up. Looked like for a while might go to overtime. Any thoughts how Butler shapes up for the rest of the Tournament? TUBBY SMITH: I think they're well prepared, well-coached team. They've been here before. They're very physical. That's one thing you have to have when you get to this level. I thought their endurance, their stamina, their leadership from Roosevelt and certainly got outside shooting in this type of -- in a tournament like this, you've got to make shots. We've struggled to make some easy baskets today. I don't know how many lay-ups we missed. Probably missed four, five in the second half. So, you got to finish plays and that's what they do. I think they're certainly one of the teams that could do well in this tournament. Q. Coach Smith, how does it experience really set your guys up for next season, especially with the four sophomores coming back? TUBBY SMITH: Well, we have everybody back except, you know, Toddrick, and D-Will. We signed one player, going to sign a couple more. I think it sets up pretty good. I think the experience of being here, even though we haven't won yet in the postseason play, in the Big 12 or in the NCAA Tournament, I think that taste of losing, you don't want to have that experience again. I think they'll understand just how hard they have to work in order to get back here. It's not a given just because you have experienced players, because a lot of things can happen. So, I think we have a good group of guys in Norense, Zach, Keenan. They've been the backbone of the program. You can tell that they were sort of physically outmatched as far as strength and just bulk. And I think that's an area that with maturity, and getting in the weight room, I think those things will be key. But, you know, we got Matt back, and he has another year, hopefully we'll get another year for him. He's really developing into a good player. Rokas is starting to play extremely well. He's really developing. We got a good front line, and we have some people coming to help us in the back court. THE MODERATOR: Any other questions? All right. Coach. Thank you very much. TUBBY SMITH: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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