GEICO PLAYERS ERA MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP

November 26, 2025

Scott Drew

Obi Agbim

MGM Grand Garden Arena

Baylor Bears

Postgame Press Conference

Baylor 91, San Diego State 81.

SCOTT DREW: Today's performance might be our most complete game and against a very good team. I thought we played three games, three days with seven guys is really hard to do, and I thought mentally, we really executed the game plan well, and I thought defensively we really did a great job competing, and for most of the part, everything worked according to plan.

I thought Obi did a great job controlling the pace, extremely efficient shooting-wise, but the big thing, zero turnovers, four assists, and our team finishes with 18 assists, nine turnovers, we can beat a lot of teams. Once again, our rebounding has been really good this year, and hopefully that continues.

Q. Scott, two things really stood out to me. One is the 18 assists and nine turnovers, and then also limiting them on the offensive glass, only six offensive rebounds. As far as the turnovers, that was a concern over the summer as we know in Germany, and it seems like you've done a lot of work on that, a lot of calm under pressure. Has that been a major focus of practice time?

SCOTT DREW: Well, I think a big part of that goes to Obi and Isaac's growth. Both of them over the season have really good assist-to-turnover ratios, and it starts with them. I think everybody else has gotten more ball secure as they've found their roles and not trying to do things -- not playing to their strengths.

I think that was the best our half-court offense -- our five-out motion was really effective, and I thought we got some good threes. I remember Obi making one in particular. We got some great back cuts, and that was against San Diego State, which playing 11 guys, third game of a tournament, we were worried about that and their freshness.

Again, Coach Dutcher does a great job. He's got a great squad, and this is one of those resume wins.

That's what's great about this tournament. No bad losses and good win opportunities.

Q. To that point, you're playing seven guys. They not only had 11, sometimes 12 guys in the rotation, but they have two lopsided games where they were able to rest players. How were you guys able to sustain that effort and not lose energy?

OBI AGBIM: I really think it's a big shout-out to our trainers and shout-out to Charlie and Dave just for really just keeping us healthy, making sure after the games that we really stay hydrated, stay healthy and stretching and stuff like that.

Credit to the seven guys and the club staff just for keeping us with a sound mind and telling us we don't have to go so fast, understanding that we had three games in three days, and just being able to play a little bit slower and play in the half court. I think we really executed well for doing that.

SCOTT DREW: I think one thing, too, is in the day and age where you have teams with so much turnover, it's hard to put a team together for the first time, and all of them are used to scoring or being the guy, and now all of a sudden trying to figure out, okay, how does everything fit together.

That normally takes a long time. I think you have to have the right guys, and that's one, guys that are great teammates, two, guys that like each other, and as they start to sacrifice for each other, they start to get some chemistry to where now everybody can be efficient rather than -- and hopefully, I remember the Warriors when they had the big three just how easy the game was for them.

But it's tough. You put a new team together, and it's like, at the end of the game they're all used to being the guy or they're all used to making something happen. A team makes a run, this is what they all come from. And again, every level is different, but especially for 18 to 23 year olds, that's a big adjustment, and I think they're doing a great job.

Q. Obi, you've played against San Diego State before. How satisfying is it to finally beat them?

OBI AGBIM: You know, playing them last year, losing to them twice was a stinger. Coming into this game, I already knew what kind of aggression they were going to come out with, so credit to them. They're really well-coached. Credit to their coaching staff. But I'm proud of how we played and stayed together.

I know they throw a lot of punches, but the whole motto of the game was how can we stay together and how can we respond, and I really think we stayed together through this game.

Q. Obi, I want to ask you about your defense. I know it was a bit of a concern coming into the season. Three games in three days; there's a tendency, I think, especially for someone that's got the ball in his hands a lot like you do to maybe take some possessions off, but some of the older players on the team, do you challenge each other to lock in, focus, can't be taking plays off?

OBI AGBIM: I'm really certain probably the last games that we maybe had tendencies. Last game we had a lot of lapses and we didn't really execute defensively. I think we really came together and we had a really good team meeting last night and we really had to hold each other accountable.

I think because we did that, everybody kind of stayed on a rope, and I think we executed our defensive scheme really well as a team.

SCOTT DREW: Defensively he was matched up against Byrd. I don't know if he's preseason Player of the Year in the conference, but we all know how good he is. He did a great job. He's always going to score, but you just want to make it where it's not seven for eight from three and he's two for eight.

Q. You mentioned five-out offense and how good they are usually defensively. What is it about five-out that gives a team that plays their style of defense trouble? Because they've had trouble with it all year.

SCOTT DREW: I think first and foremost, they're a real talented team, and when you have that much depth, it takes a little time to figure things out.

Then the second thing is you probably look at San Diego State when they went to the National Championship, probably several years in the system, and it's really hard -- you can have a great system. You take the best teacher and they teach Spanish 4 and you put a bunch of people that don't know Spanish 1, 2 or 3, and it's hard to get to the fourth-year Spanish.

My point is Coach Dutcher will continue to improve them. Doesn't matter what they face scheme-wise. At the end of the day, they're trending in the right direction. These are all really good teams, and I think really good players. We played really well tonight. They're going to have a great team.

Q. Was there anything in particular you were able to do? Was it the back door cuts --

SCOTT DREW: I think it was more what Obi said, the guys just getting better and more used to playing with one another and more comfortable. I remember when we went to the first Elite Eight in 2010, Tweety looked at Lace and all it took was a look and it was an alley-oop back door. But it's because they played together for three years.

Now just getting the timing and everything, cutting, reading, passing. Proud of the guys. It was a great win for us.