Baylor, Southern Postgame Quotes
12/22/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Monday, Dec. 22, 2014
Ferrell Center (Waco, Texas)
Attendance: 5,319
BAYLOR POSTGAME QUOTES
Baylor Head Coach Scott Drew
Opening Statement:
"I thought Southern's game plan was very good; they really controlled the tempo. I thought we weren't very efficient at times and thought Rico [Gathers] and [Johnathan] Motley did a good job when we got them the ball. However, 13 turnovers are way too many and we gave up more points than we've given up all year. We have a lot to work on when we get back. In a perfect world, it's good because you come back because you're focused to get better and you're driven to get better. I'm sure they'll enjoy watching the film with me when they get back. The most important thing is we found a way to win, and we shot 88 percent from the free throw line in the second half. That is one area we really focused on and it shows that it's been paying off. Kenny [Chery] also had seven assists and zero turnovers, which was an outstanding performance."
On pounding the ball inside:
"We liked a lot of the opportunities that we had. Motley is scoring and Rico is the number one offensive rebounder in the country, percentage-wise. He had seven offensive rebounds and now does a great job of finishing when he comes up with those boards. Motley was going so we wanted to get him the ball, and Royce [O'Neale] was posting up well. We knew that was somewhere we wanted to go with it."
On Johnathan Motley's game:
"I think his teammates are doing a great job of focusing in on him, having trust in him, and having belief in him. I also think his approach is better. He had a couple bad games and then fixed his approach. I think freshman tend to have ups and downs, but being a big guy, when he shoots a high percentage it really helps us. It keeps people on the interior playing honest, and that allows us to open things up for the perimeter. His six blocks tonight were nice. He has the most length on the team and has a great wingspan. He's always capable of blocking shots and we need him to do that. When you lose players like Isaiah [Austin] and Cory [Jefferson], he's something nice to have."
On being ranked again:
"First and foremost, it's a great compliment to Baylor nation. The reason I say that is because you have to win at home to be ranked in the top 25, and the fact that we've had good support and fans that have stuck with us as we built this program has had great effects on games. This is eight straight years of being ranked at some point, and that's pretty impressive. There are 351 schools and for us and Kansas to be the only schools in the Big 12 to be able to do that is a great compliment. Now that being said, it doesn't matter if you're ranked or not ranked, you have to get better. We're playing in the Big 12. I think [the conference is] on pace to have the best winning percentage going into conference of anybody in the last 10 years, so the Big 12 has been tremendous."
Junior F Rico Gathers
On emphasis to get the ball inside:
"First play right off the bat was to me, and I got the foul, so I would say there was a big emphasis on getting it inside. We tried to pound it on the inside because they play really solid perimeter defense, so we really wanted to get the ball on the inside and work our way from there."
On trying to pull away from Southern, but they kept answering:
"It can be frustrating, but how we look at it is that they're a strong team, they're from Louisiana, and those type of teams are real scrappy, and they played really tough tonight. I would say that's the toughest team we've played in the non-conference schedule, just off physicality. They were able to seal down low a lot, to open it up for the wing shooters, and then their shooters made shots. They played a lot of teams really close, including Iowa State."
On having Kenny [Chery] back and how it helps:
"It really helps, because we have two solid point guards in Lester [Medford] and Kenny, so if their assist-to-turnover ratio is really high, you can't knock that. Kenny is a really tough point guard so we expect a lot out of him, and we're still trying to figure out what Lester can bring to the table. So Kenny coming back and doing what he's doing is really beneficial to this team."
Redshirt-Freshman F Johnathan Motley
On gaining more confidence as the season goes along:
"Yeah, my team believes in me, so I'm just learning more and more about the game, and that's translating more and more on the court. I'm getting better, taking it one game at a time, and hopefully I can get better."
On being more aggressive on the court:
"Yeah, that was a big emphasis the coaches made. They said in the beginning I wasn't being aggressive enough, so that's a big emphasis the rest of the season; just being as aggressive as I possibly can."
