The No. 22 Texas Tech men’s basketball team will be hosting the No. 18 Baylor Bears in the Big 12 Conference opener for both teams.
This will be the first ranked head-to-head matchup hosted inside the United Supermarkets Arena since 2004.
Here are takeaways from a Thursday morning media availability with coach Chris Beard, Keenan Evans and Norense Odiase.
Last outing against Abilene Christian, Evans missed his start. When asked about not being in the starting lineup Evans said that he was undisciplined in a decision.
Evans hinted at being held accountable and withdrawn from the starting five because of showing up late. Evans continued to discuss the question and how he made a mistake then Beard put in his two cents about the situation.
“He’s one of the most disciplined people I’ve ever been around,” Beard said. “And basically what Keenan does, and why he’s a great player and our leader, is he doesn’t put himself in any situation different then everybody else. In our program, Keenan wants to be treated just like our student manager, our 16th man. So, that was a deal where Keenan actually came to me and said, ‘hey, coach do this, it’s no problem. It’s just a mistake – I mean – I’ve made three mistakes already today.”
Moving on from the subject, Evans looks to be back in his starting role when Baylor comes into Lubbock on Friday.
Evans said he’s telling the younger guys specifically the freshmen on the team that Big 12 play is a different animal compared to nonconference games.
The veteran leaders on the team are emphasizing not taking risks to the inexperienced players. Evans added that there’s less room to gamble on the court against Big 12 opponents.
“We’re just telling them that there’s going to be better players,” Evans said. “Like on defense you can’t gamble as much as we could in nonconference. They’ll make you pay if you gamble. You just got to be solid and patient with being on defense. We’ve just been trying to set the tone in practice as far as intensity and giving them great looks on what’s going to happen.”
Odiase and Beard said two of the keys on defense while guarding Baylor will be to out do the Bears in rebounds and to match their physical size.
“Whenever they have size you need size to match that,” Odiase said. “Our bigs do a good job in getting ready for those games. Whatever the games we’re in, whether it’s small guys or big guys, we’re all ready. That’s the unique thing about our team. We have depth and we’re ready to go every night.”
During the player Q and A portion of the availability, senior forward Zach Smith was in attendance and dealt his hand in asking Evans a question.
“Uhhh, Keenan, any time Zach Smith shoots the ball is there a time where you think it’s not going in,” Smith asked.
“All the time, Zach ... Nah, I’m just playing,” Evans responded jokingly.
Following the players departing, Beard was asked about the time during the Christmas break and the week off. He said his team is ready to go because of the veteran leadership and experience on the team.
Beard mentioned that the Bears have introduced the man-to-man coverage this year and play that coverage about half the time with the usual zone defense being ran the other portion of time.
Facing that coverage will be guys like Jarret Culver and Zhaire Smith who will be going up against their first Big 12 opponent in their career.
Beard stated that the nonconference schedule provided two things for his team. 1.) It introduced the newcomers to Division I basketball and 2.) It provided the wins necessary to see that this team has improved and can compete.
“I thought that it proved we can be one of the better defensive teams in this league when we play with consistency,” Beard said. “I think on offense we proved we’re a team that has a lot of balance and different guys can step up. The thing we’re still searching for, it’s no secret, answer this question the same way every time because it’s the truth, we’re just looking for consistency. We know in the Big 12 you can’t win a Big 12 game playing 29 minutes. You can’t win a Big 12 game playing 30 minutes. You got to get to where you’re playing a full 40 and that again will be our focus on Friday against Baylor.”
How important is this conference opener to coach Beard? He said Saturday morning that he or Baylor coach Scott Drew will be feeling a little bit better than the other. However, he stated that obviously this is a business of winning but sometimes playing well just isn’t going to get you by in the conference.
“That first game is always just big,” Beard said. “You want to get off to a big start but I think obviously we’re in a business of winning but I think what’s really important is to play well. Sometimes in the Big 12 you can play well and not win so all sorts of objectives. Obviously winning the game is at the top of that list. We all understand the importance of protecting our home-court. We all understand the importance of getting off to a good start. But, I would echo that we got to play well ... We need to try to have some carry over from all the things we tried to get done in the nonconference to the conference stage. A lot of sub-stories to this first game but I don’t think it’s any different than any other game in our league on Friday.”
