Texas Tech prepares to end the regular season against the Iowa State Cyclones on Saturday as the Red Raiders are also in a neck-and-neck race against Kansas State for the Big 12 title. Head coach Chris Beard spoke to the media before the Red Raiders begin travel to Ames, Iowa.
Chris Beard
- Beard started off the press conference talking about Iowa State. “I think Coach Prohm is one of the best coaches in the country. I’ve been on record all year and stand by it, I think they’re the best offensive team in the Big 12 and they’re very good defensively too, they have moving parts, they have the ability to switch zone and they’ve got size and rebounding.”
- The last time Tech played Iowa state was on Jan. 16, in Lubbock. Despite it being so long ago, Beard remembers what the Cyclones did to give the Red Raiders their only home loss of the season. “We obviously missed a lot of free throws that game, number one, that’s just a part of basketball. Didn’t have one of our better just offensive nights but give Iowa State a lot of credit. They really put us on our heels defensively and did some things both inside and out then they had a nice game plan for some our key players.”
- Beard later talked about how his team is in the fight despite how most outside the locker room doubted the Red Raiders in the preseason. “Just proud of our players. This is what we set out to do last spring and then this summer and in the offseason. Where many of us outside of the locker room might have doubted that would happen there’s always been a belief in our team we’re good enough to compete and so we’re excited about March and being relative and all of these games coming up but I think above all it speaks a lot for our players that they had their own identity, their own vision, their own belief what we could do this year and didn’t really let outside voices in our locker room.”
- On Deshawn Corprew’s development, “Deshawn’s had a great season up until this point. I think the story is still untold, unwritten, March is a big part of this deal. You’ve got to finish strong and I think he has the ability to do so and I have a lot of confidence in Deshawn but there’s only so much time to tell the stories. I was talk about all the guys on the teams in the Big 12 that get attention, deserve it, period, but always thought some of our guys too.”
- On Brandone Francis, “Brandone’s not only improved as a basketball player, but probably as a person, certainly as a student since he’s been in Lubbock and I think he deserves all the credit. This story was Brandone. Everybody gets opportunities in life, some of us are blessed to get more but I’m just convinced the way this deal’s set up, everybody gets a chance and when Brandone got his, he made the most of it, so I think the story is really Brandone choosing to make these changes.”
