March Madness: TCU Players And Coach Meet With Media
The TCU Men’s Basketball team (21-12, 9-9 Big 12) had to wait a few days to know their first-round opponent in this year’s NCAA Tournament. They meet the Arizona State Sun Devils (23-12, 11-9 Pac-12) Friday night at 9:05 pm CT. The Sun Devils won their play-in game on Wednesday night against Nevada.
On Thursday afternoon, from Ball Arena in Denver, Damion Baugh, Chuck O’Bannon Jr, Mike Miles Jr, Emanuel Miller, and head coach Jamie Dixon met with members of the media to discuss the matchup. Below are some of the questions they were asked and their responses:
TCU's Damion Baugh, Chuck O'Bannon Jr, Emanuel Miller, and Mike Miles Jr meet with the media on Thursday in Denver.
Barry Lewis/KillerFrogs
Mike Miles Jr, Guard
What are some of your first impressions of Arizona State?
“They're a good team, very athletic, can shoot. Our job is to not let them get comfortable shooting the ball. They got hot last night, so against us we want to make sure that doesn't happen.”
What did last season's NCAA Tournament appearance do for you guys, and what kind of takeaways you can you bring into this season?
“Honestly, it just gave us experience. It was all our first time in the tournament last year, now we've all been here before and we know what to expect. Just coming out and playing hard and relying on our experience. We can just play our game and try and get the win.”
Damion Baugh, Guard
When you think about this team and what all you guys have been through, does it feel like now you're whole, and finally, everyone is healthy and on the same page?
“Yeah, it's life. Ups and downs in life. It's just us sticking together. We all know we've got each other's back, so it's just all coming together now.”
You guys are one of the best fast-break teams in the country. Arizona State just coming off a game yesterday and hasn't had a lot of time in between. Do you think that's something you can take advantage of tomorrow night?
“Yeah. Yeah.” (snickers).
Chuck O’Bannon Jr, Forward
Last weekend we saw "Postseason Chuck" make an appearance. You seem to really have hit your stride that we hadn't seen in some previous games. How did that make you feel, and what has that brought into how you’re preparing for this weekend?
“It feels good. I just wasn't able to catch a rhythm all season and finally caught that rhythm so, hopefully, I can stay in it for the rest of the season. It felt good, but it really depends on based on the way we play.”
You spent some time in the Pac-12 earlier in your career. Does it relate still as far as the style of play in that league? Can you kind of know what you're going to see or get out of Arizona State because of your time back then?
“Yeah, definitely. Pac-12 was more offense-oriented. Big 12 was more defensive. That's really what it is. They're going to shoot a little bit more crazier shots than we are. They're going to play a little faster than we do. But it's on us to play defense, be in the gaps, load up early, just be ready for anything that comes our way.”
Emanuel Miller, Forward
The injuries, the tough schedule, how do you think that's prepared you guys for this moment right now?
“I think all the previous moments, like you said, regarding the injuries, regarding all the things we've been through, I think it's prepared us in a good way, just because not a lot of other teams in the tournament have experienced what we've been through. So I think the level of maturity that we have to overcome the obstacles I think is going to help us in this tournament.”
Jamie Dixon, Head Coach
What were some of your first impressions of Arizona State Wednesday night?
“I had seen them play earlier in the year. I think I watched them in the Creighton game and saw Coach McDermott, just saw Coach Drew, but I thought -- I know I've seen them play a couple times, so I'd seen how athletic they were, how long, knew some of their guys, as well, a lot of their guys.
They made shots, and that's something -- everybody looks good when they make shots, and they made shots for 40 minutes. They're athletic. I was probably maybe more -- the thing that stood -- a little bit -- knew they had good players. Surprised not so much, but they all played well last night, so the depth is probably the thing that I gained from last night initially. Been watching tape and doing all kinds of work on them since that time.”
TCU head coach Jamie Dixon
Barry Lewis/KillerFrogs
With a year under this team's belt, playing together obviously last season, still kind of getting to know each other, what kind of takeaways did you have from last season in the NCAA Tournament, and what do you expect to be different this time around?
“We've been asked a lot about that. Obviously played really well in the Seton Hall game. They were playing really good basketball and we just came out and guarded. We've got to guard. That's what we have to do, and we've got to rebound.
We've made that very clear. Our rebound numbers haven't been where we wanted them to be this year all year long. We've gotten better at it.
But at the same time, we've forced more turnovers. So possessions-wise we've kind of kept it the same. We've made up for it, and it's helped our transition baskets.
But we're different, and we're also different this year, too, because there are just so many guys being out. I don't know if you've seen our numbers, but I look at the teams -- I was looking at the Arizona-Arizona State game, it was like Arizona has missed three games with their top eight guys, and he was out for a suspension for NCAA -- so again, we have a lot of reinvention of our team throughout the year with the different guys. You have Mike out nine games and Damion six, it adds up. Emanuel, Micah, they were all out.”
Throughout the season the team has struggled at times at the free-throw line. What's been done in the last week to prepare and focus on that?
“We're pretty good this year. For us, we've improved significantly as a free-throw shooting team. We'll shoot a lot here today. We shot a lot this morning. We shot probably longer this morning.
But I feel like we're getting the most out of our free-throw shooting but trying to improve at the same time. Our main thing is getting to the foul line. That's what we want to do. That's our biggest stat. We want to get to the foul line more than our opponents, and then that's something we've done well. Didn't do as well last game, but we've got to get to the foul line.
I think we've had some guys go a little bit up and down, but I think we're shooting 38 percent from three the last five games. It's the best we've shot the ball all year and kind of where I thought we would be in the summer. I feel like we are shooting the ball well here now.”
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