Baylor, 11-6 (1-4), has a chance to get back on track this week with two home games. The Bears will take on one of the best teams in the country on Tuesday when Texas Tech comes to town, and then later in the week, TCU will come to Waco.
On Monday, head coach Scott Drew broke down the loss to Kansas, and with opportunities to get back on track with games against Texas Tech and TCU. Here is everything Drew said on Monday during his press conference.
With two games this week, how important is it to beat Texas Tech
Well, in the Big 12, there’s no secret. You have to win your home games if you’re going to be successful, and with us right now, strength of schedule, we have the number one strength of schedule in the Big 12 for conference play. So we started out with a tough slate. It continues tomorrow, but it’s a home game, and hopefully after two home games, we play a little better in this third one. We got the students back. We haven’t lost with students in the house, so let’s go.
Going up against Grant McCasland, who used to coach under him at Baylor
I mean, Grant’s done a lot for Baylor basketball as has Coach Tang, so it’s always good seeing him. But once the game starts, it’s business as usual, and they’re trying to win, we’re trying to win. With that being said, I think when you’re playing a former coach, they’re a little more apt to know what you’re thinking and what you might be doing coming out of timeouts and whatnot, and then you try to think, okay, if this is what I normally do, do I do this? So that’s part of all the chess match.
On players not hitting shots against Kansas when having good looks
Well, with us, we’re really good when, like most teams, when you get stops, you get out in transition. If you get in a slugfest in a half court, we’ve got to do a better job finding a way to get more assisted buckets. Obviously, you can’t win games with single-digit assists. With that, I don’t think we have a player that’s not really their strength to get eight to ten assists and get in the paint really great for everyone.
So it really becomes everybody, many hands make light work, and everybody hopefully picking up where — how can I help a teammate get a shot. Again, scores are going to be scores, but to win, you’ve got to be able to make some sacrifices. Part of that’s developing your total game to where how can we have a good shot become a better shot.
With another game against TCU on the docket, how has he seen his team mature since the first loss
Well, I think the TCU game, there were things that stood out that I think we’ve done a better job competing since then. No knock on TCU. They played really well. Our offense, we play with more purpose, more pace than we did at that opening game. I think we know what the physicality is. It doesn’t always guarantee the success part of it, but at least we know what Big 12 play is about, and now it’s up to us…