We suck because our coach sucks.
Billy Kennedy
Dr. John Thornton
Texas A&M Basketball
Billy Kennedy, Dr. John Thornton preview tonight's contest with Vandy
Key notes from Billy Kennedy interview
- They are dangerous. Anytime you play a Vanderbilt team that can shoot the ball like they do, with upperclassmen, its going to be a tough game. They have some juniors and seniors that seems like have been there for a while. They’re playing well coming off a win against Iowa State.
- They do have a lot of weapons. It starts with Luke Kornet, he’s 7-1 and shoots NBA range threes. He played in the Dallas area in High School, and Jeff Roberson is a Houston kid. I don’t like when Texas kids come back and try to play well in their home state. Riley LaChance is having the best year of his career right now, shooting over 50% from the three-point line. It’s a big game, our guys are getting better at understanding the sense of urgency we have to play with.
- I think Tyler Davis against Luke Kornet is a match up we need to win. Who can guard the other the best and be the most effective for their team. I’m hoping D.J. Hogg will be able to play. I think we could use him off the bench to get some scoring. We think D.J. is progressing nicely, he was better yesterday in practice. We hope to have him tonight, we’ll know more at shoot around today.
- Thats the other matchup, Tonny against Roberson. They play four guards with Roberson at the four. Tonys ability to be out on the floor and defend the perimeter, whether it’s Kornet or Roberson, is important. Tony hasn’t played well. He’s done some things well defensively but its time for him to step up and I’m hoping he will tonight.
- The Ole Miss game was the first time we played at the new arena. It was packed, had over 9,000 fans and it was a nice place with a really good environment. Getting the win there and taking care of the ball the way against that trap and pressure was good.
- Had we taken better care of the ball against West Virginia I think we’d have given ourselves a better chance to win. We had five or six too many turnovers against a team thats really good at turning you over. They also shot really well, there not a very good shooting team and they made 11 threes. I thought we played really well for 33 minutes. The last five minutes of the first half we missed some shots, missed two free throws. That's where we lost that game. A lot of ways we got better, Tyler and Admon were consistent again. Thats what you need night in and night out to have a chance to win.
- I think Admon has matured. Him playing off the ball has helped us. It will be interesting when D.J. comes back, if the ball continues to move. Admon is playing well, he’s playing 40 minutes a game, and guarding the other teams best player. He is playing extremely well, and hopefully he can consistently do that.
- J.C. Hampton has been better. He hit a big shot against Ole Miss. He’s really more of a combo two guard. I just think seniors start to play like seniors usually at this time of the year. I hope he’s getting more comfortable and confident in his role because you definitely need someone who can make shots when people double our bigs. Its good to see him playing well right now.
Key notes from Dr. John Thornton interview
- What jumps out to me about the team right now is that the moment isn’t too big for them. What I saw against West Virginia was a toughness, especially with the interior play. We talked about Admon and how important he is to the team. Overall, offensively they spread the floor, there was movement with a purpose, and they had good shot selection.
- We’re like a broken record in here, we talk about playing through Tyler Davis. He and Robert Williams, against a very good team, had their best offensive rebounding outing of the season. They played with confidence. You saw some collective good effort as a team.
- When you see us play against quality people and have chances to win, it shows that you are that close. That's what remarkable about this team, we’ve had our moments where we can’t get it going and then we find a spurt. We never tank, with the exception of the Kentucky game. They made things happen, It’s interesting they can go through those cycles and still put something together at the end.
- You want consistency, I don’t know if they’ll ever get 40 minutes of it, but they’ve become more patient in getting the ball to Tyler. They’re making opponents have large doses of Tyler Davis which is good for us.
- There are some guys that can just do it. Admon loves to play. His facial expression never changes. He never gets too up or too down, he just plays. I’m not saying the high amount of minutes won’t take a toll on him, but if anybody can do it he can. What I love about him is his demeanor. I love the way he starts games. He’s the guy that they go to, whether its ball movement or hitting the shot that sort of breaks the ice. And when he goes to the free throw line he’s going to make them.
- I’m expecting Admon to be Admon tonight. I’m not counting on any complimentary players because it’s so iffy game-to-game. We have to have Robert Williams and Tyler Davis have the kind of game they had against West Virginia. They were the two most dominant players on the court. Can they play better? I think they can, but they just need to pick up where they left off.
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