Real talk from Dash Harris after loss to Iowa State

Gabe Bock: What do you think this team needs right now? Mentally, with everything that's gone on with this group, as the team leader what do you think?

Dash Harris: "I think we know where we have to get better. It starts with practice habits. Right now, this is probably the toughest time I've had since I've been here at A&M, losing two games to start conference; no disrespect to the teams we lost to, but they were teams we were capable of beating, and we haven't been playing to our full potential. We haven't in a while. So we've got to start back at square one, get that confidence in ourselves and just try to regroup as soon as we can."

GB: Obviously everything starts with practice and (ISU head coach) Fred Hoiberg talked about how great they've been practicing and (Billy) Kennedy talked about how poorly he felt you guys have been practicing. How tough does it make it when y'all aren't practicing well and then go out and try to perform on game day?

Harris: "Regardless of the adversity we've faced as a team, with whichever nine guys we have, we have to go hard. If you sat us all in a circle and asked every guy if he was going hard, you wouldn't get nine guys saying 'Yeah.' That's where it starts. We have to bring that effort, intensity, passion and determination to every practice and it'll carry over into games, but you can't show up to games and expect it to happen for you."

GB: I thought you played really hard out there today, but as the vocal guy you're not going to point to yourself and say, 'Look at how I played.' But maybe you can point to Ray (Turner) and say, 'Look at the way Ray played.' Came off the bench ... what about his energy today, coming off the bench, providing a spark and really doing his part on the offensive glass and maintaining that energy?

Harris: "Like I said, it starts with consistency. We need that in every game and every practice. You just can't show up and expect it to happen every time. It's about individual players being consistent, and once everybody is consistent, eventually it becomes a team and group thing. That's all we need to work on right now."

GB: Talk about the importance of trying to get the ball in to (David) Loubeau. What's the importance of getting the ball inside and getting easy buckets?

Harris: "That's what we look to do. We look to play inside-out, but a lot of the times those three-point attempts come because they're doubling down (inside), and at times there'll even be triple teams. If we have to take 22 threes, we just have to knock them down. Out of those 22, there weren't many we could say were bad looks ... we just have to step up and knock them down."

GB: How important is it to try to get this team to not quit, to continue buying in to what's going on, to continue to believe? It's an 18-game Big 12 schedule and you're only two games in ... is it easy to maintain belief when you've got Texas (upcoming on the schedule). If there's a team to get up for, it's got to be the Longhorns.

Harris: "It's my senior year, so I won't let guys quit. That's one thing we won't do — we won't quit. We just have to go out there and show that effort. Texas is another team that lost to Iowa State, so we're in the same boat, and of course it's a rivalry game, so if guys aren't up for that game, something's really wrong. I anticipate we'll be ready for that game, fight as hard as we can and, backs against the wall, we need to win ... I'll do everything in my power to make sure we get it."

GB: How important of a week is this, not only with Texas but ... you guys know Billy Gillispie's coming in here next week, the guy that re-established basketball (at A&M), but this is Aggie basketball now. Texas and Texas Tech, with y'all at 0-2, this is a huge week for you.

Harris: "It is. We're going to take it one game at a time, and it IS a must-win. We've dropped two games straight in conference. Every game for me is a must-win. It's my senior year and I want to go out with a bang. Every game this year is a must-win in my eyes, and I'm going to try to relay that to my team. Hopefully they step up with me and we make this push now."