Video: Ernie Kent after Texas State

Ernie Kent opening statement:

I’ve coached a lot of these games, coming out of finals, and you really have to play the game to the best of your ability. We knew guys were fatigued from being up late studying, all those things. I’d like them to play a little bit sharper but the bottom line is, first of all, you get the win. There’s some positives in the game. WE continue to shoot the ball well at a really good pace, first half and second half. The fact that we played an overtime game is an opportunity to work on some late game stuff. We made some mistakes. But we did close out the game and get the W.

Are slow starts a concern?

I wouldn’t say that it’s not the first slow start. A lot of it depends on your opponent and what they’re doing. That’s a team that tempoed the ball. That’s not a concern for me at all. This is big, here, because you’ve got to understand we don’t start the game with 10,000 people, so you’re always generating your own energy. Finals drains you completely, having to study, and then you come into the game having to get your energy up and it’s just not there. So I thought we did a good job fighting through it. So I look at it through that perspective, so I’m not worried about it at all. I think when our students are here, when the conference gets here, when the energy’s in the building, guys will play with more energy starting out of the gate.

It seemed like you were fairly frustrated after the game?

I’m a 40-year career basketball coach. I’m always frustrated, because we’re never satisfied. You always want your team to play perfect, want them to play well. If you’re a teacher that teaches, you want your students to do well. I looked at this as a final exam but I didn’t think we got a great grade on it, maybe a C, C+. We can get past a team like that, we’re not going to beat a lot of teams in our conference with that kind of a grade. And we know that. So you just take the win, you move on, you teach, you learn, you move on and get better. Got the game done, let’s get ready for the next one.

Do you think Texas State wanted it more?

You guys have got to be careful, because you guys are on that side of it. I guarantee there’s not a player on this team that doesn’t want to perform to the best of hteir ability. Now, they may go into a game and, for whatever reason, confidence, out of whack, fatigue, that they don’t. But there isn’t a guy that comes to this arena that doesn’t want to do his best and want to win a game, otherwise they wouldn’t be at this level. I think what you have is you’re on the road, you have a little bit more focus on the road. Because you have them together – you know what time you’re getting up, eating, going to bed and all of that. So they go into a game a little bit more locked in. Versus a team that’s up late studying, has to take their books back, they’re trying to pack, telling their friends goodbye. They get into the arena and there’s only 1,500 people here. There’s just a lot of factors you have to play through to get ready to play the game. So, when you look at all those things. Get the W, first and foremost. And I’ve always said don’t get too up when you have the big victories, don’t get too down when you struggled to win them. Just win them and keep moving.

Did the team’s trying to get Josh Hawkinson the ball lead to turnovers?

I don’t think it was force feeding Josh as it was force feeding the post. I thought we got too stagnant, tried too much to get the ball inside and we got out of flow a little bit. And I thought a lot of it again was just the mental stuff. I didn’t think we were as sharp as we had been in earlier games. And a lot of that has to do with six new guys never going through the academics at this level and what that means. Having to stay up and study, having to be at study table, having to be accountable to get your stuff done, turning books in. It’s a lot. And they struggled with it, now they ‘ve been through it. I’ve always said with freshmen and JC players, that first semester is the toughest because everything is new. Now they can get through it, we can focus in on basketball. We’re going to Hawaii. We’re 7-2. There’s not a lot of negatives I can say. Have a merry Christmas. Let’s go eat some coffee and donuts. Can I go now?