TCU beat Texas Tech 73-52 on Wednesday. Texas Tech head coach Krista Gerlich answered questions following the game in Fort Worth.
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00:00 -Okay, we'll take questions for Coach Garland, please.
00:04 -Coach, do you see
00:08 you kind of just, I felt like on offense they just kind of came up firing, what was your
00:12 match to the team at halftime when you're down 20 points?
00:16 -I mean, obviously we knew it was going to be difficult with Sedona back.
00:20 I mean, we don't have a matchup for that, especially with our kids that are out
00:24 in their post position. So yeah, I mean, I thought
00:28 at some point you're deciding do you want to give up threes or twos against them.
00:32 And so clearly we didn't see the devil at Sedona because we were like
00:36 let's give up twos to begin with. She did a really good job, was super efficient
00:40 in the paint. And really I thought it wasn't so much the
00:44 defensive side, it was, I mean, clearly we can't give up 42 in the first half,
00:48 but we just were so stagnant on offense. They came out in the zone
00:52 and our guards kind of just froze a little bit instead of being really aggressive
00:56 in the distance. So we just couldn't battle offensively well enough to keep it close.
01:00 -Well yeah, you shot 29% from the field for the game. I mean,
01:04 do you feel like that was just not going in and driving? What do you feel kind of led to that?
01:08 -Well, it was us, like I said, just being stagnant in the first half.
01:12 I mean, I thought the second half we attacked much better. We got paint touches. We moved the basketball better.
01:16 We just, I think we were so concerned
01:20 about trying to get the ball in the paint. And
01:24 when we got it there, they were very timid against
01:28 obviously Sedona. We don't want to challenge her at the rim. But we just
01:32 were really, really stagnant initially when we saw the zone.
01:36 I'll be honest, we didn't expect to see a zone against them, but it was smart for them to do that
01:41 when we don't have a host presence right now. -For your team,
01:45 this has been kind of a tough stretch with all these losses. -Real tough.
01:49 -What's kind of your message to the team knowing you're
01:53 at the end of the season and going into the conference tournament? -We've got to keep battling. We've got to keep battling.
01:57 We're down three post players, two starters, that
02:01 we've had to change completely how we play.
02:05 The first time we played TCU we pressed on the entire game. We get
02:09 second chance opportunities by turning them over and offensive rebounding as well.
02:13 So we're just down. We're down players and so we're having to play
02:17 five guards a lot. We just don't have those
02:21 for inside game for sure. But our
02:25 message is you can control
02:29 what you can control. And our effort and I thought our kids
02:33 battled, especially in the second half. I thought they battled a lot better than they did in the first half.
02:37 Really the message is not dead, can't quit.
02:41 That's what we've got to keep doing. We've got to learn from this. We've got
02:45 super young kids on the floor. We play two freshmen and three sophomores the majority of the game.
02:49 And playing out of position a little bit. But we haven't
02:53 ever used that as an excuse. And those kids have just battled and continued to fight.
02:57 And they'll see pay off down the line. -And you mentioned kind of like TCU
03:01 battled injuries and things like that. Just as a coach
03:05 how do you kind of work through that in a season that, you know, it's a long season.
03:09 -It's a real long season. Yeah. I mean it opens the door for other people.
03:13 It's unfortunate for us that it all happened in the same position.
03:17 We were really limited at how we can continue to play that we were
03:22 playing early with. But I'm telling you
03:26 it's been a very difficult stretch. And I think the first
03:30 loss that started this slide right here we were definitely
03:34 in control of. And we let that slip away from us. And then we had the injuries
03:38 sort of piling on at that point and sickness as well. So we've just
03:42 done a lot of just continuing to show up and show up for each other
03:46 and fight. Push through. And you know better days are coming.
03:50 And we've got to hold it together to get to the tournament. And you know
03:54 you never know what can happen. -Speaking of
03:58 battling in the second half, Bailey had 16 points. What did you like out of her game tonight?
04:02 -I thought that, you know, early I didn't think she finished well. I thought she
04:06 got some pretty good looks and didn't finish well. But she kept pressing to
04:10 try to get those shots. I thought she was much more aggressive in the second half.
04:14 I think her confidence grew a little bit. You know from the three point line she knocked
04:18 down a couple and just started kind of playing. And she's battling the flu right now.
04:22 So I thought I was really proud of her for playing I think 38 minutes. Her and Jazzy
04:26 both are battling the flu. And so for them to be able to play that
04:30 many minutes and to contribute at that level I think shows a lot of guts.
04:34 Yeah I'm playing even in the second half. I mean to be honest. You know those are the small victories
04:38 that we have to talk about right now. -Thanks Coach. -Alright. Thank you guys.
04:42 Thank you.