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BAYLOR POSTGAME QUOTES

Head Coach Scott Drew
On opportunityà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"If you write one thing please write that our team can't thank the soldiers and family enough for all that they do for our country. Tonight was about the opportunity to say thank you and hopefully give them a couple of hours of entertainment. We really admire and respect what they do for our country. Ft. Hood is the largest army base in the free world and for us to have the chance to play here really meant a lot to our guys."

On those who made this game happen...
"I thank the Baylor administration for thinking outside the box. Business-wise it's not a good move playing away from home, you lose a lot of revenue, and it's hard to find teams that want to do something like this so we thank Hardin-Simmons for being a part of this. We tried to do this a year ago and it fell through with a team. I have to thank Nick Joos, Tom Hill, David Kaye, Ian McCaw, and President Starr for allowing us to do this and putting this together, they did a great job."

On player's excitement for the game...
"Our players thought they were back in their high school days. They were all fired up. We did a clinic this past weekend here and a lot of people said they were going to be here and were really excited about it. They said some people overseas were going to be watching and looking for family, friends, loved ones. We had one of the officers talk to the team the other day about what it means to some of the soldiers and their families and what they go through with being deployed some years, nine months at a time. I think all our guys really appreciate what they do for us."

On Hardin-Simmons hanging around early...
"Well I think first and foremost, we wanted to make sure we played hard for the families and soldiers watching. I thought that the beginning of the game, Hardin-Simmons did a great job moving the ball and spreading us out. When you play five guys that all shoot the three, it's different than some of the teams you play in the Big 12. I thought our guys were unselfish, 40 assists, 74 points in the paint is tremendous. It was great for us. Everyone played, no one got injured. Plus, coming off finals, you're always worried that the guys are going to be a little bit rusty or not into it. Playing today, they were all focused."

Senior Rico Gathers
On getting to be around and play here at Ft. Hoodà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"Honestly, it's like a whole other world because they have everything in one small area. You have to go through security just to get in, so it's a whole new world over here. Looking in the stands and seeing all of the kids, and being able to make an impact on their lives really meant a lot. They don't get to see this too often in their own backyard, so I think that was the most important thing for me was leaving an impact on the kids and soldiers as well. They don't normally get to see things like this either, so that was really special."

On last second, full court dunk before half timeà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"We ran one of the plays that we work on every day in practice. At that moment, I really didn't know what I was going to do with the ball if I caught it, because with 1.5 seconds you're kind of limited as to what you can do. But, as soon as I saw it fly over my defender's head, I knew exactly what to do with it, so that's what I did."

Sophomore Johnathan Motley
On taking advantage of post playà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"That was our plan. Coaches always want us attacking the basket, being finishers, and getting assists for our point guards. That was our objective today, to get to the rim as much as possible, and I feel like we did a great job of that."

HARDIN SIMMONS POSTGAME QUOTES

Head Coach Craig Carse
On the honor of playing at Fort Hood...
"This was a tremendous privilege and honor that we were invited to be a part of this event tonight. I think it was a wonderful event. For Coach (Scott) Drew and for Baylor to take a home game away from their crowd and their fans to step out, and it wasn't down the street. An hour plus away is a distance. For them to do that says a lot, but the reason we were doing this was to give some people for a few minutes of relaxation and maybe something to get their mind off things. Maybe some of these guys just came back from Afghanistan or Iraq and deployment ÃÆ' ¢Ãƒ ¢' ¬" that could have just been in the past few days. What an honor it was for us to be a part of this to just have a few minutes to be able to give these people some relaxation and for them to get to watch one of the best basketball teams in the country."

On what his team could have done betterà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"We didn't take care of the basketball and that's something we have to get a lot better at. We are capable of it and we have people who are more capable than what we did. We weren't patient. Instead of making Baylor work and being a little more patient with the basketball, we just weren't patient with it. We just didn't play with enough conviction and toughness. We didn't do anything out of our characteristics that we have at our level. With the people that we play, if you could see us night-in and night-out we would improve on the toughness aspect of it. I don't mean toughness that you're soft. Being able to take that charge, being able to cut off that baseline, because the size and the strength overwhelms."

On getting back to coaching after his surgeryà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"The thing that motivates coaches, teachers, leaders, is just like what motivates parents to take care of their children, and the thing that motivates me is to have the opportunity to work with these young people. They've carried me for seven games. We all have to step back sometimes, but we're back. We'll get back a little stronger."

Junior Justin Jones
On battling against Baylor's post players...
"It's a real big learning point for me. They had probably 60-70 pounds on me, so I mean I've just got to adjust and play a little bit different and not give them any room. Strength overwhelms, like Coach [Carse] says. It's a good learning point though for me."

On playing at Ft. Hood...
"I feel like it gave us an opportunity to give back to [the soldiers]. They're out serving the country for us to live free over here, so I enjoyed giving them the opportunity to have a little time away from work, and we tried to put on a little bit of a show."