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BAYLOR POSTGAME QUOTES

Head Coach Scott Drew
Opening Statement...
"I thought our guys did a lot better as far as coming out of the gate. We worked in practice after the A&M game, making sure that we came out more focused and more physical. I thought they did a great job early on being aggressive. We need to do that without fouling because that changed the momentum of the game when we kept fouling. 24 assists and 8 turnovers, you would take that every single night. Rico is back on point from the free throw line which is great. I think TP really played within himself. The biggest number that I like about that is 2 assists and zero turnovers. He took care of the ball, made simple plays, and shot a great percentage. So I have a much better feeling going into Christmas. This was a very good team. They have been to the NCAA tournament each of the last three years. The coaching staff does a great job. They have an NBA player on their team, so they are going to be very good all year."

On NMSU cutting back into the lead...
"I thought we were not as active defensively, maybe it was because we were trying not to foul. The other thing is maturation. When you are scoring points, sometimes you let up on the defensive end. We need to get to the point where we can score and keep the intensity on the defensive end. That is what we need to work on."

On Taurean Prince and his big scoring nightà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I wish we could do this every night. I think he was aggressive and he kept things simple. When they gave him the drive, he took the drive, if they gave him the shot, he took the shot. He was decisive and he did not over-dribble. If he keeps doing that, he will be very effective. As long as he is on balance and it is a good shot, I don't care if it is from the parking lot because it has a chance to go in. That three after they cut the lead to seven was a big shot."

On the recent scoring success of Ish Wainright...
"People tend to be scorers or passers and it is hard to change that mentality. As long as you are open and you have good shots, you want to take them. Ish can shoot when he has confidence, and we have confidence in him. The last game he was 4-5 from the three and tonight he was 6-10. He is also finishing well around the rim."

Senior Taurean Prince
On the win before the Christmas weekendà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"It felt good to get the win, especially going into the break. We get to see our families which we don't get to on a regular basis. We get a couple days off to enjoy Christmas and get back to practice on the 27th to get ready for the 29th. As far as today's game, we did pretty well. We had high intensity and we rebounded pretty well, though they also did, but we did it well enough to win the game and get second chances."

On last second, full court dunk before half timeà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"They were doing a very good job of finding me. A lot of my first points were off of rebounds. Just being active and doing other things and trying to find other ways to get the ball."

Junior Ish Wainright
On taking advantage of post playà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I am tired of TP yelling at me and smacking me in the head trying to get me to shoot the ball. I have turned down a lot of good shots lately, but it feels very good to score a little bit now. It feels really good."

On the energy Lester Medford brings to the team...
"He is exactly what we need. Lester never slows down. He is a PG. He may not show it with his stare face, but he is definitely our energizer bunny."

NEW MEXICO STATE POSTGAME QUOTES

Head Coach Marvin Menzies
Opening Statementà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"My first emotion (after tonight's game) is dissatisfied, but not just because we didn't win since I feel like we didn't give them our best effort. To Baylor's credit, it was partially about how well they played defense. Our 22 turnovers was obviously the big stat of the game. We had some scouting report things that I thought we did well on, such as (Rico) Gathers and how we wanted to defend the three. At a critical time, we got it down to seven and they hit a big three there. I love my kids, and they are fighters with high character. We'll get better, we always do. We've got to come out and play these games as I mentioned last year as part of the deal. Hopefully one of these times we will beat the big boys, but tonight it wasn't meant to be."

On overcoming the slow start in the first half...
"We just didn't play our brand of basketball and at our level of efficiency in the first half. I think in the second half we were (shooting) over 61 percent and took care of the ball a little better. Starting the game with 15 turnovers is a big hole to climb out of, especially on the road against a quality opponent. We just had really good players who didn't show up tonight. If you lose you lose, and that's always going to hurt, but when you lose and you didn't feel like you gave your best effort, that's when you cringe a little bit. You have to figure out how to fix that. We're good at improving as the season goes on, so hopefully this game will be beneficial for the Bears when it comes to RPI time down the road."

On Taurean Prince and his career-high scoring effort...
"(Prince) played very well tonight. He's a very talented player and a NBA prospect. There's no question that he will continue to improve and get better. He played well tonight, and Baylor needed him to. That's impressive. He stepped up when they needed him to and hit the key shot. Big time players make big time plays. Him hitting that shot is a testimony to him as a player."

Sophomore Pascal Siakam
On matching up with Rico Gathers...
"We talked about putting some body on him because he is a big guy, and we knew that coming in. We forced him to catch the ball off the block so he wasn't able to just turn and score. We also did our best to put a body on him near the glass."

On staying motivated during the gameà ¢Ã¢' ¬ ¦
"I'm motivated for every game, and I try to compete at my best. We came off alright, but we had some unforced turnovers. We just didn't catch the ball sometimes. That's what hurt us during the beginning of the game. Like I said before, I always try to play my hardest and give everything I have."