Baylor, Nicholls State Postgame Quotes
11/16/2018 1:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Baylor 81, Nicholls State 54
NR/NR BAYLOR (3-1) 81, NR/NR NICHOLLS STATE (2-3) 54
Friday, Nov. 16, 2018
Ferrell Center (Waco, Texas)
Attendance: 8,721
BAYLOR POSTGAME QUOTES
Baylor Head Coach Scott Drew
Opening Statement…
"Well I know we're getting better. We're doing a better job at identifying scouting reports, taking away guys that can shoot, guys that are drivers. Each game we've improved. I thought the first 35 minutes we were really good defensively. Makai (Mason) makes a huge difference, as we know. We'll get better the healthier he gets. He's really a fun player to coach because it's kind of like having a quarterback like Peyton Manning out there, you don't have to call every play. He reads the defense, knows where the ball needs to go when it needs to go and does a great job making the right decisions."
On Makai Mason's leadership and poise…
"He's got a great poise and demeanor to him. He really communicates with the guys well. When he was healthy at the Vanderbilt scrimmage he showed that. At that point, guys really trusted him because he hadn't been able to really practice. If you're a college athlete and you could have his routine, you'd love life. He's going to be a gamer and we're going to take care of him in practice, which means no contact as much as possible."
On Matthew Mayer's game today…
"He shoots like that all the time, meaning he gets those shots up. Normally he makes more than he misses. I thought the first game he was definitely really nervous. Second game he played more like himself. Third game he got better. But the big area that we've tried to focus on him is on the defensive end. Today was by far his best defensive effort."
Baylor Senior Makai Mason
On how it felt to get back out on the court…
"It definitely felt good to get the juices flowing, playing again. The ankle was alright. Definitely sometimes it hurt a decent amount but I was able to get through it. Adrenaline definitely helped for sure."
On directing the game…
"I wasn't really trying to do too much. I knew I was kind of limited a little bit with my body. Just tried to make the right play and not do too much."
On how his teammates played…
"I think everything fell into place. We shot the ball pretty well, attacked the glass well and defended pretty well too. Just kind of a combination of those three things."
Baylor Freshman Matthew Mayer
On his game today…
"I got an opportunity to go in early in the game and Coach Drew really let me play a little bit more. I feel like I got an opportunity today. I was just missing my shots the first three games, but I felt like it was always there."
On if there was a difference with Makai Mason on the floor…
"Oh, for sure. Makai is a great leader. He really stretches the floor and does a great job finding everybody. Also, I thought Mark (Vital) did a great job of just bringing energy to the game. He had 11 rebounds and he was doing a lot of stuff that doesn't show up on the stat sheet."
On creating matchup problems with his height and outside shooting ability…
"Yeah, I would say so. I just try to take what the defense gives me. I don't try to necessarily create matchup problems, I just get what I can."
NICHOLLS STATE POSTGAME QUOTES
Nicholls State Head Coach Austin Claunch
Opening Statement…
"Obviously disappointed with our performance today. You got to give them a lot of credit. Baylor was really good today and they made it difficult on us to get ball reversals and just kind of get any type of flow offensively. We didn't shoot it well and that's more so credit to them than us. They contested everything, made shots tough at the rim. They had good rhythm offensively. There was that middle spell there in the first half. I thought we started pretty well defensively, the first four or five minutes and they just kind of got loose on us. They made threes early on and loosened us up. We wanted to double in the post and there bigs were wiling passers, kicked it out and that led to open shots. They play well. I think you've got to credit them more than take away from us, but certainly at the same time I expected better from us today. We'll move on, we've got a big one against Ole Miss on Tuesday, so we'll get better tomorrow at practice."
On guard Makai Mason and the Baylor guard trio …
"He's a good player. He just has such good feel. Nothing he does necessarily blows you away, but he always makes the right play. If he's open, he makes it and if someone else is open he finds them. Obviously, he's a huge addition when he's healthy when you put him out there with (King) McClure and (Devonte) Bandoo. I think we have a great three-guard trio and those three together for them are very similar. You've got three guys that can dribble, pass and shoot and when they're all going, obviously the numbers show. Having Makai (Mason) helped them certainly today with 10 threes as a team, 17 assists, eight turnovers. I just thought that he gave them great poise. We couldn't speed them up. We've had a lot of success pressing this year. Today we did not, and I think he certainly was a good reason for that."
On pressing not working as well…
"We still got stops early on. They only had four at the first media timeout. We got stops but we just never got into a rhythm offensively. We held the ball a little bit long, and in games like these when you're playing a high major team, they're not going to just let you swing it around and shoot threes. You've got to drive it north and south. You've got to get in there and play off two feet, look behind you, relocate. It's just not as easy as it is in other games, especially when you're playing a team so athletic. Their length certainly bothered us today but even more than that we've played big teams."
On Matthew Mayer…
"I knew he was good. I'm not sure I expected him to do that. He was great. I think you go back and you think about it. I'm not sure what you really tell your guys. He made a couple of tough buckets, one-on-one moves, pulling up over guys. Now we gave him an easy one early, an open three, maybe two. That's what happens to a good player you let him get an easy one early and he just sort of found a rhythm and it wasn't a whole lot more we could do. He made some great plays. Again, credit him. He's every bit of 6-8, 6-9 and just kind of rolls over the top and makes shots."
Friday, Nov. 16, 2018
Ferrell Center (Waco, Texas)
Attendance: 8,721
BAYLOR POSTGAME QUOTES
Baylor Head Coach Scott Drew
Opening Statement…
"Well I know we're getting better. We're doing a better job at identifying scouting reports, taking away guys that can shoot, guys that are drivers. Each game we've improved. I thought the first 35 minutes we were really good defensively. Makai (Mason) makes a huge difference, as we know. We'll get better the healthier he gets. He's really a fun player to coach because it's kind of like having a quarterback like Peyton Manning out there, you don't have to call every play. He reads the defense, knows where the ball needs to go when it needs to go and does a great job making the right decisions."
On Makai Mason's leadership and poise…
"He's got a great poise and demeanor to him. He really communicates with the guys well. When he was healthy at the Vanderbilt scrimmage he showed that. At that point, guys really trusted him because he hadn't been able to really practice. If you're a college athlete and you could have his routine, you'd love life. He's going to be a gamer and we're going to take care of him in practice, which means no contact as much as possible."
On Matthew Mayer's game today…
"He shoots like that all the time, meaning he gets those shots up. Normally he makes more than he misses. I thought the first game he was definitely really nervous. Second game he played more like himself. Third game he got better. But the big area that we've tried to focus on him is on the defensive end. Today was by far his best defensive effort."
Baylor Senior Makai Mason
On how it felt to get back out on the court…
"It definitely felt good to get the juices flowing, playing again. The ankle was alright. Definitely sometimes it hurt a decent amount but I was able to get through it. Adrenaline definitely helped for sure."
On directing the game…
"I wasn't really trying to do too much. I knew I was kind of limited a little bit with my body. Just tried to make the right play and not do too much."
On how his teammates played…
"I think everything fell into place. We shot the ball pretty well, attacked the glass well and defended pretty well too. Just kind of a combination of those three things."
Baylor Freshman Matthew Mayer
On his game today…
"I got an opportunity to go in early in the game and Coach Drew really let me play a little bit more. I feel like I got an opportunity today. I was just missing my shots the first three games, but I felt like it was always there."
On if there was a difference with Makai Mason on the floor…
"Oh, for sure. Makai is a great leader. He really stretches the floor and does a great job finding everybody. Also, I thought Mark (Vital) did a great job of just bringing energy to the game. He had 11 rebounds and he was doing a lot of stuff that doesn't show up on the stat sheet."
On creating matchup problems with his height and outside shooting ability…
"Yeah, I would say so. I just try to take what the defense gives me. I don't try to necessarily create matchup problems, I just get what I can."
NICHOLLS STATE POSTGAME QUOTES
Nicholls State Head Coach Austin Claunch
Opening Statement…
"Obviously disappointed with our performance today. You got to give them a lot of credit. Baylor was really good today and they made it difficult on us to get ball reversals and just kind of get any type of flow offensively. We didn't shoot it well and that's more so credit to them than us. They contested everything, made shots tough at the rim. They had good rhythm offensively. There was that middle spell there in the first half. I thought we started pretty well defensively, the first four or five minutes and they just kind of got loose on us. They made threes early on and loosened us up. We wanted to double in the post and there bigs were wiling passers, kicked it out and that led to open shots. They play well. I think you've got to credit them more than take away from us, but certainly at the same time I expected better from us today. We'll move on, we've got a big one against Ole Miss on Tuesday, so we'll get better tomorrow at practice."
On guard Makai Mason and the Baylor guard trio …
"He's a good player. He just has such good feel. Nothing he does necessarily blows you away, but he always makes the right play. If he's open, he makes it and if someone else is open he finds them. Obviously, he's a huge addition when he's healthy when you put him out there with (King) McClure and (Devonte) Bandoo. I think we have a great three-guard trio and those three together for them are very similar. You've got three guys that can dribble, pass and shoot and when they're all going, obviously the numbers show. Having Makai (Mason) helped them certainly today with 10 threes as a team, 17 assists, eight turnovers. I just thought that he gave them great poise. We couldn't speed them up. We've had a lot of success pressing this year. Today we did not, and I think he certainly was a good reason for that."
On pressing not working as well…
"We still got stops early on. They only had four at the first media timeout. We got stops but we just never got into a rhythm offensively. We held the ball a little bit long, and in games like these when you're playing a high major team, they're not going to just let you swing it around and shoot threes. You've got to drive it north and south. You've got to get in there and play off two feet, look behind you, relocate. It's just not as easy as it is in other games, especially when you're playing a team so athletic. Their length certainly bothered us today but even more than that we've played big teams."
On Matthew Mayer…
"I knew he was good. I'm not sure I expected him to do that. He was great. I think you go back and you think about it. I'm not sure what you really tell your guys. He made a couple of tough buckets, one-on-one moves, pulling up over guys. Now we gave him an easy one early, an open three, maybe two. That's what happens to a good player you let him get an easy one early and he just sort of found a rhythm and it wasn't a whole lot more we could do. He made some great plays. Again, credit him. He's every bit of 6-8, 6-9 and just kind of rolls over the top and makes shots."
Players Mentioned
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