Texas Tech vs. CSU-Bakersfield
December 27, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Freshman DeShon Minnis earned his first career start against CSU-Bakersfield.
Dec. 27, 2011
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery 
Texas Tech Head Coach Billy Gillispie
Opening Statement
"Just happy to win, we have to pull teeth every possession it seems but they are getting better, they are figuring out where to go and they figuring out what to do, they are understanding where their bread needs to be buttered and we just have to eliminate the plays that you shouldn't be making at the college level after you've played enough to be at this level. Defensively, they were a hard team to guard because they had a really good guard and some guys that could shoot it they made five three's but it seemed like a lot more than that. I was real proud of our team, and that was a hard team to beat that was their ninth road game already and they won the first three and lost the next five but they tested some really good teams on the road so I was very cautious about the game and very happy we won the game. We had a great crowd tonight, it was fantastic, it was much more than I ever expected, we didn't ever have a long run to where we made a couple of baskets or made a couple of steals in a row to really let them get into it, but they did a fantastic job and we are very appreciative of those guys coming to watch our team play."
On Jordan Tolbert
"Yeah, he's going to be something else but he's not perfect and he only got six rebounds and that's not enough and especially with the way our team rebounded tonight. We had a chance if we really would have rebounded at any point in the game we would've had a chance to win the game by a pretty good margin, but we never did rebound and then we turned it over a couple of times and then they got layups at the other end. They were having a hard time scoring pretty much, on the permiter we did a much better job the second half than we did in the first half but they shot a higher percentage in the second half because they got too many layups, but Tolbert is going to be a something special. The thing is if you come to practice, I saw him do a deal today, I don't remember what it was exactly, but it was just a wow play and that's day of a game practice. He's getting better every single play and that's a freshman who's basically in his first semester on campus and asked to do way too much but he's responding very well."
On this team living up to his expectations at this point in the season
"If I were to answer that question and say yes, then everyone would say my expectation are too low because we haven't played great. If I were to say no, then I don't know if I'd was being totally honest and that's what I always like to do. I'm proud of a lot of things that they've done, but I also know what's coming around the corner starting next week and we have a big game left in Southeastern Louisiana who probably has the best center we've seen so far, Elgin Bailey who came from Mississippi State because he got in a fight with Renardo Sidney and he's eligible now, he's a very good player and they have a bunch of athletes around him so we have a big game gaming coming up to play. My expectations are very very very high for each player and for our team so I'm never going to be satisfied but I'm happy with what we've been able to do and I think the real sign is how you improve and we are improving daily, we are still not anywhere I want to be but I do recognize they have made a great deal of improvement and great deal of upside to this team and we will continue to get better as the season goes on I will be real proud of them at the end."
Jordan Tolbert - Texas Tech Freshman
On if his confidence improves after every game
"I gain a little bit more confidence every game, we've been practicing well and I have great teammates and a great coach so I gain confidence every game."
On what Coach Gillispie wanted him to do better this game
"He wanted me to compete harder, play harder on defense and not make stupid fouls."
On his improvement throughout this season
"I think I've gotten a lot better but it's all because of my teammates and my coaches."
Terran Petteway - Texas Tech Freshman
On how impressive Jordan Tolbert is playing
"It's very impressive, I've been watching Tolbert since the summer ball, we played against each other, and I already knew what he was going to do when we came in."
On helping Tech in the second half
"It felt good, Coach Gillispie trusted in me and so did my teammates, it just felt good to help our team get a win."
CSU Bakersfield Head Coach Rod Barnes
Opening Statement
"First of all we are excited about having the opportunity of having played Billy Gillispie, I go way back years ago, and this team is always tough to play against they defend really well they make things tough on you. I thought tonight they did a good job of getting the big guy the ball inside, and I thought on the defensive end, we have been driving on people and getting some easy baskets, and I thought they did a really good job of stopping that. I thought it was a really good game for our team, we've been on the road a lot and glad to be getting home and I think our kids leave here encouraged, but we still have a lot of work to do. Again, I though Texas Tech played the game the way they needed to play it to win."
On their intensity at the start of the second half
"This is our third what I would call high major team we've played, we played Oregon State and didn't play well the second half, we went to Colorado I thought we gave ourselves a chance to win an I told them it would have to be the same here, that the first five minutes would determine whether we could get the game to the last four minutes if we let it get away from us in the first five minutes the game is going to be over because they will spread us out, they are too well coached. So I told our guys if we can hang in there the first five minutes and the last four minutes we will have a chance to win the game just because we've been on the road so much we have figured that part out about trying to take the home crowd out of it and not give up that momentum the first four or five minutes of the second half."