Kansas State Basketball | K-State 65, TCU 55 | Postgame Press Conference

Hear from Kansas State head coach Bruce Weber along with junior forward Xavier Sneed and senior forward Dean Wade. The Wildcats won their fourth consecutive game in Big 12 play, moving them to 4-2 in league play.

BRUCE WEBER, K-STATE HEAD COACH

On the game…

“It was a good balanced game for us on both ends. Obviously, it starts with defense. We held them close to 30 points below their average. We made it hard on (Alex) Robinson. He is magical with the ball. We turned them over 18 times, eight of them were by Robinson. Our guys did a great job of that. Offensively against a man (defense) early we knew (Kouat) Noi was not going to play so we thought we could score against them. We did score against their man and were efficient. When they went zone we got a little stagnant. We haven’t gone against zone in a couple weeks but we got enough baskets. Right before the half it was really important to get that 10-point lead. Obviously, I wish we got that rebound to finish the half. They are not going to go away. They are a good team with veteran guys. (J.D.) Miller is good, Robinson is good and (Desmond) Bane is a really good player. We have to fight in this league as you have seen with the scores you just never know. We had good balance we were sharing the ball better with the 15 assists and had great defense. Barry did a good job on Robinson then he got in foul trouble then Cartier (Diarra), Mike (McGuirl) and Kam (Stokes) that were able to go save Barry then let him go at the end. Coach (Brad) Korn told them to make sure at the end of the game that they were exhausted. We made it really hard on them to get everything. It was good. Now we got a chance on Tuesday to play for first place.””

On Xavier Sneed’s two alley-oop dunks…

“Those are excitement plays and momentum plays. They went man so we were able to run some of our stuff and we got it right away. Then we got the second one off of a steal on a fast break. Those are important times the finish of the half and the start of the second half which a lot of times determines games. You get that momentum swing that wears teams down and then you get that four to six point run which is the difference in the game.

On post play and free throw shooting…

Dean (Wade) is still trying to find himself, he still had 16 and six. We made pretty well on the free throw line which was good. I thought Mak (Mawien) did well in the second half with that big offensive rebound like he did against Oklahoma. Those little extra plays can be big momentum makers and turn the game a different way to stop their runs. You have to feel good about that.”

On not trailing in the past two games and competing in the Big 12…

“My big thing after that Oklahoma game was talking about leadership and maturity to get emotionally and physically ready for the next game. We have not played real well here outside of that 50 point second half against West Virginia but had a very flat start to say the least. Against George Mason we had a good half but even the early games you can’t anticipate based on the opponents record. Especially in this league the last 10 games in this league the record has been three wins for the home team and seven for the road team. People are gonna come play. We had two of those wins and it makes a difference. You have to get emotionally ready, you cannot just anticipate that you’re going to make shots because you play at home. You have to go out there and have that edge to execute. We did a great job of executing in the first half especially early. ”

DEAN WADE, K-STATE SENIOR FORWARD

On the depth and experience on the team...

“It’s big time for us. Everyone sharing the ball, flashing, moving and having great energy. When you play with great energy, it feels like shots tend to fall better. Credit the guards for slowing us down, and getting us into things and finding the open person, it really benefited everyone tonight.”

On being potential conference contenders…

“We knew we were a good team, we just had to come out and show it. These past four games we have came out and played like we know we can play. Our leadership has been great for us, and has pushed us to be as good as we can. We knew we could be really good, it just took time until we came out and showed it.”