Beard opening statement:
“Just want to thank New Mexico State for playing in the game and I want to thank all the fans that came out today and paid all the money. This will go to the hurricane relief, the victims – a cause that’s dear to all of us. I don’t think there was anybody in America that wasn’t affected by the hurricanes the last couple of months – myself included – so it was a special day and a special cause.”
On slow start to open game:
“First of all, about as bad a start as we could have. I think you give New Mexico State a lot of that credit. They played harder than us. They started the game better than us so that was really disappointing. That was probably the biggest negative from today’s 40 minutes that we’ll have to fix. I do think our seniors did a good job at embracing it – holding each other accountable. There were no excuses. They were great teammates on the bench when the other guys came in and got us off to a better start. I thought that was a really, really good thing for us – to see those guys come off the bench and get things turned around for us.”
Beard on offensive efficiency:
“I thought we had a lot of good individual ball-handling. Thought we didn’t over-dribble the ball today. It’s something that’s pretty impressive because we have a lot of respect for New Mexico State. Any team coached by Chris Jans is going to play pressure defense. They’re going to deny. Really the 10-or-less goal today against a Chris Jans coached team was good. I give the guys a lot of credit for that.”
Beard’s thoughts on Avery Benson’s play:
“Avery Benson is going to be a really good player. Just like a lot of freshman around the country, he’s kinda waiting his time. He’s learning to play at this level. But, one thing that Avery brings to the table from day one is how hard he plays. He’s competitive. He was the first guy I offered a scholarship to when I was working at Arkansas-Little Rock – that’ll give you a little idea of what I think about him as a player – how much respect I have for him. But, good to see him get out there and make plays, but not surprising because that’s how hard he plays every day in practice. That’s his identity.”
On Zhaire Smith’s day on the court.
“Yeah, I think Z is always a guy that brings it. But, one of my points to the team a second ago was I think there’s a relationship with how you practice and how you ultimately play in games. Z had the best week of practice than anybody in our program this week. I think he might’ve even practiced that day when he kinda elevated it from that second team. So that’s good to see a relationship between how you practice and how you perform on game night. But, Z’s a talented guy. The good thing, kinda the scary thing, is that he’s got so much room to even get better. We’re counting on all of our new players this year. It was nice to see Z have a nice game today.”
More positives to takeaway before regular season:
“The objective today was to simply get better. We had a chance to play a good Mississippi State team in a closed scrimmage and a really good Angelo State team that pushed us at home. Ultimately, today’s our last kinda quiz before the real test starts. Again, we have a lot of respect for New Mexico State. This score’s kinda lopsided because we just finished the game better. The game was a lot more competitive than the final score showed. We got better today because New Mexico State’s a good team that’s well-coached.”
On a balanced attack and not one player outshining the rest:
“Our offensive plan isn’t a secret. We talk all the time about balance. We’re a team that has no desire to have the leading scorer in the country. We want to have four or five guys in double-figures everyday. We want to share the ball. We want to use our roster – our depth and I thought today was a great example of that. We played team basketball today. Those guys that came into the game late – those guys played really good basketball, too. I thought late under those circumstances so I was pleased in a lot of ways.”
If the game was a good intro as NMSU plays with a similar style as South Alabama:
“I think so. New Mexico State gave us great looks. They have great perimeter players, good inside players. They played multiple defenses today. Then they’re just really well-coached. So this was a game that we liked because we knew we were going to get tested. We got some valuable tape to study now. Anytime we have a chance to play a team coached by Chris Jans we welcome it because we know we’re going to get tested.”
On playing in Midland:
“Love Midland. Recruit at Midland College as well as the high schools here my whole career. Some of my best friend’s coach in the WAC-JAC. I don’t know if I’ve ever coached a game on this home floor. I was telling Chris Jans before the game the last time I saw Chris coach a game in person, he was coaching I think a Howard College team here in Midland when I was an assistant for coach Knight. We have a lot of pride and respect and thankfulness for our Red Raider nation that’s here in the Midland/Odessa area. This is something we would like to do and if the NCAA continues with this rule, I was talking to Kirby and Tony last week, this is something we might consider or really want to turn into an annual event if the NCAA allows us to keep playing these charity exhibition games. There’s always been talk to maybe playing a regular season game here in Midland as well. Again, thank you to all the people that came out today. We have a lot of thankfulness and respect for our Red Raider fans here in the Midland/Odessa area.”
“Just want to thank New Mexico State for playing in the game and I want to thank all the fans that came out today and paid all the money. This will go to the hurricane relief, the victims – a cause that’s dear to all of us. I don’t think there was anybody in America that wasn’t affected by the hurricanes the last couple of months – myself included – so it was a special day and a special cause.”
On slow start to open game:
“First of all, about as bad a start as we could have. I think you give New Mexico State a lot of that credit. They played harder than us. They started the game better than us so that was really disappointing. That was probably the biggest negative from today’s 40 minutes that we’ll have to fix. I do think our seniors did a good job at embracing it – holding each other accountable. There were no excuses. They were great teammates on the bench when the other guys came in and got us off to a better start. I thought that was a really, really good thing for us – to see those guys come off the bench and get things turned around for us.”
Beard on offensive efficiency:
“I thought we had a lot of good individual ball-handling. Thought we didn’t over-dribble the ball today. It’s something that’s pretty impressive because we have a lot of respect for New Mexico State. Any team coached by Chris Jans is going to play pressure defense. They’re going to deny. Really the 10-or-less goal today against a Chris Jans coached team was good. I give the guys a lot of credit for that.”
Beard’s thoughts on Avery Benson’s play:
“Avery Benson is going to be a really good player. Just like a lot of freshman around the country, he’s kinda waiting his time. He’s learning to play at this level. But, one thing that Avery brings to the table from day one is how hard he plays. He’s competitive. He was the first guy I offered a scholarship to when I was working at Arkansas-Little Rock – that’ll give you a little idea of what I think about him as a player – how much respect I have for him. But, good to see him get out there and make plays, but not surprising because that’s how hard he plays every day in practice. That’s his identity.”
On Zhaire Smith’s day on the court.
“Yeah, I think Z is always a guy that brings it. But, one of my points to the team a second ago was I think there’s a relationship with how you practice and how you ultimately play in games. Z had the best week of practice than anybody in our program this week. I think he might’ve even practiced that day when he kinda elevated it from that second team. So that’s good to see a relationship between how you practice and how you perform on game night. But, Z’s a talented guy. The good thing, kinda the scary thing, is that he’s got so much room to even get better. We’re counting on all of our new players this year. It was nice to see Z have a nice game today.”
More positives to takeaway before regular season:
“The objective today was to simply get better. We had a chance to play a good Mississippi State team in a closed scrimmage and a really good Angelo State team that pushed us at home. Ultimately, today’s our last kinda quiz before the real test starts. Again, we have a lot of respect for New Mexico State. This score’s kinda lopsided because we just finished the game better. The game was a lot more competitive than the final score showed. We got better today because New Mexico State’s a good team that’s well-coached.”
On a balanced attack and not one player outshining the rest:
“Our offensive plan isn’t a secret. We talk all the time about balance. We’re a team that has no desire to have the leading scorer in the country. We want to have four or five guys in double-figures everyday. We want to share the ball. We want to use our roster – our depth and I thought today was a great example of that. We played team basketball today. Those guys that came into the game late – those guys played really good basketball, too. I thought late under those circumstances so I was pleased in a lot of ways.”
If the game was a good intro as NMSU plays with a similar style as South Alabama:
“I think so. New Mexico State gave us great looks. They have great perimeter players, good inside players. They played multiple defenses today. Then they’re just really well-coached. So this was a game that we liked because we knew we were going to get tested. We got some valuable tape to study now. Anytime we have a chance to play a team coached by Chris Jans we welcome it because we know we’re going to get tested.”
On playing in Midland:
“Love Midland. Recruit at Midland College as well as the high schools here my whole career. Some of my best friend’s coach in the WAC-JAC. I don’t know if I’ve ever coached a game on this home floor. I was telling Chris Jans before the game the last time I saw Chris coach a game in person, he was coaching I think a Howard College team here in Midland when I was an assistant for coach Knight. We have a lot of pride and respect and thankfulness for our Red Raider nation that’s here in the Midland/Odessa area. This is something we would like to do and if the NCAA continues with this rule, I was talking to Kirby and Tony last week, this is something we might consider or really want to turn into an annual event if the NCAA allows us to keep playing these charity exhibition games. There’s always been talk to maybe playing a regular season game here in Midland as well. Again, thank you to all the people that came out today. We have a lot of thankfulness and respect for our Red Raider fans here in the Midland/Odessa area.”
