When Tech was only down seven points at half time to Kansas State, I thought maybe they would make a push and upset the Wildcats, just like the Red Raiders did when then visited Reed Arena. But the Red Raiders never woke up. The Wildcats won easily, 66-45.
Jarrius Jackson was the Red Raiders’ team. He scored 28 points, but no one else showed up. The next high scorer for Tech was Martin Zeno, who only had five. Texas Tech head coach Bob Knight was much different in the interview room after the game than he was after yesterday’s game, as warned.
“I’m a realist,” Knight said. “That was just something we were not going to do today, once we got out there.”
Knight mainly talked about how tired his team was after yesterday’s game, saying that playing on back-to-back days is difficult for his team. He also credited Kansas State, and said that both Tech and K-State should make the NCAA tournament. Knight was also belligerent in a few of his responses. Granted, the questions were not very intelligent, but Knight still purposefully picked on the reporters.
One reporter asked why Tech couldn’t get players other than Jackson going offensively. Knight responded with “Well, it could have had something to do with what we had for breakfast. I don’t know. We may have eaten the wrong cereal. We may not have had the proper lighting in the locker room. Or maybe Kansas State was pretty damn good defensively, and maybe we were tired. I would like to think that I already covered that sufficiently.”
After Knight answered, he leaned over to the moderator, and said “I’m not answering any more idiotic questions like that,” loudly enough for me (in the fourth row) to hear him.
The last question before Knight stormed off was “If you make the NCAA (tournament) are you concerned about being able to turn around from round one to round two? If you win round one, are you worried about turning around for round two?” Knight answered, saying, “You have a day off.” Then the reporter made the mistake of asking one final question. “One day makes a difference?” Knight responded with a tirade. “[expletive deleted], you don’t think one day makes a difference? I mean, if you had to run five miles today, could you run five miles tomorrow? Would you rather wait until the next day? Damn, you need to get some exercise, boy.”
The moderator asked if anyone else wanted to ask a question. Not surprisingly, zero hands went into the air.
“See ya,” Knight said, and then he walked away.