Bearkats meet the media in New Orleans
3/17/2010 5:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Athletics
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The Sam Houston State Bearkats hit the floor at New Orleans Arena on Wednesday afternoon and the players and head coach Bob Marlin meet with the media a day ahead of the NCAA Tournament first round game against Baylor.
The story of the day has been Ashton Mitchell and his return to his hometown. Mitchell talked about it during the press conference as well as meeting with the media during the open locker room time.
Everyone wanted to know about his reaction and thoughts about returning to New Orleans.
"I was really excited and didn't think I would ever get this opportunity again to play in front of my hometown after Katrina and everything," Mitchell said. "So to see our name pop up in the south and New Orleans region, I was very excited about it."
Mitchell said he spent Tuesday taking care of tickets and has been able to get about 30 to 35 squared away.
"For us, the ticket situation, I pretty much got that dealt with yesterday, so these past two days has really been focusing on basketball," Mitchell said. "If I tried to take care of everybody, I would probably need about 70 of so tickets. I know that's kind of pushing it and I know that cannot happen, so I am not even going to try and do it."
Corey Allmond joined Mitchell in the press conference and was asked about his record breaking performance at Rupp Arena, where he set an Arena, SHSU and Southland record with 11 3-pointers.
Allmond pointed out that he got a good response from the Kentucky fans about his shooting night.
"After that performance we went down to Cancun and we were all in the same place," Allmond said. "A lot of Kentucky fans asked for my autograph and stuff. It was just amazing that they gave me that kind of support for coming in there and playing like that."
When Marlin took the podium, the main questions centered around Baylor and how the 14th-seeded Kats will matchup against the No. 3-seed Bears.
"They've got great guard play. Obviously Dunn is a tremendous shooter," Marlin said. "He's got a great future in front of him. Tweety is a great guy who can score the basketball. Also, inside they have great length, so like us, we feel as though they have great versatility."
Marlin was also asked about the size of the Bears.
"Well it is certainly a problem in going 6-10, 6-10 and 7-feet across the front line," Marlin said. "Baylor's got Acy coming on from the bench with tremendous athleticism and size."
The Game is scheduled to tip after the Notre Dame and Old Dominion game at about 1:55 p.m. It can be seen live on CBS in Houston and in the Dallas area, the game will be aired on TXA 21.
NCAA TICKETS
Sam Houston State has 20 NCAA playoff tickets remaining in its allotment and those tickets will remain on sale Wednesday evening online at www.gobearkats.com .
