Dan Alexander growing into newfound role

Jordan Kirkland: You had a great game, your first career start here in Aggieland. It was tough, losing 63-60, but let's just talk about your performance.

Daniel Alexander: "It was a blessing to get to start. My dad got to be here, so that's important. The way things orchestrated themselves were that three of our starters were out, so that opens up opportunities for some other people. It was great to come in and start and it was great to get to play."

JK: You played the three last night, which Coach Kennedy mentioned you've only practiced once. How were you able to get ready for that and play that position?

Alexander: "I actually played three my entire career until college, and then I've been playing the four and five. But I'd rather play the three, actually. When I got that opportunity I was super-excited and with Keith (Davis) and Dave (Loubeau) and Ray (Turner) down low it opened things up for the perimeter guys. They left me open a couple times, so that was awesome.

JK: The Bears are ranked No. 6 right now and came in for maybe the last time y'all are going to play them. How did you prepare for a team that probably has a lot of lottery picks?

Alexander: "Just as a team, we prepare the same for all the teams we play. The next game is always the most important one. But obviously Baylor is a very talented team and they have a couple really talented players. We just studied the game plan and personnel and did a good job of taking certain things away from their offense that they'd normally get pretty easily. We did a good job there, it just didn't happen for us in the end."

JK: Let's move to a positive note ... the Oklahoma State game, the crowd, a lot of people were saying that's the most fun they've had at Reed Arena. How did that game transpire and how was it for you?

Alexander: "I think I speak for everybody when I say it was the most fun game we've had just playing. That just came from a lot of hard work. We're taking things pretty seriously because things haven't gone exactly the way we thought they would. There's been a lot of adversity so far this year and we just got to come out and once we started playing hard from the every beginning we gave ourselves an opportunity to win. From that point on, we were just playing hard and playing our game. Along with that came the dunks and what have you."

JK: You had two blocks in that game, one huge one against LeBryan Nash. Do you remember how that felt when you got that?

Alexander: "Yeah. LeBryan Nash is going to be a good player. He's athletic. He got it down low and I knew he was going to try and dunk it, so I just had to put my hand above the rim and not let him have that. Simple as that."

JK: You spent last year, your redshirt year, under Coach Turgeon but now you're under Coach Kennedy and Coach Cyprien. What are some of the coaching differences you've noticed between how Coach Turgeon taught you and how Coach Kennedy has been this year?

Alexander: "One thing is, both of them are extremely defensive minded and defense is the one thing they both stress. That wasn't a huge transition there. A lot of defensive principles and stuff like that. Maybe there are a few differences in offense, obviously. Certain sets and things like that. But I don't think it's been that difficult of a transition for any of us when it comes to the Xs and Os part of it."

JK: I've heard you're an incredible artist and you actually have your own comic strip. Do you want to comment on that?

Alexander: "Yeah. I like to draw a lot and sometimes I'll hang out in class and doodle a little bit ... don't tell my parents ... and I learned a lot from Calvin & Hobbs. I read that still all the time. I sometimes do characters or renditions of my teammates or coaches. They haven't seen any of them, so I don't think I'll bring that up. But yeah, I like to draw."

JK: Gabe Bock actually came up with this nickname, 'Lightning Dan.' What are your feelings on that nickname? Do you kind of want Gabe to maybe call you something else? He's really big on the nicknames...

Alexander: "The thing about nicknames is you can't give yourself one. Otherwise it'd be 'The Most Awesome Kid Who Ever Lived' or something like that. But my dad is actually Thunder Dan, so I think it's interesting that he said that. I guess we're just forms of precipitation or something (chuckle)."

JK: Finally, you're going to be going to Manhattan, to Kansas State, this Saturday; you then turn around really quick and come back here and play Texas on Monday. So there's a lot of preparation going on right now. Are y'all solely preparing for Kansas State right now or are you throwing in some Texas schemes as well?

Alexander: "Well, what we'll normally do is just focus on the next game, so I don't think we'll be doing any preparation for Texas just yet, though I could be wrong. I think we'll practice the next couple days on Kansas State and then we'll come back and start on Texas right away."