Joe Rux Quotations

No game from this point on is going to be an easy game. We found that out last year. Everybody's playing knowing that if they lose they're out. I think it is healthy for everyone to recognize that this is the way it's going to be. You've got to pull up your shorts and go to work.

He's a very, very solid player. He has a pull-up jumper, he's a strong finisher at the rim and he's very good on the perimeter. He doesn't make many mistakes.

He's going to be a wide receiver in college so you know he's going to be real athletic just by that. He's very strong and jumps exceptionally well. If you let him catch it deep, he's a problem. He's tough in the lane and he does a great job around the rim, but he's not someone who is going to step out and hit 15-footers and 3s.

It hurts everybody that they're leaving. We've had a close bond with these kids, and I've coached some of them for four years. And not having them around is going to be a change for everybody. Look at their record over the past two years and it's phenomenal. Phenomenal.

I think it was a little bit of nerves and a little bit of being maybe too jacked up for the game and not concentrating on staying solid and playing fundamentally sound.

Well, we had already seen what could happen when he was out earlier. They generated a run when he wasn't out on the floor before.

We've got obviously the best offensive player in the area on our team and we've got the best defensive player hands down on our team, so we're bringing back two very important pieces. But we've got to build and we've got to start from square one in terms of teaching the kids how to step up to this environment.

The radio asked me what the pivotal moment in the game was, and I said it was when we made the big run to go up by (10). That was huge because now when they make their run, it was just to catch up.

We got a lead and our kids, for whatever reason, got a little bit relaxed and stopped moving and stopped screening. And it took us a long time to get that back. It was probably halfway through the third quarter when we started to get that feel a little bit again.

They had some nice strategies, and they were obviously concentrating on taking Greg completely away. But in order to do that they were going to have to leave Alex open and he cashed in big.

It was a tremendous game. I thought you had two really, really good teams out there who played very well for four quarters. I thought both teams played exceptionally well.

He really had things going well after the first quarter. He got his game going and played exceptionally well. When he came out, it took us a minute to regroup. Any time Greg is in foul trouble, it obviously has an impact on our team. We all know that; we just try to survive.