Doc Sadler Game Quotations

The winner of that game is definitely in the (NCAA) Tournament. (For) the loser, Sunday's going to be a long day.

This speaks to the character of these guys. It's something. I can't explain it. This is just an unbelievable group of guys. You don't win as many games as they have without being different. And they are different.

Just more little things. Making free throws. You've got to do the little things to win basketball games -- especially on the road.

That crowd was terrific. I don't know if we could have won the game without them. And I know there were people who couldn't come, sitting home by their radios, and they helped us, too. SMU is one of the top four teams in the conference and I'm glad we've got them out of the way. Our defense was key. Our defense is something we work hard on and something the kids have bought into. We also held them (the Mustangs) to only seven offensive rebounds. Doing that to a team like that is big.

For sure, the winner of this game will get in. The loser will have a long day Sunday.

I think what this does is force us to win the (conference) tournament. That's the bottom line right now. But we can't be concerned with the big picture. We haven't been all year and we can't be now. We've just got to play one game at a time and not worry about anything else.

Thursday night's game between UAB and Memphis could have decided some things. But it didn't. Other than that, nothing much is really decided until Saturday. There is still such a logjam in the middle. A lot can happen on Saturday.

The whole game was summed up at the free-throw line. It came down to the last few seconds. If you're going to go 50 percent at the free-throw line, you're not going to have a chance to win against a good team.

I've said all along that we have to take care of things first. First, we've got to win Thursday. Then we get to Friday night. If they take two teams from our league, then I think the winner of that game will get to go (to the NCAA tournament).

The strength of their team is that they are able to shoot the basketball. They've got three guys averaging in double figures. The key to the game is that we have to defend the perimeter and keep them off the offensive glass.

Michigan made shots all night. Michigan always seems to have a lull in games where things don't go their way. They didn't have that tonight.

Alabama A&M will be here expecting to play a basketball game. I know some people might think that because it's a non-conference game, it might not be as big. But at this stage of the season, every game is critical.

This team has overcome so much adversity. It speaks to the character of the kids. It seems like every week they've gone through something. It's an unbelievable group of guys. You don't win as many games as these guys have and not be different. That's what they are . They're just different. I don't know how to describe it.

It finally caught up to us. We didn't have any emotion. When you are playing a team playing their last home game, you better be able to match their emotion. This game can't be played unless you are emotionally ready to play. You have to give Central Florida credit. They were ready to play. They did that. They made some shots ... and when you are emotionally ready to play, you make some shots.

It's no bigger than Saturday's game (a win at Tulsa) was. But these are two teams who have played well and who have got a chance to keep themselves one game out of first place. But whether we are playing UAB or East Carolina, it is a big game.

It may have seemed like it was easy. But it wasn't. We had them down 13 points there inside of five minutes and the game was not over. Anything can happen at that point.