Grant McCasland Quotations

The only thing I talked to the team about was to throw this one out. That wasn't us in the second half. You have to give (the Hawks) a lot of credit because they just came in here and beat us.

We're just fortunate and blessed to have an opportunity. The reason why we're there is because the guys play in to what we do and they play hard.

If those guys return, that should probably be the best group we've had as far as a returning class since I've been here. That should get us more excited about the future.

He had a lot of trust in coach Linder, and in that level he can have an opportunity to have an immediate impact.

He's a big-time motor. He's a tough winner. He plays extremely hard all the time. The best compliment I could give him is that he does whatever it takes to win, whether it's making the extra pass, hitting a big basket or getting the tough rebound.

He's a sophomore who understands what this is about. It's about doing whatever it takes to help the team win. He's been our team leader on and off the court for two years and he's the heart and soul of this team.

His play won't show up on the stat sheet but Jordan did a good job of guarding and rebounding. Jordan played about 25 minutes and really gave us a spark tonight.

He comes from a really tough background as far as growing up in Brooklyn and he's helped really helped our team by being someone who can go and get a tough basket or a rebound. We're going to need him to be successful at the regional tournament.

It affected us a lot especially in the first half where maybe we could have created some room between us and them. I also played (Smith) in one of the power forward positions which I haven't done all year long and it kind of got us out of rhythm.

I thought their post players did a good job of being physical with Nemanja and making him catch the ball from 15 feet instead of eight feet and in, and that was big.

Like most Europeans do, he shoots those 15-footers all the time. He stays after practice and keeps shooting it. Seemed all that practice after games paid off.

I thought we were a little sluggish early but we stayed patient on offense. To Military's credit, we didn't have that many open looks but we were able to get our inside-out game going and that was big.

I thought Jordan (Coffman) stepped up early and hit a big shot, Kyle (Victoria) hit a couple of timely 3s and so did Timmy (Crowell). It kind of kept (OC) from completely suffocating the paint. It was also big that Davis was the X-factor with his energy and aggressive play on the offensive end.

That year he learned to take a business-like approach to practice, not just coming in some days, be good and then take some days off like some players do. He's allowed himself to be more consistent by taking that approach to practice.

We can still grow and get better. I feel like our team will get better over conference. Hopefully we're prepared enough to not take any lumps early.

Every time they needed to hit a shot, they hit a shot and every time they needed to come up with a loose ball, they came up with a loose ball. We just played from behind the whole game.

Every year there's always going to be some team that you have a challenge beating them. This year was Howard. We hope other years that's the exception.

South Plains has a talented wing in Harley but it looks like they've had other guys step up and play better for them. They're a team that can only get better. Our recipe for success no matter what is to get to the block and play inside-out.

Once you win that, you concentrate on winning the regional championship.

That's where our leadership has got to come from, our sophomores. I thought he got after it and we need him to play well.

That's going to be my theme the rest of the year that we make all the plays where both teams have an opportunity to get the ball. I thought that's an area where we were exposed when we played at Howard College.

It seems like we've always been fortunate enough to bounce back after a loss this season. I thought we did a good job of playing defense for 40 minutes, which was a concern from the last outing (a 73-57 loss to Howard). We also did a good job of getting the ball (inside).

Not only was he a good basketball player but he was a coach on the floor. That's the greatest compliment you can give a point guard. He was the extension of what I wanted and a lot of times I didn't even have to tell him what to do on the court.

Anytime you hold a team to 42 points, you have to be pleased.

I love they way (the Wranglers) guard. They made it hard on us all night long. They're a tough team and they're going to win some games in this conference. They're not done.

I owe him all the credit for what we've done here. He's an exceptional coach and he's got a great opportunity. I want everyone to know that I think he was the best junior college assistant coach in the country and I appreciated all of his hard work.

He's extremely competitive, he's tough, he plays hard all the time and really has a chance to be an outstanding basketball player for us and be a force inside as he learns to play more consistent. He's done a better job than most (foreign players) because physically he was more prepared.

Hopefully we'll learn from this and get better. You've got to make free throws to close out games and we didn't do that. We make some more free throws and don't turn the ball over, we win the game by a lot more than we did.

Honestly, I just thought we ran out of gas. We didn't look like we had any energy in the second half. That's very disappointing. In the second half we just tanked it. You have to give (the Hawks) a lot of credit because they just took it at us.

He's got a good family and they were real appreciative of the people of Midland, who helped them out.