Derek Thomas Quotations

We've already talked about it. And a lot of other coaches have noticed it as well. There's nothing we could do about now.

We're just trying to win games ?- ?it's not about who you're playing or where you're going. We got the effort and the defense is back to where it should be and if we can take care of the ball a little better I think we'll be okay.

We were trying to get him going to the basket and either get a basket or get a foul called, which was probably stupid anyway but turning the corner and going is something he is usually good at.

Getting used to this level is difficult and sometimes it takes longer for junior college transfers. We hadn't had a chance to practice, and I think guys are now settling down, and we have a chance to teach and re-teach and they're catching on now.

I think the guys respected him too much and gave him his shot and we didn't take it at him enough - we'll change that, he's going to have a harder time getting 35.

I think (the week off) has helped a lot. I saw it in practice yesterday, I saw a lot more bouncy and livelier legs and guys were able to go longer and harder. I heard a couple of guys say they felt good to be on the floor after we gave them some time off and I think it really helped.

Listening to Eliz reminds you of why you coach and why you're out here. It's because of people like that. You have to understand how important it is to those guys. I'm proud of those guys.

That was the game. Seven or eight straight times the fouls were called on their end and one time on ours and we're going to the basket. It was very frustrating because I felt like the kids didn't get to make the decision of who won the game. Eleven free throws; we predicate ourselves about getting to the line and we get to the line 11 times.

That was the game, right there. I felt like the kids didn't get to make the decision to win this game on their own.

We finally get some rest next week. We'll be able to practice for a change and put some new things in. We need to get our legs back, focus on getting our free throw percentage back up and fix our turnovers.

We can be a dangerous team when we play like we did for the last 10 minutes. We fought extremely hard after we got down. I hate to be proud when we lose, but I am tonight. You saw some great basketball and a great team effort. A lot of guys had to step up to make it happen.

We want three to four guys in double figures every night. Our two seniors played like warriors tonight. I was very proud of them.

We had a good look. It went just the way we designed it. They played good perimeter defense early and Sean got a little open and we were able to pop it out to him. I thought we were headed to overtime when it left his hands. It just went in and popped back out.

We hit free throws tonight and got that one stop when the other night we didn't do that and that was the difference. Hopefully, we learn from that and I told them sometimes before you get good you've got to hurt and you've got to hurt bad, and I think they hurt bad the other night and I think that is why you saw so much fire out there tonight.

(Washington) is a winner who knows how to run a team. He has great qualities on and off the court and he's an outstanding shooter. Those are all things we needed to add to what we have going on now.

The thing was that (Jackson) was doing other things but I would like him to score more, but he got the ball to other people. I would definitely like for him to score more than that, but we have to be patient and try to be aggressive depending upon what is going on out there.

Right now, we're a zombie. Do we have a four?game road trip? Honestly, I couldn't tell you. We just play, play, play.

Our shots weren't falling, but we were able to do it by locking up on defense and we just didn't let them score. On the other end, we had guys passing the ball, not turning it over and it got exciting.

They ran a box and one on him and always had guys on him, but he did great job with rebounding and other things to help us win.

They don't play box-and-one because they're not a small team like IUPUI is. We've addressed it a little bit so we can work with it when other teams try to play zone.

I told our guys that if you rebound and limit people to one shot, you have a chance to win. Unfortunately, (IUPUI) made some tough shots there at the end.

Not a whole lot (happened) in the first half, I thought we stunk, but I know in the last 12 or 15 minutes we went on a 26-2 run and played some good defense. It was a win, and both of us are at a situation where we need this game. I think that makes it more valuable for both teams.

They like to space you out and go one-on-one, go off some screens and isolations because they like to use their speed and quickness because they're not a very tall team.

The council should continue to rotate the mayor's position. By rotating you keep the politics out, egos in check and everyone benefits from it.

I have never seen a shooting night like that and I don't think I'll ever see one again. It was just one of those strange things. I think part of it was that we had to play defense for so long. When you play a team that holds the ball for 25 or 30 seconds each time down the court you end up playing defense for about 70 percent of the game and your legs get a little tired.

George Hill is a great player and a lot of fun to watch and Brandon Cole is a four-year veteran who has been through the wars.

You can't pin this on any one play. We had our chances.

This has been some of the roughest two or three weeks as a coach. You call all your mentors, your dad, you're asking coaches what do you do when you're going through these type(s) of situations, you're reviewing tape and talking to guys and part of the problem was we're playing every other day. We haven't had much time to work on things and guys are having to learn on the job, which means you're going to lose a few games.