Devan Downey Quotations

Right now I'm just living on this. After the season, whatever happens, happens. Right now I'm not even thinking about it, I'm concerned about this team.

I can't really answer that. As of right now, I'm going to see how it plays out and see who is the head coach at the University of Cincinnati.

Growing up, Cincinnati was tough, bad, in your face. We're getting it back. Back to the old days.

I got emotional just watching them. I know one day my day is coming, I just wanted to win for them.

I was just trying to make a play. I didn't think he was set, but the referee gave him the call.

I think they need to go ahead and give it to him, just for recruiting. What are we playing, besides me, we have four seniors playing 20-plus minutes. And then there's me and (junior Cedric McGowan). You have to look to the future.

I'm speechless. I'm so disappointed in myself. It's just a wall. I've got to find a way to break that wall and come out. My confidence is there, I'm just not playing. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm just not playing.

When it rimmed out, I took a deep breath. I thought it was going in.

We didn't come to play, we got what we deserved. We threw it all over the gym. It wasn't one person. I wasn't there mentally.

We didn't come to play and we got what we deserved. There's no way that team is supposed to beat us by 17 or 18 points. I'm disappointed in myself.

We can't lose here, we're not proving people wrong if we can't even get out of the first round of the NIT. How can we say they made a mistake if we couldn't get out of the first round of the NIT?

We've got to forget about it and get ready for the NIT. The way I feel, we've got to go out and play and win it to show people we deserved to be in the (NCAA) tournament. The guys are upset now, but come Friday, we'll be ready.

Two senior starters let us down. There is no way that team would have beaten us with James and Jihad. We had to play a walk-on out of position. We never made excuses.

This whole game is my fault. Everybody knows that if I don't play good, we can't win. This game is 100 percent my fault. I ain't the kind to make excuses. I just didn't come to play.

What I've been telling my teammates is let's go out and win. If we just go and lay down and get beat the first round, the (NCAA) Selection Committee is going to say, 'I told you. They can't even win a game in the NIT. What makes you think they deserved to be in the (NCAA) Tournament?' So I just told them let's go out and play hard and win it, just to prove everybody wrong.

We just told each other we had to get a win by any means necessary.

We just told each other we can't lose. This is the way (interim head coach Andy Kennedy) put it - someone was going to be a nail and a hammer. Someone was going to have their coffin shut tonight. We couldn't let it be us.

Either they're overrated or we're underrated, one of the two.

There's no way that team would've beat us with James and Jihad. We would've beaten them double figures with those two.

Somebody was going to get their coffin shut tonight, and it wasn't going to be us.

They're never on TV. Every year they go to the NIT. They look forward to going to the NIT. I was looking for bigger things.

It's just Eric's will to win. He was just talking. He gets a little emotional. That's all it was. It was nothing serious.

It was definitely one we let get away. We should have had this one.

It's us and the coaches and everyone against us, that's what we need to get that toughness in it.

It just rimmed out. I ain't going to beat myself up saying that I lost the game. I've hit a lot of free throws at the end of games to seal the deal. Sometimes they go my way. Sometimes they don't. Today they didn't.

It's hard to get up for the NIT. But, we can't prove people wrong if we can't get out of the first round of the NIT. We're still here battling.

It's hard to get up for the NIT, but after the ball jumped up, we've got to play. It's not like the selection committee is going to call us and tell us to sub for somebody. We're already here, we might as well play.

I told E before the game that I was going to look for him as much as possible. He deserved a game for us to focus on him and let him do whatever he wanted to do. We wanted to get him the ball because he deserved his homecoming.

I told 'E' before the game that I'm going to look to you as much as possible. He's a senior. He deserved for us to just focus on him and let him do whatever he wanted to do. He plays hard and practices hard. We just wanted to get him the ball.

I've got to put two games together, put three games together, just play.

They was on me pretty heavy, but I didn't think it was a right spot for me. Being a home-state team, you know I cheered for them a little bit, but not that much. It's a homecoming game for me.

They were one of those teams that we were so much better than them, we thought we could turn it on and off.

They were way down the list. The coaches don't like that, so they're going to have it in for me. That's why I've got to come and play.

They were way down the list. I know the coaches don't like that, so maybe they'll have it out for me.

The fans still support us, everyone thinks we got screwed a little bit. I think we'll have a decent crowd. We should fill up a couple of seats. I think the fans of Cincinnati are good enough people to support us and not turn their backs on us.

I hope whoever gets the job gets some people to play around me, because we're going to need a whole lot of help here next year.

In college basketball, you can only go as far as your guard play takes you. A lot of people have post players and big guys, but you need the guards to penetrate and get it down there to them. I just think guards control the tempo of the game. That's what I'm trying to do.

I knew Padgett wasn't an explosive shot-blocker, so I figured I could get it to the rim.

I'm ready, and as a team we're ready. We talk about it all the time. I'm glad it's finally here. We know we've got to pick everything up, pick practice up and just play.

I'm just calming down and playing. My teammates are trusting me. I'm not so worried that I'm going to make a mistake and they're going to be mad.

I'm so proud of our team, we've been through so much. I was proud we were able to come out and fight. We lost our leading scorer and our third- or fourth-leading scorer and we still came out and never gave ourselves any excuses from (the dismissal of Bob Huggins) to anyone getting kicked off the team. We never gave ourselves any excuses.

I'm so proud of our team. We have been through so much together. We overcame a lot of hurdles all year. Even tonight we didn't give any excuses.

I just needed a game to get my confidence back. We can't give up on each other.

I just had a gut feeling that South Carolina was the place for me.

I didn't know how much time was on the clock. I was going to hold it for one shot. Then I looked up and saw five seconds left, so I just took off with it.

He told me, 'You have to step up, you haven't been doing it, it's not the Devan I know.' But he used some different words. He had me ready to play. The last couple of games I've been playing bad, but nobody gave it to me like he gave it to me. I wanted to show up.

I can't be a freshman anymore. I'm trying to lead this team to the Big East championship. There's no room for freshman mistakes.

He brought in a hammer and a nail. And he told us, 'Somebody's going to get that coffin shut tonight.' We didn't want it to be us.