Leon Powe Quotations

When things break down, we've been going our different ways, and it only takes two or three minutes like that to ruin a game.

My family and I thought this was the best decision right now, to make myself eligible for the draft without hiring an agent. I want to leave all of my options open.

If we keep playing defense and doing our jobs, it'll all take care of itself. Now if they (the Sun Devils) come out and make every shot they take, that's a different story.

I'd like to thank God, first of all. I don't make any decisions without him. And I know my mom is looking down on me knowing that I'll make the right decision.

I am anticipating a double team. That's how I approach every game. If a team doesn't, then that's good. But I just want to get opportunities for my teammates and make things happen with the pass or the dribble. I'm going to have to be the assist man for our team if they do that.

I felt like I needed to pick up the scoring. I felt like we hit a little dead spot. If I wasn't aggressive, I don't know how many points would have been up on that board.

If I score a lot of points, or if I don't, I just want my team to win. But we just came up short, and that's the only thing that matters.

If I was a ref, I wouldn't have called it.

If we lost this, we knew we were out. My teammates don't get nervous. I'm just playing basketball.

It always seemed there were people in the lane waiting for me. They wouldn't allow me to get the ball where I wanted and that made it tough.

I was just having fun. We were here at Staples, so I wanted to come out hard. If I can get something going inside for my team, that sets them up on offense.

It feels good. I had that on my calendar and tried to mark it down for one of my goals, to be playing in March. It's just huge for us, our team and our program.

I would like to thank the coaches for putting me in position to be successful. Coach (Ben) Braun, especially, gave me his support on my decision. He has said he's behind me no matter what.

We couldn't let them beat us by 33 in our own house.

We stayed together and had contributions from everybody. That's what we need on the road, especially against a team that was coming in that hot.

We came here talking about how this was a big game, not an ordinary game. We needed this win. We were on our home floor. It's important to protect the home court. If you can do that, you have a good chance of winning a Pac-10 championship.

We knew it wasn't going to be a walk in the park or that we'd be able to eat popcorn and stuff. But we played fairly well, stayed within our offense most of the time, and we were 0-fer on the road, so this was huge.

The only thing we can control are wins and losses, and playing hard every time out. I expect us to go out and play hard and give it our all every time out. We know we can match up with any team in our conference. We got to have that confidence. You can't do anything with a lack of confidence.

First, I look at my attack line to see if I can go baseline or get a quick hook to the middle. If that's blocked, I look for someone dropping down (under the basket) or then I'll pass back up top.

This was a big game. It's not an ordinary game. I look at it and tried to tell myself, 'It's just another game.' We needed this win, too.

That's going to help them out a lot, with his defensive intensity. He gives them a lift.

That's going to be a feeling that's going to stick with us.

All of us moved the ball pretty well. Anybody could have gotten the points tonight. It was just in our hands and the right place at the right time.

It was a team effort. I wanted this game more than anything and I know my teammates did, too.

It's like a little kid in a candy store. It's just a dream come true. All the hard work I've been putting in and my teammates have been putting in, it's just paying off right now. Everything is just coming together.

Oh, this was a big game. We came here saying it was a big game, we knew that, but I just tell myself it's an ordinary game so I don't psych myself out.

I want to leave all of my options open. I plan on finishing school, too, so whatever happens, I'm going to finish my degree. That's what my mom would have wanted.

I want to do some more, but 18-9, I think that's pretty cool. I think we're very close, if not in already. If we get a couple more wins, that'll just assure everything. ... I knew if we lost this (game), we probably weren't going to get in.

They converged whenever I got the ball and I had a long way to go. If I got past the first man, they were waiting for me in the lane. They did a very good job defensively. They didn't let me get it where I wanted to get it.

After that game we were down on ourselves. We let a team come in and get wide-open looks. That's not playing good defense.

That's a good team. What we have to do is play our defense and our rules and may the best team. That's just how it goes in the tournament.

I'm not panicking anymore. Sometimes I even allow the double-team to happen.

I'm not a committee person, but I think we're good (for a spot). Hopefully we'll be in there.

I just went out and played. Everybody is going to be tired. Oregon was tired when they played us, and they still played hard. It's a tournament, you've got to play back-to-back-to-back.

I'm like a little kid in a candy store right now. This is all new to me. I'm just looking around, enjoying it, trying to have fun.

I had to correct that. I get too many free throws to be shooting like that.

I like their young, big guys. They made it difficult for me. When I got the ball, I went past one. There was another one. Then I tried to weave through another one, and they were just right there.

In the first half it was a little more wide open. I could get to the rim. In the second half, they closed it off real quick.

I looked at the score, and said I'd rather win than jack up a bunch of shots. We've got some good players. It ain't just me on this team.

I know our team can match up with any team in the conference. I ain't saying we're going to blow out (any) team. We've got to play hard, but if everybody does their part we'll be all right.

I don't know if they go by if you rank in your league, or the games you win and lost, or our RPI. I think we still have a fairly good chance. We still have the (conference) tournament to go. I still think we have a good shot to win, but we have to get some wins now. We've lost a couple in a row down the stretch here, and they look at that, too.

If I hadn't been aggressive (in the second half), I don't know what score we would have had up there. It was just an ugly game. It was one of the ugliest games I've been in. It just feels like everything is in slow motion.

If I hadn't been aggressive, I don't know what the score would have been.

I couldn't ask anymore of that man tonight. I told him to come out and play his game, and that's exactly what he did.

I don't like playing in this type of game. It gives me a headache. It was one of the ugliest games I've ever been in. It felt like everything was in slow motion. I don't like slow motion too much.

He came up to me and said, 'Stay in there, I'll get you the ball.' It was so I could go out there and do my thing.