Stan Joplin Quotations

We better get used to it, because I think with this team, this is the way it's going to be.

We wanted to use all of it, to shoot the ball with very little time left so that the worst thing that could happen was overtime.

Shane has size, strength, he can shoot from the outside, he can post up. It's nice to have a player his size who can shoot it form the outside.

Needless to say, we needed this one bad. We needed a confidence builder.

He's a great shooter and we wanted to make him work for everything. So we always had fresh guys on him - Justin, Sammy Villegas, Ridley Johnson, Jonathan Amos, probably some others, too. They did a good job. I thought we got most of the loose balls and hustle points.

He's been taking what the defense is giving him, and it's helped him that we're getting the ball into the post and swinging the ball. If we can continue to play that way, it's really going to help him.

I thought we took them out of their offense. We got our energy from defense, which isn't always the case. For a long stretch in the first half we rebounded well and ran well and we got a pretty good flow going.

I thought our defense was pretty good in the first half except we fouled too much. I thought we were in control of the game for the most part. We wanted to go inside and we did that with Tino having a good night down low.

I think both teams were playing pretty good defense. Neither team was giving ground on any possession. Defensively, this might have been the best we've played for 40 minutes. We had some breakdowns, sure, but there was no lack of effort.

We need a more productive inside game and to get more shots out of our post players. We have to find a happy medium. We're taking the path of least resistance. We have to have an inside game when our outside shots aren't falling. We're not attacking on offense like we should be.

We really shared the basketball. It was nice to see that balance.

We came out on their shooters with our hands down and dared them to make 3's, and you can't do that against a good shooting team.

We got the look we wanted at the end and Ridley is a guy who always goes hard to the basket. I wasn't surprised at all to see him come up with that big rebound and shot at the end.

Tino just keeps getting better and better. He's getting the ball in good position and using his quickness to the basket. He's getting a lot of attention inside and when the defense has an edge, he does a good job of kicking it back out to give somebody an open jump shot.

We learned a lot from coming up short in a lot of those games. The mind-set of the players is just better.

We kind of flipped the script. Everybody was saying we weren't supposed to be here and were looking for an Akron-Kent State final.

We wanted to feel good about ourselves after this game. So I think they feel good about themselves.

We like to wear out the point. We want to jump out on him, turn him, and then bring pressure from behind and try to get some tipped balls.

The teams that have a winning record have one thing in common: they've all won those close games.

Sometimes he can only go for short periods. We've tried to juggle minutes as well as we can. Now, Anton seems to be as close to 100 per cent as he's been all season.

That's a tough group. I don't know if there's been more of a tough-minded team in the league.

I knew Northern Illinois was going to make a run. We withstood it and lived to play another day.

I liked the way he was shooting mostly uncontested 3s. Rarely did he have a hand in his face. It helps when we can penetrate well, get the ball in the post and then get a good inside-outside passing game going.

I'm happy to get this type of kid this late in the recruiting process. We tried to get him early and things didn't work out, but we're glad things worked out in the end. It's a real shot in the arm for our program.

I really liked our defensive energy and effort. We competed with a sense of urgency.

I don?t know if there has been a more tough-minded team in the league for a long time.

I felt the crowd was great. The crowd got into it, they tried to lead us.

I can't speak in general, but I know I would rather play Miami and Kent State and Akron at home instead of on the road. Obviously, on paper, the East is pretty good. They have a lot of veterans.