Steve Alford Stretch Quotations

Our first 10 minutes out of the locker room (in the second half) is something we can't do. We let out poor offense - we had seven turnovers in that stretch - affect our defense. If you have poor offense, you need to have nasty defense.

We had to win this thing with our defense because offensively ... the shot would just not drop for us tonight. We made enough key free throws down the stretch and we had some really key stops. I'm just really happy to get away with a win tonight.

We didn't execute a lot down the stretch as far as foul shots, and the more you miss the more tense you get. It was a combination of missed free throws and not getting stops down the stretch that allowed them to get as close as they did.

Dan has done a tremendous job keeping his guys together and playing extremely hard. They're going to be very dangerous down the stretch and, in particular, the Big Ten tournament.