We have to give a better showing than that, ... I'm not worried about the offense. We know we can score. Give them credit, they hit some open shots, but we have to do a better job of getting a team out of their comfort zone, stopping their runs early. I know we were missing some guys and we're still trying to find ourselves but we have to play better than that. |
We just took care of business. |
We knew if we lost this game, our back was really going to be against the wall. It was another show of character as far as fighting and finding a way to get a win. |
We know what Juan is capable of doing when he starts to feel it. We know he is going to be in the mind frame to show people why we should have kept him. |
We know what our crowd is going to do. It's going to be fun. |
We played poorly. We didn't rebound. They pretty much got 25 points off offensive rebounds, but nothing was gift-wrapped. We just stay poised. We didn't let our play affect us. |
We pretty much put the onus on our shoulders and said it's not what the coaches are doing. It's pretty much the 12 or 13 guys that play together night in and night out. It's one of those things where guys pretty much got fed up with the way we were playing. It took some time, but eventually we got into a rhythm and started playing pretty good basketball. |
We really put it upon our shoulders to come out and play well. Caron had it going early and I had it going late. Those are the things that we're accustomed to. Teams know that we're the highest-scoring trio in the league. If we're playing well, it's going to be hard to beat us. |
We were so disappointed in ourselves. To come out in the first game like that. National TV. The spotlight. And we pretty much laid an egg. We embarrassed the coaching staff, we embarrassed ourselves. We showed that in practice (Sunday). It wasn't one of those practices where we just showed up, took a few shots and went home. Coach was on us and we went at it. That's what you saw in this game. |
We would get down, find a way to get close or take the lead, and they'd come on a nice big run. Those are the things you have to stop on the road. Every time it seemed that we got over the hump, they did a good job of staying poised and running their offense. |
We're not a .500 basketball club, ... but we're playing like it. |
We've been hovering pretty much around .500 all season. There's no excuse for us that when these five games are over we shouldn't be two or three games above .500. Having said that, I think we all know the importance of this five-game stretch before we hit the road before the break is over with. It's a great opportunity for us. |
When we first left, I think the most important thing was to come back and play well, like, 'You should have kept me around,' or 'You should have re-signed me. After that, it's just a point where you want to win, and we were fortunate enough to get the win, but also play pretty good games individually. |
When you've got Gilbert, Caron and myself knocking down jumpers and then you have to worry about [Daniels], it opens things up. He's really flourishing in an important stretch for this team. It's good to see him getting back to doing things he's been doing his whole career. |
You can't overstate how important this game is. It's huge for both of us. They know it as well as we do. Win this one and you put yourself in the driver's seat. |