Dec. 7, 2013

Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery

Opening statement:

"We got back to our identity as a team and as a program. That is what we do. The last couple of years we have been pretty good defensively and we were that tonight. We got back to taking pride and getting stops. I thought our turnover margin was terrific. I thought it was the biggest difference in the game. Our ability to turn Southern over in the full court and the half court really allowed us to get away with having a below average offensive night which we are familiar with and a lot of teams are, that is fine. On nights that we are really good offensively we need to have that type of effort defensively and we will take it as bonus. That is the type of defensive effort we need to have night in and night out. To hold Southern to 50 [points], I am impressed and proud of our guys. It was a really good effort. Southern is a very good team."

On the poor shooting two games in a row:

"I just hate to take anything away from the two good teams we just played. We played UL-Lafayette and we struggled offensively, but we were terrible defensively, and that was the biggest difference in the game. Tonight I am proud that we did what we were supposed to do. Southern is what they are defensively. They force you to shoot jump shots. They are really sound. They are really solid. They are athletic and long. They play a big line up and they are deep. They are disciplined and well coached. Again, they force you to shoot jumpers and we just did not capitalize, but that is fine. Again, on defensive efforts like tonight, if we make jump shots on top of it, so be it, but we did what we are supposed to do."

On going to Chris Anderson after SU's Godfrey went out:

"We saw they had a couple small line ups at times. Speaking of [Calvin] Godfrey, he is a terrific player and we hope that he is okay. He is having a great year so far. When Chris is in there, he is a tough cover. When he has a big on him, he can drive them. He has shot it at a pretty good percentage this year. He did not shoot well from three tonight of course, but he is taking good shots. He has an ability to post you up as well and score with his back to the basket at 6-6, 225 [pounds] and very strong. He is versatile and at time we call his number offensively and he came through tonight."

On what was worked on the most in practice after the ULL loss:

"[We worked on] all defense. We did not even talk about offense. We did not even talk about it in pregame. We talked about it at halftime for maybe a minute. We just got back to taking pride in defending our rim and playing with more energy in our press. To turn over a very solid team like that 23 times, gives you a chance even when you do not shoot it well."

On the team's ability to get to the free throw line but not convert:

"I am searching like everyone else, like our guys are. I am a young head coach, in the past some of this is trial and error. I have tried talking about it a ton and that has backfired at times. I have tried not talking about it and it seems like that has backfired. All we can do as a group is get as many reps as we can, but with classes starting, with scouting report upon scouting report, with having two hour practices where you are focused on defense and you have two goals up in the TAC, it is hard to get a ton of reps this time of year. Also, we are tired just like everyone else is tired. Southern is tired, UL-Lafayette is tired. We play a bunch of games in a limited amount of time and there is not a ton of time in the next few days to shoot free throws because we have our hands full with putting together a scouting report on Northwestern State."

On the team's next opponent Northwestern State:

"They are really talented. They are like us in a lot of ways, in the way that they defend, in the way that they run both ways, the way they utilize their depth. I think they play extremely hard. Coach McConathy has done a wonderful job for a long, long time. We will have to be really prepared. They are used to playing against defenses like ours, every single day in practice. It has been really effective for them. We are going to have to figure out how to guard them. We are going to have to figure out how to be sound with the basketball because they create a bunch of turnovers as well. It will be a war, like tonight was, like Wednesday was, and we will have to play awfully well to have success against a very good program."

On the different in rebounding between the two halves:

"We talked at the half about them having doubled us up just about and then I did the math and I was off by one and the guys were laughing at me. I think just addressing it, taking a little pride in it. I do think we played with a ton of energy. I thought we defended very well in the first half. They just play a bigger line up. They are big and strong and physical and they simply outrebounded us in the first half. We had a better focus in the second half and some of it, to be honest, was probably [Calvin] Godfrey being out of the game."

On Kenneth Smith leading the offense:

"When you look at the box score, you say that Speedy played pretty well but I agree that he did more than it even shows. I thought he was maybe the biggest impact for us tonight, him and Chris Anderson arguably, but he was really good on both ends. I thought he created a lot of havoc in our press. When he is that good, we are that much better. He has had a lot of big games for us. He plays with such a high energy level and he got back to being Speedy tonight which makes us a lot better.