Dec. 5, 2007
Coach Herb Sendek
Opening Comments:
"I thought our guys were really anxious to get back on the court tonight. They were ready to try to make amends for the way we played on Sunday. I just got the feeling even as we practiced leading up to tonight's game, that in their hearts, they couldn't get back out there fast enough. I was really pleased with the way we played together. On 30 field goals, we had 25 assists. We really emphasized going into the game that we had to work to make each other better. I thought Sunday we were really disconnected, especially when things didn't go our way, our response was every man for himself, trying to get it back all at once, whereas tonight we played with each other. That's a fun way to play, and that's the right way to play. That was good to see. The other thing that really stands out is the fact that we had seven turnovers, because we most certainly weren't strong with the ball and didn't take care of it on Sunday. Delaware State, with their changing defenses, their very unconventional style of play, if you're not concentrating, they're very capable of racking up turnovers against you. So those were two really positive things from tonight. Defensively, I thought we did a pretty good job of staying focused, because you're going to play defense for 35 seconds when you play against Delaware State. The way we rebounded sometimes that turned into multiples of 35, and it served us right to have to do that the way we rebounded the basketball."
On Eric Boateng:
"Eric did a great job, especially in transition for us. He probably has to take Derek [Glasser] and Jamelle [McMillan] out to dinner because both of those guys did a great job of getting him the ball inside. I thought our point guard play was really solid again. You're looking at 12 assists to three turnovers. Those guys are doing a good job for us."
On the team having so many assists tonight:
"Hopefully we can continue along those lines. Our assist-to-turnover ratio has not been anything to brag about here early in the season. That's something that is important to us. We'd like to play with 10 or fewer turnovers. I think we're averaging a little over 12, if I'm not mistaken, going into tonight's game. We've got to get that thing whittled down. Tonight was a step in the right direction. If we're going to play together, then the assist numbers will go up. Even on some possessions where we didn't score, I thought we got good shots and guys made the extra pass. Even at the end of the first half, they went on a 6-0 run, but it wasn't because we didn't get just as good of possessions or shots. In fact, during that stretch, some guys made some excellent extra passes and we just didn't make a couple shots."
On finishing strong, even in blowout wins:
"We really understand that we have to get a lot better. We humbly are aware of that, so we can't squander any opportunity to improve. I think our guys are really zeroed in on that. We have guys who have good heads on their shoulders for the most part. They understand and see that."
F Jeff Pendergraph
On bouncing back from the Nebraska loss:
"We needed to come back and still try to find that identity that we've been looking for. I think today was a step in that direction, especially after that tough road loss."
On the team's 25 assists tonight:
"We're just trying to make the next person better. Instead of being selfish with the ball, Coach emphasized just getting it to the open man, and that's what we did and got easy points off of it."
On the days between the Nebraska game and tonight:
"Film was rough, but we knew that it was going to be. Coach just really emphasized that we need to have the right mind approach and the right attitude about practice. He wasn't real hard on us. We didn't run 30 miles or anything crazy like that. He just made sure that everybody had to be on the same page and have the right attitude, because that's what we were lacking in Nebraska."
G James Harden
On bouncing back from the Nebraska loss:
"We played pretty bad in Nebraska, so we just tried to come back with a good mindset of trying to get the next victory, and I think we played pretty well."
On the team's 25 assists tonight:
"We were just on the same page. From the Nebraska game, we just took the mindset to come out here and play as hard as we can. We were clicking tonight, and it showed."
On whether there was emphasis on getting him the ball early tonight:
"Not really. We just played, and we shared the ball real well. My teammates looked for me, and I got some shots to fall."