Feb. 23, 2012
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery
COACH SENDEK
On when he knew Carrick Felix wouldn't be able to play
"Yesterday. Carrick has a virus and has been out all week. In fact I haven't even seen him. So I knew yesterday that he would not be able to play after not doing anything since last weekend. Looking ahead to Saturday's game I do not what the prognosis will be, even if he is back I do not know how much energy he will have after being in bed all week."
On what the turning point of the game was
"The overarching story line for our team tonight was making plays. I think we had many point-blank shots and opportunities to score that we just didn't capitalize on. Then to another area of just catching, and passing and making plays; we had opportunities in a close game to put points on the board that we just didn't seize. That manifests itself through multiple processions. The turnovers continue to be a major problem for us; we don't seem to get out of our on way when that comes up. Our defense was not nearly as good in the second half as compared to the first. If I had a headline simply from my perspective it is that we need to make the plays that we are capable of making and finish the shots that we are capable of scoring. That would put our team in a different position as we move through the game."
On the difficulty of fronting Josh Smith in the post
"He really is a difficult cover for us. He is a tremendous force inside and a similar challenge when we played earlier in Anaheim."
On how Chris (Colvin) played today
"I am really pleased with Chris's continued progress. He has improved now as much as anybody that I can see. He finished the game with nine assists and three turnovers in 39 minutes of play and he is really playing well. He just has showed up everyday, continued to listen and work. I think the other factor is that he is playing through and getting a lot of experience; gaining the opportunity to play through situations and not leave the game."
On Jonathon Gilling
"Jonathon had a pretty good night shooting the ball and we are relying on him more once again as a first year guy to do an awful lot. He too logged 39 minutes."
On what he attributes the battle with the turnovers
"Fundamentals. Fundamentals. Fundamentals. It all comes back to fundamentals. We can make a laundry list of the different fundamentals that make the difference in every sport. It's not the plays, not the schemes or the strategies, it's the rocking and the tackling and we have to continue to work hard to get better at the fundamentals."
COACH BEN HOWLAND
"I thought it was a very important win for us. Obviously they came out and played very patiently on offense in the first half and really made us play long possessions of defense. Josh's (Smith) two quick fouls were important because he didn't get to play very much in the first half. I thought (Anthony) Stover gave us great minutes off the bench tonight and did some great things for us defensively. Lazeric (Jones) had an outstanding game. When it was a six-point game there, Lazeric came out and hit a big shot in the corner that put us up nine (points) and really gave us some momentum. I wish we could have finished it off stronger in the last two minutes. I thought Tyler Lamb's defense on Lockett was outstanding. (Jonathan) Gilling really hurt us. The last six minutes of the game though, I don't know that he scored. Dave Wear did a really good job of tightening up the range on him. In the second half, Josh (Smith) was a real force for us down low. He scored eight of his ten in the second half. This is a huge road win for us. It gives us momentum going into Saturday's game against Arizona. The reason I didn't start Tyler Lamb tonight was just because he failed to follow through on an academic responsibility. So that's why he didn't start but still played close to the minutes he normally plays."
On Lazeric Jones
"I moved him to the two after the first two road games of the conference because we wanted to make him more of a primary focus and to be a scorer and a shooter. He still has been great at getting assists because he's top four in the league but I thought he did a great job tonight at being aggressive. He made some big threes for us when we needed them."
On Jonathan Gilling
"He's such a good shooter. He's a quick release guy. It's a hard match up because he's an undersized man who plays on the perimeter but moves more like a guard than a big so it's a harder match up."
On rebounding
"We held them to 40% and we shot 50%. We allowed them a few too many offensive rebounds in the first half. We were lucky to have the lead at halftime because they had three or four tip-ins that went in and out. I told the team after that we could have been down six (points) easily. They had some real easy cripples that just went in and out for them."
On closing it out
"We're glad to win. It wasn't tight in the last two minutes until we made it tight. We were up 17 points and then failed to contest a shot and he hits a three. All of a sudden we come down and shoot a little too quickly. Then Josh (Smith) thought he got fouled and they scored again so it went from 17 to 12 back down to nine in the last minute."
On Lazeric Jones' shot attempts
"I've been telling him that looking at his shots attempted, we can't win without him taking more shot attempts and being more aggressive, especially from the three. He was passing up threes to drive to a guarded shot. So its like, you're open. You're a good shooter. You've worked your tail off to be a good shooter, so don't pass up threes. He was three for seven and that's very good."
LAZERIC JONES
On taking more shots
"I've been trying to let the game come to me. In the game I was pressing a lot and trying to get shots. I don't want to take all the shots. My teammates can hit shots too so why not give them the ball. But if its better for the team, I'll take the shot."
On tonight's mindset
"Since the last game and talking to my coaches, I just wanted to come out and be aggressive regardless if I'm missing shots or not. If its open I have to take the shot. That was my mindset coming out tonight. I didn't want to stress too much, just take my time and have a little fun. This is my last time here and why not go out with a bang?"