Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
12/20/2005 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 20, 2005
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Richmond Head Coach Chris Mooney
On The Game
"I thought we played very well. Obviously, getting off to that kind of start was necessary, but also, I thought we looked very, very good. We were able to run our stuff and it seemed like we made it a little more difficult for them to run there's. So that was huge for us and then, the drought in the second half where it was hard for us to get a shot - their zone was so effective on us, we were turning the ball over.
"I was happy that we stayed with staples; our defense never let up. And we continued to kind of plug away and plug away and plug away. As frustrated as I am or they are on the court, you still have to go to what you do and what you practice. I thought we did that and finally things started to break for us and we played very well in overtime.
On The Win
"That's a great win because that's a terrific team, that's a team that's going to win over 20 games and be in postseason play. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Old Dominion so I feel very fortunate that we were able to beat them."
On Last 40 Seconds Of Regulation
"They went man-to-man and we probably play a little more freely when we run our man to man stuff because of the nature of man-to-man and how much we work on it. So when we did that, I thought it was a very impressive play and Kevin is a good guy to have around because with a lot of big guys, the ball kind of bounces off their hand or they travel with the ball. He was able to catch it and put it in. That was just a good basketball play. You work so hard and you hope that good basketball plays show up, and, of course, then it did."
On The Length Of His Guys
"With Oumar out front and Pete, those guys are 6-7 and 6-5, and then Bucknor is 6-6, that's a very big perimeter. And they are also mobile guys, they're not like these plotters anywhere on the court because Kevin is so athletic. I think the length as well as some of the athleticism really presents challenges and it seems that we don't give up edges. There are not a lot of times when a guy is driving and he's all the way behind his man or the ball goes into the post easily."
On Richmond's Defense Keeping The Spiders In Games
"If we continue to work on it, we can get even better at our defense and it's going to need to keep us around. Defense is going to need to keep us around because, as hard as we work, I don't see those droughts completely going away. We'll work day and night and watch film and all those things, it's just difficult some times, but if you continue to play defense, those droughts will get shorter and shorter, then hopefully we can be more and more successful."
Richmond Senior Jermaine Bucknor
On the play with 40 seconds left at the top of the key
"I had hit (a 3-pointer) just before that. I came off the high screen. And (Isaiah Hunter) came and I looked for the shot. He closed that real quickly, but left Oumar in the paint down low. I hit Oumar and Kevin's man had no choice but to leave Kevin. And Oumar made a spectacular pass to Kevin. And you know how Kevin finishes."
On The 17-0 Start
"I think the start was big for us. Something coach has been emphasizing though is, there's been a couple games that we got off to a pretty good start; but we have to maintain the lead that we build. I mean, we were up 24-5, and coach tries to emphasize maintaining that lead. You can't let leads like that slip away, because when you get up that high, you can easily put a team to sleep and take a team's confidence away. That's something we definitely need to work on and do a better job of. When we get up by that many points, because no team is going to score more than 60 points on a good night, so if we know we can hold them to two points in the first 10 minutes of the first half, we need to step on them and hold them down."
Richmond Senior Kevin Steenberge
On The Start
"It was obviously huge. We certainly had a number of days off, if you want to call them days off; it's finals week. I think it was important for us to get back into game mode. You practice so much against each other during preseason and the greatest thing is getting into games and then we had a 10-day span or so with no game. We were anxious, it was good that we got out. We didn't get away from our defense, which is huge. Obviously, to stop a team like that from scoring, and put up some numbers was huge for us. We were able to finish on offense, able to convert and that obviously really helped because there are some nights where we don't. And that's one thing we try to keep consistent, is our defense because, obviously, if you keep a team from scoring, they can't win."
On Rebounding From The VCU Loss
"It was obviously very important. We have so many young guys, guys that are getting experience that they weren't able to get before. Wins are huge mentally. Getting above .500 again, coming off the tough and emotional game at VCU - that's a game you think about all year - we play with those guys in the summertime. So to come back and get a win against a very solid team like Old Dominion, you can't say how big it is for the mentality of the team, especially with Wake Forest coming in here in 48 hours.
Old Dominion Head Coach Blaine Taylor
On The Game
"I guess that's why they have the saying "Stay Tuned". A bad game became a good game. I'm sure from their perspective, they were playing well early and we weren't and they were liking it, but it probably wasn't much fun to watch because the margin was so wide. It's hard to fathom that in a 60-point game, you can be down by nearly 20 and go into overtime. But that's what happened, so credit to them for the way they came out of the gate and got a lead. But I certainly credit our guys to chip away at that thing and have all the chances in the world at the end of regulation and overtime to maybe succeed."
On The Loss
"There are some things we did well to give ourselves a chance and there are some things we didn't do as well, which certainly gave them a chance and a close game went their way."
On Old Dominion's Shots At The End Of Regulation
"I think it was the right distance; it was just off a little to the left. We had Drew (Williamson) go into the hole for the lay-up and I guess it was a clean block. But we came up with the loose ball and got another shot. So to get a couple looks at the end of regulation, we had our chances."
On The First Ten Minutes Of The Game
"It was almost eerie. I didn't think we guarded quite as bad as the result. They had some really hard shots at the end of the clock that found their way to the hole, in addition to some nice plays they made and a few breakdowns on our part, but all of it was momentum. My concern at the time was that we weren't playing a very good offense. At the start of the game, we couldn't quite get a play in the hole and to give them credit, they were guarding very well, but you look up and the other team is scoring some baskets and you're not, and you start getting a wide margin. So, I think that you've got to look at did they play good offense, yes; did they play good defense, yes; did they block a couple shots on some plays that we thought we had a lay-up, yes."
On Coming Back
"We chipped away at it. I went and told the guys at halftime that we were a basket or two away from being in single digits and the whole world looks different. Once we got two or three or four good plays in a row, I think that our guys started seeing that, hey, we have a chance at this thing, and I think they started seeing that we had a chance at this thing."
"I guess when we called a timeout with about 10 minutes to go in the first half, we would have taken (having a shot to win), given the circumstance. I'm sure the opponent can always look back at a couple plays they had that maybe would have made it a little different down the stretch. I thought in overtime we had plenty of chances too."
On Making Every Free Throw
"There are some nights that you look at certain categories and if you don't do something right, then you have to do something else right. If you look at our overall shooting percentage, we are going to have to do something else right. So in making all of our free throws, ultimately out-rebounding them, and then stealing the ball 12 times, those are some things that kind of offset that shooting percentage. Those are some effort things, as well as some talent things involved there. I thought we played pretty hard to get back in the game, and when we got to the free throw line, we cashed them in. That was a good category for us tonight."
On Playing Against The Princeton Offense
"I think it's effectiveness is because it's such a departure from what everybody does. It's really different. It takes some adjustment. If a lot of people were doing it, I don't think it would be that hard to play against. But because you don't see it that often, it takes a while to adjust. We guarded it much better as the game went along. Certainly, they made plays and certainly, they deserve credit with their offense, but once we got used to it, I thought we did a better job defending it. How effective is it, I mean, in certain places and certain pockets, it's been proven to be an effective way to play."