University of Richmond Athletics
Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
02/23/2006 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 22, 2006
Richmond Head Coach Chris Mooney
On Whether Richmond Hit The Wall Wednesday Night
"Maybe a little bit is that, but part of it is Temple and the way they play. Their zone is so extended it forces you to be a basketball player, to know where holes are and where to throw passes, and you have to make shots. You can't get open shots at certain times if you can't move the ball around. If you are not able to move the ball around, it makes it really difficult. Whether we hit a wall energy wise, maybe, I didn't necessarily see that."
On Richmond Dealing With Their Losing Streak
"You have to be zeroed in, you have to know it's a tough season and it's a long season, and you have to play through that. We must come out and practice well tomorrow. This can't be something that stagnates, that sticks around you for a while. We must be better tomorrow and be better on Saturday."
On Richmond's Shooting
"The main thing is you need to be able to make a shot. Phil Martelli says you need to make 10 3-pointers against Temple just to be in the game. If you make 4-of-29 it's going to make for a long night."
On Richmond's Defense
"Temple has some very good players. All those guys kind of score on their own, they don't need screens, they just need the ball. For Temple it's so hard to make them turn the ball over. They are going to take hard shots, which are not as hard for them because they are such great players. You need to make that 20-footer be a 22-footer and that 10-foot fade-away be a 14-foot fade-away. You have to put a little extra pressure on them and see how they do. There a team that doesn't shoot well, but they shot well tonight, partly because they were at home, partly because they have good players. But we didn't defend as well as we often do."
On Looking For An Emotional Lift From Players
"Even at different times, not that we ever challenged them, but there are different times in a game when you can show emotion that can lead to something positive happening on the court. Those are things you need, whether it's the seniors, the walk-ons, whoever. You need that kind of a spark. You know you're good when you have all the guys doing that."
Richmond Junior Peter Thomas
On Temple's Defense
"We just came off of playing GW who has long athletes just like Temple. GW is different though, because they gamble a lot more than Temple. With Temple, you think there's a hole and then you get there and there so long that they get a deflection all the time. GW gambles more, so it's easier to move the ball against them. It would have helped if we made some shots. We got a couple of good looks if we hit those, maybe it gets them to come out more on us. It's a credit to Temple, that's a great defense they have there."
On Whether Richmond Forgets This Game Or Learns From It
"Well for now, going into the last three games, I think the best thing to do is forget it, but this isn't a game you're going to forget. This is not a game you can forget. Obviously it is really tough to take a loss like this. The best thing to do right now is to move on and get ready for St. Joe's."
On Returning To Philly To Play Saint Joseph's On Saturday
"I think we will come out with everything we've got vs. St. Joe's. The great thing about basketball is you play the next game in two or three days. So we play on Saturday at noon and we're ready to get back on the court as soon as possible and get this one out of our minds."
Richmond Senior Jermaine Bucknor
On The Game
"I haven't been a part of anything like that before. That was an embarrassing loss. There's nothing else you can say about it, it was embarrassing."
On Temple Defense "That's the best zone I've seen this year, that's the best zone I've seen in my career. They were so long, it made it very difficult on us. There length makes it especially tough to deal with. We were having trouble getting shots around the 3-point land."
On Trying To Rebound From The Loss
"It's over and we have to put it behind us. We have to come out tomorrow and have a good practice and get ready for Saint Joseph's. We have to bounce back, that's just what we have to do."