University of Richmond Athletics
Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
03/09/2006 | Men's Basketball
March 8, 2006
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Richmond Coach Chris Mooney
On Richmond's Defensive Effort
"I can tell you that I thought our defense and effort was tremendous, as good as it's been all year. We had Richmond Spiders diving around and jumping after balls and really communicating and playing well on defense."
On Richmond's Scoring Struggles
"It's just hard, so hard when you can't score. They don't keep score by the defensive intensity, the positioning and effort, they keep score by the ball going in the basket. Shooting 15-for-56, that's going to be a tough number to overcome for anybody, and it certainly proved too much tonight."
More On The Offensive Struggles
"It wasn't just 3-point shots, we didn't get to the foul line enough,, but 3-for-6 from there isn't good enough and all the lay-ups we missed. Scoring just does so much for you because it just gets you back mentally, emotionally and all those things. It gets you back in the right state of mind. It can get you flowing on defense. It's really, really difficult though, if you can't score consistently."
On Richmond's Opening the Second Half Strong
"I felt that was a good stretch for us because they had played us so hard and so aggressively in first half, but that defensive intensity kind of subsided a little bit and we took advantage on a couple possessions there early and even held them and held them. We just couldn't score enough to take the lead or when they got it back to six points, we couldn't score to get it back down to two again. There are plenty of things we will look at that we should have or could have tried to do, but you got to make baskets at any level."
On Re-Building The Richmond Program
"I grew up watching the Atlantic 10 and knowing about Richmond, I love the place. It's a special place, unique in the college basketball environment. It's such a great school and we can attract very good players with the tradition and the Robins Center, the fan base and the guys we have on the team. There are so many positives, I really believe we could be really good in the Atlantic 10.
On Building Toward Next Season
Certainly the incoming recruits give us some of the things we lack right now. It's so important for the returning guys to really - when the incoming freshmen come in - have the program in a great position. We don't have a ton of guys back, but the habits that we form, and the culture that we are trying to grow, needs to be there and be perfect or close to perfect. So when the incoming freshmen come it helps them hit the ground running and then we can see what the freshmen have to offer. If the freshmen have to learn so many of the off the court things or the cultural things, and it doesn't just come quickly, then that will set us back. I'm confident that these guys will pass those things along and we'll be ready to go.
Sophomore Drew Crank
On Providing A Spark Off the Bench
"The big thing when I come in is coach wants me to go in defensively and get rebounds because we were getting killed on the boards in the first half. I hadn't been doing as good a job as I would have hoped to on that this year. I just try to go in there with some aggression and see what happens from there."
On Richmond's Poor Shooting
"It starts at the beginning of the game when a few shots fall, everyone starts feeling it and things happen. But it just didn't really end up going our way tonight. We had some good shots and open looks but things weren't falling as we expected. You can't really win games like that. We tried to fight back on defensive end - I think we fought back until the end. We have to learn from this and move on for next year."
On Stepping It Up In The Last Three Games
"I don't think anything really changed, things started going my way a little bit more and I guess I got a little more confidence. The season was almost over and I had to do whatever I can to prolong it, and just got to go out with aggression. I came out there with a little bit more aggressiveness over the last few games."
On What He Needs To Do In The Off-Season
"I think I need to have some patience, try to evolve my game, and work on my weaknesses on the offensive end. I have to get in the gym as much as possible and work a lot with coach.. I think patience is the key in the off season. A lot of new guys will be coming in and we have to do the best we can to teach them what we've learned and then continue to develop from what coach expects from us."