University of Richmond Athletics
Men's Basketball Post-Game Quotes
02/24/2007 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 24, 2007
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Head Coach Chris Mooney
On the game: "I'm very happy for our guys, Peter (Thomas) in particular. It's been a struggle and tonight I thought we played clearly our best game of our season. I thought we were able to really control the game throughout."
On Richmond Protecting The Ball:
"We didn't have one turnover in the first half, which is impressive. Only six for the game, again with a team where eighty minutes of guard play are played by all freshmen, I think is impressive. I couldn't be more pleased and I hope we have a few games like this left in the tank."
More On Richmond Limiting Its Turnovers:
"I can remember some games when we were at Air Force where we had four or five, but that was after we had been there a while. For these freshmen to protect the ball like that, it's impressive."
On the Team's Motivation:
"There are times when you need different things to motivate you, and for us it's a chance to play in the conference tournament."
On Senior Captain Peter Thomas:
"That's a classic Peter Thomas game, one of his best. He didn't turn the ball over, he didn't miss a shot; the one rebound he had was a key rebound in a crowd. He played 34 minutes. Every huddle he's doing the most talking besides the coaches, keeping the team together, echoing the things that we're saying."
More on Peter Thomas:
"When you come into college as a walk-on, you probably haven't prepared yourself to be the captain of the team as a senior. For him to be able to lead by example is a credit to him and his approach."
Senior Peter Thomas
On Getting The Win
"It has been a really tough season. It's great to have a Senior Night like this, beating the only team that I haven't beaten in the Atlantic 10. It's great for the hard work that we have put in all year to show up here in this game. It really bodes well for the future of this team."
On Richmond's Offense
"We were committed to our offense tonight, we didn't try to get out of it much. When we stayed with it we got the shots we want. We were hitting some shots tonight. We got a lead and we pretty much controlled the game after we got the lead."
On The Players Sticking Together
"We could have put our heads down a lot this year, because it's been really a tough season. But it's been pretty amazing, especially with these freshmen who experienced so much winning in high school, to come out and work hard everyday. That's what I've been trying to stress to everybody. In college basketball the season is never over, we've come to work every single practice, nobody's got their head down, nobody's pointing fingers at anybody. We've stayed together as a team and that's why we were able to do this tonight."
On Maintaining The Lead
"It helps when you have a 20-point lead, obviously you're a little more comfortable. In a few games this year we've stopped attacking in our offense. We kind of played a little bit slower, maybe not as aggressive. Tonight we tried to stay aggressive, tried to go to the hole when the opportunities were there. That's why we were able to pull this out."
On His Career Winding Down
"It's been an amazing experience to go from a walk-on as a freshmen to now finishing it up. Even though we haven't won as many games as I would have liked to in my four years, there have been a lot of things positive. I've made some great relationships. They say college is the best time of your life and I think it has been the best time of my life."
Richmond Freshman David Gonzalvez
On The Game
"When I hit my third three, I knew things we're going to go good for us. Everybody was just running on all cylinders. Dan was scoring in the post, Oumar came in and gave us a boost and Drew came in and gave us two big buckets. Everybody was on the same page. I thought in my mind that we could win this game."
On The Difference Tonight
"Intensity. We've just been hyped, playing like we really don't have anything to lose because we really don't. It only can get better from here on out for us and that's how we've been playing the last two games. The GW game we were hyped and everyone was intense and we've been getting off to good starts so I think that helped us."
On Richmond Keeping The Turnovers Down
"Before the GW game, (GW) pressed a lot so we got a press offense in practice a lot to prepare for them. For the St. Joe's game, coach didn't really say they'd be pressing a lot or the press would be tough. He said we were going to be able to run our offense so we came out confident. That's what I think happened."
On The Confidence Level Of The Freshmen
"Coach always says how we're freshmen and how it's going to be tough, so we've expected that. Our confidence is fine."
Richmond Freshman Dan Geriot
On Richmond Keeping The Energy Level Up
"The energy level has been great throughout the last week of practice and the last two games. The GW game was a little different because it was on the road and a couple of things didn't go our way. Here things went our way and we were able to get the win. The biggest thing is the intensity level and the energy. It seemed like it was opening night all over again."
Saint Joseph's Head Coach Phil Martelli
On The Game:
"I give a great deal of credit to Chris and those young kids for taking it to us right from the beginning of the game. Congratulations to them. They whipped us from beginning to end basically."
On Richmond's Offense:
"I didn't do a good enough job preparing (his team) with the tape and on the court to how hard the cuts would be and how effective the screening would be."
On Richmond Protecting The Basketball
"Their turnover numbers are relatively low for a young team and a team that tries to be that precise on offense."