Feb. 15, 2014
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February 15, 2014
Bowling Green, Ky. (E.A. Diddle Arena)
WKU HEAD COACH Ray Harper
On the game:
"They're talented. I think it showed up tonight. I thought (Mychal) Ammons was terrific. He had 20 and 11, (Augustine) Rubit 12 and 13. They kicked us on the glass. First half, it was just a struggle for us. We got some good looks, but I thought we settled for too many three-pointers when they went they went zone. We played a lot of east-to-west; we didn't get in the gaps. I think we scored 48 points in the second half. We scored enough in the second half to win the game. We didn't get enough stops. We would make a three, and then didn't find guys out of our press. We didn't rotate back, and boom, a three right back at us. Take away a lot of things, make free throws and we win the game."
On underestimating South Alabama:
"They're a more talented team than us. Mychal Ammons, Augustine Rubit, and Antoine Allen; they're pretty darn good, and you knew they could get it going at any time. They got it going tonight."
On digging too big a hole:
"We just dug ourselves too big of a hole. And again, if you're going to come back from a deficit, you have to make stops, and we couldn't get a stop. One time Ammons drove, he was out of control. He spun back and was getting ready to take a bad shot, and we reach in there and bail him out and send him to the free throw line. That sums it up for the night. Bad foot angles on closeouts, jumping in the air on shot fakes, you name it. I wish I could tell you it was just one guy, but thank goodness it was a collective effort."
On South Alabama wanting it more:
"That's what I told them it looked like to me. It looked like they (South Alabama) wanted to win the basketball game more than we did."
On offensive woes in the first half...
"We've seen that before. One-for-10 from the three. I don't know what we were at the free throw line in the first half, it wasn't good. Let some of those go in, we would've been fine. We have to change that. We have to be the same whether those shots are going in or not. It's much easier to play if those shots are going in."
SOUTH ALABAMA HEAD COACH MATTHEW GRAVES
On the game:
"We came in with a plan to win. The bottom line is our guys really communicated with one another. They understood this was a big game. This is a tough place to come in and play. Their fans are really good. We needed to come in here and play with energy and effort and communicate with each other, and from the opening tip we did that throughout the entire game."
On weathering WKU's runs:
"Well the one thing I told our players is WKU is a great program. They have a culture and toughness about them; they're going to make a run. We've just got to stay the course, continue to make hard cuts, and make good plays at the rim. Tonight, what we did different than in the past is when teams would make a run, we would settle for contested threes or late shot clock threes and we did that a little tonight, but we also got a couple layups. Mike (Ammons) and Aug (Augustine Rubit) attacked the basket; we got to the free throw line. Guys stepped up for us and made some free throws for us down the stretch."
On Mychal Ammons' game tonight:
"I'm really proud. It's no secret Mychal is really struggled lately. Hopefully this will jumpstart him for the rest of the reason and we can continue to build off this. His mindset was just different tonight. He came in and attacked the rim. He didn't settle too much. I'm really proud of how he bounced back."
On Augustine Rubit:
"He left some points on the board around the rim, but again it's the same with him as it is with Mike. If they're aggressive at the rim and attacking, those two guys can play as well as any front court in the league. I think they showed tonight when they're on the same page and very aggressive, we are capable of winning some games."
On defense in the first half:
"We were communicating with one another, that was the biggest thing. We were passing guys off, we were challenging shots. They missed some shots that they normally make, but what happens is you miss four or five shots and that sixth you start to press and the seventh shot, you start to press, and then you start to doubt yourself. I think the other key was we didn't give up too many second chance points. WKU is the best offensive rebounding team in the league and they just kill you on the glass and in the first half, we didn't allow them to do that."
SENIOR GUARD Brandon Harris
On how tough it is that the other team seemed to "want it" more:
"It was terrible. You all see how we played when we made the run when I was here and the year before that. You stop people; you play harder than people, that's how we always win. We didn't do that today. We tried to kick it in there in spurts, but you can't start 25 minutes into the game and expect to pull it off. It doesn't happen that way all the time. You can't expect a miracle all of the time, you have to make things happen."
JUNIOR FORWARD George Fant
On what happened tonight in the game:
"We knew coming in that they needed this game, mathematically, to get to the conference tournament. I feel like they came, and as bad as is it is to say, they wanted it more. They got all of the 50/50 balls, all of the extra rebounds. We slipped up and it's a tough pill to swallow, but we have to bounce back."
On if the team's offensive struggles are a concern:
"We can't hang our heads on things like that. The ball is going to drop sometimes, and sometimes it's not. If we're not scoring then we have to keep them from scoring. We didn't do that tonight or the Arkansas State game. That's in the past, today's here. We have to get Monday to practice and find out who's ready to play."
