March 7, 2014
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
March 6, 2014
Bowling Green, Ky. (E.A. Diddle Arena)
WKU HEAD COACH Ray Harper
On the importance of this win and wrapping up the second seed in the conference tournament:
"I'm just happy for them. They would never quit. I thought tonight we were very good. Offensively we shared the basketball. We had very few turnovers until late in the basketball game. I thought it was a high-level game. There were a lot of NBA people in the arena tonight for a reason. Elfrid Payton is the real deal. I thought we battled him. He's a good player."
On having the double-bye in the tournament:
"I don't know if it's easier; it's fewer games. I thought it was important for this team. We never talked about Aleksej Rostov, that we lost our starting center about four weeks ago. We never talked about how we lost Kevin Kaspar, our back-up point guard who was playing terrific. I don't know that there are a lot of teams in the league that could have overcome that. I really don't. If you take out the starting center and backup point guard on a lot of the teams in this league, they would've struggled. It just seemed like someone would always step up. For example, O'Karo (Akamune) gets 10 and 6 on his senior night. Two games is very manageable for this group."
On Saturday's regular-season finale at Georgia State:
"We're going to try to win. That being said, are we going to rest some guys? We are going to rest some guys that desperately need it, that fought through some injuries. I would like to give Ben (Lawson) a look on Saturday. I would like to give Nigel (Snipes) a shot."
On holding Shawn Long to 5 points:
"I thought we did a good job. I thought our guys did a good job on when to double him. When he got it on the block, we doubled him. When our rotations were good, I thought it was terrific. The other kid I thought we did a good job on was (Bryant) Mbamalu. He has been really scoring the basketball for them. Once again, we put Caden (Dickerson) on him. I thought everyone that played really made contributions. It was a good team win."
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE HEAD COACH BOB MARLIN
On the game:
"It was a very physical game. I thought we got off to a pretty good start. At halftime, we gave up the big three at the end of the half. It was our ball coming out. We had an opportunity to get back in front. We had several minutes in the middle of the second half where we didn't score the ball. I thought our defense was really good in the second half. It gave us an opportunity. We pressed them late, and had a chance to pull it out I felt like. But we are not going to win a lot of games when Shawn Long and Bryant Mbamalu go 3-for-18. Elfrid (Payton) was great. Some other guys stepped up and played really well. We are going to regroup and get ready for Arkansas State. We bring out the best in WKU. They don't shoot free throws like this against anyone else. Give them credit; they made some big ones tonight."
SENIOR FORWARD O'Karo Akamune
On Senior Night:
"It meant a lot. I am not an emotional person, but I kind of got emotional on and off the court watching my teammates playing. I am just appreciative."
On having a week off after the last regular season game before playing the Sun Belt Tournament:
"It feels good, especially getting the rest for our bodies. It's hard to play four games straight and give it your all. Having the rest will definitely help us out this time."
JUNIOR FORWARD George Fant
On the defensive game plan for Shawn Long:
"Coming into the game, I had been hearing a lot about him. He's been killing it. I watched a lot of film. I noticed a few things that I keyed in on. I knew I had to get physical. Keep my head and keep doing the things I was doing tonight."
On approaching the last game of the season knowing that everything in the postseason is already sealed:
"Focus. We can't go in to the game that things are sealed, it's another game. I know all of our guys remember that they came down here and murdered us. So I'm sure everyone has the same mindset as me, that we want to go down there and return the favor. I think we don't have to worry about getting each other ready for it, w
