March 7, 2002

Recap| Final Stats| Notes

Head Coach Stan Joplin:

(Opening statement) "It was a close game and we figured it would go down to the wire. We played zone because we had some players in foul trouble and Central was struggling shooting the ball from the outside. They were just attacking the basket so much. Playing zone turned out to be a big difference."

(On finally winning a quarterfinal game) "At tournament time anything can happen so we're very happy with the win. There's been a lot of upsets in the past because teams don't shoot well and team know each other so much. Games can be decided by one play and the last two years it just didn't bounce our way."

(On this year's team) "We have a completely different team than we've had the last two years. We just want the program to keep improving. I really have to tip my hat to our team because they're so young and inexperienced and they took a lot of abuse this year. They just kept working hard and coming together."

(On being hesitant to use zone defenses) "I was brought up in the man-to-man, and I think it is a more aggressive defense. One of my assistants suggested it to me, and I knew that we needed to do something to stop them so I tried it. I think it worked well, and I am slowly trying to implement it into our gameplan. I haven't played it a lot, but I think we rebounded well out of it today so maybe I will try it some more."

(On playing Kent State) "We have our work cut out for us. We have to bring our A game with us."

Junior guard Nick Moore:

(On finally winning a quarterfinal game) "It feels great. My first two years we were close in both games and I think we should have won them but didn't get it done. Keith and Terry made some big plays down the stretch and we were able to win."

(On Kent State) "They're a good team. We didn't really show up to play the first time we played them. We're a lot better team now, and I think we can give them a better game tomorrow."

Sophomore guard Terry Reynolds:

(On shooting in Gund Arena) "It's a little bit different. The coaches told us to shoot the shots we've been taking all year. We just have to shoot with confidence and knock them down. Some people were shooting the ball, and I just didn't have a good shooting day."

(On his back) "I have spasms and it got a little tight today. I try to do what I can to help my teammates win, so I tried to forget about it."

Sophomore guard Keith Triplett:

"It was a totally different game than the first two times we played them. We played good team defense and A.J. Shellabarger gave us a big lift at the end of the game on defense."