Feb. 11, 2003

Recap| Final Stats| Notes

Toledo Head Coach Stan Joplin

"We desperately needed to win this game. I thought the fans were great and very enthusiastic and they definitely had a homecourt advantage. Hopefully, the students can come back out because that really helps."

"I thought it was a very hard-fought game with a lot of emotion. The players know each other very well and emotions got in the way. It was unfortunate that Milo did what he did and I know he's sorry that it happened. He just got caught up in the emotion of the game."

"Our defense really made the difference tonight. It was the best defensive effort we've had all year. We contested shots and did a decent job on Kevin Netter. We got some energy from our defense and it carried over to our offense."

Toledo senior guard Nick Moore

On the physical play:

"I agree that we needed more emotion on our team but I don't know if that was the best emotion that we could show. It was a hard-fought game but it wasn't nothing intentional and there are no hard feelings to any of their guys. It was just a matter of losing your emotions in the heat of battle. Everyone wanted to do their best and was playing as hard as they could."

On the second half:

"I think we play our best when we push the ball in transition off our defense. We have a lot of guys who are capable of getting to the basket and creating for other people. When the court is wide open, Keith, Sammy and Ricardo all do a great job of doing that."

On beating Bowling Green:

"It feels great. It's been very frustrating for me this year because I had a lot of goals and aspirations for this team and we haven't exactly lived up to them yet. Anytime you beat your rival especially in this manner it does a lot for the team."

Toledo junior guard Keith Triplett

"It's always good to beat your rival. We needed to win no matter who we were playing. We need to get on a winning streak and come out and play Saturday like the way we did tonight."

Bowling Green Head Coach Dan Dakich

"I thought the key to the game was the period in the second half when we were throwing the ball away and they were hitting threes. Give them credit because Villegas hit some threes from places I've never seen a guy shoot the basketball."

"We threw the ball places it didn't need to go and we had some upperclassmen do it and that's unfortunate for us. Give Toledo credit because I thought they made the shots they needed to make to keep the game where they needed it to be for them."

"I thought Shellabarger really outplayed Kevin (Netter)."

On Toledo having extra intensity because of the rivalry:

"I don't think Toledo's intensity was any factor in the game. When you're jacked up it usually shows in the first half of the game and we were up by five at halftime."

Senior guard Cory Ryan

On the difference in the second half:

"In the first half we wanted to play defense and not let their shooters get off. In the second half, we relaxed for some reason and didn't get back on defense and they hit shots. You have to give them credit for that."

"We look at every game as an important game. It was important because it was a rivalry but we looked at it as another team trying to beat us. We needed to come in and be tough. In the first half we did but in the second half we lacked toughness."

"The rivalry is very intense and it has been ever since I've been here. It's not going to stop because the schools are so close to each other. We came in and lost our composure and the intensity got to us a little bit. I don't have an explanation for it, but it got to us and it helped them and hurt us."