Jan. 25, 2004

Recap| Final Stats| Notes

Head Coach Stan Joplin

(opening comments)

"I don't think we competed and we got outplayed and outcoached today. Kent State played extremely well and took it to us and it was very disturbing the way we played. I think we took a couple of steps backwards today as a basketball team and it is very disappointing how we performed today. We just have to get it straightened out. We can't come out and play this way. We didn't get any loose balls. I don't think we checked out like we should."

(on Kent State's hot start)

"It was the same thing that happened to us at Ball State. We dug ourselves a hole and we can't afford to do that. They jumped on us quickly and we never could recover. The kept coming after us and we reacted instead of dictating. Kent State played extremely well. It was disappointing because I think we are a much better team than we showed but today it wasn't meant to be."

(on if the team's youth was a factor in the loss)

"I don't think it had anything to do with experience or anything like that. They just took it to us and we didn't handle adversity as well as I would like. Hopefully this is something we can build off and go from there. We had open shots but they weren't falling. We took quick shots. We didn't reverse the basketball. We gave up too many wide-open shots. As bad as we were that's how good Kent State was."

(on whether there anything positive can be taken away from this game)

"No there wasn't anything positive from this loss. We can't afford to let things like this happen as a basketball team. You would think we were 2-7 in the MAC instead of 7-2 with the way I am talking. I expect to win. I expect us to play better. When we don't I don't like that. I didn't like the effort we had today and we'll get it corrected. I have no doubt we have good players but this is a process we're going through. We've done some things that the program hasn't done in a long time and the players have to learn how to handle success. Kent State knows how to win and our guys haven't. You have to come out and practice and prepare yourself. We're not there yet. Hopefully how Kent State played is the way we'll be playing at the end of the year."

(on playing four games in the last eight games playing a factor)

"I think they started making jump shots and if we would have scored that would have changed our mindset a little bit. We couldn't throw it in the ocean and we couldn't stop them. We had a lot of games but that's the way the schedule is and there's nothing you can do about it. We're not going to use it as an excuse. We just we're terrible today."

Senior guard Keith Triplett

"I missed a lot of easy shots, layups and putbacks. They just outplayed us. It was a bad day for us and we have to bounce back. They just came out and played harder."

(on having to come back after a tough loss to play Ball State on Wednesday) "It's very hard to put this game behind us but we have a game on Wednesday and we have to win."