Jan. 22, 2005

Recap |  Box Score |  Notes

Head Coach Stan Joplin

"It was completely different for us in the second half. We played well in the first half and then we relaxed and made some mistakes and let the get their confidence. We gave up some open threes and didn't come out aggressive and that was the game."

(on the team's defense in the first half forcing 17 turnovers)

"I think we had good pressure on the ball and stuck with our gameplan. That was what we wanted to do but in the second half we didn't do that. We had some breakdowns and they got their confidence going."

(on losing another second-half lead)

"We have to have a mindset that you can't take a play off. You have to come out aggressive all the time. That was the big difference for us. Losing Keonta Howell hurt us in the second half but that didn't make us lose the ballgame. We turned the ball over and didn't get stops. We gave up too many open threes and too many easy baskets. When you give up 17 points in the first half and 53 in the second that kind of speaks for itself. We've done almost everything we could in the first half of our conference road losses but then we go through stretch where we can't score and turn the ball over."

(on Allen Pinson missing a third straight game)

"It hurts. Having a big, athletic body would have helped. Not having Keonta in the second half also hurt us. We're a little bit banged up but we still could have won the game without those two guys. The bottom line is that we just didn't get it done. We had a lead and after they came up with a few steals I knew we didn't come out with the right mindset."