Jan. 7, 2005

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes

Toledo Head Coach Stan Joplin

"We played well in spurts. At times we look really good but we're just not playing consistently enough. I know it's there but we're just showing flashes. We had some pretty good stops defensively and we rebounded a little but then we had some slippage. We won because we had our spurt and now we move on and get ready for Buffalo."

(on Sammy Villegas)

"He's starting to play better defense. It gives us a big boost when he makes those shots and that really helps our offense."

Junior guard Sammy Villegas

(on making three straight three-pointers)

"It felt pretty good because I haven't made three threes in a game in while. Everybody picked it up and we played strong defense during that run. I just have to continue to keep working on my shot. I've tried to take the ball more to the basket and play strong defense to try to help the team."

Sophomore guard Justin Ingram

(on Sammy Villegas hitting three three-pointers and the effect on the team's offense)

"It impacts our offense a lot because Sammy's a great three-point shooter and it opens up the lane because they have to guard us at the three-point line. It opens up the lane for me and Keith to penentrate and get the ball to our big guys."

(on the importance of the win)

"This was a good win for us since it put us back at .500 in the conference but we need to get better defensively and in our rebounding. This game gives us some confidence going into Sunday's game at Buffalo."

Akron Head Coach Keith Dambrot

"We had our chances. Toledo did a good job of scoring late in the shot clock, especially Ingram. We guarded Triplett well enough to win but Villegas got loose for some threes on us. We tried really hard and we're trying to get where Toledo is. I thought we overcame the absence of Jeremiah Wood and we're just not as good as them right now. We defended well enough in stretches to be in the game but don't have the offensive firepower to get in shooting matches with teams."

Akron guard Dru Joyce

"We had some defensive breakdowns at the end of the shot clock several times and let (Ingram) go to his strong hand. To his credit he made some big shots."

"I think we will be all right. We had a lot of open shots that we just missed tonight. Romeo stepped up big in the post for us tonight and we didn't hit enough outside shots to win."

Akron forward Darryl Peterson

"Not having Jeremiah (Wood) puts a little more pressure on us and we missed him a lot tonight. We just couldn't get over the hump tonight."

"We were right there and we didn't execute well enough tonight. We didn't do the little things we needed to do to win and that cost us the game."