Post-Game Quotes
2/12/2005 12:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2005
Head Coach Stan Joplin
"I thought we did a decent job defensively and we had some carryover from our last game against Bowling Green. They shoot the ball extremely well from the outside and we were able to contest most of their shots. They're the type of team that likes to penetrate and kick and also pound the ball inside. We tried to take away as many things as we possibly could."
(on getting up for NIU after Wednesday's win over Bowling Green)
"We just tried to emphasize taking one game at a time. I think the toughest thing to do is to play a game after you play an emotional one like we did against Bowling Green. But the players stayed after it and got some confidence going and made some plays."
(on the margin of victory)
"I was kind of shocked that we won this easily. Northern has played some close games on the road and they've been right there. It was good to see us not become complacent because we've been known to blow a lead. I happy we didn't so maybe that's behind us."
(on falling behind 8-4 early and calling a timeout)
"I didn't like the energy we came out with. We were reacting instead of dictating. I wanted to get the players' attention right away instead of waiting. They're a very explosive team and they were crashing the boards and getting easy baskets."
(on Kashif Payne)
"Kashif has done a nice job for us and when he comes into the game he can put pressure on the basketball and disrupt our opponent's offense. He can put pressure on them because he's always looking to make a play. He has allowed Justin Ingram not to play tired and that has really helped us with our depth."
Freshman guard Kashif Payne
(on this game being the best UT has played)
"We came out and just wanted to play hard because we knew this was a huge game. We wanted to play with high intensity and come up with a win. Our main thing was to play hard because our coach preaches that in practice every day. We played good defense tonight and we were able to get in transition because of that. It helped us out a lot because we got easy baskets."
(on the importance of the win in the standings)
"We just want to keep the wins coming and separate ourselves from other teams. If we keep winning it will happen."
(on having seven assists and two turnovers)
"Guys were moving around and getting to the open spots. I just wanted to make everybody happy and spread the ball around."
Junior forward Anton Currie
(on scoring a season-high 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting)
"Everything was in the flow of the game. I was getting to open spots and hitting my shots. We started to attack a lit bit more and find open guys. Once that happened guys were getting open shots and just started knocking them down."
(on the team's attitude)
"Guys have high spirits and we're getting toward the end of the year when things mean more. We're just trying to stick together and trying to pull out wins."
(on falling behind 8-4 early and Coach Joplin calling a timeout)
"We just had to regroup because I don't think we came out focused enough at the start of the game. It was still early but we had to dig down and play defense and get some stops. That's what has allowed to win games lately."
