Feb. 13, 2007

Recap |  Final Stats |  Notes

Head Coach Stan Joplin

"I feel the toughest game to win is when you're coming off a big emotional win like we had over Akron on Saturday. I knew it was going to be tough with the weather and our sixth man wasn't here. I really do appreciate the people who did come out. That was fantastic and they tried to give us some energy. We didn't get really have any energy until Tyrone Kent's dunk in the second half."

"I thought Eastern was getting all the hustle points and they had a good gameplan. We were playing at their pace and we weren't getting any turnovers early. We didn't play our best game but we played well enough to win. In my mind you can learn more from winning than you do from losing. The main thing is that we're still tied with Akron and regardless of what happens tomorrow we're still three games ahead of Western Michigan."

(on UT's pressure defense in the second half)

"We knew sooner or later that it was going to take its toll. We were a step late in everything that we did. Then we finally found our rhythm and then we started getting a lot of opportunities. That made a big differnce when we started getting easy baskets and playing with more energy."

(on winning by double digits despite not playing their best game)

"We don't want to have a faucet mentality where we think we can just turn it on and win. We wanted to continue to wear them down and keep them out of their rhythm. They shot really well from the three-point line to their credit and we wanted to pressure them as much as we could."

(on what he said to the team at halftime)

"I told the team that we just need to get back to playing the type of basketball we're capable of playing. We needed to keep it simple because basketball is a very simple game. We needed to get back to the basics. We needed to be patient and with a game like this you need to have your upperclassmen step up. If we were a young team we would have probably lost this game but your veterans have to pull you through a game like this."

Junior guard Kashif Payne

(on what Coach Joplin said at halftime)

"Well coach got on us at halftime. He told us we didn't bring that much energy in the first half and he wanted us to come out with a lot of energy in the second half and pick our pressure up. We were a little fatigued I guess. But coach told us that we can't take this team lightly and it showed in the first half.

(on the defense in the second half)

"We came out and picked our pressure up. That's our game. We take pride in our defense and we just wanted to create a lot of turnovers and get some easy baskets."

(on Tyrone Kent's dunk sparking the team in the second half)

"Tyrone Kent's dunk brought a lot of energy to the fans and the guys came off the bench and were supporting us. After that we just got a lot of energy from it."

(on coming off an emotional win against Akron)

"Every team in the MAC can beat every other team. So coach told us every team is going to give us their best game. We just wanted to come out and give our best shot. And do whatever we can do to win. Coach stayed on us all week and we needed to stay focused and take one game at a time."

(on coming from behind in the second half)

"We knew we were going to get our run. We had a lot of unforced turnovers and we just wanted to be more careful, stop the gambling on defense and keep them in front of us. We are always keeping our head high no matter what. We just have to keep playing and continue to pressure the ball, play defense and create opportunities on offense."