Post-Game Quotes
1/3/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 3, 2009
Recap | Final Stats
Opening Statement...
"It was a hard-fought game. I give them a lot of credit with their five-man motion offense because they make you play defense for 25 to 30 seconds. Their possessions are really long and I asked our guys to stay with their defense, and I thought we did a good job of that. With all of their motion, there is a tendency to give up a lot of offensive rebounds and we only gave up three offensive rebounds today. I was real pleased with our defense.
"We were a little slow offensively from time-to- time, but I thought we did a good job of getting the ball inside and not shooting too many three-pointers. We had a nice balance between inside touches and perimeter shots. It was also the fourth or fifth straight game that we have taken care of the basketball with only nine turnovers."
On individual performances...
"Ben Uzoh played really, really well with five assists, one turnover and 16 points. Jerome Jordan had a double-double and Ray Reese had 17 points. A guy I think doesn't get enough credit is Justin Hurtt, especially with the shot he made in the first half when he rose up and got his own shot."
On Northeastern State's defense...
"They collapsed into the post so they didn't leave our post wide open. We are going to throw it in there and see what a team does, and they normally don't double the post but they did against Jerome Jordan. I thought in the second half we did a nice job of adjusting with our top of the key man sliding into the free throw area. We got off to a slow start and I give their defense credit, but I think Ray Reese's two three-pointers really broke it open for us. We really needed that because we didn't have it in our last game."
Junior Guard Ben Uzoh
On Tulsa's defensive performance...
"Defense is one of our staples and we take pride in playing defense. All the coaches do a great job of getting us to buy into playing defense for every single possession of the game. You don't want to give teams multiple chances to score on one possession and Jerome did a great job of cleaning up the rebounds, and our wings did a great job as well. It was as great team effort."
Senior Forward Ray Reese
On his offensive performance...
"I was just presented with opportunities today and fortunately it went down for me. I feel like I have to do everything - rebound, defend or whatever is necessary to win. If I have to score as many points as I did today, then that is what I have to do."
