TULSA POSTGAME QUOTES VS. INCARNATE WORD
12/22/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Recap | Box Score | Notes
TULSA HEAD COACH Frank Haith
Opening statement
"Obviously it was a great win for us, our guys were really, really focused. We had three really good practices going into this game. And this is one of those games that are played right before Christmas break that you see teams across the country not being focused. So, I really want to congratulate our guys and commend them for their focused nature in terms of going through this game and preparing for it. We understood that we were playing a team that had a 45 RPI, a team that was 8-1 and won on the road at Nebraska and we respected that with how we prepared."
On Shaquille Harrison being on a roll
"He really is. He's playing at a high, high level. He's playing with confidence, he is seeing the court, the game has slowed down for him. He's making great decisions. You look at his points, but he also has three assists, one turnover, one block, one steal. I think he's playing at a tremendous level."
On D'Andre Wright being present on the defensive end and the boards tonight after struggles
"We've been asking him what he can do to contribute to helping us win night in and night out. We've been getting out-rebounded the past couple of games and you look tonight and we're +20 on the boards, and he got 10. I think he is capable of doing that night in and night out. It was good to see him be more assertive even though he was only 1-4, he was aggressive. Same thing with Rashad Smith. We need both of those guys being assertive and being a factor on the offensive end too."
On where the team is after the up and down non-conference schedule
"We're on the up-tick. I still think there is room to get better. We didn't shoot the ball well, and it was great that we didn't shoot the ball well and still won by 30. But we didn't shoot the ball well from 3, we still have to shoot free-throws better. But we did have 16 assists, and I think we're sharing the ball. So we're getting better. Defensively, I felt like we had slipped the last couple of games, but we had an outstanding performance tonight against a team that is scoring 85 points a game. Really encouraging and pleased with how we defended tonight."
On how the team stayed focused despite Incarnate Word not being necessarily a well-regarded name
"When you watch them on film, they are impressive. Walker and Livingston are two high-level scorers and how they beat Nebraska. They've been down in a couple of games [and came back]. And on the road at Grand Canyon, who has an unbelievable facility and a packed house and they went up there and won. They have a couple of wins that make you say, 'Whoa, OK. We have to get our guys to understand that this is an important game for us.' You look at their RPI, right now at 45, this is a big time win for us. Kenny Burmeister has done a great job there and I think they will do well in their conference and all of that bodes well for us."
On if the 4,000 miles traveled by UIW since Dec. 8 impacted their players
"I'm sure they were fatigued, but I want to give our guys credit too. I think they played great defense. I think we were there on the catch. I think we contested shots. But, I'm sure when you look at the amount of travel they have done that that would have to take a fact on them and they're not that deep and obviously we wanted to attack them because of that."
TULSA JUNIOR GUARD Shaquille Harrison
On why the focus level was different going into this game
"I feel like our maturity is finally starting to set in. We realized it was finally starting to get down to the gritty where we need to start getting wins and I feel like everyone is finally stepping up their game and we are beating really good teams."
On what the team did to contain the high scoring UIW team on the defensive end
"We were stopping their main guys, their main scorers. Once you stop them, it makes the other players who may not be as good of scorers step-up and they didn't step-up tonight. We were in the passing lanes and we just got out of transition."
On how good it feels to end non-conference play this way
"It was great. Over Christmas break, you have to enjoy family and friends, but you also have to stay in the gym and stay conditioned."
On getting back on track before conference play starts
"Yeah, definitely. It hit us pretty hard when coach was talking to us and pointing out that we're not sophomores and freshmen anymore, we're juniors and we need to get this thing rolling and really step into our maturity. And that's what we have to be doing."
