Tulsa Postgame Quotes vs. East Carolina
2/13/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 13, 2014
Tulsa Head Coach Danny Manning
Opening Statement
"I thought our guys did a very good job of continuing to grind out a win. It took us a while to figure out that zone and how to attack the zone and where to get the ball to. Once we figured that out, we had pretty good ball movement. Guys had some pretty good shots and made some pretty big plays for us. We did a good job of coming out and guarding ECU for stretches. We need to put together longer sequences with better defense. All in all, I thought it was a very good "grind it out" win for us."
On Stevie Repichowski's night
"Stevie (Repichowski) puts his time in every day in practice, and he is getting extended minutes. He is getting better. Everybody knows him as a shooter. When he is on the court, it stretches out the defense and opens passing lanes. When he is making shots, it is even better. I'm very happy for him getting a career high in points, and he is going to continue to work hard and will only get better."
On the role Stevie Repichowski has had since Pat Swilling's injury
"All teams go through injuries and players not being there for whatever reason. Guys get a chance to get more minutes and take advantage of more minutes. That was certainly the case with Stevie. He got extended minutes, but he got extended minutes because he was successful. He made plays and made his shots. If he is not making shots, then we go to someone else, and if that person is not making shots, then someone else gets a chance. That is just how we do it. I thought our bench was outstanding tonight. Brandon (Swannegan) was good. Stevie was good. (Rashad) Ray was solid. Lew (Evans) was good on the glass. We got contributions from a lot of guys tonight."
On the well rounded play that Stevie Repichowski showed tonight
"We guard him in practice for who he is. We're running at him. We're making him shot fake, put it on the court and pull up after one or two bounces. He is starting to get more comfortable doing that in the games. He still has a ways to go, but he is capable of doing that now. That is going to open up a lot, because instead of just running at him as a defender, now he has a one or two bounce pull up that is just as effective."
On Tulsa's adjustments in the last twelve minutes of the game
"We just wanted to come down and get a good shot off offensively. Defensively, we were doing different things to try and keep them off kilter. I thought our guys were very active. We went to a stretch where we were switching on every play. We don't do that very often, but they had small perimeter players out there, and we thought that was the best way to disrupt their rhythm a little bit. We did give up too many straight lane drives tonight. I will say that without watching the tape. Too many times, guys were just blowing right past us."
On playing with a smaller lineup multiple times throughout the game
"We simulate a lot of the same game environments. That is just one of them where we switch everything and stay in front of the ball."
On Rashad Smith starting for the first time in conference play
"When you look at Rashad Smith's numbers in the games that he has played in, he has been so efficient in the minutes that he has played that I just wanted to get him more minutes. I think that I can do that from the starting spot. Lew (Evans) is still going to play. Lew is still going to get his minutes. He got plenty of them tonight, and he will continue to play. I think it helps Lew honestly. He is able to stay a little bit fresher and keep his legs underneath him more. I don't think that he shot the ball exceptionally well tonight, but it wasn't because his shots were short. He had his legs under him, and that is what we want."
On D'Andre Wright's injury and his ability to come back into the game
"During tonight's game, we had a lot of guys who made contributions to the point where I wasn't too worried about him and felt comfortable enough to rest him. He looked good to me when he came back."
On how to stop, or at least guard, Akeem Richmond
"Make it hard for him to catch. Contest every shot. You can change your defensive philosophies a little bit. Sometimes it is just better to face guard him. Just face guard him. Instead of playing him the normal way, when he comes off the screens, face guard him or make him run with the ball. I'm not saying that you're going to stop him, but it forces him to take another look. He is averaging 11 three-point shots a game. You're not going to stop him from shooting the ball. He got 12 off tonight, and we spent a lot time and put a lot of attention on him tonight. He is that good of a player. You just want to try and make him work, especially on the defensive end."
On James Woodard's quietly successful night
"He is our leading scorer and our leading rebounder. He is a very talented player. His demeanor and his personality have a lot to do with it. He is a very low-key dude. He had six points in the first half, and then he shook loose. I really liked his poise tonight. He wasn't pressing or hunting shots. He was looking for them to come to him. We were attacking the zone and looking for the open shot. He stepped up and made some really good tough shots."
Tulsa Guard Stevie Rephichowski
On his increasing time on the floor
"I know, just through working hard in practice every day, that Coach Manning says every one needs to be ready to play. Today was my opportunity and I took advantage of it.
On knowing he has a position to fill as the season goes on
"It's always good to know. When a player goes down, you have to step up. We've had other players go down. I just knew Coach Manning would give me a shot sometime and that I've just got to be ready."
Tulsa Guard James Woodard
On the difference between the first and second halves
"The difference for us tonight was defense. Defense is what got us going. Their zone was very effective and very active. We had to get stops on them because they're a very good three point shooting team. Once we got stops and rebounds it got our offense flowing and we got the tempo pushed to our level."
On the team locking down in the last 12 minutes of the game ( at the time it was TU 44 - ECU 44)
"During the last 12 minutes we locked down with the scouting report. Guys like Akeem Richmond, who is a great shooter -the best shooter in the conference if not the country. We stuck to our defensive principals."
On the team getting back to .500
"We've just got to use this game as a little push. We're heading in the right direction. All of our practices have been good. We've been working hard and progressing every day. But, we've just got to build on this. During the season we would go up, then all of a sudden we would get content and head back in the wrong direction. We've just got to stay consistent from this point on because it's the end of the season. We've got two home games left. We've just got to take advantage of it."
On D'Andre Wright returning to the bench after what looked like a nasty injury
"It was a big relief to see D'andre because we really need him. He's a big presence in the paint when he's on the floor. He takes up space and then he gets us rebounds. It was quite a scare but we were glad about him walking back out... We're going to need him Saturday because Old Dominion is a very good team. They're very active and they're very athletic and long. So - no doubt - we're going to need his size and presence in the paint."
On the play of Brandon Swannegan
"We've got to give credit to Brandon Swannegan; because, when Dre' went down he came out and got us great minutes tonight. He got great rebounds and tip-ins. He picked up the slack for Dre'. We're going to need that from everybody. If somebody goes down, someone needs to step in."
East Carolina Head Coach Jeff Lebo
On Tulsa pulling away at the end
"It just hurt on the glass. We got again smashed 15 offensive rebounds. We can't drop the ball and they get it and lay it in or make a three. Those back-breaking types of plays in close games, you're right there late in the game. We had three wide open threes going into that stretch at the seven-minute mark, Paris missed a wide open three, that's the best one. We changed some D's and we had a couple of good looks that didn't go down. They had a scoring drive from about the eight-minute mark and on for the rest of the game. We battled hard defensively, but give them credit, they put it up on the glass and they took advantage of us on the glass and it's just frustrating."
On the rebounding margin and points in the paint
"Points is the same for us, points in the paint, second chance points, there were 19 and we can't get them and they get them. We got them to shoot it poorly from the outside, 6-for-22. We just could not react to balls. They're strong inside with Wright and (Rashad) Smith has missed six games and he's their best athlete and I thought he was pretty active on the glass. (James) Woodard made some key shots in some key moments for them, some tough shots. He was really efficient tonight. I thought Woodard with 21 points and seven rebounds in 36 minutes and didn't have the turnovers, that's pretty good stat line."
On Paris Campbell
"He got some buckets to go down and he saw the ball go in the basket. He shot 6-for-13 from the field and gave us 17 points in 40 minutes. He's beat up, he's knocked around and he's playing inside - floaters and jumpers - hurt a little bit at the end of the game. His toughness is something to be marveled at. I'm proud of him coming out after some tough games and really being aggressive offensively having that look in his eye."
On Tulsa's length guarding the perimeter
"They make you work so hard. We had a hard time scoring from multiple spots. We don't score inside at all. It's been very difficult on our perimeter guys to switch a lot, pressure on you and it's difficult, so much is open inside, we just don't have an inside presence right now. I think that really hurts us because it puts a lot of heat on our perimeter guys to be able to make the very first shot because you're probably only going to get one. We got nine offensive rebounds tonight, that's pretty good for us, but that's where we get hurt. A lack of size hurts and effects you on both ends."
