Postgame Quotes
February 28, 2009 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2009
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Coach Mack McCarthy UAB Post-Game Quotes 
East Carolina Players UAB Post-Game Quotes
East Carolina Head Coach Mack McCarthy
On Darrius Morrow And Chad Wynn's Foul Trouble
"If Darrius Morrow plays 10 minutes and Chad Wynn plays 13 minutes, we don't have a really good chance to win the basketball game. They've got to be better at staying out of foul trouble and we have to be better at helping them stay out of foul trouble by guarding our man on the dribble a little bit better. We put them in some bad positions sometimes and they made some silly fouls on their own.
"It certainly hurt our rotation. We survived it in the first half playing small, but as you go along, they're going to find ways to take advantage of that."
On ECU's Defense
"Once again, when we didn't make shots our enthusiasm lagged a little bit. We've got to grow up and get over that. That has been an ongoing issue.
"Defense has been a problem all year whether we were winning or losing. Of course, the things that are problems are not real big issues if you win the game. For instance, against Rice and UCF we had good offensive games, but even in those contests we had some issues defensively. You can't count on outscoring folks every night. At least we can't at this point with the group we have assembled. Maybe we'll get to the point where we can just outscore people. Most good teams play defense for long periods of time. We haven't been able to do that. I'd say that has been a common theme throughout most of the losses, but some of the wins, too."
On UAB's Robert Vaden
"He missed some shots on his own in the first half, but I thought we also did a little better job in the first half defending him. In the second half he was being shut out until he made that layup. But like so many good shooters, once he made that layup, the next time it became a little easier for him. Then all of a sudden he was the Vaden of old. You always expect him to make shots because he has made so many big shots in his time at UAB."
On The Upcoming Bye Week
"I wasn't sure about the bye week here at the end. It put us in a situation where we played a whole lot of Wednesdays and Saturdays in a row and we didn't have a break. With our bye weeks being the first and last weeks of the season I thought that was a little bit of a disadvantage. But now, I'm sort of glad that we have it. We can get in the weight room and in practice and get a lot of shots up to try to get some of that confidence back."
UAB Head Coach Mike Davis
On His Team's Bench Performance
"We made some substitutions in the game and those guys did great for us. Cameron Moore came in and so did Mike [Davis, Jr.], my son. But Cameron, Channing Toney and Howard Crawford played really well. The guys we didn't expect to play well, played well for us."
On Robert Vaden
"Robert Vaden didn't score in the first half, he went 60 minutes without scoring a point, but we knew he had to break out of it. In the second half he missed some shots and it looked like he started pressing just a little bit. He got the layup and that kind of turned things around for him.
"I thought the last two games defensively; he has been as good as anybody on that end of the floor. I told him with about 13 minutes left in the game that we needed 10 points out of him and he came up with 18.
"The thing I love about him is that he had six assists. He drove it, passed it and he never got rattled."
On Tonight's Game Plan
"We wanted to go inside against them because we knew they only had two big guys. We also wanted to post the guards, but we couldn't because they played zone so much. But I had wanted to post up Paul Delaney and Vaden against their guards and get them in foul trouble. This [ECU] is a dangerous basketball team from the three-point line."
Senior Sam Hinnant
On UAB's Big Run In The Second Half
"I think it's easy for us to come and play hard in the first half when we're making shots. In the second half we had a little stretch where we weren't making shots. One thing we have to work on heading into the tournament is that when we're not making shots, we have to keep the defensive intensity up. That's one thing we didn't do and it hurt us."
On His Final Game In Minges Coliseum
"It's sad but we've still got a lot of basketball to play with a game at Central Florida next Saturday and the tournament. Coach Mack keeps telling us that we've got a chance to win the tournament. If we go in playing our best basketball I have high hopes for us."
Senior James Legan
On UAB's Defensive Approach Against Him
"They really switched every screen. Throughout the season, Sam and I have come off of a screen and we wouldn't get a switch and would be open. Tonight was real different for us and we had a hard time adjusting."
On His Final Game In Minges Coliseum
"A lot of things go through your mind like the fans and the support I had being here for my two years. I just want to thank every fan that was here and supported us last year, this year and the years that Sam was here.
"Keep supporting the team. I think they're going in a positive direction. I know Sam and I have put our stamp on the program so I hope they keep it going in the future."
Sophomore Jamar Abrams
On His Offense Tonight
"I just look for my shots when they're open and when they're not I try to create shots for other people. Tonight they were on James and Sam a little bit so I was trying to relieve some of the pressure off of them in the second half so they could get going and go out with a bang."
