Postgame Quotes
February 12, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2011
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East Carolina Head Coach Jeff Lebo
Opening comments
"It was a tough night for us. We battled hard, but we dug ourselves too big of a hole to try to comeback from. Our kids battled to the very end and we really could've made it interesting. We struggled scoring the ball. We missed lay-ups, we missed foul shots, and struggled to defend Pitts. Pitts came into the game shooting 23 percent from 3 [in conference play] and he goes 5-of-8. He is a terrific a player and played well tonight for them. Their backcourt really hurt us. I thought [Shaquille] Johnson and Pitts were the big difference in the game. They made some big plays for them.
"We just struggled. We're down two guys in the post, Jamar gets in foul trouble, we had two freshmen coming off the bench at the big spots, and we just didn't have enough guys have a good game. They sunk down on Morrow and doubled him big-to-big. It's easy to take one guy out of the game. When we did get the ball to him, he missed some shots in there that he typically makes, which was a big difference in the game."
On the second half run
"We cut into their lead so quickly. It was 27 and all of the sudden you're looking at it with a chance to cut it to four with about six minutes or seven minutes to go in the game and that point, so there was plenty of time left in the game. Offensively without Morrow giving us [scoring] in there we had to have other guys step up and make some plays and we just didn't get that consistently tonight."
On shooting the ball
"We have struggled shooting in the last three games, we have not shot the ball particularly well. We have had a hard time manufacturing some easy baskets. People are starting to not defend multiple people on the court for us, which is concerning. And then when Jamar struggles as he did tonight that hurt us from an offensive standpoint."
Marshall Head Coach Tom Herrion
Opening comments
"We made it interesting, as the press bothered us again, which I am disappointed in. It bothered us in Huntington when they came back and beat us. Jeff is doing a great job with this team; he's done a tremendous job pumping new life [into this program]. There hasn't been that atmosphere in this building since my brother was here and some of those other bigger schools were coming in here to play. That says a lot about where the program is headed.
"I got a lot of respect for them, but for us it was a great road win. We played really, really bad against UAB the other day. Our kids, to their credit, did a great job at getting off the mat and we showed a lot of character coming on the road and beating a good East Carolina team today."
On dominating the glass
"Most of the season we've been a good rebounding team, lately we've been slipping and the other night we were pathetic rebounding, so it was a major point of emphasis for us."
On double teaming Morrow
"We didn't do it as much at our place and obviously he had a career night with 33 at our place, so we wanted to put it on and take it off. They shoot the ball so well from 3, we are the eighth-best team in the country guarding the three-point shot and we didn't want to open up the 3-point game for them. Morrow is such a load to handle that we had to double him. We were really good early with our doubles, really bothered him and made him extend, you saw him dribble out to corners and that shrinks the floor in double team situations, so it was effective for us."
On ECU's second half run
"Welcome to conference play, no one is going away. They're a well-coached team and Jeff's team made a run at us. We buckled, but didn't bend and we were able to close it out at the line.
"We are still a relatively young team trying to figure out ways to win. When you win on the road it's a terrific win. We were sloppy with the ball in that stretch. When you turn it over 28 times, that's not a good number. We've only averaged 12 turnovers per game since Pitts has come back, so that came out of nowhere. They did a good job with the press, we panicked a little bit, we played scared, we played weak with the ball."
