Postgame Quotes
February 01, 2012 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 1, 2012
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 
East Carolina Head Coach Jeff Lebo
Opening Stement
"That's a good win for our team and I'm proud of the them. I thought we did a lot of nice things out there tonight; rebounding the ball, we got high percentage shots, had patience, and shot the ball very well. Defensively we weren't sharp early. We gave up too many lay-ups , but they didn't hurt us from the three. Not having their best player obviously was a big factor in the game. However, we still have to go out and win the game and we did that. I thought we got a nice balance. Robert Sampson played well and got through some adversity with missed lay-ups and dunks, but he did a lot of nice things out there, and we were solid all around tonight."
Thoughts on Robert Nyakundi not playing for SMU
"I didn't know about it until we went out, and he wasn't in the starting lineup. A lot of our game plan revolved around him. He averages almost 16 points per game and is their best rebounder. They looked a little lost out there without him. Obviously they didn't have a guy to go to there."
On SMU's style of play
"They have a funky way to play and defensively their system can get you standing. You try to figure out what they are in half of the time. I thought we did a nice job of moving the ball. We knew we were going to have to make some open jump shots because that's what they give you, and we were able to make 10 3s, which is good."
SMU Coach Matt Doherty
Opening Statement
"First off congratulations to Jeff and his team, they have some talent and its just a matter of it coming together. He has about as many new players as I do and it's hard. He's got talented players like Morrow and Paul, who are some of the best guard and post players in the league. We were without our best player and I was hoping some of our young guys would step up and they did. I thought we started out pretty well, but defensively we had way to many breakdowns, and it snowballed from there."
On the decision to hold out Nyakundi
"It came basically this afternoon at shoot around. He pulled his hamstring at the end of the first half against Tulsa. He played the rest of that game, but wasn't real effective. We thought he may be able to go today, but he wouldn't have been effective. I am concerned about our game Saturday. I want to make sure he is as close to 100-percent and it's not going to be a nagging injury down the stretch."
ECU junior Maurice Kemp
On the Pirates' perimeter shooting performance
"We scouted them and knew we would have a lot of opportunities from the outside. They like to pack it in defensively and keep you out of the lane so we knew coming into this game that we would have a lot of opportunities. We have been working on our shot and were actually able to knock then down tonight."
On Robert Sampson's performance
"It was just great. I love seeing Rob playing like that with so much passion. It only makes things better. He works hard in practice day in and day out so I love to see him have a great game like that."
ECU sophomore Robert Sampson
On his performance
"I've just been working hard in practice and putting up a lot of shots trying to get my hand back to normal. We all have been working hard in practice and trying to get it to click and now its finally clicking. It's just a great win."
