ECU-UNCW Postgame Quotes
December 16, 2015 | Men's Basketball
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East Carolina Head Coach Jeff Lebo
Opening statement
"Terrific win for our team and a hard game to play; there were a lot of fouls. It was hard to get in a flow with so many stoppages, but I thought we left a lot of points early on the free throw line. We had 29 foul shots the first half and we're down. I haven't seen that very often. Defensively we did a lot better job in the second half, forced them into perimeter shots, contested shots, lucky for us they missed a lot of those. I thought we handled their pressure very well, didn't turn it over much against the press. We made some adjustments to our press offense in preparation for it, but I thought our guys really did a fantastic job not only breaking it, but we wanted to attack on the other end."
On getting to the foul line
"Wilmington plays a style that gets you there. They put a lot of people on the free throw line if you look at their statistics. We knew we were going to have opportunities, but we couldn't let them put us on our heels because they're a physical basketball team and they're strong on the perimeter defensively. I thought we did a good job attacking and driving the ball one on one. It's hard to play one on one defensive now; the way they call it it's almost impossible. Lucky for us we got to the line a lot and shot it better in the second half from the foul line."
UNCW Heach Coach Kevin Keatts
Opening statement
"Very unusual game because when you look at the stat sheet you see we scored eight more field goals and we took 15 more shots, and certainly we out-rebounded those guys. We had 14 offensive rebounds so when you look at the stat sheet without knowing the score you would say UNC Wilmington won the game. Give those guys credit I thought they made some plays down the stretch. One thing you can't do as a team against the zone is go 3 for 25 [outside the arc]. Any time you're on the road playing against your opponent and they take 30 more free throws than you its tough to win a game."
On the Seahawks' 3-point shooting
"I'm very comfortable with it. Certainly we have proven that we can make those shots. We are not shooting a great percentage on the year, but the guys who were taking the shots are guys you think could make it. Dylan Sherwood, who makes shots was, 0 for 5. Denzel Ingram, whose another shot maker, was 0 for 7, then Craig Ponder was 2 for 8. We spread it around to the guys we wanted to take the shots, we just didn't make them tonight."
On the rivalry
"Absolutely. It's a great game. I thought East Carolina wanted the game more. I told my guys when you look at it, those guys got pride and for the last two games we won the game. I thought at the end they wanted to win more than we did."
Sophomore B.J. Tyson
On what was said in locker room at halftime
"Coach just tested us. This was one of the toughest teams we were going to play at home, and he just sat down and said, 'Listen, we need ya'll to come out and we need ya'll to play. This is one that we really need.' And that's what we did. I know I ended up with three fouls in the first half, but I didn't panic. I didn't get down, I stayed with the team and we won."
On the balance of team performances in second half
"That's what you call team basketball. I'm happy that we really showed that. You saw everybody get in a groove. We played a lot better."
Senior Michael Zangari
On his reaction to making his first 3 of the game
"I just needed one to go in. I've been struggling lately, so getting one to go really felt good."
On UNCW's performance
"We knew coming in they were going to be a tough test for us, and our toughest opponent we've faced at home this year. We game-planned well. Our offense was unbelievable tonight. They really like to get after teams and pressure them, try to turn them over, and our guards did a great job taking care of the ball. I think that was a big key for us tonight."
On beating the press
"We put in a little new press offense to kind of counteract what they were going to do. We just executed it perfectly, and it worked well. We were able to get easy layups early on in the game, and that kind of got us going offensively."
On mindset to take the 3-point shot
"Like I said, I really just needed one to go in, I mean I've been hitting them in practice and stuff. Coach keeps telling me, 'Hey when you're open, shoot the ball,' so finally getting one to go in, that was able to rial me up a little bit. I was like, 'Here we go. Finally, one goes in.' And then just stepped in and shot the next one with confidence."
