East Carolina, Cincinnati Postgame Quotes
February 01, 2015 | Men's Basketball
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East Carolina Head Coach Jeff Lebo
Opening statement
"It was a great win for our kids and I'm really happy for them. They've been resilient all year long and they found a way to win. Basketball is such and odd game. We go 13-of-27 from 3 against Memphis and lose by double figures. Today we shoot 4-of-19 from 3 at home against Cincinnati and win. We got outscored by Memphis by about 25 or 30 in the paint, then we outscore Cincinnati in the paint. It's just a weird game. If you had told me we had won with Caleb and Terry going 0-of-9 from 3, no way. But the kids found a way. They've stayed together and there's nothing harder I think as a coach than trying to keep them together when they've lost and we've lost some close games."
On Antonio Robinson's defensive performance
"He was terrific. He didn't score a point in the game and we had to have him in the game defensively. In the end he got deflections, five steals and took care of the ball. In that 2-3 zone those top two guys need to play three so you got to really work, and lucky for us he was great."
On The Pirates' offensive performance
"Offensively they're hard to score on. Everybody has a hard time scoring on them. Their defense is odd, it's unique, its' different. I thought coming down the stretch we made some beautiful plays. They really keep you from running what you want to run so you have to be a basketball player against them. We win shooting 29% but down the stretch I thought we got some lay ups, we got a couple of steals, got more active in [the zone] and made some key plays."
On the team's overall performance
"I like the resilience of the group. We were down [9] in the second half. With under 3 [minutes] it's a 4-point game and we haven't finished out games like we'd like, but this one we did and I'm just really proud of our guys for making plays. Caleb made two big free throws coming down the stretch. They missed some shots and we were flying around trying to rebound those things."
Freshman guard B.J. Tyson
On his mentality after recent performances
"I just came in with the mentality to get better at practice. I work hard at practice and after practice every day I just got shots up because I knew I didn't have a good game the past couple of games and I knew I needed to work harder at practice and I did and it just paid off tonight."
On the atmosphere in Minges
"Man I love Minges! I play off the crowd. I like to get them excited and that brings me energy. I love Minges."
Junior guard Terry Whisnant
On the Pirates' strong finish to the game
"Just come out and complete a whole second half. We play good in the first and not so well in the second but I think today we played well in both halves."
On the value of the victory
"It just goes to show that we can play with anybody in the conference. It gives us some confidence going into the next game and for the rest of the season. I think it really started these last two days of practice. These last two days were probably the best days we've had of practice. Everybody was out competing, we were talking trash to each other and I think that helped us and it's going to help us along the way this season."
Senior guard Antonio Robinson
On getting the program's first-win over the Bearcats
"It feels good. The past two games we lost were very close. I really don't know what to say. As the fans had said that's really what we're here for are the wins. That was a big win for us and we're going to enjoy it."
On his personal performance
"Offensively I really wasn't doing too well. I had to do something on defense so I got in and tried to get steals, tried to be active. I'm long at the top so just trying to get my hands up and get my hand on every ball. I was just out there moving around, flying around, trying to get my hands on all the loose balls."
Cincinnati Associate Head Coach Larry Davis
On the Bearcats' performance
"It was one of those days. That's why we say defending and rebounding are the most important things. Some nights you make them, some nights you don't, and tonight we weren't making them. We had nine offensive rebounds out of 29 misses. That's less than 30 percent. You can't win on the road when you're not making shots. Offensively, down the stretch we couldn't find a guy that could make an open 3, and we didn't get the ball enough into the paint."
On preparing to play ECU for the second time
"I did everything in my power to try to emphasize to the guys that this was going to be a tough game. I knew it was, because they (ECU) can shoot the 3 so good, even though the 3 didn't beat us. It forces you to spread out a little bit, and they did a smart thing. They threw it to the high post, and those guys made shots. They drove the ball in there, and they have a freshman (BJ Tyson) blow by us two or three times and make shots. They got every loose ball in the first half, and that's a recipe for disaster. We should have been up 12 or 14 at halftime."
On the upcoming schedule
"When you beat a team by 20, you can't come down here and lose. Now, we're heading to SMU, and we've got to go win. It's going to be a tough environment, and they'll be laying for us because we beat them the first time, like we were for UConn. We're going to have to play the best basketball, and the Bearcats are going to have to be the Bearcats. If there's a loose ball, we better get it. If there's a 50/50 ball in the air, we better get all of them if we want to win."
