ECU-Tulane Postgame Quotes
February 10, 2016 | Men's Basketball
East Carolina Head Coach Jeff Lebo
Opening statement
" Congratulations to Tulane, and it was a heartbreaking loss for us. It was another one of multiple overtimes here at home. These games sting a great deal, and we had the game right where we wanted it. I know from experience when we were up 12, I had a feeling when we didn't step on their throat. We couldn't make a couple of plays and extend it to where we wanted to go. Tulane made some shots, give them credit, and we went 3 for 16. They are one of the worst shooting teams in the league and they shot 12 for 31 from three. IIn the second half from the 10-minute mark and for the rest of the overtimes, we looked tired and they took advantage of it."
On the team's struggles
" They switched a lot on the ball screens, so it forced us to play man to man. They played small and we played small, so they switched on the ball screens. We did not take advantage of anything. We got to the bonus very quickly in the second half, but we did not get as many free throws as I would like. We had a couple plays in the last few minutes of regulation that were just tough plays. Also we did not make some smart plays where we would just throw the ball around. We have been doing pretty well at taken care of the ball, but we had some odd turnovers tonight. When things get tight that is what sometimes happens."
On the morale of the team
"You always worry about the morale of the team and it is the hardest thing to keep for anybody that is not winning. We have lost some close ones that have been heartbreakers and those are harder for me then when you get beat by 20 points. They are difficult to take, but we have good kids that will come back and be tough."
Tulane Head Coach Ed Conroy
Opening statement
"It seems like whenever our two teams get together, guys just start stepping up, and offensively they put on a show; I thought tonight was not different. I had a lot of fun coaching of group of guys tonight, but I admired the way they competed as well. Jeff [Lebo] always has his team ready, and I've always said that he does the best job of putting his players in positions and exposing match-ups that you have. I thought he did a great job of that tonight. He really exposed some our guys on the drive, but our guys were able to rise to the challenge. We had a nice comeback in that second half, so I'm proud of our guys the way they competed."
On feeling the momentum swing towards Tulane
"I could and I will tell you, making shots changes a lot of things in the game of basketball. I would have never thought our team would struggle like we did all year, but we've really struggled to shoot the basketball. We've worked hard on our passing and execution to maybe put ourselves in better rhythm. And when they saw those shots go down, it was like the confidence level of our team soured. But I don't think necessarily that either team did anything really different it was just a couple of shots go in and we started feeling good."
On Louis Dabney's performance
"That's Louis Dabney; he's struggled some with his body this year and just being totally healthy. But he was fresh tonight. I thought he was sensational. I thought the last part of the second half, especially when we got him in the middle of that zone, I thought he was the one guy that was really effective and able to get other guys involved."
Freshman Kentrell Barkley
On learning something from these type of games
"Yeah, I personally didn't come up on free throws, I missed a couple that could have gave us the win unfortunately. It's tough though. We just have to minimize the breakdowns on defense, because in the end, that's where it comes out to be: just the break downs on defense."
Senior Prince Williams
On what went wrong down the stretch
"I think the defensive break downs, we let a lot of rhythm 3s, they got open in the deep corners especially, I think we just let them back in the game. We were up by 13 at the 13-minute mark or so, and we could've buried them at that point, but break downs in the defense, and in the zone cost us."
On losing close games as opposed to getting blown out
"Yeah definitely. This is tougher than the UConn loss... That game got away from us, but here, having a close game, and having the win within reach, and then you just let it slip like that. It's tough to swallow."
