Nov. 19, 2011
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Coach Sendek
ON THE TEAM'S OVERALL PERFORMANCE:
"I thought we made improvement. I think we were more of a team tonight. We have to continue on that trajectory. I thought, for the most part, perhaps with some lapses, we had good energy and effort. But still, we were just not making enough plays. Clearly, our turnovers just continue to be almost insurmountable - the quantity and the timing of them make it very difficult on our basketball team. It leaves us very little room for error against a good team like New Mexico."
ON GUARD Chris Colvin:
"I don't know if it's a function of trying to do too much. We're trying to get him comfortable as he makes the transition here. He's a talented young man. He's more than capable. But, obviously, the turnover aspect is something that's, not just with him but with several of our guys and our team in general, something that we have to do better. We have to make better decisions. We have to take better care of the ball - just understand the value of a simple play, sometimes."
ON NEW MEXICO'S REBOUNDS:
"Actually, I think their last five points came on ricochet pin balls like that - the corner three, and I think it was Kendall Williams in the middle of the lane came up with the loose ball in the scramble. We talked about that with our team post-game. Those kind of things are, unfortunately, the margin of difference - and tonight, not in our favor."
ON THE OFFENSE AND FORWARD Carrick Felix:
"We have the kind of team that really has to make each other better on offense. I didn't think that we had Trent involved enough in the first half. But, the way that our offense is going to flow, there is going to be some aspect to it like, what is there and what is the defense providing. It's not like we're running play after play for Carrick. He had some goods and he has really, as you can see, improved his shooting. He's an outstanding free throw shooter and really just keeps getting better and better. He has a great attitude. I'm really pleased with Carrick's progress. But, I think the guy that wasn't involved enough was Trent in the first half. We really challenged our guards to be aware of Trent. Where can we get him the ball? Those are some areas that we have to continue to grow."
ON THE SUN DEVIL'S DEFENSE:
"I know with the volley of three's we gave up in the first half, maybe at first blush, everybody including myself were very harsh on our defense on Tuesday. But, when we watched the tape, with the exception of two shots that I would say were really mis-covered, Pepperdine hit five of the most challenged three's that we'll see all season. The sixth one was in the second half at the end of the shot clock from half court. Our energy was actually pretty good. Our albatross was our offense. Even tonight, we have to get better on defense but our energy is pretty good. Guys are moving. I'm not a coach who sits here and says, `We weren't as successful as we wanted to be because our guys were being lazy or we're not hustling.' I don't have that feeling. I don't think that we're necessarily playing well, but I would feel a lot worse if I had felt like the reason we weren't as successful as we wanted is our energy level was low or we weren't hustling. But even Tuesday, it's not that we didn't make defensive mistakes and had lapses because we did. But, I'm just looking from the big picture. They made some incredibly difficult shots and our energy was pretty good. So, if I had to single out any one thing right now, it's Montana State - 19 turnovers, 15 on Tuesday, 19 today. We're turning the ball over too much. Too much."
ON THE LAST SHOT OF THE GAME:
"We had a good look. It didn't go down. I don't think we could hope for a better opportunity. We had a good transition attack. But once again, you can go back to any number of plays like over the course of the game and this shot, that shot."
Guard Trent Lockett
ON THE LAST SHOT OF THE GAME:
"That was the shot I wanted. I was waiting for it, but it just didn't fall. It felt good, but off to the right."
ON THE TEAM SHOWING SIGNS OF PROGRESS:
"Obviously, it's hard coming off a loss, but I feel better. I think we really came together as a team a little bit more today. I think we made strides in a lot of areas. I think we only had eight offensive rebounds. Obviously, we improved but not enough to get the win, which is unfortunate."
ON BEING IN-CHECK:
"They did a great job, but also I just had to be a little bit more aggressive in picking my spots. Carrick was playing well. I think all the guys were doing well, so I'm not going to try force anything just to get my game going. As long as we're scoring the ball and we're playing well, I'm not going to interrupt it."
"I think [Coach] hit the nail right on the head. That's our Achilles heel right now. When we clean it up, I think we'll be a lot better team. But, right now, that's one thing that's really killing us."
ON FINDING THE RHYTHM OF THE TEAM:
"Chris - it's his first year. Keala - point guard isn't his natural position, but obviously he's a great player and he's capable of it. I'm turning the ball over way too much right now as well. So, it's just a combination of things. But, I think if we can fix it, it'll help us tremendously."
ON FORWARD Carrick Felix:
"Carrick played well today. He got to the line quite a bit and he hit some three's. He runs the floor. He works hard and I think it's really paying off for him."
Forward Carrick Felix
ON THE OVERALL FEELING OF TONIGHT'S GAME:
"I felt good. Just coming in the game, I was focused and just in the right frame of mind. My teammates helped me get to that place. The coaching staff just prepared us for the game. We came really close this game and came together really well. We're just going to build off that."
ON ADDING RANGE TO HIS GAME:
"There's a lot of practice, a lot of reps I got up this summer and obviously, it's just getting put into play now. I'm just going to continue to work."
ON FEELING COMFORTABLE ON THE COURT:
"Yeah, I feel pretty comfortable - real comfortable. My teammates make me feel real comfortable."
ON FEELING LIKE THE TEAM IS IMPROVING:
"Yeah, it's definitely a different feeling. I feel like we played together very well this game. I feel like we all came together really well. There are just a lot of little mistakes that we just have to make up in practice and continue to get better. We're going to have adversity. We're going to have ups and downs. This is the time where we build and we come together even more."
ON TAKING THE NEXT STEP:
"I can't tell you the next step. I can tell you that Sunday's practice, we're just going to get right back into it and just keep practicing hard. Just keep focus and keep trying to move ahead. Keep moving forward."
ON PLAYING MAN-TO-MAN DEFENSE:
"We went man-to-man in the last two minutes. We prepare for anything. When we practice our walk-through, we go through man and we go through zone. We're pretty much ready for anything."