Dec. 12, 2011
Trent Lockett AND Carrick Felix QUOTES ON THE GAME-WINNING PLAY:
CF: "Where do we start? We went over it in the huddle and Coach drew it up. After the whistle blew, we just knew what we had to execute. We knew Chanse was going to throw the ball in and we knew that Trent was going to be at the right spot."
TL: "We had plenty of time to go over it because we called time out and went through it on the board. Then, they called time out again. So, we kind of adjusted it a little bit. But, KC and I exchanged at half court. Chanse was a high school quarterback, so he threw a pinpoint pass to me. I went and got it, and got it into Carrick's spot. No doubt, that was the play to define one of our wings, cutting down the side, spot it up and put it right in the hoop."
ON IMPROVEMENTS:
CF: "A lot of work off-season. A lot of confidence comes from my teammates encouraging me and always pushing me to shoot the ball. I feel like we all worked hard for this. We're going to continue to get better, continue to practice, continue to execute our stuff and continue to try to win. We want to see how many we can win in a row."
ON PRACTICING THE WINNING PLAY:
CF: "All the time. Every day. It worked today."
ON GAME-WINNING PLAYS BEFORE COLLEGE:
CF: "In high school, I had a game-winning dunk, and then I had two game-winning free throws. That's it." TL: "I think last year, I had one in Alaska. In high school, I had a couple of them. But, that was a great one."
ON EXECUTING THE PLAY:
TL: "The way we ran it was exactly how it was drawn up. Chanse kind of led me. My defender came up and left, so he's a quarterback and he led me to the right. I caught it and Carrick was spotted right up."
ON THE WIN:
TL: "That was a big win, especially coming off the loss to Nevada. We lost three or four at home. We're really trying to build on this win going into winter break."
ON RESISTING TO RUSH THE PASS:
TL: "There was not a whole lot of time on the clock, so I tried to put it right on his numbers. They did a good job. Carrick was spotted up. He had a great look at the basket, so I just had confidence in him putting it in the hoop."
CF: "For a second, I didn't think I got it off in time."
ON HERB'S MOOD AFTER LAST GAME:
TL: "That was as bad as I have seen him, but that was also as bad as I have seen our team. We did not play a good game. We weren't doing what we were coached to be doing, so I could obviously see why he was upset. I think today we made strides, and hopefully we can build on this win going into winter break."
ON THE TEAM'S MORALE IN RESPONSE TO HERB'S MOOD:
CF: "We always talk to each other, just about things we can change and things we can do differently. We just have to understand that Coach Sendek is very passionate, and he loves us to death. We just have to understand that a little bit more. Like I always say, we just need to come off this win, come together and forget about everything in the past to start making steps forward."
ON SWITCHING TO MAN-TO-MAN DEFENSE:
CF: "I think we went man just to change up the defense a little bit, just to give them a little different look and see how their offense played against it.
TL: "Number three was getting a lot of open looks. We were playing with fire with that in the first half. I think Carrick did a great job of chasing him around the court. He likes to move on offense, so Carrick did with that."
ON THE NDSU FELT'S THREE-POINTER SHOT TO TIE THE GAME:
TL: "Not again."
CF: "He's a great shooter. I think he's about 52%" TL: "He had 29 field goals on the year, and 24 of them were threes, shooting over 50% from the three." CF: "So, we knew he was going to shoot one. We knew he was going to shoot one of them eventually."
ON RANKING THE WINNING SHOT:
CF: "That has to be number one. It has to be. It felt pretty good. I felt like I was already going to make the shot before I even took it."
COACH SENDEK QUOTES 12/10/11
OPENING STATEMENT:
"I would like to start by just talking about that last play. First, we had a former, outstanding high school quarterback, Chanse Creekmur, make a perfect pass. I thought Trent used tremendous basketball instincts to pass to Carrick. He might have been able to make a play, but he made a better play. Then, Carrick makes the big shot, and I think Carrick's in position to make that shot today because of the incredible work he's put into shooting. If you think back to him as a shooter a year ago today, and where he is today, he has to be among the most improved shooters in the country. Now, when he takes a three, I have great confidence that it's going in. The two best parts of the play, in some respects, came afterwards though. It was great to see our team celebrate with that kind of joy. That is something that we have talked about a great deal together. Second, a little birdie told me that immediately, Carrick and Trent found themselves together and spontaneously, they each credited the other. Not surprisingly, two of our highest character guys. So, it was a great play to finish the game. Tremendous execution after the air went out, when Felt hit the desperation three. Just analyzing the game briefly, our three point defense final took a turn for the better, both in our zone and our man. Of course, they missed a few open looks, but that part of our defense was measurably better than it has been. Obviously, Kyle and Trent did a great job on the backboard for us. Our team did a good job of getting to the free throw line. It's great to see Kyle developing into such a good free throw shooter. Doug reminded me that last year for the whole year, he was 11 for 25. He has the courage to shoot it somewhat unconventionally, something we have talked about, and he's so much better in that area. Still, our turnovers are way too high and really don't give us any margin for error. Today, North Dakota State, did a great job of taking care of the ball with only six and we plundered with sixteen. But, all in all, good win against a team that came in 7-1 today. Our guys have been engaged with finals and working hard. So, it was a good and timely win for us."
ON THE FINAL PLAY GOING AS PLANNED:
"Listen, the guys did a perfect job of executing. It's something that we have in our arsenal. We reminded them at the time out of their roles and positioning, and they did a great job of executing. Every part has to go right. If the pass isn't perfect, if the kick out isn't on time, and if the shot doesn't go in - there's all three things have to be just perfect with 1.8 seconds."
ON PRACTICING THE PLAY THAT WON THE GAME:
"We don't do it everyday, but we have it in our arsenal and we have taken time to put ourselves in that position once in awhile."
ON CALLING THE PLAY:
"We didn't change anything."
ON SWITCHING TO MAN-TO-MAN DEFENSE IN THE SECOND HALF:
"Not that our zone was ineffective. In the first half, they scored 26 points at 37% from the field. We just thought, perhaps, that if we came out in the press and fell back to man-to-man, it would help energize our team and get us off to a good start. We always break the game down into four minute increments. One of the four minute increments that we haven't been as good is the first four minutes of the second half. So, Coach Taylor brought it up at half time, and I agreed with him immediately that it made a great deal of sense to see if we could really jump start ourselves as much as anything. Statistically, the first half. The second half, defensively, was almost a dead heat. I don't know that it was better or worse, but it was certainly something that made sense for us coming out of half time."
ON Chris Colvin PLAYING STATUS:
"I really don't know. That will be determined as we move forward. We will see what happens. He didn't participate today because of conduct unacceptable to any team."
ON Kyle Cain:
"I think when Kyle plays to his strengths, and he's comfortable in his own game, he's really effective. Kyle is somebody who has to play with a motor. He's somebody who has to pursue every rebound as if it has his name on it. I think our team is very conscientiously trying to get the ball inside and give him more touches. When you think about the one stat that we just mentioned, last year he took 25 free throws all year. Today alone, he took 14. So, I think that the way our team is made out right now as things have evolved, it is certainly different then we thought it'd be over the summer. We're very conscious of trying to get the ball close to the basket, and I think he has done it for us. The other thing is, that one year could be a big difference between your first and second year. We like to see marked improvements."
ON Trent Lockett:
"Not to make an excuse for him, but in fairness to him, he hasn't really practiced. He's dealing with a growing injury. He was heavily bandaged and taped today. But I thought that he did what he could to help our team. He grabbed 12 rebounds, and he had some big ones. Some of those were of the caliber that he had to go get them. They didn't just bounce to him."
ON Chanse Creekmur IMPROVEMENT IN SHOOTING:
"The story wrap wouldn't be complete if that wasn't included. Chanse didn't play earlier in the week. He has missed practices with a hamstring injury. Before that, obviously, he wasn't playing his best. It was just so good to see him knock his first shot down, and then have the confidence to hit the second one. He made two big free throws. He got a couple big rebounds for us. Not only was it good to see the points go on the board, but I think it was really good for the morale of our team. We all know that he is a terrific shooter. You don't want to play him in horse, believe me. It's just one of those things. Even the best of shooters sometimes, or the best of hitters in baseball, go through those periods where they're not themselves and the only person who can get them out in the end is themselves. No one can shoot it for them, or no one can get in the batter's box and hit it for them. So, it was really a tremendous injection for our team to have him do that." ,
ON THE OVERALL MENTALITY OF THE TEAM:
"It is hard to quantify that. It manifests itself in different ways. I thought our guys were focused coming in. They obviously wanted to get a win today. We knew, coming in that we'd have to play well. I told the guys earlier in the week, and I might have mentioned it in the press conference, that it was our opinion that North Dakota State would be the best team in their league. They would be an NCAA tournament team. They're the kind of team that when you're watching March Madness, CBS will switch over to the game and they're going to have somebody from the BCS conference on the ropes and trying to advance. They're a good team. They're very well coached. The thing about them is they're one of those teams who play close to the vest and they're not going to beat themselves. They're not going to give you a big lane to drive through. You're going to have to tee up and hit it again. Like you saw, six turnovers. They pack it on defense. Everything is position-oriented. On offense, they make you guard sometimes for 35 seconds. They move the ball. They don't beat themselves."
ON IMPROVEMENTS IN SHOT SELECTION FROM LAST GAME:
"We talked about our shot selection. I thought some of you were being more than kind when you tried to label our poor shot selection in different ways and I was in no mood to be as thoughtful. I just thought that some of the shots that we were taking, the only two things I could think of was we weren't very smart or we were being selfish. I think shot selection kind of comes down to one of those two things. Because at this point, guys should know what a good shot is and what isn't a good shot. Having said that, I don't want our guys looking over their shoulder, afraid to shoot. I think you can remember earlier in the season a point where John Gilling went into the game and he missed one. Then, he had a wide open one and he didn't shoot and I took him out. I said, `If you're not going to take open shots, you can't play.' So, I want our guys to have the confidence to take good, open shots. I know every one may not be perfect, but there's no tolerance for shot selection that isn't smart or that is selfish. I'm not say that we're ever going to go through a game where we have zero turnovers and zero bad shots, but as the adage goes, let's chase perfection and hope to catch excellence in those two areas."