Dec. 2, 2000
"I just tried to put it all out there on the court. I was really tired. I don't even know how many minutes I played. They made some big shots. I just knew we had to come back and I had to carry my team. That is what I try to do all year. Coach Davey told us that the game wasn't going to be won in the first minute (of overtime) and that we needed to come out, make shots and get stops. I think in the first half we didn't play good at all. We didn't rebound the ball. We didn't execute on offense. In the second half, we started rebounding and started getting better shots. It was one of the best games I've ever played in. We have a whole new team and (the newcomers) need time to come in and learn the offense. They are new to the program. The ones that are returning, like David (Emslie), Brian (Vaka) and Justin (Holbrook), I have confidence in them. When it is crunchtime, they will step-up."
Coach Dick Davey
"There is a lot of adversity for both teams in an overtime game. I thought we fought through some three-pointers again tonight that they made that were 24, 25-feet and were able to hang in. Sometimes that will get you down and you won't recover. I was really proud of our guys for not giving in and finally we got a couple rebounds when we needed them. We also had some guys make some big shots. Obviously, the guys that were making the shots were our most experience guys. We got some big shots in critical periods of the game. I am proud of our team. I think (Chattanooga) was a team that, if we were a little more efficient, it might have been a little better game for us. But, results are what counts and we won the game.
"We didn't think we executed offensively in any way in the first half. Really it was a complete negative. The negative of the second half was that they got a lot of second shot attempts. But, we did execute our offense a little better. We played a little more zone defense in the second half, which we didn't use in the first half. And, I think we kind of came together as a team in the second half. Everybody didn't stand around waiting for somebody else to do it. There were more guys trying to get involved and that was encouraging.
"Jim Howell, on the boards did a great job. He ended up the game with 10 rebounds and he went two-for-three from the floor and only takes the three shots. We want to get him on the foul line a little bit more. If he can learn to get a little more aggressive around the bucket. His rebounding and his effort was outstanding. He is a guy that could end-up leading us in steals if he keeps it up. He was on the floor for loose balls and did a lot of nice things.
"Brian's play in the second half and the overtimes... We couldn't have done it without him. He was a leader. He wants to take the tough shots. He doesn't make them everytime. But, he wants to take them to give you a chance to win. That's his mentality. Tonight, a lot of them were going in in the second half and without him we would have been in trouble."