Nov. 19, 2000

Postgame Press Conference Quotes
Santa Clara Men's Basketball vs. Alaska-Fairbanks

Dick Davey
"We obviously feel very fortunate to beat a team that we feel is an excellent team, particularly playing at their place. That adds to the victory. It is tough to play in a negative environment and I am proud of the way our kids handled that. It was a hard, physical game. Al's (Sokaitis) players played hard and we were very impressed with them.

"We had no interior game in the first game (against Utah State). We had a little interior game in the last game (Davidson). In the first half tonight, although we didn't score much in the second half, I think we were something like 11-for-13 inside of six feet. You have to hit those shots in college basketball to have a chance to win. You can't rely on just the outside game. Our guys did a good job of getting the ball into Jamie Holmes and some of our players inside and that made it a little easier for us.

"I thought our defense was pretty stable tonight. That is a tough team to play because they can hurt you from the outside so effectively. And, a couple guys can go on the block and really create problems for you. I thought our defense was probably the best it has been so far this year.

"(During UAF's second-half run) I was thinking that I was hoping our guys would figure out something because they were making some threes. When the momentum switches like that, everything goes your way. The crowd gets involved and the game is handled in a little different manner by your players. We were a little tentative. We weren't trying to attack. We had four or five turnovers in a row in one stretch. In the early season you are going to have some of that. I was thankful to see that we came out of it, made a few free throws and got ourselves back in it."