Famous Quotes & Sayings

Jay Wright

We take the responsibility of representing United States basketball very seriously,

Kelly Packard

We suffered three losses early in the season when we were injured and just not playing as a team. We've obviously played much better basketball since then.

We told them at halftime to keep plugging away. Our second quarter was just awful. I saw a couple pouts out there and I told them to turn those frowns into smiles and pick it up and play basketball like we know how to play it.

Chris Paul

We told our kids that anything's possible. I'd be lying to you if I looked you in the eye and said we were going to come out here and beat Purdue. That's a great basketball team we just played.

We threw a few guys at (Lucas) trying to keep fresh legs, and there were a couple of times we tried to run a play at him to get him to give the basketball up and then try to not let him get it back if we could. But he seemed to get it back a little bit more than we wanted.

We thought we had it the whole way. The shots didn't fall. That's how basketball goes, I guess.

Avery Johnson

We thought we got our defense under us in the first half and kind of set the tone for the rest of the game. We had a little lull defensively in the third quarter, but they're a very good offensive basketball team and they weren't going to come out of the locker room lying down.

I thought we did a nice job on the boards, and I thought our defense was solid. We have held our last five teams under 35 percent shooting and then when you rebound the basketball like we did, it helps you to be successful.

I thought we did a good job of slowing them down and making them play half-court basketball.

Pat Riley

I thought we played some of the best basketball that we've played for two and a half quarters. Then we got really sloppy with turnovers. We lost the energy that we had but we closed it out.

I thought we played our best basketball of the season in the first and third quarters. We had a plan defensively and we just put it all together. We played well at both ends of the floor.

Flip Saunders

I thought we played maybe 10 to 13 minutes of championship basketball tonight. We didn't play how we're supposed to play, even down the stretch. We won the game, but there were definitely some learning experiences.

I thought we played hard. But South Shore played hard too. Give them credit. They were able to play their style of basketball and take control of the game in the paint. They killed us on the boards ,and that was the difference in the game.

Gary Williams

I thought we had a great stretch of basketball early in the second half. We played well enough to keep the lead. Hopefully this is the start of becoming a good basketball team.

Flip Saunders

I thought we might have played 10 to 13 minutes of championship basketball tonight. We won the game, but there are things we need to work on.

I thought we had them on the ropes in the first half, but basketball is four quarters. We are a young team and just don't have the depth to match them right now.

I thought the refs were pretty consistent, so we're fine with that. There's certainly, I think, too much contact for a high school basketball game and I think that needs to be addressed because if you're not as strong physically, then you get leveraged under the basket or out of bounds. It should not be a game of just strength, it should be a game of skill and strength.

I thought the guys played a pretty good basketball game tonight. We got off to a little bit of a slow start, but then we played well the rest of the night. We did a lot of things well in the game.

I thought they played incredible basketball, given the fact that they had not had the opportunity to play together. We had two or three players that had not played varsity and we were undersized.

I thought the biggest difference was the fact we were able to defend the basketball at the highest level.

I thought that first half of basketball, Pitt played really, really well.

I think we had played some of our worst basketball that weekend. We felt those were some potential victories that we let slip away, but we have an opportunity to redeem ourselves.

I think we're a great basketball team and they thumped us pretty good in the second half.

I think we're a decent basketball team. I hope we can get better.

I think we're a better basketball team than we were last year but the league is better top to bottom. This may be the best year that we've ever had.

Derek Fisher

I think we're finding this team can win basketball games, even when we don't score 100 points.

I think we're finally playing the kind of basketball I know we can play. We finally put it all together. We're passing, we're waiting for our shot, being patient.

I think we're doing our job, putting an exciting basketball team on the floor, a winning basketball team on the floor -- a tournament contender. It would help if we had at least 6,000 fans at every home game, but I'm not going to chastise those who haven't been here.

I think we match up OK. It just matters if we come to play and how we handle the trip. We're not used to being on a bus for two hours and then getting out and playing a basketball game.

Brandon Roy

I think we just want to keep playing good basketball. We don't want to go the Pac-10 tournament and have a terrible game and have that be the last thought on our minds heading into the NCAA tournament.

Will Thomas

I think we just wanted the basketball more than them, man.

Jerry Sloan

I think we do believe in the offense now. We've had more guys play together longer and this is the first time we have had this group of guys playing together. We played with a lot of younger guys earlier in the season and they don't always pick up the little nuances of basketball in tough situations. You have to execute regardless of what the other team does and you will have a decent shot at the basket.

I think we did surprise a lot of people. We lost some games we shouldn't have lost and at times we didn't look like a good basketball team, but we pulled together when the state tournament came and now we're at state.