Steve McClain
Steve McClain
Steve McClainis the men's head basketball coach at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He had spent the previous five seasons on the staff of the Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team...
assistant challenge enjoyed fear john playing scout since
I've always enjoyed the challenge of playing them. I've been lucky. My assistant John Adams has (been) the scout for them since Day 1, and we don't fear playing them.
lucky seem
Sometimes you have to get a little lucky, and we can't seem to get a little lucky right now.
defense guarded hurt offensive stuff transition trouble
Offensive rebounding. They get 20 of them and really, that's what hurt us in the first half. We guarded their stuff well enough. We had some trouble with transition defense and we had trouble with rebounding the basketball.
earned played
They played well, and they earned their time.
afraid faces games group point trying win
They're just out there competing. They're challenging each other. This group isn't afraid to get in each other's faces and if you can't take that, you can't play. Justin's a senior. He's trying to win games on his way out. He makes that point to a lot of people.
holding lack people work
The big thing holding us back is the lack of rigs and the lack of people to work on them,
ball credit fought knocked rely shoot shooting shot
They fought to the end. We had some breakdowns, but they also shot the ball about as well as they could shoot it. We were trapping, we were going with the idea that if they rely on shooting 3s we're all right, and they knocked them down. Give them credit for that.
free game unfolds win
In the end we didn't make our free throws. If we make our free throws, the game unfolds all right for us. Those are the little things you have to do at the end to win a game like that.
ability coach coaches cowboys doubted hard head last lead players proud wins worked
I know that in this business, as head coach I am measured, ultimately, by wins and losses. I was very proud of our players and what we accomplished last week. I have never doubted my ability to coach and lead the Cowboys successfully. I know how hard our coaches and players have worked for this program.
guys ike justin move played rotation somebody step
If Justin can't play, one of those guys that hasn't played as much, such as Ike or Jarrod, will have to play minutes. Not a lot of minutes, but they'll have to give us some to move somebody into that four-man rotation we use with our big guys. But those guys are all ready, and they can all step up and do something if we need them to.
challenge hope kicks
I hope he kicks his butt all night. That's a challenge -- he's going to have to come up to it.
basketball certainly character comments cowboy difficult emotional following great itself pride taken team
I was emotional after a difficult game, and I certainly shouldn't have said the things I said. I have always taken great pride in how our team handles itself following losses, as well as wins. My comments were out of character for what Cowboy basketball is all about.
ask clicks fight lost people point struggling team wait win work
People always ask you 'Have you lost your confidence?' We were struggling and (something) clicks at some point that makes a team go 'Now wait a minute. We're going to fight and we're going to work to try to win this game.' Something clicked.
ball bounce choice fight maybe
We have enough fight in us. There's only one choice -- keep fighting. Maybe a ball will bounce our way one time.