Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Defeats Tulsa, 72-65
1/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 30, 2008
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 
Marshall Head Coach Donnie Jones
On the game: "I'm proud of our guys. In the second half we came back and we battled really hard. We continued defensively to play pretty good. It gives us a chance to win."
"We weren't shooting the ball very well again but we made some free throws down the stretch which I thought was important. We didn't do a great job but give them (Tulsa) credit for rebounding the basketball. They do a great job attacking the glass and we knew that coming into this game. For the most part our guys competed and down the stretch we made some plays and that's how we have to play."
"We're back to .500 in the league. We've had a tough stretch here. Our kids continue to battle through it."
On Tyler Wilkerson: "I'm proud of Tyler. He came out and has put together some good games here at home; he was playing with some confidence."
On Markel Humphrey: "His presence is very important to our basketball program. As you can see it helped Tirrell Baines tonight. He feeds off Markel a lot."
"We can't expect Markel to come in and save us. Sometimes guys stand around and wait for someone to do it. You have to go out there and generate your own enthusiasm and excitement. We brought some energy in the second half and we won."
Marshall Forward Markel Humphrey On his return:
"I was a little rusty for a couple of possessions, I was a little winded, but I just had to get my second wind. Coach was trying to limit my minutes as much as possible but I kept telling him I was okay so he kept me in during the second half and overtime."
On return to conference play:
"It was really difficult, especially playing a team like Tulsa. They're a great team, they're physical down low. It was difficult and I haven't been practicing, but I've been doing a lot of conditioning so that kind of helped a little bit."
On Tyler Wilkerson:
Tyler's been playing great the past three or four games, and when he was out of the game, it was kind of tough on us, we were a little smaller down low. Tulsa is a great rebounding team, so we just have to box-out a little bit more and learn from our mistakes."
On the overtime victory:
"That starts with the extra time we put in at practice. We do a lot of conditioning. Coach Jones always says practice converts over to the game, you know and that shows. The other teams, they're on their knees and it's like we're just getting started, so that's where the conditioning comes in."
On confidence at end of game:
"Coach always teaches us not to hang our heads that's when you start losing and start pointing fingers when you hang your head. They score, we're coming right back at them. I saw Matt (Walls) on the wing and I just penetrated through to him and I knew it was going in so I didn't even go for the rebound - that sparked the overtime right there."
On defense:
"Just keep stopping on defense. Defense is what wins the game. The offense will come, we just had to battle with them and we did."
On Tyler Wilkerson's dunk:
"We're just playing Marshall ball, something that we do everyday, we share the ball, coach tells us that when we get in the post to go up strong, and that's exactly what we were doing, playing as a team, and it's a lot of fun when you play as a team, it all connects together."
Marshall Guard Matt Walls On the return of Markel Humphrey:
"It opens a lot of doors when Markel's in. He's a double-threat inside and outside."
On free throws:
"It's just a confidence thing. You have to go up and tell yourself that it's going to go in and I think we did that tonight."
On breaking his shooting slump:
"It felt good. My teammates got me wide open looks. Sometimes they fall, sometimes they don't. You can't hang you're head, you just have to move on to the next shot."
Tulsa Head Coach Doug Wojcik
On the Game: "It was a hard-fought game. We didn't take care of the ball on fast-break opportunities, we did not convert transition, we had plenty of opportunities. Great tip-in from Ben Uzoh at the end of the game to give us a chance. For the first time in our three overtime games we come into it with energy because we didn't blow it; the first two we blew. I liked our energy. Go right in to Calvin Walls, get the bucket we want inside. They hit a three, come back and hit another bucket on a tipped dunk. Give them credit they hit two critical threes in that over time. I thought Markel (Humphrey) did well coming off the injury. He's a very good player, I think he's an all-conference player, I give him a lot of credit. I have a lot of respect for Tyler Wilkerson. Coming into the game from my perspective I didn't understand why he wasn't starting. He's a very good player he's got skills that seem on tape you see him shooting threes and beating people off the dribble. He hurt us inside with 16 points. In the end, it was those two three pointers that beat us in overtime and then we did a poor job at the free throw line, shooting threes, and with turnovers and scoring in transition."
