Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Basketball Postgame Quotes
2/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dan D'Antoni, head coach
Opening statement
"We came out and shot the ball well. I think the kids did a good job coming off the road and getting ready for this week. I told them about two months ago, we were in last place and I said `Fellas, we are going to get in this tournament. I don't care how we do it. We are going to get in there somehow.' From that point on, they made it easy. I am proud of them. They've done a lot for this program. We have more this season. We can get right on up there in the conference standing with a couple more wins. We will see what happens."
On offensive efficiency
"We didn't turn the ball over. And when you get to the rim, and you force the defense down, it just so happens you get a few. They didn't really try to take it away from us. Some teams, they try to take threes away but with this team we were able to play a normal style. Load it up and let it go."
On contributions by Cheikh Sane off the bench
"I think Cheikh did a great job coming off the bench. He was a difference maker. He not only offensively had a lot of energy, but defensively he played really well. I think he helped secure this win."
On clinching a spot in the C-USA Tournament
"It is great for the kids and fans. I live right in the moment. We try to do the best we can. We will come out tomorrow morning and watch film and get out on the floor."
Austin Loop, redshirt sophomore guard
On getting open for threes
"I questioned early if I was going to get any good looks. It helps when you have guys like them feeding me the ball. We have [Ryan] Taylor knocking down shots and Justin [Edmonds]; I don't know how you guard him. We spread the floor so much and just get open shots."
Ryan Taylor, redshirt sophomore forward
On bouncing back from two road losses
"It feels good but we still have a lot more work to do. We want to go there and win, get the automatic bid and go to the NCAA Tournament. We are happy about it, but we don't want to get our heads too big."
On differences between the first FIU game this season and this game
"We capitalized on our mistakes from the Miami game [at FIU]. We watched a lot of film, watched how they came out in the second half and attacked us. We wanted to be the first one to the punch instead of getting punched tonight. We were effective with what we did tonight. We ran our offense smoothly, got open shots, and we fed off our home crowd a lot."
On differences in Coach D'Antoni's demeanor this season
"No, he's the same guy. He just doesn't want us to get too high about winning games. He comes in with the offense and game plan and wants us to make it happen and that's what we have been doing. Everybody on the team didn't have doubts, we knew we were going to win some games. We got hot at the right time. Coach is still the same coach, he's the same guy."
On the team's maturity
"We can see us as a team maturing, from us going on our losing streak to now when we're getting hot and winning games you can see us maturing and coming together as a team. I think we're not a slouch in the conference. My team and the coaching staff think that as well. Teams don't take us lightly, so we have to come out every night and bring our A-game."
Cheikh Sane, senior forward
On shutting out FIU's Diaz in the first half
"We doubled him. It was hard for us to get him one-on-one, and we needed everybody together as a team to help us and try and put him in foul trouble."
On looking forward to Senior Night on Saturday
"Pretty excited to play last game on Saturday. I'm looking forward to getting the win."
