Head Coach Dave Bezold

On the loss to Quincy…
“It was a game where we came out sluggish and got ourselves in a hole. We had to battle back and battle back, and we did that. We gave ourselves a chance to be there right at the end, and we couldn’t make free throws. We couldn’t make the big shot.”

On Derek Smith’s 21 points and 17 rebounds…
“That’s the kind of guy that we felt like we had all along when he came to the program. The thing is that we have been out of it so long basketball-wise. I think he’s just starting to feeling comfortable. He’s been playing with that energy the last month. He just hasn’t had those consistencies up on the board.”

On Jordan Roth and Phil Gettinger’s combined 35 points…
“Their size really bothered us. We just didn’t have an answer. We had some guys inside who were just having so much of a problem handling those guys, but it wasn’t just those guys. It was our help defense. No one person stopped a great scorer. When there was a mismatch, the team defense wasn’t good enough.”

Mike Kelsey

On how to fight only hitting five threes…
“You’ve got to make up for it on defense, and we didn’t. At times, we made runs on defense. We struggled the whole first half, besides Derek. He was a work horse the whole game. He was the one finishing the first half for us. When shots aren’t going well, it seems like other things aren’t go well, and that was the case tonight. We’ve just got to be ready for Saturday.”

On Quincy adjustments after cutting the lead to three…
“We didn’t take care of our opportunities. We fought back into the game, and then we got so close. We’ve done that a lot this year. We’ve fallen behind and came back, and when we get close to closing that gap to zero or taking the lead, we don’t and it goes back the other way. That could be one of the reasons our record is what it is. We’re very inconsistent.”

On the GLVC Tournament…
“When we play our game, we feel like we can play with anybody. Quincy is one of the better teams in this league, and we didn’t play our best. We didn’t play our best game, and I don’t think they played their best game. We were right there. We know we can play because we played with them all this year. Any given night we can beat anybody.”

On Derek Smith’s double-double…
“Derek is a huge asset to this team, especially when he comes out and plays like he did tonight. We’ve known. We’ve seen it a little bit this year when that warrior comes out in him, and we saw that the whole game tonight. I don’t know what got into him, but he was an animal. We need that. If we are going to go anywhere, if we are going to make a run in the conference tournament next week, we’re going to need that out of him because he’s a very gifted player and a very gifted athlete. When he plays like that he only helps us.”