"He's a terrific player and is capable of having nights like that just like the rest of our guys. We try to work with him and give him some extra reps on offense even in practice, because sometimes he can get a little rattled when maybe the ball doesn't go in the basket sometimes like every player.
Â
"But he stuck with it and was ultimately the difference in the game with his presence on the backboard. I'm just really proud of him and the rest of the team of how they found a way down the stretch to get stops and grind out a win. But I'm also proud of all our guys."
Â
On Kennesaw State's hard-fought effort and getting the win over them.
"We've lost to them twice, and they have two of the better guards in the country. Yonel Brown went for 24, and he's had two games this year where he's gone for over 30, with one of them being against Alabama. He had 32 against Chattanooga last year. There's definitely not a lack of respect there and they have one of the best coaches of this era, so the job he's been doing is unbelievable. We got a five or six-point lead, and then I said we can take a breath and let's relax for a second here.
Â
"When you don't play with that competitive edge and fire, anybody can beat you on any given night, and I would say that to most teams in the country. There's so much in college basketball that you have to bring it every single night. I'm just really proud that when the juices go flowing, we were able to keep plowing. I think we were down eight at one point and ended up taking the lead over late in the game."
Â
On second-half scoring inside the paint.
"I talked to my whole team about that at the half, because I thought we weren't gathering ourselves. We were getting knocked around and when we put a shot up it would get blocked, but Tuoyo really started gathering himself and powering up. When he does that, it's hard to defend."
Â
On Greg Pryor's career-high nine assists and performance. "I thought Greg was great in the game. I thought the four turnovers were really unforced with the one in the first half that he kind of threw behind his back, and I think he may have slipped one time. I just expect a lot out of him and as a point guard and as one of our leaders, the ball is going to be in his hands the majority of the game. I felt like he controlled the game. Nine assists and four turnovers, you'd like to lower that a little bit and I thought that he was pressing a little bit and trying to break one off and get one at times.
Â
"When we set in our offense, we can get layups and dunks, but I don't want to take away that fire and competitiveness away from him, because he's got some serious guts. A lot of times this year, he's made those shots and there's got to be some of that balance between me as a coach and him as a point guard. I'm going to give him some of that freedom."
"You know, Dee Oldham is a guy that has unbelievable energy and enthusiasm in practice every day, and I really wanted to find a way for him to get some minutes in the second half because I felt like we were a little bit drained. It's been an emotional year up to this point and we're playing every two days with the schedule, and I felt that his energy and enthusiasm really changed the game, and I was really proud of him." Â
On matching up against Kennesaw State's flex offense.
"I wanted to press more in the game, but I did feel like we were a little bit gassed, and I didn't want to give up easy baskets and layups, so I kind of backed the press off late. But when you press, it kind of takes the clock down a little bit, and I just felt like we were a little bit gassed. We've just been playing so many games here that we really haven't had time to rest much, so I was concerned about pressing a lot this second half and getting gassed."
Â
On getting rest before playing Radford Tuesday night.
"I want them to get their legs underneath them here because we're going to play against a very good team that's already gone into Penn State and beaten them and beaten Georgetown, a top-25 team on the road. Tuesday night will be a terrific test for our basketball team."
Â
"He is our leader emotionally and every single day his leadership affects the entire place. If you came to practice and watched our stretching, the loudest guy on the stretching lines is Eric. He is our emotional leader. If you have a team full of Eric Robertsons you'll win a lot of games and be very successful because of how he carries himself on and off the floor. Â Justin Tuoyo, forward, junior
On excitement of game, especially at the end.
"We were hyped up during the whole game. It was a tough game. Going on a run at the end like we did just got everyone excited. The crowd did a great job helping us out. It felt good. The enthusiasm was through the roof.
On strong performance tonight.
"I have great players around me. Chuck Ester had five assists and Greg Pryor had nine assists. I can't do any of that without them. Them firing me the ball just made my life a lot easier."
On playing more aggressively in the second half.
"Part of it was I've been in foul trouble a lot this season. Having zero fouls at halftime was a shock to me. Tre' McLean and Casey Jones came to me and said, 'You don't have any excuse now. Go ahead.' Casey even though he isn't playing, he's in my ear the whole time, him and Tre'. So it just got me going."
What are some of the things Casey says to you?
"It was the same thing when he was out there. We all trust each other. Casey was just telling me that's the fire were need and go out there and play. During the timeouts, Casey kept coming over patting my back and saying he's here with me."
Eric Robertson, guard, senior
On importance of beating Kennesaw State.
"This was a really big game for us. Considering we did lose the last two times, and that's something we talked about in the locker room, talked about it practice, making sure we were locked in and ready to play this game. Because it was a team that beat us, it's a pride thing. You don't want to let a team continue to beat you over and over."
On Kennesaw State's winning stretch in the second half.
"Yeah they did go on a little stretch there. It seemed like they were hitting shots from the elbow. They were contested shots. It's not like we weren't there. They were just going in. We just continued to guard. We were going to get those rebounds and get out and get ourselves going."
On three big wins in one week.
"Yeah, those were three big wins for our team. It really energizes us to continue and keep going. Right now we need to focus on our next game and just use our wins as momentum, so that we can keep going and hopefully this will continue on through the conference season."
On keeping a positive attitude even when things weren't going the Mocs way.
"It's not just in the games. It's even in practice. When things get down, I know that it's my role on the team to keep everyone's spirit going, keeping everyone's energy up, even though it may not look good or it may not seem like things aren't going our way.
"It's just something I do every day in practice. It shows in the game whenever we get down to continue to keep our spirit going and keep our team together, just keep everyone going."Â
