Men's Basketball
Men's Basketball Postgame Quotes

Tulsa 87, Houston 72

Jan. 23, 2013

Recap |  Final Stats

HOUSTON HEAD COACH James Dickey
Opening Statement
"We came out a little bit flat, which was very disappointing. Then we got some pretty good energy and played well. We went through that stretch from the nine-minute mark until about the three-minute mark where they went on a 12-0 run. During that stretch, we had some very unforced turnovers that led to baskets.

We let their press bother us. We made a couple of back-to-back turnovers where they converted. They got momentum. We had a chance when we cut the lead down to eight points at halftime. I was glad we got it in single digits.

We came out and scored the first two points in the second half. We got the ball where we wanted it, but we just didn't have energy and the pop. We're going through a pretty rough time right now. We're in a skid, and we've got to get better. You can't get our head down. We're going to go back, look at this film, try to figure out what we did wrong, and get ready for UAB. The easiest way to get rid of this feeling is to win on Saturday.

Whether you're playing man or zone, we have to get better defensively. One of the ways we have to get better is defensive awareness. We're playing at home, and they had five guys get in double figures. That's an area we have to get better on. We've got to have more pop, more awareness and play better defensively.

I don't want to take anything away from Tulsa, they played a great game, but we had some really unforced turnovers tonight. We made bad reads. We threw the ball where we shouldn't have thrown it. They capitalized on our turnovers. They did a really nice job of passing and sharing the basketball.

We're not shooting the ball very well right now. The inefficiency of us to make some shots is affecting some other parts of our game, like rebounding, defense and the pop we need to have. We shot about 40 percent from the three-point line in non-conference. We're a better shot selection team now than we were then. We're not taking bad shots, but we're not shooting the ball well."

 

 

On if the defense is struggling due to a lack of communication
"Communication is an essential part of defense. You've got to communicate. That's one of the things we can improve on."

On if the team needed to get off to a good start in the second half
"We talked about that at halftime. We needed to have energy and be ready to go the first five minutes. We got off to a good start. We got the ball down low and got the two points. What Tulsa did tonight was when there was a turnover or there was an offensive rebound, they made us pay. They had 28 points on second chances and turnovers. You're talking about them getting a lot of points off your turnovers, and that will really hurt you."

On if changes are coming to the starting rotation
"We're going to look at our rotation. We're going to have to look at what we're doing, why we're having those stretches where we go on a drought offensively, and why we're giving up so many points."

On the play of the guards tonight
"J.J. (Thompson) really played hard early. He was communicating, but he got in foul trouble. We're not playing as well at the point as we need too, but there are some other areas that were not playing as well. You cannot shoot the ball well and still be efficient offensively. That's something they have to understand as players."

HOUSTON SOPHOMORE FORWARD TaShawn Thomas
On how the game got away in the end
"When they started to go on their run, we put our heads down. Every time we tried to come back, they would hit a three."

On stopping teams from going on runs
"We have to help our guards out. I need to be a better leader on the team and try to talk to everybody on the court. I have to get everybody's confidence up when something bad happens and not let everything fall apart."

On defending Tulsa forward Scottie Haralson
"We knew Haralson could shoot. Our scouting reports said that he could shoot from the outside and that he was one of the best on the team. We tried to switch a couple guys on him to mess him up, but he got open shots and made them."

On what Coach Dickey said after the game
"He said that the best way to get this taste out of our mouths was to get the win on Saturday. We have to get this embarrassing loss out of our minds and continue to fight on."

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