23 Quotes by Deke Routheaux

We never gave up. We kept working hard against a very good team.

We were in six tournaments and took second in five of them. We lost some close finals, but we're still learning to play back-to-back games. Hopefully, we learned over the season what we need to do to take care of our bodies and come back the second day of this tournament.

We still had a chance to tie the game at the line, trailing by two with 4.2 seconds left, but Robert missed his first free throw, then the second on purpose, but we couldn't get the rebound.

We were red-hot. Cory was 6-for-9 from 3-point range. He's our best 3-point shooter and is gaining the confidence he needs.

We were within seven points with 3:00 left, but that was it. We got a little tired and they got away from us. We played well. It was nice to see four players in double figures.

Elliot had a nice game for us. Our young guys continue to improve. Those are the kind of contributions we're going to need from our freshmen as we near the tournament. Robert had another nice floor game for us with several assists, too.

The second half, I told them they have to defend every possession. Don't rest on defense and don't get impatient on offense. If you get behind, you have to be more patient than if you're ahead. We made a conscious effort to work the ball inside, where we had an advantage. Hagen hit those three threes and everybody loosened up.

They're big, they can leap and they're good shooters. They killed us on the boards with 23 offensive rebounds.

It's good for us to play out here in Nimrod Nation. This is part of Gogebic County and we have fans and students out here, too.