All of the fans were excited, but we expected to win. We are No. 11 in the country (in the USA Today/ESPN poll as opposed to No. 13 in The Associated Press poll) and we feel like we are a top five team.

The guys on this team, really love the game and when it comes down to it, that's all that matters. We play with passion.

It's difficult. You tell yourself that, but you don't believe it. You always feel like there's another game. You know, the reality is, it's do or die. And I think I'm going to play like that.

He really hit his rhythm. He started getting to the basket. He's tough to stop once he gets in a zone like that.

I figured I was going to keep going at them, keep being aggressive. They beat us up underneath the basket ... and we were just trying to fight them. I think we won the battle tonight.

He's a guy who just needs to get in his rhythm. He's a rhythm player, and once he gets in his rhythm he starts making really great plays.

I think our execution really stepped up in the second half. We started making harder cuts and really concentrating on running our plays correctly. That was probably the key to the ball movement and better shots.

I had set a screen on him earlier and he plowed right over me. So I felt if he did it again, I was going down. I knew he'd try and body me down.

I know they're not going to leave me, because if they do I'll make them pay. Hopefully I'll be able to free up some of the other guys on the court.

I'm not a big trash talker. He feeds off that, so we'll still play our game and try to stay away from that.