The kind of success we've had this season and still having three games to go hasn't happened since the (President) Bush Sr. years. The fact that we've been able to have this kind of success is nice. Those are things to be proud of.

The character of the kids we have in the program is great. The talent obviously helps, but even when I'm not happy, like after tonight, our character is still there.

I guess the good thing we take from that start was, after getting down by that much, we executed better and got back into it.

In the first half, I thought we were playing well defensively, but we just weren't making any shots. For once this season, it was our defense that held us up.

The irony of the game is that they controlled the tempo with a slower pace, and that dictated how the game was played. It's unfortunate that we were unprepared to play both mentally and physically.

They aren't a particularly good shooting team, and I thought we would be able to weather the storm.

They did a great job controlling tempo. They made us play in the half court, and we struggled for quite a while until we got a lead in the second half.

It's obviously a very good win because we won a slow-paced game. That was very good because the times when we've lost, we've been in that type of situation. It was a good thing for us to see and, hopefully, our guys can generate a little bit of confidence from that.

It was one of those things we wanted to do tonight, so we could get some reps with it.

There is such a dramatic correlation between practicing well and playing well. . . . Talent has never been a question, either. We knew that last year when we recruited him. He has a ton of ability.