POSTGAME QUOTE SHEET:
Wichita State 90, Rice 61
Sunday, Nov. 25, 2018
Wichita, Kan. / Charles Koch Arena (10,089)
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HEAD COACH GREGG MARSHALL ON...
...Rice's effort:
"Rice never stopped. They kept fighting. I know Scott's doing all he can with that program to build it back up. He's only in his second year, and he's got some good young players. Several of those players, as freshman, looked great on video. We got the lead, and they just kept battling. They cut it to 16, and we finally closed it out well. We'll take this. All victories are good this year."
...The team's first-half defensive performance:
"It was great. I think they had two points at the first media timeout and, at one point, Markis said in the huddle that our goal should be to hold them to 20-or-less in the first half. If we hold teams to 24 points-per0half we're going to have a good year. That's hard to do, but we sped them up with our pressure and we were very active. I have to get this team to play quicker, faster and with more energy. I don't know what it is, but it seems to be -- at times -- we are a little slow to react, slow to the ball or slow to rotate."
...playing time and minutes:
"I really don't care about who starts. I'm more interested in who's finishing, but more important than that is who is in during the guts of the game. Who is playing well. Today Erik (Stevenson) gave us that boost, but if you go by plus-minus Dexter was the best player in the game. When he was on the floor we were plus-34. Second-best was
Markis McDuffie at plus-26, and Erik was third-best at plus-24. We had some guys that were minus. When they were in the game, the score went the wrong way -- and that's the key. I don't care whatever four (other guys) you're in there with. The score needs to go in the right direction."
...The mindset of the players:
"I told them the game started at 2:00. Get ready by one o'clock and have your mind ready to compete at the level that you need to compete. It's really interesting to see how young players don't really understand how important this is -- maybe how important I think it is, or maybe how important Shocker Nation thinks it is. Some of them are just out there having a great time. They are so excited to be playing in front of this many people, and some of them don't even care if they're playing. They just like to sit and absorb the atmosphere. I just think that we have to get them to the point where they not only want to beat the other team but they want to play. They're excited about getting their opportunity and, when they get that, they play well so they can play more. That's how it works. It's not charity...I'll do all my charity to non-profits that need it and not subbing basketball guys into a game."
...pounding the ball inside to start the game:
"The first two plays were designed to go into (Echenique). The first play we went right into him, and he tricked off a layup. I don't know how you can miss it with his size and length, but he kind of fumbles a beautiful scoring opportunity away. The second play we go right back into him, and that time he was able to finish... They don't have a lot of depth in there, so we continued to pound it in. Mo got the ball down there a few times in the first half and made some moves -- so that was our game plan: take away the three and pound the ball inside."
...Dictating defensively:
"Early on in the game, they felt us. Our staff keeps talking about we're not making people 'feel us'. We did foul quite a bit trying to blow up those handoffs. We're too handsy and I felt like this was the first time we were able to dictate to another team defensively how the game was going to go."
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FRESHMAN GUARD ERIK STEVENSON ON...
...His 21-point outing:
"It feels good. (I was) just able to score the basketball with open looks. I made some bad decisions-- on the offensive end as well as the defensive end -- (but) overall, it feels good."
...being in control from the start:
"Through the first five games, it was dog-fight after dog-fight. We always got hit in the mouth first. Two games we responded well and (the other) three games we responded well but not well enough. Tonight it was good to impose our will on somebody in the first half. We had our down moments in this game, but it was good to jump out on them early and be able to hold that lead and get a big win for our home crowd, finally."
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FRESHMAN GUARD DEXTER DENNIS ON...
...WSU's defensive performance early in the first half:
"I thought our energy and intensity was really, really high. I felt like we had one bad day of practice, but the other three days were really good. The energy just carried over, just focusing on defense. "
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JUNIOR CENTER JAIME ECHENIQUE ON..
...Collecting the first home win of the season:
"Everybody has to take the situation really mature. We have to step up. We lost, so we have to think about the situation that passed through at the game. The most important thing is really the next game, to get focused and step up. Not continuing to do the same mistake every day. "
...Providing a post-presence on offense:
"I don't consider myself a real shooter. I played two years in junior college and I think I just shot one three-pointer. This year I've been working all summer on my long range. I just want to play inside and help my teammates. I don't care if I score or not. I will do the small things that will be winning plays."
...Offensive keys"
"Everyone has to understand their role on the team. This will be really helpful for us, knowing what you have to do and you know how to help the team and go up. I think the first half of the game everyone was really locked in. Everyone was really focused on defense, and that was the difference against Rice."
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