POSTGAME QUOTE SHEET:
LOUISIANA TECH 71, WICHITA STATE 58
NOV. 6, 2018
WICHITA, KAN./ CHARLES KOCH ARENA (10,267)
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HEAD COACH GREGG MARSHALL ON...
...Opening statement:
"I'd like to say congratulations to Eric and his club, I thought they played very well tonight and I knew coming in after watching the video that it was going to be a very difficult game for us to win. I like their talent. Bracey is difficult to guard and he can play anywhere in the country. Archibald is another one that is really good. They didn't get much out of Duruji, but he is a very talented player, as well, and Powell was in foul trouble so he didn't get much going. Their guards were tremendous. Jean was hurt and came back to play -- he didn't play in their exhibition game. That's a great league. Last two games we are 0-2 against that conference. They've got Western Kentucky, Middle Tennesee will be a little bit down. They've had the same situation we have with a lot of turnover. Southern Miss we play, Rice we play, and it's just a good basketball conference. I think that team will win 20-something games and have a chance to win their conference tournament to go to the NCAA tournament. If not then maybe the NIT, but I don't know how many bids they can get from that league. I really believe that team has a great chance, if they stay healthy and continue to improve.
My group, that's what we need to do. We need to be healthy... We did some things pretty well tonight, but I'm unaccustomed to being out-rebounded and not only were we out-rebounded but we were smashed on the glass. We didn't make free throws -- shoot 42 percent -- and get outrebounded by 13. You're probably not going to win, and those are two things that happened. With all the freshman, I need all of my upperclassmen to step up and -- other than Jaime -- I don't think any of the three juniors and seniors played like we need them to play -- like upperclassmen and leaders. We're going to have to figure that out and accentuate the positives. We did have a few positives. I thought Erik was pretty good, tonight. Dexter came out on fire and then didn't score again. We're just going to have to get tougher and rebound. Too many offensive rebounds for them. That's the story of the game, in my opinion."
...How to get the guys better on the glass:
"Other than checkout and retrieve the basketball, what I tell them is not printable. On the offensive end, they've just got to go and, other than that, it's not printable. You've got to be a little bit more of a tough guy, pursue the basketball with two hands and you're gonna get the ball. We need some more ball-getters."
...What didn't go well for the seniors:
"Markis, again, was a little rushed, I thought. I just think he wants it so badly. He wants to play well. He wants to win (to the point) that he's just rushing and forcing things. A couple of drives, I think he charged one time or tried to just jump into the guy. We were getting it to him early in the game against the press, and he was one-on-one with the big and he goes 3-for-11, 1-of-6 from three and 1-for-4 from the foul line. He's just got to be more efficient. He's got to slow down. I want him to shoot. I want him to score. I want him to succeed and everybody in that locker room wants him to succeed, but he's just going to have to be more selective and slow down. You've got to play at two speeds. There is a speed where you are running the court, rebounding and defending, and then there is the offensive speed. And they've got to be different. Samajae, 2-for-13, 0-for-6 from the three and 3-for-5 from the foul line. Markis missed a one-and-one. Samajae missed a one-and-one. The game changed when we missed two consecutive one-and-one's and two-consecutive point-blank layups and then turned it over once. Those five possessions and they got out in transition. We went from up three or four to down five or six."
...If Markis is pressing a little bit:
"He's just going to have to slow down. We're stil going to ride him, and he's our best player. He's just got to be more efficient. We've sent several guys to the NBA and none of them scored 25 points-a-game. None of them even scored 20-a-game. We're sending guys to the NBA because they're efficient and they're shooting a high percentage and they've got a positive assist-to-turnover ratio. They make winning plays, they knock down their free throws, their shooting percentages are very good, and we've won so they get to the big stage and people watch them. That's how you have to do it, and he'll figure it out. He's a good kid and he wants to do well. Samajae -- it's kind of new for him -- he didn't play that much last year and his most effective games were the break-neck games. South Carolina State or Maryland Eastern Shore. It's kind of the way he played at East High School. It's helter-skelter and he's going to have to be able to play in a half court and slow down... We just have to play better, and there are some things we did well tonight, believe it or not, but we still lose by 13 at home."
...Forcing 18 turnovers on defense:
"We turned them over, but then we have to capitalize. We've got to play down-hill at that point and we've to make good decisions and break-down basketball and opportunity basketball. The play I remember is we stole the ball right in front of Lousiana Tech's bench, and Dexter didn't pass the ball to a wide open guy running the lane. Instead he jumped in the air and came down with the ball. Those are mistakes that young kids make. They've never been in environments like this and played in games against competition like this. My hope is the more times that they see that, they are going to continue to improve. As we've said, we need them to grow up sooner rather than later. There were times out there I had four freshman and there were times out there I had five guys out there playing their first Division I basketball game."
...The big men:
"(Exhenique) rebounded the ball well and blocked a couple of shots. He was securing some rebounds and he was, obviously, our best rebounder tonight. You can look at it. Midtgaard plays 13 minutes and has three rebounds. Poor Bear-Chandler plays 4.5 minutes and has zero rebounds. Udeze plays eight minutes and has one rebound. So that 25.5 minutes between those guys and they come up with four rebounds. That's just not enough. We were bigger tonight, but... we were just not quicker, stronger and tougher to the basketball. We were bigger but not quicker, stronger and tougher."
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FRESHMAN GUARD ERIK STEVENSON ON....
... Seeing the crowd react during his second-half scoring spree:
"It was crazy. It was a fun experience for that short stretch. In the moment, it was surreal seeing everybody screaming and all that. At the end of the day, that's not going to (compare) to the loss that we took. No feeling will ever out-do a loss in my book.... The feeling of losing is horrible. All those fans cheering and screaming -- it's fun, but at the end of the day I'm not even thinking about it, to be honest."
... Being aggressive and looking for his shot:
"I noticed, with the team, we have a couple guys that can go score and can get to the paint and make plays and I figured I needed to be one of those guys, too. Make it tougher to guard. It was more of a thing where I have to help the team. That's basically what I thought."
...Coach Marshall's message to the team after the game:
"We have to rebound better, we have guard the ball better and we have to make free throws. We were 11-for-26 from the free-throw line. That's 15 points on the table right there. What did we lose by, 13? Right? That's a win if we go 100-percent from the line. I agree with him. Rebounding, defense, and free throws. Toughness...Toughness, that's what this program has been successful with....execution on the offensive end, toughness on the defensive end and rebounding. We're still trying to find that."
.... Players' reactions after the game:
"We are all down about it. They're not used to losing here in Koch Arena. The fans are thinking about us like 'what is this team doing?' and they should know that we don't feel good about it, either. We feel worse than ever about it. We don't want to let this tradition die off. Seven-straight NCAA Tournaments. We don't want to be that team to break it. We feel bad, and our heads are a little bit down right now, but we are going to get back to the drawing boards and prepare for the next one."
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FRESHMAN GUARD DEXTER DENNIS ON....
...Good early stretches in the first half:
" I really think our intensity was just really, really high. We really wanted to play. I think after that we kind of just died off. Our defensive intensity, it just really went all the way down...and that kind of hurt us."
...Feeling in the locker room after the loss:
"When they say 'play with your hair on fire on defense.' I don't feel like we are really doing what this program is known for -- rebounding the ball, getting stops. I just don't feel like we are doing it. That's kind of the vibe we are getting right now."
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LOUISIANA TECH HEAD COACH ERIC KONKOL ON...
...Opening statement:
"First, I want to give a lot of credit to Coach Marshall and the Wichita State team. We knew we were going to play a very, very hard-playing team and we certainly got that tonight. Also, want to give a lot of credit to the fans here. We knew we were going to play in an incredible environment with a crowd that is knowledgeable and knew when their team needed them. We fought a lot of adversity throughout the game to try to come away with this win. I thought our guys executed in the times that we needed it. Of course, it wasn't perfect, but we withstood a team that really gets after you and made enough plays to come away with the win."
...Winning in Koch Arena:
"This is a huge win for us, and it's something that we had talked about all summer long. We went on a foreign tour this summer and had practices and played some games. We knew that we were going to start the season off to really get an idea of where we are at this moment. There's no doubt...I know the numbers, I know the strength of this program here, the history for many, many years and certainly under Coach Marshall's tenure. Got a lot of great respect for him. Coming away with with a win here is big."
...Beating WSU in a home opener for the first time in 16 years:
"Well, it says a lot about this program. It says a lot about the history here and how good of a coach Coach Marshall is, and certainly the support he gets here. There's not doubt we came here with an expectation to play really, really hard and play really, really well. We will fortunate to be able to come out of here with a win."
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