Quotes vs. Dayton
Senior Forward Jerrell Wright
On the later rally by La Salle
“It was all about being mentally tough. We have been talking all week about being mentally strong. There were a lot of games this year that we didn’t finish strong. Today we wanted to go out and play defense and grab loose balls, grab rebounds.”
On any preference on who they play in the first round:
“We don’t care. We are just ready to play.”
Sophomore Guard Jordan Price
On using this game as momentum heading into the A-1o Tournament:
“We are just trying to take it one game at a time. Coach had us prepared. Scout team prepared us. We knew what we had to do. Me personally, and the entire underclassmen group wanted to send out the seniors with a bang. I know they appreciate it and we appreciate them.”
Coach Dr. John Giannini
Opening statement:
“I am thrilled. We needed a win, we had been struggling. More importantly we beat an outstanding team on senior day. Senior day is a big deal to most programs and certainly us. When you have guys like Andrew Ansell behind the scenes, D.J. [Peterson], Steve [Zack] and Jerrell [Wright] you want to send them out the right way. They are all so happy, that itself is worth an awful lot to me. We fought hard; Jerrell and Jordan in particular made some big plays. An overlooked play would be Rohan Brown’s charge in the first half; I thought that was a huge play. It goes to show that everyone who got on the court for us contributed to this win. That is a terrific thing for a coach to see.”
On how he feels heading into the A-10 Tournament:
“Before this game I wasn’t feeling good at all. Today we played really well, we really scrapped in terms of defense and rebounding. That’s all I want. When we lost those games it isn’t like we weren’t giving effort. Before the game we talked about the letters “er”, we had been playing tough but not as tough as some of the people we lost to. It’s not as if we weren’t trying. We have to be tougher, we have to put the ‘er’ on it. We made those extra plays, we got those extra rebounds, we were consistent defensively and didn’t fall asleep and were tough enough to beat a really good team.”
On Dayton 16-5 second half run:
“I think that is a real hard position to be in. I know we got a timeout in there and I know that I didn’t say anything ingenious. I think our guys re-gathered themselves and came out with poise and fought hard. They did what good players and good teams do. Hopefully that is a sign of not only growth but permanent growth for us.”
On what this win means:
“People don’t want to believe me when I say this, but every game in this league is a 50-50 game. Everyone is good, everyone has good players, and everyone has good coaches. Some people win more than others because of mental consistency. That is experience, toughness; shooting is a part of it. In terms of everyone having good and big guys with strong athletic bodies, everyone has that. There is no sure wins or losses in this league. I think we had the lead and were right there with these guys at their place which is a real tough place to play. Every one of these league games can go either way.”
