Marquette University Athletics
Men's Basketball Post Game Quotes
11/15/1999 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 15, 1999
John Cliff
(On his confidence level after averaging 16 points in two exhibition games) "I think that I have confidence. I just to go out and have as my main goal to be consistent throughout the year and do anything to help the team win."Brian Wardle
(On whether or not Marquette made any extra effort to push the ball up the court) "One of the things that we wanted to do tonight was run. I think that this is one of the things that we are going to try to establish throughout the year is to keep running, box out and get out and go. Tonight we were able to do that for most of the game.(On Marquette's season opener against Chicago State, coached by former MU All-American and assistant coach Bo Ellis) "It's exciting. We all love Bo and respect him a lot, he's a great guy and a great coach. It will be fun. Tomorrow we start preparing and getting ready to go. They have a good team coming in here and we have to start working on some things to get better overall."
Oluoma Nnamaka
(On whether or not the team is willing to live with more turnovers if it runs more) "We're still trying to keep the turnovers down. We're trying to push the ball but still take care of it and not turn it over."Head Coach Tom Crean
"Well, obviously that wasn't the toughest opponent we'll face all year, but I felt that we made strides tonight. After the beginning of the game we got ourselves adjusted a little bit and realized that defensive intensity, pressure on the ball and transition defense were going to be big parts of the night like we practiced for. I thought that we locked in and really did that. I think that was reflected at halftime when our deflections were at 21 which is a real good stat for us in the way we judge active defense. We got off to a bit of a slow start in the second half and, again, there are so many experiences this team has to go through, playing with a lead is certainly one of them. I think there are some areas that we to work on, our zone offense and some of our spacing issues offensively and boxing out defensively."Now it's just get ready for Chicago State. It's a big game for us. Our whole thing now is we are 0-0 and the season starts. Obviously, we're bringing back a pretty important person in the history of Marquette basketball in Bo Ellis. It's someone that the kids in our locker room have respect for as I do. At the same time, we know it's an opponent we have to face and get ready to play. "
(On if he was pleased on his transition offense) "I believe we got better in transition offensively. I think that we are trying to make better decisions. I think that we are trying to look for the open man and I'm really pleased with us having 20 assists tonight. That's excellent to me and was one of our goals tonight.
(On how deep he thinks Marquette is going to be this year) "I think about that a lot. I think the key to success is to have depth and to have a team that can continue to come at you. Right now, as I said to the players in our walk through, I'm still waiting for them to define that for me. We go back and study the practice film, the practice stats and all those types of things, the things that are really important to us, the things that we grade and base it on that.
"Our players have to understand that when they are in, no matter when they're in, we need a lift. Whether you're coming off the bench or whether you're a starter coming back in after a rest, whatever it is, we need a lift."
(On going to the free throw line six times) "It's a big concern. We've been to the line just 14 times in two games. That's something we have to continue to work on and it's something that we spend time with in practice. But at the same time, it's going to be a process."
