Marquette University Athletics
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Feb. 9, 2003
Marquette Coach Tom Crean
On how Marquette performed ...
I thought our guys really bought into the game plan. We want to continue to play aggressive without gambling and taking a lot of chances.
On the play of big men Robert Jackson and Scott Merritt ...
I'm very comfortable with Rob and Scott handling the ball ... because they're very sure of themselves and they make their free throws.
He's [Scott] got a great demeanor in a game right now because he always gets better. And when you have guy who gets better who will do the things he has to do ... the sky is the limit.
On how the win helps the team through the rest of the year ...
It helps with your confidence to go through the Conference and hopefully into March
On Dwyane Wade ...
He was completely aggressive. He had some blocks, some steals, had a couple big rebounds, and played a lot of minutes.
We have a player who receives a lot of accolades, and deservedly so. The number one strength he has is that he makes his teammates better. With his strength, and his intensity, everybody feeds off that.
On the team's defensive effort against Josh Howard ... I thought it was a great team effort. We had Travis on him for a while. Dwyane Wade guarded him every once in a while. Joe Chapman, but certainly the job Todd (Townsend) did. He got his points, but he had to earn them, and that's what you want to make a great player do.
Marquette Forward Dwyane Wade
On the style of the game ... This was a game of runs. We knew they were going to make a run, and we were going to make our run. I'm glad this game was at home, so that we could have the crowd behind us.
Wake Forest Coach Skip Prosser
On the game ...
Every time we made a run, they answered. Both teams guarded hard. We fought on the boards hard. They are [more] physical and stronger, and older than we are.
On the inside game ... We didn't get a lot of easy ones inside, give Marquette credit for that.
Comparing Marquette with ACC opponents ... Our league is a hard league. Every game is a hard game. This game was obviously an ACC level game. Marquette is a sweet-sixteen, final eight and beyond type team.