Nov. 20, 2006

Recap |  Box Score

General comments:
"When we play good defense we are a better basketball team. Santa Clara is a tough team. We had to go out and stop them. Dick Davey's teams execute really well and we took that away. If you don't against Santa Clara it will be a long night for you. Early they gave us some problems but as our defense got better and tougher, our offense exploded. We did a better job of pressuring the ball and communicating, but we have to do a better job rebounding off the offense glass."

"Much of our team will go as Ayinde Ubaka and DeVon Hardin go and that's not uncommon for your two most experienced players. All I asked our team today was to not lose their confidence after a tough game Saturday. This was a good win for our team tonight."

On junior center DeVon Hardin:
"DeVon Hardin has worked really hard. He's spent an extraordinary amount of time on his free throws. DeVon knows teams are going to test him at the line and that he's going to get fouled a lot. I thought he out-worked his opponents tonight."

On Hardin's second half dunk:
"That's a hard play to defend. He went up and made a huge grab off a pretty good lob."

On freshman forward Ryan Anderson:
"Ryan Anderson really works at the game. He's getting better and his teammates are starting to realize some of the things he's capable of doing. He was solid with the ball tonight with zero turnovers and nine rebounds. His teammates have confidence in him. You earn confidence with your play."

On the Great Alaska Shootout:
"It's an extremely well run tournament. This is a chance for us to get some games under our belt. Going up to Alaska is a good opportunity for the team to learn more about each other and grow a little bit as a team."