Jan. 5, 2005

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Coach Steve Lappas on the game: That was an interesting game to say the least. I don't think I've ever seen a team win a game when a guy shoots 1-for-20. This is the most bizarre stat sheet I've ever seen in my life.

I was upset at halftime because I thought we really should've made more hay than we did. To be up four at halftime was really the problem. We missed lay-ups and a lot of inside shots and we had some of the best looks from three that we've had all year. We moved the ball very well and got good shots.

We really should have been up by a much larger margin at halftime. I knew at halftime we were in for a tough game. We totally outplayed them in a lot of areas, except obviously shooting, but we were only up by four. We did a great job on defense and tested the right guys. We held them to 30% shooting, but obviously that wasn't enough.

Lappas talks about the intensity and rhythm: I thought we were very intense. This game was not a product of lethargic basketball. It was a product of missing shots. They wore us out on the glass during the last seven minutes. Even in the first half, they had sixteen offensive rebounds, but they had 33 misses.

They were 7-for-40 in the first half. I thought we did a much better job rebounding in the first half. We didn't have any rhythm in the first half. If we had any rhythm we would've been up 20 in the first half. It was very similar to last year's game. They missed shots in the first half just like last year, the only difference was that we shot well last year.

Jeff Salovski on Temple defense: I haven't played against a defense like that before. I have played against the 1-3-1 defense before, but nothing as intense as what they play. In practice we worked on passing the ball and moving it around the perimeter, hitting the high post, and we did a good job of that. It just comes down to hitting shots and rebounding and we didn't do any of that.

Maurice Maxwell on team play: We never really had a rhythm in the game. In the offense you have to play against them the person with the ball doesn't shoot it. They are very long and fill the gaps quickly which made us force a lot of shots. We tightened up in the second half and that caused us to take bad shots.