Dec. 1, 2012

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UMass Head Coach Derek Kellogg

Opening statement:

"Its kind of hard to put my finger on it but once again, in the second half I thought we had an opportunity when we went up by one but then we got a away from what made us successful. I thought the guys played hard."

Miami Head Coach Jim Larranaga

On the Miami defense:

"I thought our defense was very solid throughout the game. They are a very athletic team and they are very capable of making a lot of threes. I thought our three point shooting defense was very solid today. We played very well down the stretch by making some free throws, taking it to the basket and it was just a great team effort."

On the loss of Kenny Kadji's grandfather:

"I didn't even think he was going to be able to play today. Down the stretch, he stepped up big time for us."

On UMass' run in the second half to pull ahead:

"The huge key is not to let them go on one of those huge spurts. When Putney hit those two threes in a row, it looked like they could, but our defense held the next couple of times to get us the lead back."

On Reggie Johnson's performance:

"Reggie is a big fellow. With some teams, it's hard to get the ball to him because they crowd the lane, but UMass' style is to stretch it out and pressure you, so it opens up more for him. I thought they did a good job on him, but he did a great job of being consistent and working."

On Johnson being able to hit free throws:

"He shot his free throws very well. When you are big guy, you are going to get fouled and you see in the NBA, a lot of those big guys cannot make foul shots. It's nice when you have a big guy who can."