Tommy Amaker Quotes

We had it set up for Daniel. The thing he was supposed to do was make the play, not necessarily the shot. And I thought he made a great read pitching the ball across the court to Dion. I was hoping Dion would take the shot on the catch or off the catch.

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It is tough to win with some many turnovers. Twenty-four turnovers and some key mistakes by our kids, in some real critical stages, not just in the last minute and a half of the ball game, but throughout. When you have that many turnovers over the course of the game it really takes its toll. They turn it over 20 times, we turn it over 24. It wasn't a pretty game from that stand point. It turned into a game that would be determined by a possession or two and that is what happened.

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That was a role reversal from last time. That was a key today.

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We haven't won this game in a long time. Thinking anything beyond this ... we have a game coming up Saturday. ... This is a step in (the right) direction. We're climbing the ladder. I feel like we're moving our program in the direction that we're all very proud.

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Because we had the nucleus of our team win that tournament two years ago -- the juniors and seniors right now were freshmen and sophomores -- I worry about that being more of a negative than a positive. These kids have recognized that they've already done that.

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I thought that their aggressiveness on the ball knocked us back a little bit. We haven't been good when people put pressure on us. We know that and we try to do things against it and safeguard for it, but it wasn't enough today.

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Hopefully this is a week that will allow us the opportunity to work on fundamentals.

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As coaches, we have really felt wherever it lands to anchor it for a period of time, whether it's five or a few years beyond that. We felt that we can build up some kind of brand loyalty and recognition to where our tournament is located.

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They shot the ball lights-out. I'm sure we contributed to their tremendous shooting percentages, but you have to give them credit.

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We're thrilled. This certainly puts us in position (for an NCAA bid) with a signature win around the country. We recognize how good Illinois has been over the last few years.

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Our guards have to handle the basketball better. I'm not sure what else I can talk about or say. We're going to have turnovers, that's a part of it the way we play and the pace we play. We certainly have to do a better job of valuing the ball.

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I said Tuesday that if the season ended then, I thought we'd be in. I feel that same way tonight. This was a good win to put on our resume.

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He's such a threat out there. Sometimes confidence can waver game to game and moment to moment, but certainly for us to have a chance on Saturday, he's got to play well for us.

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We have no choice and it's going to be a tough game. It's going to be a competitive game and I'll be very disappointed if we don't bring the fight and spirit that we had here tonight.

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I thought Chris Hunter's play for us coming off the bench was a big difference for our production and our ability to win this basketball game this evening.

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Any time you can win a championship and put a banner up, it's exciting.

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We've let a lot of people down -- I've let a lot of people down.

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We started to get some stops in the second half, and that was a key for us. We did some things that kind of put us in a hole early, but we showed some maturity to claw our way back in, and we didn't panic.

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We certainly tried to turn it up. They missed some shots they would ordinarily make. I thought we brought our defense together where we'd be able to defend and not break down.

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They brought it from the opening tap and had us on our heels early. They had so much energy and we dug to deep a hole to get out of.

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One of the real positives for us throughout the tournament so far is that we've been able to go 10 deep. We used different combinations, and different opportunities presented themselves.

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I thought they had so much energy. (I'm) disappointed, obviously, in some of the ways that we felt like we helped them get that energy or those leads. But certainly you give them the credit that they deserve, and I thought they earned this victory and they deserved to win tonight.

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I was really happy the way we shared the ball. And we played much better defense in the second half.

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We brought our defense together where we were able to defend and not break down and not bail them out. They missed some shots and we were fortunate for that and certainly I thought we did a better job on the defensive glass.

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He started a lot last year when we had a lot of injuries. I felt that allowed him as a freshman to gain confidence. Ron has filled in nicely.

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