Nov. 30, 2006

Recap |  Box Score

Saint Louis coach Brad Soderberg

"I would just like to start things off by saying that I have a tremendous amount of respect for coach Whitesell. He came through the ranks, just like I have, coaching in division three and division two and now we've made it to division one. I think people here at Loyola are going to be happy with him. He's a tremendous coach and I think this program has really high hopes with him."

On the closing minute of the game
"I can't remember all of it but I know a couple of unusual things happened. Kevin (Lisch) missed a free throw that doesn't happen very often. We turned the ball over, that doesn't happen very often. Blake got a steal, then he turned it over, that probably doesn't happen very often then Ian (Vouyoukas) made two free throws after going 3-of-12 the other night. Sometimes you get lucky when you play hard and from that standpoint, we deserved to be in the game in the end which I have no apologies for."

On Andy Polka's tip-in on the same possession
"(Leon) made a great play with a great effort. He missed the first one but hit the rim, so they had to reset the clock."

On SLU's rebounding
"The only thing I was disappointed with in the first half was our inability to get defensive rebounds. I thought their kids came out with passion and we gave up 10 offensive rebounds in a hurry then they got a few more at the end of the game. I thought our kids came out with more resolve on the glass in the second half. It was obvious to see that when the ball went up, they went after it with some real aggression.

On SLU's three-point shooting
"We normally shoot the ball better for the three-point line than we did tonight and that's the thing that made it more difficult. (Lisch) won't normally shoot 1-for-7 from three but it just didn't happen."

On defending Blake Schilb
"(Schilb) is a tremendous basketball player. He's got a great chance to play for many years after he's done at Loyola. Luke Meyer did a great job. He normally plays the four position for us but he can play the one, two, three or four. A couple of shots (Blake) made were well defended but he was just a pro-caliber player making a shot. I understand now why he was picked as the Horizon League Player of the Year in the preseason."

On significance of victory
"This win was huge. When you win a road game in division I baskeball, it's huge. I don't care if you're playing a team with a 300 RPI, but when you beat the team a caliber of Loyola then it's an accomplishment. I scheduled them on purpose because I knew they were going to be a 20-22 game winner this year so it's going to help our RPI whether we beat them or not. When you beat them on the road, it's really a feather in our hat. I'm thankful to leave here with a win tonight because that game could have easily gone the other way."

Head coach Jim Whitesell

Opening statement
"It was a tough loss. I thought we might get it there at the end but I think you have to give Saint Louis a lot of credit. I think our frustration was our inability to run good offense after we ran it really well early in the game and got a good lead. You know in a good game, people are going to come back on you, especially against Saint Louis, which is a very good basketball team. Early in the second half, we only had two points after a good six or seven minutes. The next thing you know, the game is tied and it's going to go back and forth. Then we lost some of our momentum. Then when you're not running good offense, a lot of times you get frustrated and things don't go your way. You have to give them a lot of credit. We played a quality opponent that does a lot different things. We know that they're going to be right in the running for the A-10 championship. There's no doubt about that."

On Ian Vouyoukas
"He's a very good player. I thought our guys worked very hard in getting around him and trying to help. The size there obviously bothered us a little bit. He's really a good basketball player, not an unbelievable athlete, but he has really good hands and uses his body well. We knew he'd get back in the game but we were hoping to get him in foul trouble. He sat for awhile and that helped us, there's no doubt about that. I liked the way some of our guys played in the post. We missed a couple of shots early in the first half and in the second half he had a few blocks. From that point, we were reluctant to drive the lane. You have to give him a lot of credit. I don't know if he had a great game but I know he had an awfully good second half though."

Loyola guard Blake Schilb

On late-game steal
"I wanted it really bad, that's why I went for it. Then when I got the ball, the game was going so fast that I thought I had J.R. (Blount) open but didn't see the other man on the other side of the court."