Jan. 4, 2007

Recap | Box Score

Post-Game Quotes
Loyola vs. Cleveland State
Jan. 4, 2007

Loyola Head coach Jim Whitesell

Opening Statement
"It was just a nice win by the guys. They played with a lot of heart tonight against a team that I really respect and they just give us a lot of fits. I thought we got a nice finish in the last 10 minutes of the first half to get a nice cushion. Then they came back in the second half but I just liked the way that we responded to come back after it looked like the wheels fell off. We had some good contributions from a lot of different guys, especially our starters. Defensively, we just dug in. Majak (Kou) did an outstanding job on the defensive end along with his effort on offense."

On second-half turnovers
"I wasn't happy with them. We just put ourselves in a tough situation with a lot of one-handed passes or trying to eye-ball passes into the post. They weren't a lot of traveling violations or offensive fouls. They were passing decisions, which inhibited our offense. When you take away 21 possessions, that's generally 10 or 11 more turnovers than you expect. If you take away that many possessions, it's bound to catch up with you."

On Cleveland State's foul trouble
"It definitely helped us in the second half. At the end when we got the lead, the free throw disparity was plus-10 in our favor but we've done that all year when we've won. We've done a good job getting to the free throw line and that disparity will increase when you're ahead."

Loyola forward Tracy Robinson

On recent injuries
"Coach (Whitesell) didn't put any emphasis on it. We knew we had to step up tonight. There were a lot of people in street clothes but we also have a lot of people who have been playing basketball for a long time so it was just time to step up."

On struggling to find shots during second half
"It did seem like we were struggling to find shots for a while but the good thing was we didn't panic. It got rough but we just made a couple of plays. Nobody panicked, we just played through it."

Loyola guard J.R. Blount

On physical play
"It was a rough game but we knew they were a physical team. We knew we just had to come out and execute. We knew they were going to make their runs but that was a game we knew we had to pull out at the end. Coach (Whitesell) called a timeout and said, `Let's do it right now' and we were able to get it done."

On cause of second-half turnovers
"I think it was a little bit of both our lack of execution and Cleveland State's pressure defense. Turnovers are going to come with the game, we know that. Tracy (Robinson) and I joke that we're going to turn the ball over and Coach (Whitesell) is going to get mad but we just have to keep playing."

On missing Blake Schilb
"Coach Whitesell didn't really stress changing the offense that much. People just had to step up. We obviously miss Blake but we knew that we were a team and we needed to stick together. We had Blake on the bench as a big leader. He was still talking, letting us know what we had to do or what was open which just helped us out overall. He was still a leader on the bench, even though he wasn't playing."