Feb. 9, 2008

Recap | Box Score

Post-Game Quotes
Loyola vs. UIC
February 9, 2008

Loyola Head Coach Jim Whitesell
Opening statement
"Give UIC a lot of credit. We just could not seem to get our offense started on a consistent basis. We had a couple five-minute movements, but we didn't have enough offense to answer back and get things done. A big part of that, I know, was UIC's defense, but we just seemed to get knocked down and not get back up."

On the offense playing poorly
"We really held onto the ball way too much offensively. There just wasn't enough movement. We missed some really good shots early on, but later we started just taking some terrible three's really early in the shot clock. We just never got on track offensively."

On playing five of the next six games on the road
"If you play well, you always have a chance to win. It doesn't matter where you play. If you don't play well, you generally don't have a chance. Tonight's a great example since UIC played much better than us and kept us at bay. You have to play well every night in this league."

Loyola junior forward Leon Young
On forcing too many shots
"We weren't really moving the ball too well. We were taking some early shots that if we'd had one more pass we might have been able to score, or at least had a better look. That's what Coach Whitesell has been emphasizing with us and we kind of let it get by us. We can't do that against UIC and pull off the win."

On getting back on the floor
"We had a good understanding going into the game. I hadn't been out there for a while, so I had to understand certain things about UIC and go over the game notes. Coach Whitesell is pretty fair, depending on your play. If you play well, he'll put you out there, but you have to prove that you are able to be out there. He's not going to bring down the team just to get you some minutes."

On playing against physical UIC center Scott VanderMeer
"Coach Whitesell was telling us we were going to have to be mentally prepared to get hit and bumped and scratched and bruised. I think we answered the challenge really well, but it's the little things like ball movement that did us in. UIC is going to strike back and capitalize if you have those lapses. But we knew it was going to be rough going into it."

On the big rivalry crowd
"It was good to see us have a crowd like that and for them to be so responsive and get into the game. It was especially nice cause we've been lacking that as of late, but it's good to see that we have that fan support."

Loyola junior guard J.R. Blount
On the struggles of the offense
"We were getting some decent looks, but we struggled to move the ball a little bit. We just couldn't get in a good offensive flow and they were able to capitalize on it."

On playing rival UIC
"It's a big game, but it's just another game. We just wanted to come out here and try to climb in the standings. That was our main focus. It was a rivalry game and we love the atmosphere, but it's also just about getting the victory and they came out with two victories this year and last year as well. We just need to execute a lot better."