Jan. 17, 2009
Recap | Box Score
Post-Game Quotes
Loyola vs. Valparaiso
January 17, 2009
Loyola Head Coach Jim Whitesell
Opening Statement
"This was a good win for us. We needed a bounce-back win. I thought Valpo did a great job of changing stuff up on us and keeping us a little off-guard. The good thing was, our guys kind of responded when we had to call timeout and get some baskets. Defensively, one thing that's helped us is when we keep the game in the 50s. I think we're undefeated when we do that. Justin Cerasoli obviously, was practically our offense in the first half and really shot the ball well. It was good to see J.R. (Blount) and Justin make each other better. We've talked a lot about that to those guys, that they need to find each other. It was a good team win for us. I also thought we had a great crowd. I certainly could hear our crowd get behind us and I really appreciate that."
On Valpo missing some players
"I heard about it before the shoot around and my thing is, sometimes if you tell your kids about it, it's the worst thing you can do. Their zone kind of packed it in and we took too many threes early, instead of getting in and out. We didn't convert offensive boards and they did a good job of getting the loose balls. It was a little discouraging to feel like we played so well and to only be up five at halftime, but that's basketball. But those are things you have to handle and I think the start of the second half was good for us. I thought they played awfully well for being short-handed."
Loyola senior guard Justin Cerasoli
On today's win
"Valparaiso was missing some players today and we wanted to bounce back from our loss to Butler. We wanted to come back and have a good game today."
On Valpo's zone defense
"We do a good job of covering zone everyday in practice, so we were prepared for that. We did a good job of moving the ball and finding the open players and open spots at the right times."
On his big offensive output today
"I was just playing basketball today. I've been in a slump lately, but I was able to find my stroke a little bit. I'm still not where I want to be yet, but I think I made an improvement from where I was the previous three games."
Loyola junior guard Aric Van Weelden
On Loyola's rebounding
"When Valpo went small, we knew we'd have a little more problem matching up with them defensively. But then we also knew offensively, we'd have more opportunities to rebound. Our big guys, did really well on the boards. I think that really helped us push it over the edge."
On Loyola's 20 offensive rebounds
"A couple times, I knew we had two or three looks at the basket and Coach Whitesell is always preaching to not let other teams get offensive boards on us and when we can do it against other teams that's huge. The more possessions we can get, the more chances we have to score."
