Opening statement:
“It was an interesting game. It wasn’t a very pretty game. The first half we missed five out of six free throws in one stretch and were still up 16 at the half. We had to do a better job of getting Andrew Wilson at half. He was 4-of-6 at the half. He was making open shots and I don’t mind if guys make shots, but he was making open shots and you can’t have that happen. I think we had very good shots and missed some of them. We made a couple inside, but we weren’t making many from 10 feet. We weren’t making many threes and that I thought were wide open, but still had a 16-point lead at half. I reminded the guys what happened down in Tallahassee when we were up 14. They came out and were more aggressive down there. We had to be aggressive to start the second half.
“When the second half started, they were the aggressor. We were too careless and too casual. The thing that bothered me when they made the great comeback was that they out-hustled us for loose balls. That made me about as frustrated as I’ve been all year, because we can’t do those things. I’ve said a lot of things this year that I’ve continued to say a lot more than anytime else in my career. But, I love the way that Raymond missed a free throw, Sean misses two, then Raymond makes one and Rashad makes a couple more to end the game with seven in a row. I think that shows some toughness for our guys to step up and make some free throws like that.
“Picket is a load. He’s a big-time basketball player and he’s going to make a lot of money at the next level and play for a long time. Andrew Wilson, who coach [Steve] Robinson recruited, is getting to be a very good player. He showed that today with his savvy and ability to shoot the ball.
“Raymond was a big force. He had seven rebounds in the first half and ended up with 10. I think that he didn’t shoot the ball very well but he did some other things that helped us. We got a little careless at times, but we made our free throws and won the game. It was probably the silliest I’ve ever looked in a game.”
On the technical foul:
“I don’t think you should get a technical for getting mad at your players. I’ve had now 10 technicals in 16 years and I was not mad at the officials. I was not mad at the officials. I was mad at my player for stopping the fast break high. You should never stop the fast break high. You should spring to the other end. There was a huge fly right on the scorer’s table and I was trying to protect our society and keep dangerous away. So, I swatted the fly.”
On Rashad McCants
“He didn’t feel very good. He didn’t feel very good at practice. But, I told him that some of the very best players, including Michael Jordan, focus even better under those circumstances. I think he got a little frustrated at the officials out there as well. But he hit some big time shots for us down the stretch. He’s probably the most discussed player I’ve ever had and he’s just getting better and better. That doesn’t mean that he hasn’t given me a lot of these grey hairs because he’s responsible for a lot of them. In the old days, I’d yell and say, ‘Don’t do this and don’t do that,’ and there would be no response. Right now, not only does he look at me and say, ‘Yes,’ or shake his head, ‘Yes,’ but he understands it before I yell at him. That’s really pleasing.”