Feb. 18, 2007
New Mexico head coach Ritchie McKay quotes
(general thoughts) — “I thought our guys played really well. We had 17 assists. I thought we played hard defensively and we did a better job of rebounding in the second half. I’m really proud about some of the things that didn’t show up on the stat sheet, like Jeff Henfield’s play. I thought he was great. We did a good job with our dribble penetration and kicking it out. Chad (Toppert), when he’s open, we always think it’s going in. We see it on a regular basis. We look for him when he’s open in transition.”
(on indefinite suspension of leading scorer J.R. Giddens) — “I made the decision to suspend J.R. indefinitely. He did nothing illegal, nothing unethical. This program tries to promote being a good teammate and I want to emphasize that. It just came to a point where I felt like it was important not only to our team, but to J.R. and the rest of our basketball family that I make the decision. He is not going to practice or travel with us until he’s off suspension.”
TCU head coach Neil Dougherty quotes
(Regarding whether or not New Mexico is better without J.R. Giddens) – “No, no one is better without a talented kid. What you can do is play different stretches. What everyone is saying when they bring that up is the kids move the ball better. You’re never better without a talented kid. You’re better with them when he plays the way he’s being told to play.”
Regarding how the Lobos rally around the fact that J.R. Giddens was not in the line-up – “First of all they’re a different team here anyways, whether J.R. is with them or not. They make shots and that gets them going. I think once the tempo of the game got moving up and down like that it was more to their liking than it really was to ours.”