Dec. 3, 2011
Recap |
Final Stats |
Notes
Post Game Quotes
Guard Hugh Greenwood
UNM vs. Missouri State
12/3/11
On first shot of the game
“Once that first one dropped, it was a huge relief and a huge weight off my shoulders. I didn’t make my first one in The Pit last game, so it was a relief that I did it in this one. I’ve been a lot more aggressive the last few games looking for my shot. I guess I’ve been passing up a lot of shots and my shots have been missing because I’ve been catching the ball and hesitating on my shot. But I’ve been ready to shoot and as a result, they’ve been going down.”
On taking more shots in the game
“Coach told me that once I pass the ball, I’m not the point guard anymore. I’m trying to spot up and shoot. Shooting is a strength of mine, and he wants me to keep shooting.”
On good defense
“We were really hot in the first half, and we were making shots and getting stops on defense and that’s how we want to play. We want to be able to get stops, get out, transition and make some threes. The second half they were scoring so it kind of took our rhythm away. We weren’t pushing the ball, they were scoring so we had to bring the ball up and not pressing. So defense is a priority and we can’t let that slip in the second half. If we can stay consistent for 40 minutes, I think we will be fine.”
On the fast start at the beginning of the game
“It means a lot. I think the past few games we have come off to a good start and have learned to getting off a good start and set a good tone for the rest of the team. So being able to do that, I don’t think we could have drawn off a better situation. Hopefully, we can learn to come off of those starts and sustain the mental toughness coming off the bench and even with the starters to keep those runs going and they did get close at one point in the game.
On the runs in the game and what it means to the team
“It means a lot and it means we are growing a lot. The two losses we had one of them it was the flip-side and we dug ourselves a hole and had to fight back. The other one we got off to a good start and we couldn’t close it. We are still trying to find the chemistry so we can start well and finish strong. When you get those two components, you usually win.
Head Coach Steve Alford
UNM vs. Missouri State
Opening Statement:
“I really liked the start of this game, I thought we came out and showed a lot of consistency and a lot more intensity than we showed on Wednesday. Our defense is getting better; we did a good job of taking them out of their rhythm. I knew coming in that their half court offense was one of their strengths and we did good taking them out of that and preventing them from running it efficiently. This week, especially after Anaheim, the team is doing a really good job of taking scouting reports and taking players out of their rhythm. We’re going on four straight games when we do a great job of taking teams and not allowing them to run their offense and that’s a good sign; I think that’s the biggest positive that came out of this game tonight.”
Talk about the guard play tonight
“We’re doing a good job of protecting the ball. Kendall was very active and hard to guard. His stat line is all over the place in terms of points and rebounding. He got assists and did a lot of things. Drew and Tony also made a lot of shots; I thought our activity in the guard position was good. A.J. also did well even if his stat line doesn’t look particularly good. His job all week has been to guard Kyle Weems and I thought he did well. Weems in their best player and he came out 4-16 and 1-9 from the three so he did a good job on him, I thought he was going to be more of an issue, but we played well.”
Your defense forced 11 turnovers before they shot their first free throw, you don’t see that every game, talk about that
“We’ve had two games in a row where our opponents have shot less than a total of ten free throws. If you look at our first three games we were fouling at a rate that was not good, and now we’re doing a good job at keeping people away from the line because those are easy points. You can win a lot of games if you win the free throw battle by 20 plus points.”
You really limited their offensive rebounds, not just the bigs, but the guards got in their too, how does that make you feel
“I think Missouri was concerned about transition after shots, they were sending at least four back and I think we’re a pretty good transition team. With things like that I think you have to pick your poison, it helps if we’re getting stops. We’re doing a good job on the backboard, we beat Idaho State by more than 20 and we beat this team by over ten rebounds, when you have back-to-back home games and your turnover margin is plus-15 you’re going some pretty good things.”
There have been games where Drew looks uncomfortable in the post, is there something that you see him doing wrong
“No, I think he’s just getting a lot of attention. The last couple of games he’s been good. He took some tough shots tonight. He has to learn from that and watch tape, I think that some of the shots he took were questionable but he’s been doing a good job.”