Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU-South Alabama
November 25, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 25, 2006
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
November 25, 2006
BGSU vs. South Alabama
Bowling Green Head Coach Dan Dakich
Opening Statement
"I thought the key to the game was the ball falling on the right side of the rim and not the left side. Everything else didn't matter. We got a long way to go and we got to keeping working at it. Our own sloppiness put us in a bad spot, but like I said we just have to get better and I'm glad that the ball fell on the right side so at least this week we can breathe a little bit and let the guys feel good, which is incredibly important."
On the inside game for BGSU
"Matt's (Lefeld) 12 were big for us and probably were the reason we were able to win. Physically it looked like we were much bigger in that spot and we wanted to throw it in as much as we could. Between Matt and Erik (Marschall) they got 15 shots and scored 22 points which for us is good."
On Ryne Hamblet's last season shot
"That particular situation (down one, 4 seconds left) probably happened in practice the last four days 25 times. I'm not sure we scored on that twice in those situations. However, at the end of the week everyone was making good plays and sometimes that show goes in."
"One thing will come out of this. I think the guys will believe me when I tell them that every game is going to come down to the end. This is two for two at home in the last week."
On the difference between winning and losing that game
"If that ball bounces left it is utter misery. It's impossible for me to explain. Not only for the coaches but for the players as well. I got off the court quick and went into the weight room and I just listened to the players coming in. They were talking about the things we worked on all week. Now if you lose, they might focus on things you don't need as a team."
On his game-winning shot
"The original play was to get [Martin] Samarco open for a shot, but we couldn't get him open, so I just tried to take it to the rim as far as I could. Then while I was on my back I saw it hanging on the rim and when it went in I just put my arms up."
On BG's execution for the day
"Coach was preaching to us all week about having heart and protecting our home court. South Alabama gave us a run. They came back and got the lead by 1 and we were just in the huddle each timeout talking about heart and how we had to protect the home court."
How tough was it to guard the South Alabama guards, being that they were so quick?
"Number five was real quick. I underestimated his quickness a little bit. But towards the end of the game, we got the scouting report on him that he couldn't quite handle the ball as good with his left hand as he could his right. So I tried to make him go left as much as I could."
On BG trying to get the ball inside more with the undersized South Alabama post players
"We felt we could get good post position in there and that they weren't really denying the post that much and it worked out for us."
On the team needing to play with more desperation
"Our biggest thing was just to come out and be a scrapping team that didn't give up. We had to play with a sense of desperation and that was our biggest game plan To play like a team that needed to prove something because we haven't won a game in this place that meant something in a long time and we were able to do that."
South Alabama Head Coach John Pelphrey
Your thoughts on the game?
"They made the last play. So many things led up to where we were in that situation. I thought our kids fought hard, competed and made some plays. We just came up a little short. The ball could have easily rolled off but it did not. It was a tough road loss. Bowling Green had made some improvement since we saw them on film. They were a completely different basketball team tonight. We have a lot to work on and we did. It was still a tough loss."
What are your thoughts on the improvements in the second half?
"We did take care of the basketball better in the second half. We forced 18 [turnovers] but they still shot a high percentage from the field. We have to add an element of defense to our game. We don't quite have it from a consistency standpoint. I thought we competed and played hard from the four minute mark on. Sometimes things that are going wrong over the course of a game put you in a situation and it allows for the situation to take place. We could have easily gotten the steal at the end of the game when Demetric [Bennett] tipped the ball and it just didn't quite go our way there. Give Bowling Green credit, they did a very nice job."
Talk about the Jaguars battling back from deficits twice in the game.
"It was a game of runs, basketball is a lot like that. The first half we struggled scoring the ball and gave up 30 points. We have to improve and we have to get better. It's a tough pill to swallow right now."
