Quotes by Darin Hazel

“Their press really hurt us. We just made too many mistakes. We are getting close to where we want to be but give them credit they forced us to make mistakes and the turnovers allowed them to get into their offense.”

“We just didnt take care of the ball. Thats the bottom line. Theres not much you can say. Too many mistakes where they made the plays when they had to. It was two good teams out there and a lot of things happen. Tonight they were better than us.”

“It all boils down to Neil tonight. Hes a kid that just does a terrific job on both ends of the floor. Hes a kid we want all our youngsters to look up to.”

“Offensively, I thought it was one of the best games we played in years. The kids moved the balls and were unselfish.”

“Hes a great kid. He plays hard at both ends.”

“Weve told the kids that our best way to win a championship is through defense. I thought coming into the season defense would a strong point but I think weve gotten into an offensive frame of mind at times. Were trying to get back to basics with defense.”

“With him, we need to get him a touch every time down the floor. Some of the times we got away from that earlier in the season. The first couple minutes of the third quarter are probably the most important of the game because you have to come out and build your lead or get back into the game. Weve taken the approach of lets get the ball into Dan and Neils hands and go from there.”

“This was a tough place to play and we had to just go about our business. Give them credit, they played hard. We started to take control in the fourth. It was nice to see the kids face some sort of adversity, to be in a close game and pull it out.”

“Obviously, the dunk was huge because of the crowd. That dunk set the tone for the night, especially out of a half-court set. After that, it was our game to lose. The kids did a tremendous job of finishing it out.”

“Looking at tape, we felt a zone would be effective against them. Theyre so athletic and we had a hard time controlling them off the dribble the last time. What we wanted to do was get a fast tempo to start, get them a little tired and switch to a zone. I think that was really effective tonight.”