Quotes by Joe Katich

“The better team won. Johnston put forth a great effort on our home floor. I was disappointed we came out in the first quarter and didnt play the defense I expected us to play, but hats off to Johnston. I thought a number of their kids really played their roles well.”

“You cant blame it on any one player. It was a team effort for a loss. I dont think weve played any worse.”

“We are taking baby steps. . . . It has been hard to get their confidence back. We were a damaged team after last Friday night and we needed to get our feet back under us. It wasnt pretty tonight, but Southeast Polk will make you play a game that is slow and rugged, and I thought we responded pretty well in the second half.”

“In the first half, we stayed patient against their zone so we got some different looks at the basket. We didnt have to put up shots from outside and we were able to get the ball underneath to generate points.”

“We leave David close to the paint and let the other guys gamble a bit defensively. Usually, hell deter enough shots underneath to make a difference down there.”

“If you like offensive basketball, it was a good game to watch. I wasnt sure either one of us wanted to play good defense. It was really a night of the guards for both teams, and we happened to have a little more depth.”

“In the tournament, most teams arent going to be playing 75-, 80-point games. The games are slower, more conservative and we need to work on our man-to-man defense. Were capable of playing it, but weve got to fine-tune.”

“We set the game of basketball back 100 years tonight. We got guys doing one-on-ones. Urbandale played like a team tonight. We certainly didnt do what I taught them to do.”

“He gave us a lift. He was huge for us last year, and when he hit those shots, he looked like that player we had last year.”

“He was our first priority; we just couldnt stop him. We just told Pat to play straight-up with him, and it didnt work. We were counting on the other guys having an off night, and they did.”