Quotes from Portland Game

Head Coach Randy Bennett

"Good win. Though game. Thought it would be. We had a game against Gonzaga and lost, I think you can have a little bit of hangover, but we fought through and played a pretty good second half. It was got closer then I wish it would of at the end. They had a chance to go up on us with that open three. So fortunately it came out."

"We still have to improve defensively. We are not defending their inside players very well. Our guards did a really good job on their guards, but we have to do a better job on interior players. They had 31 and 30 on us. We have to improve that."

"It should be exhilaration. They're a good team, but the way that game ended (it wasn't). We closed it out, but I think a lot of time it's relief. There's pressure to win at home. You need to win those games at home. Road games it's more exhilaration."

"Omar wears you down, foul trouble, conditioning, just guarding him the whole game. I think early in the game they're not in bonus yet, so they can play him pretty physical and they're not going to call the fouls so it makes it hard from him to score. Other then that I can't explain (how he played better in the second half)."

"(Ben) and I talked about it already. Smart players, good players don't get that third foul in the first half and they don't foul out. They don't get that forth foul in the second. You might get a bad call. You might get a bad break. You might get a call, but don't waste those fouls. With Ben on the court we're at our best, and he only played six minutes in the first half and he did something similar to that against Gonzaga. He has to stay out of foul trouble. He has to be smart, and he's got to move his feet and be more disciplined defensively. He can't just chop when he gets beat."

"Defensively and rebounding. We have to compete better. I'm not saying we're not competing, but we have to compete better. We have to not foul, that's competing. We have to block out on free-throws."

Senior Forward Ben Allen

"It was important to bounce back after Gonzaga, and now that we got the win over Portland we move towards San Diego and I think we bounced back well."

"They're a good team and I think we played well, so I think it's important that we held our own on our home court."

"Coach got on me about starting games, and I think I got a little excited and I got three fouls early. That's frustrating, but you have to play what's dealt you."

"At my spot, the four spot we're letting the four man score a little too much, so we need to focus in on that. I think we're guarding the five really well, and I think we're guarding the shooters really well and they're a really good shooting team and we kept them pretty low."

"We took some pride in our defense and really wanted to guard someone."

"We know they're a really good shooting team. They shoot the three more then we do, so that's saying a lot. So I think we took care of that really well."

Senior Center Omar Samhan

"I like to make coach B nervous. Being serious, I wasn't being supper aggressive at first, missed some bunnies. They were doubling, so I just kind of slowed it down a little bit and let the double come to me and when it did it opened up and I got a chance to score some buckets."

"This game was just as big as Thursday night."

"We threw a bunch of different guys at (Smolders). It's tough at that position, because Ben and I are both kind of five men, so we don't really have a four man. So we threw Phil in there to guard him for a little, and tried to switch it up, but he's a good player. He got his touches tonight and he went to the foul line."

"Tonight I would say it is relief. We weren't terribly excited that we won, because they came back and we didn't play as well a we would've liked. But you're always happy after a win."

"I think we fought from the beginning, especially out on the perimeter. The guards did a great job tonight on their guards. They're some of the best shooting guards in the country."

Schedule

GAELS IN THE PROS

CHAMPIONS

HALL OF FAME

Footer

Upcoming Events