courtesy of Jack Alden

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"There were lots of big numbers run up out there today, and some of them are really good. You like that we outrebounded them 49-41, and we shoot 52% and they shoot 32 or 33. But I felt like we didn't really shoot the ball very well. We missed some wide open threes. But Melvin's kids are playing really, really hard. When you think about how young they are and the number of injuries they've had, it's really difficult for them. "I was pleased with our defense today. From the 9:00 mark of the first half down to the last two possessions, I thought we were really good defensively and got what we wanted on the offensive end. We gave 'em the two layups the last two possessions of the half, but during that stretch I thought we really stretched it out. During the first 11 or 12 minutes, it wasn't very good. I thought they were outhustling us for every loose ball. "Nick will tell you he's shooting from two inches away, but I like guys who can make 'em from two inches. A lot of guys don't get it that close. But he is shooting the basketball really well. He missed a jump hook from the right block early in the second half that I knew was going in. But he's playing very well. Drew's playing very well. Eric is struggling, but is trying to fight through it. You like Kirk's 10 assists, and you like Jeff Boschee's starting to shoot it in again for us from the three-point line. "Drew really has good ability to pass. His only problem is with his sight. Sometimes he doesn't see that there's a defensive player there, too. He always sees our guy, and he always thinks they're wide open. But that was a heck of a pass to Nick. "We've probably thrown away more lobs than any team I've ever coached, so when (Hinrich to Gregory) was successful, as coaches we thought that may be the first good lob pass we've thrown in the year 2001. "We knew Bernard (King) was gonna get points, because he's a scorer, but we wanted to make sure we held his percentage down. He's 5-18. He shot a poor percentage against us last year down at their place. Jeff is smaller, but he was able to get right up on him, and I think he really bothered Bernard. And when Bernard was able to get past him, there were some other guys there. I also think he got some of them just because of how good he was, even when we did play pretty good defense on him. "I told the guys in the locker room, I think this is the best Colorado team that anybody in that locker room has faced, so to enjoy the heck out of this one today, because we've really got to be ready to play at Colorado Monday night."

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