courtesy of Jack Alden

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"I think we were really good in the second half. It's a short, young season, but I think the second half was the best that we've played all year, and against a very good Seton Hall team. They were tough to handle because they could shoot the ball so well from a distance and they were so quick, as well. But the second half I thought we really played at both ends of the court. "Nick Collison with 22 points and 19 rebounds is particularly outstanding considering about 48 hours ago he felt like he was gonna die. I think his flurry at one point in the second half when he got two or three offensive rebounds in a row just lifted everybody up. It lifted our enthusiasm, it lifted our speed, it lifted our energy, we got quicker, we got stronger, and I think the guys started feeding off that kind of effort. "Our defense got it going, and it wasn't always after they missed a shot. We got some steals. They turned it over 20 times. The bad things is, we turned it over 24. But our defense got it going, and then we got some easy shots and ended up shooting 53% in the second half. "There was a couple of times in the first half that I was really mad (following four straight turnovers). You can't turn the basketball over and be a great basketball team, and that's what we want to be. "After two straight wins you feel better, but I'd like to be playing tonight (championship game). Since we came to Kansas 14 years ago, this is the first exempt tournament that we've ever played in that we were not in the championship game. Three Pre-Season NIT's, two Alaska's, two Rainbow Classics, two of these, one Coaches versus Cancer... We like being in the championship game. But the fact is Ball State outplayed us down the stretch and we didn't get Duke, but we feel good about what we got out of it."

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