Related pages Box score Season stats Possession analysis advertisement [an error occurred while processing this directive]

"It's a fantastic feeling for those kids right now. I tried to stress to them that we didn't have to win 15 gaems in a row or anything like that. We had to win one game, and that was today's game. "I was really impressed with our club. The first half we weren't very efficient offensively, and I think the biggest part of that was K-State's defense. We tried to make sure in the second half, we realized they were going to be sharp defensively, and tried to be a little sharper. We were sometimes, and yet we weren't sometimes. But I never felt like they made a big run at us. Then down the stretch we went to Raef about five or six times in a row, and he was able to score. "At the 8:00 timeout I jumped them, because we'd had four straight layups and hadn't made any of them. T.J. got a layup. Raef got a layup. Then T.J. got another one, and Raef got the rebound and missed it going back. And I said somebody's got to be tough enough to step up and make a shot. After that Raef made everything. He made a really tough turnaround over Manny (Dies) on the baseline, and then he came back a little bit later and made a three. But I told the team the best thing about it was he tood a charge at the other end to make sure I wouldn't get on his back about taking that three-point shot. "Everybody has a bad day. I'm not going to take credit for it completely. But we did have more time to prepare for Kansas State. We played last Sunday (80-70 victory over MU). Then Monday the only thing we did was lifting, and Tuesday we took the day off completely, so that gave us a couple of days to work on their sets. And last night coming over on the bus we watched the entire game tape of when we played them the first time (69-62 KU victory). Manny sort of had his way with us, and I challenged our big people to do a better job defensively this time, and I think we did. "It was a game of big plays down the stretch, but I liked Nick stepping in there (taking a charge on Rhodes for his fifth foul). We needed him to do something for us. He also made a nice shot on the baseline after Paul had gotten in foul trouble. Paul gets in foul trouble over here more than any other place he goes. But he stepped up and made two free throws for us. Billy made two free throws, and I think that sort of made sure everything was going to be okay at the end. "C.B. gave us a big lift. We even went with C.B. and Ryan in there at the same time, and that was important to us. Swartzendruber and Paco (May) running off those baseline screens... we weren't doing as good a job as I wanted on them. But you hold them to 38% shooting, and you got to feel pretty good about your defense, particularly if you outrebound them as well."