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"Last year, the St. Louis game (last one before Christmas) was awful and I felt awful, and the kids knew I was gonna be mad when we came back, so it wasn't the best holiday time we've ever had, to say the least. But I'm ecstatic with the way we played tonight. That's a very, very difficult team to play, and I think for us to go out there and play the way we did gives us another shot in the arm after playing as poorly as we played on Saturday (vs. Illinois). To come out and do that tonight does make you feel good and gives everybody three or four good days at Christmas. "(The early alley oop slam by Gregory) was a great, great play by Kenny. It was not a very good pass by Nick (Bradford), because Kenny had to go as high as he could possibly go, and he didn't need to go that high. It could have been a little lower where it would have been a little easier. But the degree of difficulty was about as big as it could be, and it did give us a lift. "Three or four story lines for the game. Nick getting us off to a great start, Jeff Carey had probably the most productive 17 minutes anybody has ever played without taking a shot. Ashante Johnson was big for us. Eric Chenowith and Nick Collison in foul trouble and Drew Gooden unable to play (hip pointer), it was up to Ashante and Jeff (Carey) to come in and do a good job, and they did. They were the story of the game. And then going to the free throw line and making 22 out of 23, and being able to rebound the ball the way we did, was really important. Eric had eight rebounds at the half, but I was about ready to kill him. I'm screaming, 'Eric, be smart, be smart!' I had a substitute up to get him out of the game at the end of the first half, and he gets a silly foul, and then he gets another silly foul for his fourth. But Ashante Johnson and Jeff Carey, free throws, rebounds, and Nick Bradford, and that's about it. "They spread you out. They have great spacing on the court, great court balance, good ball handlers with their big guys who make those back door passes... I was really pleased. We worked on it the last couple of days, about how to defend that. We knew they were going to get some, and the idea was that they'd get some but would throw some away, and our size could bother them some if they did catch it. Nick Collison came out of nowhere and made a huge block on one of them early in the game. We wanted to do a better job in the second half of getting to the three-point shooters, but they missed some of them. "Ashante Johnson has an ability to score. He's gotta get better on the defensive end and taking care of his assignments. But I've said many times, guys have to be able to play when they're called upon. Saturday against Illinois, we made some substitutions early and had three turnovers out of four possessions. So I told these guys, 'When I put you in today, you have to be able to produce.' Needless to say, Ashante and Jeff Carey, particularly, really did. "I've always been concerned about (players' ability to focus on the game right before Christmas). I think it is difficult to do. Our guys come back on the 27th, so they don't have much time. We tried to get everybody to do all their packing by yesterday and get all their travel plans taken care of by yesterday, and then just come in today and shoot around. Now they can take care of getting home. "We'll enjoy this one a heck of a lot more than we did last year at Christmas time. It is a good time for everybody. I told them they gave themselves the best Christmas present they could have because they feel good about themselves, and they're not worried about coach killing them when they come back, so that's the best thing they can do."