The University of Akron Athletics
Akron-Rhode Island Postgame Quotes
January 06 | Men's Basketball
Quoting Head Coach Keith Dambrot
Opening Statement:
"There's no doubt, turnovers were the difference tonight. We made
mistakes in the half court, but we didn't make them in the full
court. We prepared heavily for the full court pressure, but I
thought a lot of them were unforced, we just made bad decisions. I
feel bad for our kids, we competed very hard in the first half. I
thought we did a much better job rebounding the ball in the first
than in the second. I think they hurt us when it really mattered,
we didn't rebound when it really mattered and we didn't guard when
it mattered and we certainly didn't make shots when it mattered. We
tried very hard and you can tell Rhode Island has won some games,
that one's a heartbreaker for us because we probably played good
enough to win. Defensively, especially the first half, we just did
not make enough plays. We got the ball point blank, had a hard time
scoring over them and then we missed free throws and open
3-pointers when it mattered. They made their shots and we didn't
make ours."
On Rhode Island and tonight's loss:
"Their defenders gave Brett
McKnight a difficult time scoring down there tonight and I
don't think the shooter was very well protected in there tonight.
We got the ball and got in there, but didn't really get much, just
as far as protection. That's disappointing, because you always have
to protect the shooters. We made some bad plays too, a combination
of catching and passing, we did a poor job of that. Rhode Island is
long and athletic, they've got a good team, not necessarily a good
half court defensive team, which is probably what disappointed me
the most. When it mattered, they played better defense than we
did."
On tonight's offensive output:
"I like Ronnie Steward, I think
once he gets a little bit of the rust off he's going to really help
us. We have to really do better than 2-for-11 from Steve McNees, now I realize some of those were
desperation shots, but he's a key guy for us, he's been scoring
pretty well for us. We have to get some scoring from somewhere else
other than Brett (McKnight) because we're not getting enough from
other players right now."
