The University of Akron Athletics
Akron-Northern Illinois Postgame Quotes
February 04 | Men's Basketball
Quoting Akron Head Coach Keith Dambrot
Opening Statement:
"I'm impressed with how our players handled adversity. We got beat
up at Kent State, we go to Western Michigan and win, then we lose a
tough game to Eastern Michigan, in which I thought we played hard,
we just didn't shoot the ball very well. The one thing I will tell
you about our players is that they are competitive. They have won a
lot of games at home for six years now and they don't want to be
the team that doesn't achieve to the level that they want to
achieve. They don't want to disappoint our fans, coaches and
families. We have high expectations, and we can't get upset when we
lose, because we have to stay positive. We have each other, and we
have a good basketball team, we have a good chance to win a lot of
games and the players played like they were having fun
tonight."
On the play of Akron sophomore guard Anthony "Humpty"
Hitchens:
"(Anthony) "Humpty" (Hitchens) was terrific tonight, there's no
doubt about it. When he's fresh, he's shot out of a cannon, and he
played really well tonight. He texted me at about 10 o'clock on
Tuesday night and asked me if he was playing (served a one-game
suspension for Monday's game against Eastern Michigan), so that
tells you how badly he wants to play. He's got a great heart and
he's a nice kid.'
On the play of Akron freshman center Zeke
Marshall:
"I told him before the game 'we really need you in this game,
because we have never really been able to guard these guys'. He
bothered them defensively, and offensively he's got some skill. We
have to make an effort to teach and work with him in practice. He's
going to be a very good player before it's all said and done. If we
get to the NCAA Tournament, this is when this guy is really going
to help us."
Looking ahead to facing Ball State on
Saturday:
"They are a very conservative basketball team, very well coached,
very good defensively, they are very tough and they make you shoot
up over them. We have had our troubles with them the past two
years, and have won a couple close games so it's going to be a
challenge for us."
