University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Post-Game Quotesheet
11/4/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 4, 2007
PITT vs. INDIANA (
November 4, 2007,
Quoting Pitt Head Coach Jamie Dixon:
Opening Statement:
"I thought we played very hard and very well today. Not just early on, but throughout, which isn't always easy to do in these types of games when the score can get out of control somewhat quickly. IUP is a very good, very well coached team and Joe Lombardi is going to be very successful up there. You saw in their patience today how well they executed their game plan. They wanted us to play 30 seconds on defense the whole game and they never wavered from that. It was a good test in that regard."
On his team's readiness to start the season:
"You're never as ready as you want to be, but I thought we improved tremendously in practice this week. That was a big thing. We could tell from the week before that we weren't where we needed to be yet, so we worked hard to correct the flaws and came out focused for the entire 40 minutes today."
On the play of Sam Young:
"Sam's going to be getting a lot of shots in our offense this year, and he's certainly got a knack for scoring. He was on fire today early in the game, and I think you saw his full offensive repertoire on display. That said, I'm most impressed with his defense, which has been great so far this year both in practice and in our games. We've also stressed to him that he needs to be great on offensive rebounds, and he's responded to that."
On Pitt's leadership:
"We're a program that's built on senior leadership. It's something we always stress to our seniors, that they need to step up and be an example for the rest of the team. But this year, we've really put the onus on our juniors to do that as well. There's a big gap between those six guys and the other players on the team in terms of experience. I'm very impressed with the way they've taken to the challenge."
On Pitt's post defense:
"It's not where it needs to be, but it's something we're working on and know we can get better at. I think the defense team wide is something that we can improve on to get it where it needs to be. You're always looking for ways to get better, and that's one place where you can never be satisfied."
Quoting Pitt's Sam Young:
On Pitt being ready for the upcoming season:
"We're ready to go. We've gotten the young guys some experience. We've played two games now and tested ourselves. It's time to start playing for real."
On whether he can be a top scorer:
"Definitely; there's absolutely no question in my mind that I can be that type of player. I have that mindset every time I step on the court and that's the way I'm going to play. I truly feel that for me the sky is the limit."
On the status of his knees:
"There's no question they're 100 percent better. It's night and day compared to last year. If you saw me play at all last year, I had a lot of problems getting life and jumping off of two feet; now I'm getting better lift off of one foot."
On playing power forward:
"It's a challenge being a bit undersized at power forward in the Big East, but it's also something I can use to my advantage too. Tyrell Biggs and I both need to work on what the guards do, become better passers, better shooters, better at driving to the hoop. It's often going to be bigger guys guarding us, but if we're flawless in executing those things we can be very effective."
Quoting Pitt's Tyrell Biggs:
On what he improved on this summer:
"I definitely worked on my mid-range jumper this off-season. We're such an aggressive rebounding team down low that a lot of teams are going to try and defend us with zone. My mid range jumper is an effective weapon I can use against that."
On playing power forward instead of center:
"I'm excited to be playing the four. It's my natural position and I feel most comfortable there, although I also have no problem sliding over to play center, either. I think with my shooting abilities I can definitely get some mismatches at power forward and use that to my advantage."
Quoting Indiana (
Opening Statements:
"We came in short-handed tonight. I was given the task of reconstructing a program that's had great success in the past. It will be a lengthy process and I don't want to make any commitments for the short-run that may keep us derailed. [Gerald] Brooks was our best player and leading scorer and he was the Rookie of the Year in the conference last year. He could not play due to various injuries tonight and that put us more behind. We knew we couldn't play Pitt man-to-man; we would have fouled out by the second half. They just have a veteran team with Sam [Young] and [Tyrell] Biggs. They know how to pass the ball, also. DeJuan Blair is as good at passing the ball as any big man in the country. Defensively they did a good job of using their quickness. Levance [Fields] is also playing better defense."
On playing at the
"It was a real thrill until the last eight minutes of the game. There are so many nice people including Donna Sanft, even the food vendors, security people and everyone who makes
On what his players learned from the game:
"It's a real challenge to get players to play hard every possession. When you play someone of equal ability you can sometimes get by without playing hard each time, but when you play Pitt, a team more athletic than us, the only way to compensate is with your mind and your effort. If not, you have no opportunity to be successful. I think that they learned a good lesson from this game, though and there were some good things that we did."
On Pitt being small up front:
"I would say that they are small in size but not in stature. There are a lot of players that are bigger than DeJuan Blair, but he'll get better with repetition. With Jamie [
On Sam Young:
"It's hard to gauge how the rest of the season will be this early, but he [Sam Young] is definitely reinvigorated. He got a healthy start this season and the sky's the limit for him."
On his players:
"Sean [Christiansen] had a real load on his shoulders tonight and even though he had some bad turnovers he had a lot of good plays. He played with a lot of toughness and leadership tonight."
On Tyrell Biggs:
"He [Tyrell Biggs] could always shoot and has played good post defense. He is a great passer and has a soft-touch. I'm not surprised at his success."
