Jan. 5, 2009
Recap | Box Score
Post-Game Quotes
Loyola vs. Green Bay
January 5, 2009
Loyola Head Coach Jim Whitesell
Thoughts on the game
"This was a big win for us obviously, after Saturday's game, beating a very quality basketball team that's playing really well. We started out well and then Green Bay really came back and just got going a little bit. That was kind of anyone's game, but our guys came up with some big ways. J.R. made those two free throws and I thought a lot of our guys chipped in. I'm glad Aric Van Weelden got in here, because I think lots of times, Aric moved the basketball and did some nice defensive things for us and played one of his best games of the year and it certainly helped us. I think a little bit, our guys figured out the Horizon League intensity and we really mentioned that a lot to our players after the Milwaukee game, about how hard you have to play and how tough you have to play and how mentally, you have to stay in the game. We were up three, we missed four free throws in a row and we still stayed in there to win the game. They tied it and then we got the ball back. That's what you're going to see all the time in conference games. We are happy to win tonight, but there's a lot of tough games left."
On preventing the three
"This team (Green Bay) shoots the three very, very well. Almost everyone has the ability to shoot the three, so that's one thing that makes them really tough. They spread you out a little bit. They had some good looks. Obviously that three at the end, it was a nice play and he got a quality shot off."
On switching to the zone
"It's risky and I think Green Bay executes their stuff so well. One of the things you have to do is see if you can make a change there and at the end, we finished out man-to-man. I think the zone helped us a little bit and when you're a good three-point shooting team, some nights those are going to drop for you and other nights they're not. We needed to be really aggressive and that's one thing I told the guys is, we're not going to play them zone if you're not going to be aggressive."
Loyola junior guard Aric Van Weelden
On Loyola's defense
"We kind of caught them by surprise with the zone. It was just a switch and it worked out for us tonight. Some nights it does and some nights it doesn't, but tonight I thought it worked out pretty well and they didn't get a lot of easy threes up."
Loyola senior guard J.R. Blount
On his free throw shooting at the end of the game
"There was nothing really different to it, I just came out with a little more concentration when it comes down to it and realized what I was doing wrong. I got a little more of my legs into it and got my follow-through down. All my teammates had confidence in me that I was going to make both of them and that helped me. It's a matter of repetition, we shoot free throws everyday in practice."
Thoughts on the game
"It was a huge win. We just had to do whatever it takes to get this win, especially knowing we have to go on the road to Cleveland and Youngstown coming up. We just wanted to make sure we got on a solid ground. We have four games this week and we're 1-1 now. But we just wanted to come out and focus on getting this one win and now we focus on Cleveland State and try to get a win there and then get Youngstown and take it one game at a time."
On the strategy in the final seconds of the game
"Defensively, we were just thinking to stay solid. Green Bay executed a great play. They had (Rahmon) Fletcher start at the opposite free throw line and he ran up and sprinted and I sprinted with him and they had (Randy) Berry set a back screen on me it looked like. I didn't know if he was trying to take a charge or not, so I didn't want to run into him and create an offensive foul. It was a great play. When the shot went up, Leon (Young) said he was under the basket and it looked like it was going in. From where I was, it looked like he got off a pretty good attempt. Green Bay is just a good team. They executed well. We were able to get one more stop that we needed."
