.png&width=48&height=48&type=webp)
University of Houston Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: Houston 76, Temple 73
12/30/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
TEMPLE OWLS (7-6) at HOUSTON COUGARS (12-2)
Saturday, Dec. 30, 2017 • Health & PE Arena • Houston
HOUSTON HEAD COACH Kelvin Sampson
Opening Statement
"We knew going into the game we were going to get Temple's best shot. They are the same team who handed Auburn their first loss and beat Clemson. We responded well, even without Devin, who had two quick fouls and had to sit out the rest of the half. We practiced with him in our starting unit all week, so not having him in there made it tougher on the other guys at times.
We made some defensive adjustments during halftime and were able to get the ball on the other side of the court during the second half. Once we got the ball moving from side to side we opened up their defense and found some three point opportunities. Our execution after timeouts and on baseline out of bounds plays was outstanding. I'm glad the game came down to the wire at the end because we haven't had a close game. There were a lot of teachable moments in the game. When our guys are missing free throws and have a dry spell from the field, and they make three pointers, it's easy to catch up. Armoni is a great free throw shooter, but he needed to make both of his shots. Armoni makes one out of two, Devin makes one out of two, and Galen misses two, that's four missed free throws. We weren't finishing well, but those are great teachable moments. It's positive because we can break down the film and get better from a game like this."
On Breaon Brady in-game injury
"It was a sprained ankle. He has a big knot on the side of his ankle and it's swollen. He will be alright. We would like to play him more minutes, but he gets fatigued easily so we have to rotate him in and out regularly. When Breaon first came to UH he was 300 pounds, but our strength and conditioning coaches are doing a great job of getting him in better shape. If we didn't have the depth that we have, we wouldn't have won the game. Breaon didn't play the last five or six minutes, but Fabian was able to step in and close the game out."
HOUSTON SOPHOMORE GUARD Armoni Brooks
On the put back dunk
"When Devin shot it, I looked at it and thought it was a little long. Coach preaches offensive rebounding every day at practice and I just so happened to get the dunk this time. My intention was only to secure the ball, but when I jumped up I was able to get both hands on it and told myself I might as well try to put it back up."
On close game providing teachable moments
"Having a close game early in conference play really prepares us for the rest of the season. Most of our games haven't been close and there are a lot of good teams in our conference who are going to put up more close games against us. Having this experience early in the conference season will really help us down the stretch."
On becoming more of a competitor
"When I came out of high school, coach told me I was playing hard, but I wasn't competing. He stressed that there is a difference between the two. He said in order to have a competitive mentality, you have to want to win no matter what you are doing whether its doing squats on the wall or shooting free throws. Whatever you do, you want to win. We had a competition where we had to stand on one leg and eventually I gave up. It taught me that I have to compete at everything I do and it really helped my mindset, especially at this point in my career. Coach told me that I have a court presence now. Like you can feel when I'm on the floor. "
HOUSTON JUNIOR FORWARD Breaon Brady
On feelings after the injury
"I feel better than what the injury looked like. It hurt a lot when it happened, but I feel better and I'm happy we got the win tonight. I looking forward to getting back to practice. The only thing that I am really focused on right now is the Wichita State game. "
On tonight's performance compared to previous games
"This is by far one of the best games I've ever played, even looking back on my junior college days. I had good games in junior college, but this meant so much more to me. Coach stressed that this was a home game and we have to protect home court. Now, we are starting conference play and every game is important. No game can be taken for granted because it cannot be had again. I may have stood out to people in this game, but I was playing for my team and do anything to help us win."
On close game providing teachable moments
"Definitely. This was the first time this season where we had a seriously close game. We knew what we had to do though; take care of the ball and make our free throws. We missed some crucial free throws, but luckily we picked our tempo back up and put the game away. I'm happy that we won."
On game against Wichita State
"We are just looking to compete. We are going to do what we do best and that is defend, rebound, stick to our principles, and hope for the best. Wichita State is going to be our first road conference game and the environment will be hostile because everyone will be rooting for Wichita State."
