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University of Houston Athletics
POSTGAME QUOTES: Houston 67, SMU 58
2/8/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
SMU MUSTANGS (15-9 • 5-6 American)
at HOUSTON COUGARS (18-5 • 8-3 American)
Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018 • Health & PE Arena • Houston
HOUSTON HEAD COACH Kelvin Sampson
Opening Statement
"It's like they took our big guys out of the game. They don't have any. They only have one big man that was No. 23. They have No. 5 Chargois. He's tall and big, but he's not a big man. He's a perimeter player. They're small and talented. They all can shoot, they're all quick and they can all beat you off the dribble. They don't play many players. Last year they played seven guys the entire year. I don't know if they ever even played an eighth guy. Depth is not who they are. Obviously they are missing some key pieces, but they came in here and got after us early. I mean McMurray, the shots he was hitting early, you don't assume he's going to hit those the whole game. We were doing a good job defensively, he was just making shots. Then they had some kids, Douglas was 1-15 all year, today he was 4-8 and 2-4. On a night like this, those guys are going to make those shots. They are getting an opportunity to play and obviously they are talented kids, otherwise they wouldn't get recruited.
The two guys that I was most proud of tonight were Armoni Brooks and Wes VanBeck. I thought they were especially outstanding of the embodiment of our culture. Rob got it going offensively in the second half, but Wes made some key defensive plays and got some offensive rebounds. Armoni with 10 rebounds, but again that's the strength of our team. We have depth. Two of our best players today came off the bench. Against UCF and Cincinnati, Corey and a bunch of other guys played well. It's nice to know you have different players that you can dial their number up and they can come in and produce. I thought SMU competed harder than we did early, but that's what they had to do. Congratulations to Coach Jankovich and his staff. They did a great job preparing their team, but again this ain't a beauty contest. Great win for the Cougars, we're 15-8, 8-3 and tied for second in the league, with seven games left."
On fighting from behind down the stretch
"They kept hurting us with the high/low, so we just extended pressure on the passer. Post defense starts with ball pressure. We had to get more pressure at the top, then we doubled off of one of their players. They had all guards and they had to spread around the three point line, so they forced us to make a lot of adjustments tonight. I probably had to make more decisions tonight than I have in a while. We made them and our defense was really good in the last five minutes. That's what won the game,our defense."
On late game hustle
"I think that all goes back to the C word, culture. There are some things that are tangible and others that aren't. Culture is tangible, it really is. It's being with the conditioning coach at 6 a.m. three days a week in June. It's conditioning four days a week in September for five straight weeks. It's those three hour practices in October and November. When there are no excuses allowed you learn to battle through things. I think you have to earn the right to battle through adversity. It doesn't happen because of talent, talent has nothing to do with it."
HOUSTON SENIOR GUARD Wes VanBeck
On Houston's defense down the stretch
"I think we picked up our intensity. We came out lackadaisical in the first half and in the beginning of the second. Coach called that quick timeout and let us know that these guys aren't going to quit and that we're going to need to go win it. It was a group effort in picking up our intensity."
On winning a tight game at this point in the season
"It's a huge win. Coach always says that the next game is the biggest game of our lives. We've had a good year so far. Some of the past years that I've been here we've had a few slip-ups, especially at home. So that was one thing we concentrated on early in the season, trying to get our wins at home and playing hard and controlling what we can control."
On being able to close out games
"It starts with practice for us. We compete really hard. The second team always plays against the first team and I think that makes us better every day, because we always battle. That is definitely something that helps us on the court."
On his key offensive rebound late in the game
"I saw him (Corey Davis) shoot it and the lane cleared open. The ball looked like it was going to the left, so I knew was going to bounce out to the middle. I read the ball off of the rim and luckily it got tipped and I was able to grab the ball. That is something that coach emphasizes a lot. He talked to us about it before the game. He said they're a smaller team, so we were going to need to crash the offensive glass."
HOUSTON SOPHOMORE GUARD Armoni Brooks:
On the last five minutes of the game
"We knew that it was going to be a tough game. SMU is really a good team. They love to control the pace of the game. We knew that we had to get some stops to get out of transition. That's where we are at our best, once we started putting stops together"
On the difference in this year's team
"I feel like we are close to each other. We all love each other. I think that really goes a long way when you are trying to win tough games. You know that you can trust each other and that they all have your back. I feel that we are all locked in on a goal."
On if he would consider this his best game of the season
"There is always room for improvement. Coach always says to live in the moment and don't look forward too much. I am just going to take this 'W" along with my great teammates and stay humble."
On coming off the bench
It's all mental. You just have to prepare to get into the flow of the game and get a feel on how it's going. You instantly have to come in and see how you can help the team. Tonight I did what I had to do to help the team.
