Coach Slessinger's Comments Heading Into Saturday's Game At Tulsa

PREVIEW

On the Tulsa Golden Hurricane
"They're a much better team than their record shows. A game at Wichita State is never easy. That's a very difficult place to play. This is a team loaded with talent. It's a team loaded with athleticism, guys that can play multiple positions and they can shoot the ball very well. They're going to be a very good team as the year progresses."
 
On the Privateers
"We've worked over the last 48 hours to address a lot of the areas we weren't very good at against Oklahoma State, which were a lot. We know that was not our best day. We also have a lot of new pieces that are coming together that are learning to play together. We are not going to make excuses. We're going to come out, compete and get ready. Our guys are in a good position to come out, compete and put a good day together. This will be a different team, a different matchup. It's one similar to some opponents we've had before that have been good matchups for us. The guys are refocused and excited to put Wednesday night behind us with a win."
 
On what UNO has to do to come away from Tulsa with a win
"We've got to guard at a much higher rate. We've got to guard and defend. We've got to limit them to one shot and really rebound the ball at a high rate again. The athleticism and size of Tulsa are going to be a challenge for us. Offensively, we've got to do a better job of getting deeper into the shot clock in the half-court offense and not settling for the first open shot. We need to wait for the best shot. Our guys are aware of that. We did that a lot of times in our scrimmages and in our first game."
 
On if the long road trip could have an effect on his team's performance
"The guys were fresh yesterday after having a tough night on Wednesday. Our staff has done a great job of getting us refocused. The guys, themselves, are competitive. They know it didn't go the way they wanted because they're competitive. They want to fix it. They want us to get back on track. They've worked very, very hard in the last 48 hours to get things back right and put us in a position to compete against a good ball club on Saturday."
 
On how the newcomers have played so far in 2016-17
"They've helped us address some areas that we needed to fix and where we needed to improve. Makur, even though he wasn't great offensively on Wednesday night, played at a high level defensively – blocking shots and being a rim protector. He added some athleticism to what we're doing. Jorge scored the ball at a high rate, which we know he's capable of doing when it's his night to do it. He's been in these games before his freshman year at Florida A&M, when he did very well. That experience has been very good for him. Bryson gave us some good minutes as well. I'm not upset with anyone on our roster. They all came in and gave us an honest effort. The times that they weren't good, they recognized it and want to improve it."