Coach Slessinger's Quotes Following Tuesday's 74-59 Win Over Tulane

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Overall thoughts on the game
"Our staff did an incredible job of getting these guys prepared and did a great job with the scout. They really had them locked in. Everybody understood their role and bought in to staying within that and doing what we had to do to be able to finish possessions offensively and defensively. We had some pieces that I wasn't happy with but overall, for the whole night, we did a lot of things that were pretty good. We rebounded the ball at a high level and converted when we needed to convert."
 
On the significance of being 3-0 at home and defeating their cross-town rival
"I'm so happy for our student-athletes, our alumni, our faculty and our staff – everybody that has been involved with our program. This is a small [reward] for everybody that stuck with us over the last six to eight crazy years. Unless you've been here, it's hard to understand all the ups and downs that we've had to fight through and some of the paths that we've taken to try to rebuild a program the right way. We've done with guys that are going to buy in to being a part of our University, our campus, our culture and our city. We've been able to get those guys to graduate at a high rate. We've graduated 95 percent of our seniors. We need to continue to get these guys to move our program forward toward a championship level. This was a small step forward."
 
On the total team effort tonight
"We shared the ball well. When I talked to the team in the locker room afterwards, I told them that I don't remember us taking one selfish shot. I don't think at any time were guys hunting for a shot or looking to just get one. Everybody was trying to stay within the offense. They stayed within what we wanted to do as far as attacking from the inside out and they were really dynamic in our zone. They were communicating a really high level and did a good job of executing that."
 
On the performance of junior forward Travin Thibodeaux
"He's really coachable right now. He's such an intelligent player and he works very hard. He's had some really big growth steps in the last three or four weeks, and I think you can see that on the floor. He's such an intelligent guy on and off the floor. Sometimes he can get a little stubborn, but he's been playing at a really good level right now. We've gotten really good play from our upper classmen like him, Erik [Thomas], Tevin [Broyles] and [Christavious Gill]. Then Makur [Puou] comes in and was pretty dynamic in spots tonight. That gives us a good base to start growing from."
 
On the upcoming game at Washington State
"We're going to go play a really good Washington State program. They've got a really dynamic forward in [Josh] Hawkinson, who is a first-team All-Pac 12 player. He's a guy that can score a bunch of ways. He's a guy we'll see playing on TV and he's really, really special. Ernie Kent can coach. He can do a lot of things offensively. They're a team that is very dangerous. Pullman, Wash., is no easy place to get to nor is it an easy place to win."
 
On the tough two-game road swing with contests at Washington State and Utah State
"We've got some rough travel ahead of us. Our guys need to continue to stick together and play at a high level together. We need to get guys to come in [off the bench] and give us a spark. I thought [Michael] Zeno was really special in the second half. He got off to a slow start in the first and came in during the second half and was really special and dynamic. He got some huge rebounds, had some big finishes, shot 5-for-5 from the free throw line, and really gave us a spark that we needed off the bench."
 
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