Quotes Following Wednesday's SLC Tournament Loss To Southeastern Louisiana

GAME RECAP | GAME BOOK (PDF)

Head Coach Mark Slessinger
 
Opening statement
"Obviously, we're disappointed with how the season ended. We felt like we had good rhythm coming into tonight's game, we felt like we had prepared well and we felt we had a good game plan. We played them competitively in three of the four halves. The one in New Orleans ended on a missed tip-in, but today we didn't execute the times we needed to. The biggest thing was we just weren't perfect defensively. We needed to be better defensively, especially in the first half. We made several runs in the second to get it within striking distance, but we just weren't able to get over the hump. It's a frustrating day for our program but we're excited about the future and the direction we're headed moving forward."
 
On if he felt the team showed fatigue after getting within two in the second half
"We just mishandled a couple and didn't get stops when we needed to. We had a couple of opportunities there to take the lead and we gave up a big 3 that really gave them control again. We just weren't able to wrap it up and finish things out."
 
On having a familiarity with Southeastern Louisiana
"We played three times in 14 days. That's a pretty high frequency. It was a grudge match. We knew all of their calls and they knew all of ours. We knew what they were going to run, etcetera. In the end, they out-executed us on the offensive end. We didn't get the stops that we needed to in the key times that we needed. We have a lot that we'll take from this game. We'll learn, grow and develop to prepare for a championship run next year."
 
On the future of the New Orleans program
"We lose two great seniors in Kevin Hill and Travis Avery. These are two guys that have been rocks for our program. They're both on track to graduate. They're both honors students. Kevin was academic all-conference last year. Both of them will graduate in May – Kevin in business and Travis in civil engineering. They're both incredible student-athletes and they've helped us raise our program's profile. Having everybody returning is huge and having a really good recruiting class coming in big. We'll be full strength, which is nice. To have 13 scholarship guys to fill our roster for the first time in six years will be a nice arsenal to have. We're excited about taking that next step forward."
 
Junior Guard Nate Frye
 
On how the game played out
"The big thing is if we're not scoring, we have to get stops. That was the problem throughout the evening. In the first half, we weren't getting stops. In the beginning of second half, we started getting stops but we have to be stronger as a team and continue to do that throughout the second half and put two halves together."
 
On if the Lions did something to limit UNO's 3-point shooting in the second half
"They did everything the same. We just had to stay consistent ourselves. We were hitting shots in the first half and we hit some shots in the second half as well, but it all went back to the defensive side of the floor. That's all it was."
 
Senior Forward Kevin Hill
 
On the forwards getting limited touches in the second half
"The guards did a great job of getting the forwards involved inside when it was available. They did a great job all night of hitting outside shots. In the first half, we hit eight 3s. In the second half, the guards did a great job of attacking. At the end of the day, we have to get stops to win games when we're not getting those shots to fall. It's a game of stops and unfortunately, we weren't able to get those stops."