Coach Slessinger's Quotes Following Saturday's 81-63 Win At Central Arkansas

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Overall thoughts on the game
"The guys came out with a lot of pop and energy. In the first half, we played a pretty good defensive half. We left some points on the table and they picked up three or four baskets off loose balls. We wanted to play this game in the 50s and 60s, and held them to 63 but we felt that we gave some points away in the first half. That was unacceptable for where we are and what we need to do. Overall, our defensive effort was strong. Christavious Gill and Michael Zeno were phenomenal on [Jordan] Howard, who I think is a special player – one of the elite guards in our league."
 
On the overall defensive effort by Christavious Gill in frustrating Jordan Howard
"We said he was frustrated, but he had 14 points. That's how good of a player that kid is. He's really good. Christavious did a tremendous job. He came in with a chip on his shoulder that he wanted to play really well tonight, and I'm proud of him."
 
On the overall performance by Travin Thibodeaux
"Travin played great, but let me say something. That Central Arkansas team is good. Russ Pennell is a great coach. He's got these guys going in the right direction. They are as dangerous of an offensive team as there is in our conference. When they get going, they can score baskets in bunches. We were very lucky to come out of this tough environment with a win today. Thibodeaux was good and had a great voice. When his voice is good, we're pretty good – especially on the defensive end. It was another balanced scoring night for us, which is always good."
 
On UNO going 7-of-15 from beyond the 3-point arc
"They're a zone team and they did a great job of taking away our high post, which is arguably our strength. We had to run some counters and do some different stuff which led to some different shots for us as the night went on. That led to us shooting probably three of four more 3s than we wanted, but we shot a good percentage. They all were open and in rhythm. The ones that we missed were in rhythm and our feet were squared up. You're not going to make them all, but they were good shots.
 
On shooting 55.4 percent from the field
"One of the things we talked about in pregame that we thought would be a key for us was we had to pass up good shots to get great shots. We gave up quite a few good shots and got some great shots – and they were late in the clock. That's one of the big things that gets me excited and this team could be playing for a while because we pass up good shots to get great shots when you're late in the clock. That can be hard to do."
 
On playing one of the most complete games of the season
"There have been lulls where we've built leads, and we gave one away in the first half. We got out of what we were doing defensively and it was probably our worst three-minute stretch. I think they went on an 8-2 or a 9-2 run during that stretch. I had to use a timeout at the four-minute mark, which I didn't want to do, but we had to stop the momentum and get ourselves back at it. We did and we ended up closing out the half strong except for that 3-pointer at the buzzer by them. Over the long haul, we were able to build a lead and continue to get stops and then pull away."
 
On holding Mathieu Kamba to four second-half points after he scored 14 in the first
"He's a phenomenal athlete. At halftime, our guys took it personally. They didn't guard him at their best. They didn't give their best effort and they wanted to fix it. They just played with a lot more intensity and with more attention to detail."
 
On the upcoming home game against McNeese on Thursday
"That's a big one. McNeese is hot. They're a good basketball team. They beat this UCA team and shot the ball really well. They get great guard play. It's going to be a tough one. It's a short turnaround again, and then we turn around and leave on Friday again to play at Stephen F. Austin on Saturday. It's another tough week. It doesn't stop for us."
 
On the way his team played in the last two games
"Our guys play so hard and so unselfishly. They gave up shots they could have taken. We probably gave up 20 shots we could have taken that would not have been bad shots, and they did it to give the team a better chance. That's why they're fun to coach. It's a good group to be around and that's why they're in the position they're in in the league standings."