Coach Slessinger's Quotes Following Saturday's 87-72 Southland Win At Incarnate Word

POSTGAME VIDEO | RECAP | GAME BOOK (PDF)

Overall thoughts on the game
"I'm so proud of how the games played throughout the game. They played hard and they played unselfish basketball. I'm blessed to be the coach here. I'm blessed to be able to coach these guys day in and day out. For them to buy in to the bigger picture of playing for our University, playing for our city and playing to put this once proud program back on the map. I'm so thankful and humbled by that, and today was just a little picture of that."
 
On picking up the program's first-ever win against Incarnate Word
"This is a hard place to play. It's hard to create atmosphere. Lamar had a good atmosphere the other night. I told the guys today, 'You have to set your own thermostat because we're either going to set the temperature hot or cold. In the first half, we kept fluctuating. Then we got into a grind in the middle of the second half and then we were able to get thing back hot and keep it going. We were able to pound the ball inside on them and execute the things we wanted to. We stopped taking some bad shots. We had a 13-point lead in the first half and we had another 10- or 15-point lead in the second half, and guys let off the gas and took a couple of bad shots. Offensive shot discipline has worked for this group. Once we figured that out, we were able to stretch it out with good shot selection and played well down the stretch."
 
On the performance of UNO's post players
"We are so proud of all of these guys. When you look at it, we had multiple guys in double figures. They're sharing the ball and they don't care who scores. Erik had a bad night the other day, especially in the first half, and he and I talked about that in the bowels of the Montagne Center. We thought he had a bad night and he finished with a double-double. That must mean he's a pretty dadgum good player. We have good, solid depth – guys that are ready to come in at any point. Nate was the hero the other day against Corpus and he had a tough game today. He didn't run the team at his best and I'm sure he's mad at himself. But this is a good sign. It's a sign that we have good depth and we're doing things the right way."
 
On the team's free throw shooting
"We're shooting foul shots much, much better because we've invested a lot of time and effort on that. Sometimes you get a guy that's not a strong free throw shooter and you just have to keep working with him. Eventually they turn a corner, and Thibodeaux is a great example of that. He's a guy that fought change originally but he eventually embraced it midway through last year when he was having some struggles. This year, he's been tremendous from the line. He's got a much more compact stroke. It's something that we've worked on a lot, contrary to what some people may think. I've got a cousin who gets made because he doesn't think we ever hit foul shots. He thinks we shoot 50 percent from the foul line. I ask him, 'What the heck do you think we're doing? We work on it all the time.' I get it from all sides. I get it from my coaches when we don't make it and I get it from my cousin. You've got to have wide shoulders."
 
On holding UIW as best it could from beyond the 3-point arc
"I'm proud of how we reacted. That was a key for us. Our coaches did a great job once again in our preparation and giving them all the pieces they need. Which such a short turnaround, you can only give them so much and you need the right pieces to get stops. We took them out of some things that they wanted to do. We wanted to play a little faster today. We thought we would have some opportunities to get stuff in transition – get some fast-break stuff and get some points off turnovers. The thing that's good about this team is we can make it ugly. We played in the 60s in a 45-minute game, and today we made it into the 80s – almost 90 – because we thought we had an advantage. The players bought int. It's not always that you get a team with the leadership that understands that and will execute the game plan. They did a really good job of that today."
 
On if his team is beginning to focus on a potential Southland Championship
"All of that is so far away. We're worried about how we can practice on Monday. How good can we practice on Monday? We're embracing the process and know that we have to be better pilfering. We have to be better at screening. We have to be better on weak-side box outs. That's our approach on this thing. The end result will take care of itself. The more times we can get good kids to make the right plays, play as hard as they can with great effort and great attitude – that's our focus. In my 20 years of doing this, I believe that championships, wins and success follow that."