Quotes Following UNO's 75-63 SLC Semifinal Win Over Sam Houston State

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Head Coach Mark Slessinger
 
On winning the regular-season conference championship
"It's a great culmination for our University. It's a great culmination the hard work and dedication these guys have put forward and the support of our administration from the president's office on down. This is a team effort. I've said it many times and I'll continue to say it – our team is champions, but so is our faculty, our students and staff, our alumni and the city we love. They're all in first place and a champion again."
 
On if he was concerned the lack of tournament experience would hinder the team's ability to get off to a good start
"I wasn't. My hat goes off to Sam. They played a phenomenal tournament and continued to battle. I knew that our guys would be up to play them. That's a team that we battle with every time. It was a big win for us. It's the only team in the league that we did not beat this year. The guys knew that. It was a big motivational point for us. We had a great week of preparation. My staff did a phenomenal job with the scouting report and the prep of getting the guys ready. As crazy as this sounds, the one thing I was not worried about – the least thing I was worried about – was them being tight, not coming out loose and not be ready to come out firing. That was the least of my worries. I was worried about maybe I would call the wrong play, maybe we would maybe over-covered a ball-screen coverage or something. They were ready to play. When you do this long enough, and I've been doing this for 20 years, you know when they're ready and they were ready."
 
On how big a piece of the gameplan was to attack Sam Houston early and force turnovers
"It was huge for us to be able to be opportunistic defensively. We talk a lot about defensive accuracy in our defensive positioning. Today, they were pretty accurate. In the times we weren't accurate, we had phenomenal voice and a phenomenal attitude to kind of make up for our mistakes. That's been an amazing part about this group. They had a great will to win and they weren't going to be taken out of what we do. By being there, we were able to force some turnovers, get out on the break and get some easy baskets. That's a good team. [Sam Houston State] is a very, very good basketball team. It's one that beat us at home, and we haven't lost at home often. We were lucky to advance against them."
 
On the effort of Michael Zeno off the bench
"Michael is amazing. Michael has one of the most infectious attitudes of anyone I've ever coached. He's relentlessly positive. He's always fired up. He's always moving in the right direction. The guys call him 'Hype' because he's always getting guys going. Tonight was a great example of that. Tonight was about his heart. What you saw in the first half was Michael's heart, and it was true and honest. That's him. The dunk he had, that was SC Top 10."
 
On what UNO did to keep Sam Houston State from mounting a comeback early in the second half
"In the second half, they came out and really made some tough shots. The part that I was most pleased about with our team was they didn't get flustered. They made a crazy shot, we got a tough call that didn't go our way and we never went crazy. We never lost focus, they just stayed the course and knew the next play was coming. That's what kept us in this thing. We never let them get too close. They have some great shooters. They kept shooting and they were shooting free and loose because they were having to come from behind. A couple of nights before, it was a different story. In the end, our guys closed possessions out, got big rebounds and didn't give them second and third chances. They got a couple of more offensive rebounds than we would have liked, but over the course of the game, I was pleased with our ability to close out possessions."
 
Senior Forward Erik Thomas
 
On the importance of getting off to a good start vs a team playing its third game in as many days
"It was great for us to come out with a lot of energy today and that's what we did. They're a little worn out from the last two games, and we had a lot of energy and a lot of voice. We just happened to be the better team today."
 
On converting free throws when the game got tight late
"It was crucial for us. It was about our, our toughness and being able to lock in over the last two minutes, which was important for us. That's what we did. We stepped up to the line and we were able to finish the game out."
 
Senior Guard Christavious Gill
 
On the importance of getting off to a good start vs a team playing its third game in as many days
"They play two games the previous two nights, so it was important to try and wear them down. Getting on them quick and wearing them down was a big key to our plan. That helped us at the end. We got a big lead, they came back a little bit but we held it up at the end and got the win.
 
On the team committing just 10 turnovers
"It was really important. In the two losses we took against Northwestern State and Southeastern [Louisiana], we had some crucial turnovers at the end of the game. We got focused in practice after those two games. Coach got on us hard. He got us prepared for all presses, no matter who it was. I thought we executed well tonight compared to those two games. That got us over the top at the end."