Coach Slessinger's Quotes Following Saturday's 74-64 Win At Nicholls

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Overall thoughts on the day
"It's been an amazing journey. It's been a long, tough, grueling rebuild, but it's been an amazing journey for our staff, all of our student-athletes and all the guys that came before this from my first year up until today. Those first-year guys laid an incredible foundation. I keep going through all of them in my head. I'm so humbled and blessed to have all of those guys play for us and help rebuild our foundation as far as our culture, what would be accepted as our culture and how hard you had to work. Today is a great day. The University of New Orleans is a champion in basketball, but our University is a champion. Our faculty, staff and students are champions. Our alumni are champions and our incredible city is champions again. We're proud to have brought that home to where we feel it belongs. I couldn't be more humbled to represent all of those entities."
 
On clinching the outright SLC title in a place that has been tough for the Privateers to win
"This is a tough place to play. It always has been. I can't tell you how many times I've played here over my years, since 2000, in this league. It's always a hard place to play. They've got six seniors. Coach Riley has done a phenomenal job of getting these guys to where they're at. They're as dangerous of a 3-point shooting team as there is in our league, but our guys answered the bell. The staff did an amazing job of scouting and preparation with a short turnaround and recovering from a heartbreaking game against Southeastern [Louisiana]. They got us back and ready to defend at a high level. It was a great day. I always say God has a funny sense of humor. Thursday night didn't go exactly like we wanted, but it was in his time and we are so humbled by everything that has happened to us. We're excited to represent our conference as a champion. We're excited to represent our conference, our University and our city either in the NIT or the NCAA Tournament – whichever one we're blessed to receive a bid to. It's a pretty awesome day for all those who are involved with UNO basketball because, to a certain extent, we're back to where we're supposed to be, where this program has always been, and where it should be."
 
On Nicholls rallying back to make things interesting late
"We knew they were capable of that. They're capable of turning a 10-point lead into one or two in a couple of possessions, and that's exactly what happened. Our guys kept their composure and they came through. We made a couple of adjustments out of a timeout. We were able to grow the lead back a little bit, get back, force them into some misses, execute and make some clutch free throws down the stretch. Everybody contributed. Our bench was phenomenal. I just can't believe that after all this time that we're there. We're champions. This is a great day."
 
On the senior class' contribution in today's ballgame
"They were great. Nate got a start back here at home in front of all of his family and friends. Tay, Tevin and Nate were great. Erik was clutch down there at the end. He's got to be the Player of the Year. I don't know how anybody has been more valuable to a team and a program than Erik has been. He's been consistent every night and produced within the framework of what we're doing as a team. He's had a special year – one that doesn't come along very often. I'm very blessed to coach those guys. My mom and dad were here, which makes this even greater of an experience for me personally. For them to be able to share in this is something I'll never forget."
 
On the upcoming Southland Conference Tournament
"It's a new season. We'll get in tomorrow and start working to prepare for things. I've already got a detailed plans laid out on how we're going to approach the week. I'm excited for the opportunity and am looking forward to seeing where our guys take us. This is a great book and a great story. It's had some interesting twists and turns in it, and I don't think we're done. We've got a couple of more chapters left in us and I'm really anxious to see where this takes us.