Alando Tucker Guys Quotations

I think it's motivation to show these younger guys that hard work pays off, to show that what we've been doing in these past few years has worked. And if it's worked in the past, it can work in the present.

We need everybody in the lanes, getting a body on somebody. When you're playing guys who are long and athletic like Pitt, coach (Bo) Ryan says you can still stop them by putting a body on guys.

We're young. Mistakes come early in practice but it seems like the young guys are getting better and better at understanding things.

We've got to get stronger. A lot of guys have got to get quicker. This is definitely a motivation game to show guys we have to step our game up another level, another notch.

I want all our guys to realize that if we get a chance to play in the NCAA tournament, that's our last chance. If we lose then, there's no more looking back and saying, 'OK, we can get it back.' You can't get it back. If we have 40 minutes left (in) our season, we have to cherish that. Everybody has to be ready to play. We have to just think we can't get that back. So we have to play with that urgency.

They never stopped. Every time it seemed like I made a cut or touched (the ball), I was seeing two or more guys coming.

It's only just begun. I don't want the guys to start thinking we're going to walk into games and get victories. The madness is just starting.

It's tough when you lose two guys who gave you a lot of productive minutes.

Everybody has to be on the same page and everybody has to have confidence. Teams are starting to tweak their defenses where they might not guard two or three guys on our team, thinking they don't have the confidence. We need all five guys to have the confidence in order for our offense to run as smoothly as it has in the past.

They did a great job; everyone saw it. Just closing out the game, for them to step up and rebound and make big plays defensively, that's what we need. If we're going to be a great team, you need that, and those two guys did a heck of a job.

I know after the game our guys were limping. They were a physical team and their principles are still the same. They still get a lot of second- and third-chance opportunities. We can't let that happen.