Louis Orr Game Quotations

We started the game with stops and conversions. Our motto is to believe and, once we got the lead, it set the tone for us. We are defensively oriented and we focused tonight to deny N.C. State's perimeter game.

We started the game with stops and conversions, and we started the second half with stops and conversions. ? We knew we had to make it tough for them to score. We had to stay in their faces all night. No easy baskets.

When they get it going on all cylinders, the game can slip away, and in a hurry. We already know that they're a tough team rebounding and they get out in transition. Once they knock down shots, they're real tough.

That was the second game of the season. Playing a team like Duke the second game of the season, that's something that's really hard to simulate. We've grown a lot, which is a good thing. That's 15, 16 games since then, we've matured as a team. We've had a lot of close games and our character and confidence have grown.

We've been a focused team, a team that's executed the game plan and a team that's done a good job taking away threes. Tonight, that didn't happen. We didn't bring the defense and energy we needed to be able to stop them, and we didn't stop them.

We're disappointed in the game tonight, but it doesn't deter the body of work that we put together. Being 9-7 (in the conference), finishing seventh, and also the road wins we got, our resume is definitely strong enough to get us into the NCAA Tournament.

This is a game that I think we needed. Sometimes if you have a big lead you get away from the fundamentals and you get away from playing team basketball. We didn't.

It seemed like there was a lid on the basket. We got open looks, but it didn't drop. It's awfully hard to win a game when you can't make shots.

It was just a game where we didn't make shots. When you don't make shots regardless of what the defense is like, it's going to be tough to win.

I like to take my hat off to Kelly Whitney. He shared he ball, passed out (of the post) all game long. When you've got a guy like Kelly who's going to get so much attention, when he shares the ball like he did tonight, it shows he just wants to win.