Brad Brownell Quotations

When you've got a point guard like they do, they can keep you in games even when you're not playing well because he does so much for the other guys.

We're a better offensive team than people give us credit for.

Obviously, all the credit goes to coach Stokes and the guys at ECU. I thought they played a hard-fought, very spirited game. Played exceptionally well.

He looked like Larry Bird out there for the first five minutes.

We lost the game because we didn't get stops. Down the stretch, you've got to get stops. That's something we've done all year, and it didn't happen (Thursday night).

John is as tough as it comes. At one point during the game, I asked him if he wanted to switch off and guard somebody else for a while. He glared back and me, so I knew what his answer was.

John is as tough as any player in America. He dives for every loose ball. He has stitches in his chin. He has a scar on his forehead. I tell him the longer the season goes, the uglier he gets.

John is as tough as any player in America.

I thought we really played about as well as we could play in the first half.

I thought our team was ready. I would have never anticipated this. We worked hard the last two days and it didn't show. We lost it completely in the first half. East Carolina was better prepared and a better team today. We just didn't defend the ball as well as we needed and we over helped at times and gave open looks.

I sure hope CBS has something to do with selections in the future, because we make for great TV.

I thought my guys responded well. We did a good job the last eight minutes of closing the game out.

We had a little chip on our shoulder all weekend. We're the top seed, but everybody has been talking about other teams deserving at-large bids. Very few people were talking about us, so I felt we had to play our way in and we certainly did that.

We had a little chip on our shoulder all weekend. Very few people were talking about us, so we felt like we had to play our way in.

We've kind of been beneath the radar all year. People haven't talked about us that much.

We'll play five on none and the ball will be going out of bounds, and he'll dive to save it. That's just the way he is.

We are having a pretty good year. The year started off great. It was a nice tournament win for us. Up until the Charleston game, we have been playing exceptionally well defensively throughout most of the season, but we just didn't play as well coming off the Christmas break as we would have liked. Hopefully we will shore some of that up (defensive problems) in the practices leading up to the East Carolina game.

We didn't do anything in particular that was overly ingenious, we just went out there and guarded them.

We panicked a little bit. Beckham forced a shot with a couple of extra seconds left, but that happens.

I understand we blew a big lead. But we played at an unbelievably high level to get that lead. You look at our field goal percentage ... I don't know of any team in the country that's going to play that way for 40 minutes.

This has been a very difficult decision for me to make, however, I feel it is in the best interest of my family, my career, and myself to pursue a new opportunity.

They're a great spurt team. Especially when they play here, they can get on a 10-point run. And often that seems to be the difference.

It's been a good series. Both teams have played well, so I look for a good game on Saturday.

They came out and jumped on us and took us out of our game early. We had some scouting breakdowns on personnel and that came back to bite us.

They've still got four really good players that start on the floor. Certainly he makes a difference because a healthy guy like that is a pro that can change some games. But at the same time, it's not like they drastically changed. They didn't all of a sudden just fall apart when he went out of the lineup.

The second half was a little awkward, there were so many fouls called it became a free-throw shooting contest.

I really challenged our guys in the locker room before the game, especially our seniors. Beckham did an outstanding job of talking to the guys in the locker room, and getting them motivated a little bit, and it was the difference in the game.

Hopefully that experience will give our guys confidence. Hopefully it will help that they played against a big-name team and played well.

I am very happy about it and excited about it. I am glad we were able to get it worked out. I think it's a great game for everybody involved. You will have great crowds at both arenas. I know the fans down here are really excited about it and talking a lot about the game. I don't think it will take long for the rivalry to heat back up.